Preview Preseason match vs Swans @spotless stadium 4:20pm Sunday March 6

[Heaps of fun]

So why not any of the others?

Because Kyron turning the ball came into my mind first.

 

[Waussie]

Because Kyron turning the ball came into my mind first.

Did you watch the game, the forward line was away with the fairies, the midfield understandably was destroyed and the defense were hammered, I thought considering what else was going on they performed better than the rest of the team.
Kyron and McKay were probably the best of that group.

 

[Heaps of fun]

Did you watch the game, the forward line was away with the fairies, the midfield understandably was destroyed and the defense were hammered, I thought considering what else was going on they performed better than the rest of the team.
Kyron and McKay were probably the best of that group.

I'm talking about Rd 1.

 

[Waussie]

I'm talking about Rd 1.

Got it, Kyron's taken over from At's

 

[Heaps of fun]

Got it, Kyron's taken over from At's

Sorry, won't mention your boyfriend's name again.

 

[Waussie]

Sorry, won't mention your boyfriend's name again.

Sorry don't lean that way mate

 

[GS WARRIORS]

Phillips and Cam not playing. Didn't travel.

 

[The Nostradamus]

Phillips and Cam not playing. Didn't travel.

Wish nobes elaborated more on why

 

[Passmore]

Wish nobes elaborated more on why

Bull busy with his new bbq yesterday. Looks like he whipped up a laksa today.

Sent from my SM-A908B using Tapatalk

 

[Roosurgence]

How could they miss Xerri being pushed by Reid in that contest where MacDonald marked it?

 

[The Dingrel]

You ok?

Yeah all good thanks mate. Was worried for a while but House is 2 years old built to new standards. 5 feet water in the yard but didn’t get in the house. Our street looks like a war zone, spent the weekend with the Gerni helping out neighbours. Everyone pulls together and just gets on with it.

 

[Northern Exposure]

I went up for the game. Actually watched first 3 qtrs from the social club there. Went out for last qtr. I’d like that decision back .

The other thing I remember was we were sitting in front of one of LDU's junior coaches. I'm pretty sure him and his family were invited up for his debut. He told me he was destined to win a Brownlow. Here's hoping.... Also remember when it pelting down pre game, was watching the boys warm up and Cunners looked up at us in our plastic ponchos- I put my hands out mouthing "WTF is this" and he smiled and laughed at me. Hilarious.

 

[Reginald0]

How could they miss Xerri being pushed by Reid in that contest where MacDonald marked it?

Well spotted
That sort of thing is so dangerous and basically 100 times more likely to cause serious injury than other reportable incidents
Crosses the line imo

 

[WesternRoo]

That was poor yesterday, coming off a poor showing the week earlier.
Sydney's kids ran rings around us.
That was to be expected from Jason Horne and apart from Xerri I'm struggling to see the progression we thought we would....yet.

I get Polec has had a good pre-season, but is going back to the well with a 30 year old sort of concerning that no one has developed into that role yet? Why are we not recruiting and playing Tom Lynch on the same basis?

We picked up CCJ which I though was ok at the time. There seems to be now an inference that Xerri may be in front of him and he may not play round 1.
Certainly on preseason form I believe Xerri is in front and we have Edwards AND Comben in wait with Goldy is showing no signs of slowing up.
Could we have maybe looked to pick up a running half back or a key back which we badly need during free agency? The mix of Ziebell, Turner, Walker, McDonald is concerning, particularly with Hall out.

Progression is a must this season and I get concerned when I hear Noble (who I like) rattle off the development "positives" talk in pressers. Sydney are quite a young team too. There is just an expectation that when you come in, you perform, regardless of your age. Either you do that or you are out. No nonsense.

We need to get back in the business of winning footy games and flags. Development is great, but the game is more than ever being dominated by young players and its about time Noble made his mark on the group by removing the trainer wheels and excuses regarding age and setting an example on what is to be accepted and what wont be.
Stephenson's game yesterday would be an example of this, including his selfish torpedo attempt rather than putting to the top of the square or looking for a target.

 

[Event Horizon]

That was poor yesterday, coming off a poor showing the week earlier.
Sydney's kids ran rings around us.
That was to be expected from Jason Horne and apart from Xerri I'm struggling to see the progression we thought we would....yet.

I get Polec has had a good pre-season, but is going back to the well with a 30 year old sort of concerning that no one has developed into that role yet? Why are we not recruiting and playing Tom Lynch on the same basis?

