Past Coach NMFC Senior Coach - David Noble has parted ways with NMFC

Coaches of the past.

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shimaburnsgrieg

Premiership Player
Apr 1, 2017
4,360
10,094
AFL Club
North Melbourne
I don't think it's been pointed out yet, but early in the year Noble found out that the young team he inherited didn't have the tank to play his gameplan and also run back to defend the opposing side.

What we've seen since then is a training wheels version of the gameplan with our main focus shifting towards being competitive for four quarters. This meant that we couldn't stream forward as aggressively, as it often resulted in us being abused on the turnover for an easy goal.

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Scenes like the above where it was a 2 on 5 running back were far too common the first month of the season, which is why the gameplan was tweaked to be more defensive. Since then our movement forward has been uninspiring, but Noble is of the belief that our combination of poor skills and poor running power necessitates keeping a numbers advantage behind the ball.

Since then we have more or less been consistently competitive, but at the expense of clean movement forward of the ball. He still has the players going into the corridor at all costs, likely to generate the instincts required to pull off his gameplan in a few years, but we don't have that next kick anymore since we now have the added defensive focus.
This happened many times versus * - in fact it was more obvious in that game than any other that we refuse to or unable to work hard both ways.

This was less the case yesterday but this is not a problem that has been rectified at all.
 
Absolutely, but they also have an extra year of development under the Nicks game plan.

I rate Nicks highly, he hasn’t tried to smooth over cracks and play a style that blankets his players inefficiencies.

It’s true that they are a year in front. But it doesn’t automatically work that way. We won’t be automatically better next year. I’m trying to look for signs that we are improving and are on the right track but I’m not seeing too many signs at the moment


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Wai, he said xerri hasn't been doing enough as a forward. What more does he need to do?

What he needs to do he can't do because we do not have enough ruckmen on the list. He has had to ruck on his own in the VFL since Campbell went into the AFL side. So he can't play forward in the VFL team.

If we get Edwards + a ruckman then our VFL would have a better structure for the second half of the season and Xerri could play AFL.
 

Psicosis

Brownlow Medallist
May 7, 2012
13,165
58,685
Bird Rock
AFL Club
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It’s true that they are a year in front. But it doesn’t automatically work that way. We won’t be automatically better next year. I’m trying to look for signs that we are improving and are on the right track but I’m not seeing too many signs at the moment


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

Rounds 1-4 ave point against - 123
Rounds 5-11 - 97

Rounds 1-4 ave points for - 53
Rounds 5-11 - 67

Slowly but surely we are improving.
 

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Apr 17, 2007
24,888
43,452
melb home of the kangas
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He doesn't support the club.

The bloke;

1) Isn't a member
2) Doesn't attend games
3) Has harrassed/abused players
4) Has harrassed/abused coaches
5) Has harrassed/abused staff

Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if the reason he's not a member is because the club cancelled his membership due to his antics.

*en hell- why is he allowed on here

What a tool
 

chairo

Team Captain
Dec 22, 2013
427
920
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Lots of interesting discussion.

My take is that we have had been playing the worst footyball I've ever seen from a North team for three years. This is under three different coaches each with distinctly different styles. As such it cannot just be playing style.

Is Noble the one to take us to the summit? IMHO it is simply too early to tell. But in contrast to the two previous coaches we do seem to be working towards something which could in time and with adjustments make us more than just competitive.
 

the flying ham

Cancelled
Dec 12, 2006
7,403
16,059
AFL Club
North Melbourne
He doesn't support the club.

The bloke;

1) Isn't a member
2) Doesn't attend games
3) Has harrassed/abused players
4) Has harrassed/abused coaches
5) Has harrassed/abused staff

Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if the reason he's not a member is because the club cancelled his membership due to his antics.
Absolute blowhard and self appointed authority. If he were a trumpet he'd blow himself
 
Sep 11, 2014
10,427
20,235
AFL Club
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He doesn’t seem too pumped about Xerri and just praised how well TC is doing

What more does he need to do? He smashed records in the VFL and TC was average on the weekend. We’re not going to win another game.

Is he picking players based on form? I really hope there isn’t a “favouritism” streak in Noble…
 

speedy

Norm Smith Medallist
Sep 5, 2001
7,255
9,042
Melbourne, VIC
AFL Club
North Melbourne
He doesn't support the club.

The bloke;

1) Isn't a member
2) Doesn't attend games
3) Has harrassed/abused players
4) Has harrassed/abused coaches
5) Has harrassed/abused staff

Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if the reason he's not a member is because the club cancelled his membership due to his antics.
Doesn't attend games? Is he critiquing the game plan solely off TV Broadcast vision? That is impressive.
 

koshari

Brownlow Medallist
Mar 24, 2011
22,528
35,563
AFL Club
North Melbourne
fu**en hell- why is he allowed on here

What a tool
He isn't allowed on here half the time ....
seriously though,
Having said that some of the stuff he posts is entertaining and i like diversity as it means the chances of us becoming an echo chamber are reduced. As far as his opinions go i really don't have a problem with them, his only real flaw is continuously potting other posters about their opinions. sometimes after an infraction he pulls his head in for a bit but as time rolls on he resorts back to old habits.
 


look at the work of English and Naughton in this clip. They are on either side of the ground to start with and motor back to be the last option of the play. Larkey should be doing similar. Both these guys for the dogs ran up and down the corridor depending on whether they were attacking or defending all game. I am not sure if Larkey is capable of this type of running yet but this should be the goal. Be part of attacks in motion from beginning to end.

