Review Round 5, 2026 - North Melbourne vs. Brisbane Lions

[M Malice]

100% this.

what kill's me about footy coverage is group think. One of them says something; they all agree. It's like they don't even watch the vision after that.

One exception is Buckley. Absolutely torched Riewoldt on the couch over his hot take on Harley Reid. It was glorious.

Bez I thought was fine worthy. But then based on the ridiculous Gardiner suspension I was worried

We were pretty hard done by in OR and it cost us any chance of winning against the swans so we were due a break

Leigh Matthews always beautifully pragmatic is another good one, also I don't mind Caroline Wilson's opinions on all things to do with the running of the game/the AFL administration.

 

[Pride of lions]

Zorko is the most maligned player in the game.

Did Christian actually look at the vision?

Where is the media ? They should be pillorying the AFL for this.

Oh I forgot . The media is the AFL.

Zorko should appeal. Calling that a strike is laughable. Would have been ignored if the media hadn’t blown it up. Just shows how pathetic Christian is,should have been sacked years ago,but he is one of the boys so never gets any criticism.

 

[M Malice]

Still don’t understand he was even fined though because I saw that last night and knew he was nowhere near his aggots and Riewoldt was adamant he flushed him so why the fine; what’s Zorko done?

He is Dayne Zorko... so that is automatically at least a fine.

 

[Nunez]

Finally getting a chance to watch the game. Can't believe I let briztoon convince me old man Allen was basically wheelchair bound due to his bad back

 

[Gadzorks]

And of course this campaigner chimes in



I must be blind because the footage shows he didn’t get him at all in the nuts. How bout Curtis get done for staging?

I replayed it heaps pausing it constantly. I was sure zorko connected with his hip, not groin.
.

 

[p4p1]

Uggh. ADHD does not do two days in a row let alone two years.

two premierships should be a short cut to inner peace.

I don't think it does 20 mins of meditation either.

 

[p4p1]

I replayed it heaps pausing it constantly. I was sure zorko connected with his hip, not groin.
.

He did. Stills show it was in the hip.

 

[morsie]

For some reason the same used to happen to Fitzroy.I can remember talking to Glen Warry who I think was footy manager and he said we seemed to get one week for the jumper.

 

[Fluke]

what kill's me about footy coverage is group think. One of them says something; they all agree. It's like they don't even watch the vision after that.

One exception is Buckley. Absolutely torched Riewoldt on the couch over his hot take on Harley Reid. It was glorious.

You talking about the whole bit on needing Lachie as a mentor?

 

[StevoJenkins]

The team still has the tendency to play a bad quarter here and there. We really dropped off in the first after coming out breathing fire and the set shot goalkicking was diabolical at times. Probably playing on a windy suburban park had something to do with it. North fluffed a few too.

On this, I think we tend to try and play a gameplan to counter the opposition in the first quarter/half, but when it doesn't work, the team throws the plan to the wind, then we play our brand of footy in the third/fourth.

Years ago it seemed that we never had a plan B, now it seems like we always have a plan B.

How lovely to hear Matty Lloyd reviewing our game and all he was interested in was saying a premiership team should not be able to access a guy like Oscar Allen to bring into their team.
Geez people are really getting hung up on us being successful.
Come up with something new velvet sledge hammer.

Lloyd is a flog.

Will happily look the other way when it's a Melbourne team (Geelong and Jezza) or if his brother is screwing up at Carlton but still has it out for anyone outside of that.

 

[Grasshopper17]

Pretty funny that Fagan had only 1 journalist at the press conference

All games are equal but some games are more equal than others.

 

[Grasshopper17]

Getting dangerously close to having to make THE mea culpa post. Thankfully him deciding to quickly play on from a mark in the last 2 mins irritated me enough to stay my hand.

Come on Tom, you are better than this. I think you can eventually level right up to beardancer-Joe levels. Perhaps work your way up tho - Nathan Barley on Fort/Lester or 3KZ on Rayner are good guides.

There's serious mileage to be made out of this. Just remember once you roll over there's no going back.

 

[Grasshopper17]

Looked like we were outplayed at our usual game but still won somehow. Great effort against a hungry, up and coming side.

Has the reason for the black armbands been announced?

Sort of felt like they were bigger and stronger around the contest for much of the game hey. We were eventually able to equalise stoppages around the ground but it was 18-11 in favour of North at half time.

 

[Grasshopper17]

Gallop needs some sideline coaching from Gardiner. Dizzy is a master of body contact, half grapples and making it a scrag. Dizzy would not have allowed Trembath to keep flying for marks - Gallop can definitely learn this part and add it to his arsenal.

Yes Trembath caused us a fair few headaches on Saturday. Potentially a bit of a concern where we come up against teams with better midfields and defences where the third banana is of the calibre of say a Jack Darling.

Looks like being a steep learning curve for Ty. Hopefully he is up to it. The effort is certainly there.

 

[Grasshopper17]

Hope those attending don't get too wet.

I'm told there is footage of my poncho turning into a parachute as it basically explodes in real time in the back row of one of the grandstands. Will not be going back to review!

 

[Nathan Barley]

Gallop needs some sideline coaching from Gardiner. Dizzy is a master of body contact, half grapples and making it a scrag. Dizzy would not have allowed Trembath to keep flying for marks - Gallop can definitely learn this part and add it to his arsenal.