We picked up CCJ which I though was ok at the time. There seems to be now an inference that Xerri may be in front of him and he may not play round 1.
Certainly on preseason form I believe Xerri is in front and we have Edwards AND Comben in wait with Goldy is showing no signs of slowing up.
Could we have maybe looked to pick up a running half back or a key back which we badly need during free agency? The mix of Ziebell, Turner, Walker, McDonald is concerning, particularly with Hall out.

Progression is a must this season and I get concerned when I hear Noble (who I like) rattle off the development "positives" talk in pressers. Sydney are quite a young team too. There is just an expectation that when you come in, you perform, regardless of your age. Either you do that or you are out. No nonsense.

We need to get back in the business of winning footy games and flags. Development is great, but the game is more than ever being dominated by young players and its about time Noble made his mark on the group by removing the trainer wheels and excuses regarding age and setting an example on what is to be accepted and what wont be.
Stephenson's game yesterday would be an example of this, including his selfish torpedo attempt rather than putting to the top of the square or looking for a target.

Agree with most of your post. I too was a bit surprised by the "positives" talk from Noble, when in fact the Sydney side weren't much older than us (if at all) and have shown a huge improvement last season, while we have so far looked very much the same as we have in 2021. Fumbling on every line, no structure or system to our play, still looking at very low scores and backline still leaking from all angles. I was expecting 8 wins as a pass mark this season. That is looking very difficult based on preseason showing.

 

[Yianni]

Agree with most of your post. I too was a bit surprised by the "positives" talk from Noble, when in fact the Sydney side weren't much older than us (if at all) and have shown a huge improvement last season, while we have so far looked very much the same as we have in 2021. Fumbling on every line, no structure or system to our play, still looking at very low scores and backline still leaking from all angles. I was expecting 8 wins as a pass mark this season. That is looking very difficult based on preseason showing.

Okay, I just finished watching the game.

My main read is that our structure is still very underdeveloped.

Allow me to give an example. In the first quarter we looked good in our initial 7 point flurry, but then Sydney managed to wrestle control back. They pretty much kept it except for the third quarter. One thing that happened in the first was that we looked great when we moved it quickly and it came off, but when we coughed it up, Sydney zoomed it 100m the other way in a hurry because our structure (manning up, covering space a kick behind play) behind the contest wasn't there. They slingshotted the ball against us a lot, which also happened a fair few times last year (I'm thinking especially of the first Essendon and Bulldogs games)

I think Dwayne said it at some point in the commentary, "North players are like bees to a honeypot." That's true.

This is something that I think will just happen until the group has played 50-100 games together. No doubt they train it, but as Denis' classic 'dancing with your sister' comment implies, that's not the same as pitting it against a ferocious, skilled and physically mature opposition team, as we saw last weekend against Melbourne.

Because you can only dance with your sister between seasons, the only way to tune the structures, movements and systems really is to play games of footy. Which is why it's very hard to do it quickly.

EH, you say that Sydney aren't much older than us that may be true from an age point of view. But they've got more of a core group that have been together longer than we have. They haven't turned the list over in the last two years like we have. That has nothing to do with age, just when certain players came in.

Importantly, we were also missing McKay and, as with the human body, the spine takes a lot of the pressure off the rest of the footy team. Sophisticated things in embryonic stages like our team structures and transition patterns are delicate things and they won't survive the loss of a key backbone as well as they might an extremity like a winger.

One big positive for me is Mahoney. I don't know who was still doubting this guy is best 22, but he just does the right thing, well, all the time. We need someone like that in the forward line. When it was all falling apart around him, he just kept on keeping on, making good decisions and executing skills.

Players who keep their head like that whilst putting great pressure on the opposition, especially players that consistently do that whilst the team around them aren't having a great game are so valuable. I'm calling it, if we come together as a team, he'll be one of the best small forwards in the league.

This year most weekends will probably be spent practicing getting better at wresting the game back onto our terms, and we'll do this by players (1) getting better at understanding each other's movements, patterns, spacing, etc and (2) improving their ability to execute their skills under pressure. We'll also need to learn game management, how to stop teams on a run, and hopefully the early stages of controlling a game when we do have it on our own terms. Cunnington will help!

My prediction, we'll look like millionaires a bunch of times, and terrible a few others, but hopefully as the season goes on, we'll be able to see improved consistency, cohesion and within that, individual players emerge, improve and maintain their levels.

Don't get too down. We finished last. We lost to a finalist by 5 goals. What did you expect?

 

[shintemaster]

Okay, I just finished watching the game.

My main read is that our structure is still very underdeveloped.