Thanks for this.

Look at what Naughton does.

He gets the ball about halfway between the back corner of the CC and the boundary, sprints at the opposition goal, takes on a player and beats him. Then he kicks long to the pocket/flank that is opposite to where he started from. Its a crazy piece of play but it works because its so indirect. He kicks from about where the full back would kick out from and by the time Bailey Fritsch is standing up in that video he is near the front edge of the CC making a lead to give Macrae an option at near the true CHF. He is ignored and provides a lead, back with the flight in the forward 50 that he marks in the next phase of play.

Compare that to how stagnant we look onfield. His running creates movement around him.

Their forward-most player is a good 20m ahead of where our forward-most player was in the LDU-Larkey clip...despite us having the ball about 10-15m closer to goal at the same point in time. Which is kind of my point. It's a small difference but it means, they have one bloke at all times a kick ahead of the play.

Also note that's their structure when moving slowly up the wings, we are holding a *more* defensively weighted structure while trying to burst quickly through the corridor. The main benefit of moving through the corridor is being able to get one on ones and to hit leading blokes in front.

Your point about the structure is a good observation but in some ways its irrelevant.

I reckon this is what it boils down to:

Does Larkey (or anyone else) work like Naughton?

You can't judge the structures, or even know if the players are holding them up, until your players work hard enough to create movement. Our players lack the intensity and fitness to do this.

But its true that that space Naughton is running thru for that entire play is kept open by that deeper forward structure.... its also the case that movement ahead of the ball (from fitness/workrate) is what keeps the structure in place.
 

Themanbun

Brownlow Medallist
Apr 19, 2019
10,046
30,812
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Thanks for this.

Look at what Naughton does.

He gets the ball about halfway between the back corner of the CC and the boundary, sprints at the opposition goal, takes on a player and beats him. Then he kicks long to the pocket/flank that is opposite to where he started from. Its a crazy piece of play but it works because its so indirect. He kicks from about where the full back would kick out from and by the time Bailey Fritsch is standing up in that video he is near the front edge of the CC making a lead to give Macrae an option at near the true CHF. He is ignored and provides a lead, back with the flight in the forward 50 that he marks in the next phase of play.

Compare that to how stagnant we look onfield. His running creates movement around him.



Your point about the structure is a good observation but in some ways its irrelevant.

I reckon this is what it boils down to:

Does Larkey (or anyone else) work like Naughton?

You can't judge the structures, or even know if the players are holding them up, until your players work hard enough to create movement. Our players lack the intensity and fitness to do this.

But its true that that space Naughton is running thru for that entire play is kept open by that deeper forward structure.... its also the case that movement ahead of the ball (from fitness/workrate) is what keeps the structure in place.

With all due respect mate, how is it irrelevant?

The Bulldogs have a more forward loaded press, which is exactly what I advocated for. They do this *and* go to the wings, which is indirect and allows numbers to stream forward. As I said, it may only be 20-30 metres and a slight slowdown by going through the wings, but this allows their forwards to work forward and set up one kick ahead of the play. It's the difference between coming back at the ball carrier versus having to go with the flight of the ball.

My entire point is that our press is too defensively tight, and I reckon no one bar Olympic sprinters could make the corridor + defensively tight press combination work.

We have made our strategy to predominantly go through the corridor. The logic behind that is that the reward of being able to move the ball quickly and expose the opposition's defenders is worth the risk of turning the ball over in a dangerous spot. My concern is that this approach, combined with a defensive press weighted even just 20-30m too defensively, is that we don't have time to get forward and hook lead back at the ball carrier. The tight press actually blunts the reward that we are trying to get by going through the corridor, forcing us to slow up play and wait for numbers to stream forward, making it a poor risk decision, in my humble opinion of course.

Long story short, if every time we go forward, all our ball carrier can see are the backs of his own players, it creates indecision, causes turnovers, and makes us work a lot harder than we probably need to in order to get the ball moving. If we insist on barreling through the corridor as other sides have worked out, we need to have people coming at the ball carrier, which is virtually impossible right now.

You know I've been all over Larkey's work rate and what appears to be poor body language this year. Having actually been able to attend a few games, while he's far from perfect, I'm not sure many sides on the league could pull this off. In the clip the images I took are from, he actually positions himself another 20-30m towards our forward 50, but then something clicks and he dashes to CHB to man space.
 
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