I think while Gallop was beaten he was only on Trembath for 1 of his goals. Lester and Wilmot were on him for the other 2

 

[Grasshopper17]

This commentary is pissing me off, there’s a gail going left of screen.

Looks like the wind has died off a bit judging by these kicks?

I genuinely felt I learnt nothing watching that game.

Yeah it was a bit like that. Felt like the only things we learned were things we can put into place next time we play at a windy, exposed ground. Which at AFL level is hardly ever - although Hobart in June will be a massive chance of a repeat dose.

But I think the biggest c*ck up we made on Saturday was deciding to kick INTO the wind after winning the toss. I'm happy to have this out with anyone: NEVER kick into the wind! Kick with the breeze, win the first quarter, and you get to play the game on your terms from there. It's always easier to defend a lead rather than have to come from behind.

And the next reason is, and dlanod nailed it, in the 2nd quarter, the breeze definitely died down, and in fact when it did spring back up it was more of a cross breeze, favouring neither end. So after CHOOSING to kick into the breeze in the first quarter, we got no benefit from it in the 2nd.

Then in the third quarter the wind changed direction so it was still a cross breeze but favouring our end, a bit, before strengthening to the end North were kicking in the last. That was why we essentially had to run all our goals in during the last quarter.

So basically we kicked ourselves in the butt with regards to using the conditions to our advantage.

Apart from the pressure in the first 10 minutes that was a really terrible quarter

Need to make the most of the wind in the next quarter

Checked out after 10 minutes.

Yeah at the start of the game, we were doing really well to kick to the dead side of the ground when coming out of defence. For those watching on TV this was the side furthest from the main wing camera. It meant that any scrappy plays could be easily forced out of bounds without being considered deliberate.

This is straight out of the country footy textbook, and no doubt Fages especially would be cognisant of this having played and coached at some particularly exposed and blustery grounds in Tasmania.

But then half way through the first quarter we started to kick to the open side, and that really opened us up to being exposed on counter attacks. North were able to easily penetrate back into the corridor, using that cross breeze to their advantage, and score quickly as a result.

I thought we adapted to favour the dead side more in the last quarter when we were protecting the lead.

Just thought these were a couple of ways we could have dealt with the conditions better. In a way it's a pity any of these "learnings" will rarely be needed, because at most grounds what wind there is swirls around in a big circle.



Apart from all that, pretty happy with the performance. I think our effort across all of the last 15 quarters we've played has been pretty consistent, surprisingly so, regardless of our opponent or the state of the game.

It bodes well for us if we are able to maintain or even exceed our "best" level from last year, but at the same time elevate our "floor" so we don't have such noticeable drop-offs like we had several times last year, usually against lesser opposition.

 

[mpal6]

Yes Trembath caused us a fair few headaches on Saturday. Potentially a bit of a concern where we come up against teams with better midfields and defences where the third banana is of the calibre of say a Jack Darling.

Looks like being a steep learning curve for Ty. Hopefully he is up to it. The effort is certainly there.

In my eyes Ty right now is just like a rebellious colt who wants to take on the world at every contest. He'll mature and be a terrific addition to our backline.

 

[twhowler]

You talking about the whole bit on needing Lachie as a mentor?

No the bit on him saying he should bring in Reid and Duursma and compare their attitudes

 

[Mr Ripper]

But I think the biggest c*ck up we made on Saturday was deciding to kick INTO the wind after winning the toss. I'm happy to have this out with anyone: NEVER kick into the wind! Kick with the breeze, win the first quarter, and you get to play the game on your terms from there. It's always easier to defend a lead rather than have to come from behind.

Infamous game where Footscray won the toss and kicked against a gale because a fisherman told Terry Wheeler the wind was going to change.

 

[luthor]

Zorko is the most maligned player in the game.

Did Christian actually look at the vision?

Where is the media ? They should be pillorying the AFL for this.

Oh I forgot . The media is the AFL.

Game Day Post in thread 'Round 5, 2026 - North Melbourne vs. Brisbane Lions'

Apr 11, 2026

Zorko tax.

Absolute staging dog act

• luthor

• 

I posted the above in the Game Day thread just after the incident.

looks like my views on Curtis staging have been vindicated

 

[paulige]

I think while Gallop was beaten he was only on Trembath for 1 of his goals. Lester and Wilmot were on him for the other 2

He only kicked 2 - and both were on the back of monstrous contested marks - I’m not sure if either could’ve been stopped! Maybe with better body work - but Trembath is a beast for an 8-gamer.

Also worth noting that while McStay kicked 4 the week earlier, I think only 2 were directly on Ty (the other two being earning a HTB on Fletcher, and benefitting from a bad turnover at HB).

So Ty is doing ‘alright’ for a very fresh defender - worth persisting with.

 

[Perrip]

Linc won the GOTY nomination for Round 5.

 

[Grasshopper17]

Infamous game where Footscray won the toss and kicked against a gale because a fisherman told Terry Wheeler the wind was going to change.

View attachment 2583885

Fractionally before my time but yes, very "the prosecution rests your honour" areas. My mind goes back to that 2014 Elimination Final between Port and Richmond, where the Tigers, coming off a 9 game winning streak, won the toss and elected to kick into the wind.

By quarter time the game was over.

Good crowd for the old Western Oval by the way!

 

[beatnik]

Other than both being on the shorter side I don't really see how Answerth is a "ready made replacement".

Just a turn of phrase - Answerth returning would allow Morty to play that more attacking Zorks role rather than play lock down defender