Allow me to give an example. In the first quarter we looked good in our initial 7 point flurry, but then Sydney managed to wrestle control back. They pretty much kept it except for the third quarter. One thing that happened in the first was that we looked great when we moved it quickly and it came off, but when we coughed it up, Sydney zoomed it 100m the other way in a hurry because our structure (manning up, covering space a kick behind play) behind the contest wasn't there. They slingshotted the ball against us a lot, which also happened a fair few times last year (I'm thinking especially of the first Essendon and Bulldogs games)

I think Dwayne said it at some point in the commentary, "North players are like bees to a honeypot." That's true.

This is something that I think will just happen until the group has played 50-100 games together. No doubt they train it, but as Denis' classic 'dancing with your sister' comment implies, that's not the same as pitting it against a ferocious, skilled and physically mature opposition team, as we saw last weekend against Melbourne.

Because you can only dance with your sister between seasons, the only way to tune the structures, movements and systems really is to play games of footy. Which is why it's very hard to do it quickly.

EH, you say that Sydney aren't much older than us that may be true from an age point of view. But they've got more of a core group that have been together longer than we have. They haven't turned the list over in the last two years like we have. That has nothing to do with age, just when certain players came in.

Importantly, we were also missing McKay and, as with the human body, the spine takes a lot of the pressure off the rest of the footy team. Sophisticated things in embryonic stages like our team structures and transition patterns are delicate things and they won't survive the loss of a key backbone as well as they might an extremity like a winger.

One big positive for me is Mahoney. I don't know who was still doubting this guy is best 22, but he just does the right thing, well, all the time. We need someone like that in the forward line. When it was all falling apart around him, he just kept on keeping on, making good decisions and executing skills.

Players who keep their head like that whilst putting great pressure on the opposition, especially players that consistently do that whilst the team around them aren't having a great game are so valuable. I'm calling it, if we come together as a team, he'll be one of the best small forwards in the league.

This year most weekends will probably be spent practicing getting better at wresting the game back onto our terms, and we'll do this by players (1) getting better at understanding each other's movements, patterns, spacing, etc and (2) improving their ability to execute their skills under pressure. We'll also need to learn game management, how to stop teams on a run, and hopefully the early stages of controlling a game when we do have it on our own terms. Cunnington will help!

My prediction, we'll look like millionaires a bunch of times, and terrible a few others, but hopefully as the season goes on, we'll be able to see improved consistency, cohesion and within that, individual players emerge, improve and maintain their levels.

Don't get too down. We finished last. We lost to a finalist by 5 goals. What did you expect?

Agree with all of this, especially the bold items.

A lot of inexperienced players that have not played together and unfortunately - especially with Cunnington out - not the level of class and skill in seniors that you'd like to see holding a younger team together. Outside of Goldy (and Corr who is coming from a bit back) it is pretty slim pickings in that age group.

I think your 2nd last paragraph is spot on though. My view is that we have a good strong, albeit young and developing, midfield core. They will IMO get hold of a few teams this year and have those days where every bounce goes their way and will look unstoppable - it will be fun and it will be how we win the majority of our games for mine. Forward line has more than enough to do damage when we are winning clearances and running the ball with skill.

 

[Yianni]

Agree with all of this, especially the bold items.

A lot of inexperienced players that have not played together and unfortunately - especially with Cunnington out - not the level of class and skill in seniors that you'd like to see holding a younger team together. Outside of Goldy (and Corr who is coming from a bit back) it is pretty slim pickings in that age group.

I think your 2nd last paragraph is spot on though. My view is that we have a good strong, albeit young and developing, midfield core. They will IMO get hold of a few teams this year and have those days where every bounce goes their way and will look unstoppable - it will be fun and it will be how we win the majority of our games for mine. Forward line has more than enough to do damage when we are winning clearances and running the ball with skill.

Yep.

The difficulty with footy nowadays is that what everyone sees on the field is only half of what makes a good football team. We see the kicks and handballs, blocks and marks. What not everyone sees is the other half of footy, which happens in both the individual and collective minds of players.

You can deduce it obviously, it's what everyone means when they say 'They got on top of us that quarter' or 'our skills just went to s**t'

I never used to see it. But a later in life ADHD diagnosis and medication means I actually pay a lot more attention to lots of things now. I rarely used to look too far from where the ball was. So I know it's easy to miss.

That collective team consciousness 'clicking' is what will lead to as you say, our young mids getting a hold of a few teams. This is what following a young team is, hoping that this weekend is the weekend it clicks, and hoping that when it does, that it clicks again the next week. Often, it won't happen. But every premiership team at some point was a young inconsistent team, at least until Geelong's Dad's army manage to win one. Which they still haven't.

 

[buttox]

Stats sheet.
Xerri's best game IMO.