Game Day Round 9 - North Melbourne @ Darwin - 11th May 2024 - 7:30pm AEST

[Big Red Machine]

Note: The mod team will not be hearing any Darwin slander in this thread because reasons

 

[Iva Bigun]

This is the team that can’t buy a win but beat us in the last round of 2023

Heat our only weapon

 

[KaySwizzle]

Read out. Mac to back-up ruck. Just let Luko have a full game forward and see if he can replicate his Darwin magic last year.

Atkins out. Jeffrey in.

Swallow out (maybe sub). Humphrey in, or Farrar if he is still not cleared to play.

Long or Holman, take your pick.

 

[Southern Sun]

Jeffery ( if fit) >atkins
Humphrey >swallow
Day > read
Long is not a forward but not sure who we could bring in, maybe try farrar.

 

[Mini GF]

The footy world so to speak and trolls Australia over will quite rightly come for us if we lose this one.

Therefore we have to immediately as a club get our heads around this game.

It’s my duty whether it upsets the cartel or not to declare this one…..

MINI GF #3 2024

Stay relevant, stay alive and do not lose!!!

 

[nutstar]

Happy to be heading to this one.
Not excited about the game. Failing to see the improvement.
Oh well should win.. 60+

 

[SandyToes]

I'm a bit worried tonight's loss was so demoralising the boys might not bounce back.They'll be shell-shocked and no doubt Clarkson will see opportunity here

 

[RowellAnderson12]

Congrats North 2 wins in your last 30

 

[SandyToes]

I'm struggling with Luko as a back
If we were getting 40 goals from someone else sure, but we're back to dumping it on Ben King

34

Ben King

Age

25

Ht

202cm

Wt

98kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

7.2

2star

K

5.0

2star

HB

2.2

2star

M

3.5

4star

T

0.5

3star

G

1.3

5star

D

7.5

2star

K

5.6

2star

HB

1.9

1star

M

3.6

4star

T

0.3

1star

G

1.5

5star

D

6.8

2star

K

4.4

2star

HB

2.4

3star

M

3.2

4star

T

0.2

3star

G

1.0

4star

's head every entry
We have to accept Benny Ainsworth isn't going to be a 30 goal small forward
Losing Rankine was bad and Rosas has X factor but again-injury
I understand the reasoning with Luko for his rebounding and he can't ruck but we need to kick goals
Now I worry Luko will chuck the toys out of the cot and go somewhere he can play as a high forward
BTW I'd rather Levi just standing around the forward line over Ethan Read at the moment
Even godforbid Sam day

14

Sam Day

Age

33

Ht

196cm

Wt

106kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.8

2star

K

5.2

2star

HB

4.6

3star

M

3.5

4star

T

1.8

4star

G

0.7

4star

D

8.0

2star

K

3.6

1star

HB

4.4

3star

M

1.9

2star

T

1.5

2star

G

0.9

4star

D

8.6

3star

K

3.2

2star

HB

5.4

4star

M

3.0

3star

T

0.8

3star

G

0.2

3star

is better

 

[Jirik13]

I'm a bit worried tonight's loss was so demoralising the boys might not bounce back.They'll be shell-shocked and no doubt Clarkson will see opportunity here

North actually for the first time showed something against Saints.

To be honest, I don't worry after tonight.

 

[Young_Guns]

We’ll win this with minimal fuss and everything will be all rosy and happy again because we beat up another bottom 5 team at home*

*second home.

 

[SandyToes]

 

[TheGoldPersons]

Knowing us we will lose this and then smash Geelong

 

[Supersuns]

Won't be as funny losing this one as everyone else found losing to them last year.

 

[Jen2310]

Knowing us we will lose this and then smash Geelong

Given your good record up there, hopefully wins for both games.

 

[GC2015]

Knowing us we will lose this and then smash Geelong

You're thinking of the old regime under Dew. Think we'll see far more predictable results with Hardwick as our coach. It's not unreasonable to expect a 30+ point win in this one. Even if it's supposed to be 30ish degrees when the first ball is bounced.

No idea what will happen against Geelong the following week. I'll just focus on this one for now.

 

[CommittedSuns]

This is the start of the period we need to get some wins up… a good win here sets us up for the next 4 games which are those we need to win to make the finals.

• Cats home (Darwin)
• Blues away
• Bombers home
• Saints away

Roos will be no easy win… no need to panic yet or mass changes maybe just Read out and Day in so he can help Witts out in that Darwin heat. We miss Rosas bad.

