The rest of the season - What do you want to see?

Asifhe Givashe

All Australian
Jan 14, 2020
763
1,237
AFL Club
North Melbourne
1. Tarrant, Thomas, McKay, Hayden, Perez & EVW in defence

2. Cunnington, Polec, Jy, LDU, Anderson, Walker, McDonald & Scott in the midfield

3. Taylor, Larkey, Comben & Zurhaar up forward

4.Goldy to continue to assist Xerri’s development.

McKay cementing his future as the Taz replacement would be biggest win of all.
 

shimaburnsgrieg

Premiership Player
Apr 1, 2017
4,357
10,092
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Well there is 10 games to go.

We still have to play 5 of the top 6 sides and then 2 games in Perth against the WA sides - so there is 7 losses.

Of course we have a game against Melbourne - not sure if we want to win or lose that?

In that context I want to see

- Hosie and Murphy in - are they up to it or do we delist?

- Bonar and Ahern into the middle - they are useless elsewhere so let's see if they can play there over 3-4 games.

- Perez and Comben get a couple of games late just to give them a taste.

Basically - we need to see the whole list played so that at year end we are still not 'guessing' as to whether blokes are made out for AFL footy.

To have so much dead wood on a supposedly professional elite AFL list is deplorable and Joyce and Scott will never work at the elite level in club land again because of it.

We can still get value out of the next 10 weeks - we just have to approach it professionally with a view to next year.
 

The Butcher

All Australian
Mar 8, 2011
833
912
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Our coaches and leaders to show, thru glimpses on field, that they do in fact know a method to make playing footy as easy as possible. It looks bloody hard every minute of every qtr atm. Maybe they do know, but execution lets them down.. but without some glimpses it's becoming harder to care. I want to care.
 

DunderHead

Premiership Player
Apr 12, 2007
3,694
6,424
Melbourne
AFL Club
North Melbourne
LDU Walker Larkey Thomas Bonner Hosie EVW Hayden Scott EVW Turner McKay Zurhar Curtis Simpkin McDonald Mahoney Crocker Xerri Murphy Perez Ahern Durdin

25s and under. These guys could be playing for the next 5+ years. Get them fit and give them a decent crack at working in the seniors together. This will provide valuable feedback on what needs to be worked on during the pre-season.
 
Jul 6, 2006
1,969
1,146
Hong Kong
AFL Club
North Melbourne
New things:

Need to give Hosie a game, can’t be any worse than our other forwards.
Murphy is a backman, play him back rather than Bonar who is clearly not a backman. If Bonar is supposed to be a big-bodied midfielder, play him in the midfield

Not sure how we can do this but we need to let some players play on instinct. Jye, Zhurrhar, Thomas, Taylor all seem to be able to act on instinct and when they get the ball they make something happen. They spend less time overthinking and more time being in the moment. The game is too fast to reward logical, calculated thinkers, need a bit more faith and a bit less worry.

Some things I want to see more of:

LMac is looking great as a tagger and starting to win some possessions

I nearly forgot what it is like to have a forward who can take a mark. How can a three club reject backman be our best forward? Love his switch forward, we have been crying out for a genuine power forward as a foil to BBB's endurance game. When the kick down the line gets marked, suddenly it becomes a genuine option.

Scott, Taylor and Mahony didn't do much but i'd rather they are getting games and learning their craft. Same with Xerri having a few games.

Hayden butchering the ball going for a dangerous kick is bad but not as bad going around in circles and still giving up the goal. His courage was phenomenal and when he does hit those kicks it actually opens up the game for us.

BMac did pretty well, conceded a few but who didn't against the quality of ball coming in. Was pretty quick and clean with his disposal too

Aggressive 1%'s like standing the mark, shepherding and fists

Some things I don't want to see:

Pittard barking at others while he is covering neither a man or dangerous space.
Pittard playing forward. It was good to experiment but let's learn from that. Atley is better forward than back.

Injured players being selected. Anyone remember Corey Jones on crutches in the background while Laids is telling the world he is right to go?

When Ziebs was fit and had a pre-season he was an accumulator, able to rack up 30+ in a game. Who can do that for us now? Really not sure what he offers to us. As a forward he barely touches the ball and can't kick a goal. Fitness is a big part of his best football. If he has a late start to the preseason then he should not be in the team until his fitness is back up to scratch. Hiding an unfit mid at half forward cannot happen at this level and he is no Lockett.

NMFC players jogging at half speed when the ball is in their area. That's were teams kill us, they run flat out to turn a non-contest into a fifty fity. Everyone has just outworked us in the last 5 weeks. They run harder and they get to the next contest. That's what Turner and Anderson do all day and the rest of the team have relied on those two to cover their arses. How could Richmond have us outnumbered forward and back?

Experienced players falling over at contests and not getting back onto their feet in time to make a meaningful contribution. Keep your feet or get up quick. That's under 11 stuff, fall over in a contest so the coach thinks you had a crack. FFS

Our 200 game players slowing things down and killing momentum. Do they really hate BBB that much?

Playing day footy in dewy conditions. You know you are playing in greasy QLD evenings so do your skills sessions and match sims at the same time. Can't pick up a ball to save themselves atm. Kick it off the ground and chase and knock it forward until you can

Standing at a contest calling for the ball. Hit the contest hard, and if you don't get the ball hit it again. We are never going to break a game open by standing around doing hot potato handball drills.

We seem to have a few players who don't think quickly, or think too much or perhaps they just doubt themselves. The result is stagnant and predictable play with little threat to the opposition. If you were the opposition team, what about North would make you afraid? Not our ball movement, nor our spread nor our marking power or our speed. You know exactly what you are going to get and you can plan accordingly. I thought Shaw did some nice things last year when he tweaked the game-plan and caught people off-guard. We have become irritating predictable, both at the individual level and the team level.


Injuries have cruelled us, Umpiring has been off but gee we don't give ourselves much of a chance sometimes.
 

barnrokn

Club Legend
Aug 1, 2017
1,627
5,425
Straightouttanthmelb
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
Port Melbourne
Kate Upton's ****
2C0DFDF7-5EDD-4426-BD56-6A5EBA2F72CC.gif
 

zoomba23

Norm Smith Medallist
Jun 17, 2017
5,485
15,116
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Haven't beaten Adelaide there since 2003.
Port since 2011. We have never won at the Adelaide oval.

Let's play the kids and get the high draft pick.
Yeah, fully agree. But seriously mate, the state Adelaide is in right now, we'd be hard pushed to lose to them even if we tried, no matter where we play. But, then again, if anyone could manage such a feat, it'd be North
 

Cool Kangas

Norm Smith Medallist
Jun 2, 2010
5,293
5,729
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Very conflicted with this one; See north bring passion and energy and try their hardest to win a few games and maintain a winning culture or keep losing to secure better talent?

I think winning and trying to build confidence is better.
 

TurnoverMerchant

Vanilla Campaigner
Jul 11, 2019
1,275
2,712
Melbourne
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
Leeds United
I would like to see one game where LDU tears up the midfield please. Obviously he has been injured, but towards the end of the season I'd like to see his form pick up.
 
Aug 16, 2009
10,259
20,868
North Caulfield
AFL Club
North Melbourne
So were you happy when he did this on Saturday?
I was actually wrapt when it happened, could be a small step to where he needs to go.
He’s never really just been a lead mark kick player.
At his best, in years gone by, he’s been exactly like that and launched at the ball, being happy to lift his knee and jump hard.
He‘s a much more rounded player to the one we are seeing this year.
 

DunderHead

Premiership Player
Apr 12, 2007
3,694
6,424
Melbourne
AFL Club
North Melbourne
I think we’ve found a few players this year - rediscovered a few players moving them around the field.

If we could find a few more (4) to lock-in for next year it would turn this into a good development year.

That could mean Turner locking down a small defender position or Maj the third tall forward.

It might be EVW or Walker playing a string of games.

It could be LDU or Bonner demonstrating their high value.

Could be Murphy or Hosie demanding their spot and holding it.

Don Tyson returning to deepen the midfield rotations.
 
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