 

[Sun Stormer]

Same old story - Holman, Atkins, Long, Swallow, Fiorini, Ainsworth - and a small question mark emerging over Berry. We are just not good enough to even be considering Finals in 2024. Jeffery, Humphrey, Faulkhead need to be back or given a chance. Maybe Farrah who has never really had a good run at it. Day is currently a better option than Ethan Reid. Rosas to come back but hang in with Rogers for now. Luko spends too much time worrying about his hair as do so many of these guys - want the ball and although the AFL don't want it anymore - want to do damage and hurt opposition. North Melbourne no pushovers but in th end it doesn't matter - we only beat struggling teams. Beat Geelong and we're starting something. Horribly disappointing team effort. Touk Miller

11

Touk Miller

Age

30

Ht

178cm

Wt

84kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

21.7

5star

K

9.5

4star

HB

12.3

5star

M

3.7

4star

T

5.4

5star

CL

4.2

5star

D

22.0

5star

K

11.4

4star

HB

10.6

5star

M

2.9

3star

T

4.8

5star

CL

4.1

5star

D

17.8

5star

K

5.8

3star

HB

12.0

5star

M

3.0

3star

T

3.8

5star

CL

3.0

5star

should go back to kicking and handballing school - abysmal.

 

[Supersuns]

I wish we could give big Jed a spell in the 2s. Needs to learn some more I50 craft, but we do not have any other options to replace him. Hope his confidence doesn't get shot playing 1s and not having much impact.

 

[Jirik13]

Players' confidence shattered, team not turning up, questionable plan/tactics.

On the other hand, North finally played inspired game and have an extra day to recover.

Surely, North can't beat us. Or can they and will send us into disaster zone?

 

[Mini GF]

Gotta respect North’s improvement and when a team that’s winless like them get a sniff they become men possessed.

Lose and we are a despicable joke.

MINI GF #3 2024

Going to have to learn from the mindset mistakes of yesterday and get to Darwin and focus right in.

This is big.

So given it has to be best 23 who’s in and out?

 

[Jirik13]

Gotta respect North’s improvement and when a team that’s winless like them get a sniff they become men possessed.

Lose and we are a despicable joke.

MINI GF #3 2024

Going to have to learn from the mindset mistakes of yesterday and get to Darwin and focus right in.

This is big.

So given it has to be best 23 who’s in and out?

Day replacing Read. Or play Lukosius forward and give Jeffrey opportunity in defence.

Humphrey (if ready to go) replacing Long.

 

[Mini GF]

Day replacing Read. Or play Lukosius forward and give Jeffrey opportunity in defence.

Humphrey (if ready to go) replacing Long.

Yeah good one. I like Lukoshius going forward with Jeffrey in defence and Read dropped.

Humphrey for Long (Swallow to sub) I like too.

 

[KaySwizzle]

Day replacing Read. Or play Lukosius forward and give Jeffrey opportunity in defence.

Humphrey (if ready to go) replacing Long.

Has to be Luko forward and Jeffrey back (he’s had a month of form + the Darwin factor). Give it one game at least. We know Luko forward can work too. He could punish a North defensive unit if he is told he is playing forward all game and trains for it.

Witts will just have to shoulder the ruck and have people like Mac pinch hit (which he did when Read went off) or even Luko (who had more hit outs than Read…). Don’t go tall in Darwin. 3 talls back and 3 forward. Xeri for North is in good form though.

Holman is out for me too. I’ve seen enough this season. Won’t happen, but IMO it needs to and soon. Can’t keep having a bloke who just tackles but doesn’t get the ball at all or kick goals, let alone all the frees he gives away while getting none in return.

Humphrey to come back. Possibly Farrar for Darwin factor and maybe keep Long for same reason. They might actually show some care and passion.

 

[GC2015]

Players' confidence shattered, team not turning up, questionable plan/tactics.

On the other hand, North finally played inspired game and have an extra day to recover.

Surely, North can't beat us. Or can they and will send us into disaster zone?

It's a very similar situation to a fortnight ago when we'd just had our confidence smashed in a comprehensive loss to the Swans on the road. Supporters were rightly asking questions of whether we had what it took to beat an in-form West Coast and the boys responded accordingly. Now we're here again after getting comprehensively beaten by the Lions on the road and people are contemplating a shock loss to the winless Roos.

I find it interesting that last night we heard Dimma roll out the line "We just want to keep our head above water until halfway. We learn some lessons along the way." So what's going to happen once we get to the half way point of R12 and face Essendon at PFS? Why is he so confident that it's all going to click in four weeks from now?

I suppose the fortunate thing for us is that our draw is reasonably favourable in terms of keeping us in the hunt. So Dimma will probably get his wish of "keeping our head above water" for now - in all likelihood we beat the Roos and sit just outside the 8 on percentage going into a prime time nationally televised game against the Cats. It just seems like something needs to change in order for us to take that next step into the top 8. A big scalp against Geelong or Carlton would certainly help in terms of easing the concerns of our supporter base.

Anyway, North Melbourne this week. They beat us last time (we were very unmotivated in that game) and I'd like to think the boys would be putting in all the extras this week to ensure we don't see a repeat this time around. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a 40+ point win in this game. Get it done and get the season back on track.