Autopsy vs Crows - Round 9 2020

Well you missed some good, entertaining footy, regardless of the dumpster-fire-being-run-over-by-a-sh*t-truck opposition.

People aren't celebrating like we won a flag but the fact that we played watchable, free flowing footy for the first time in ages (thanks for providing unfettered access to to corridor, Crows 👍).

Unless we literally laid down and played dead, it just wasn't possible to have lost yesterday. May as well have put the foot down and enjoyed some quality match sim in the process.

I think we're still well on target for a haul of high draft picks. The Handbaggers will likely bring us back to Earth on Wednesday and we may beat the GoDees the following week but that's basically a case of shuffling or own deck when it comes to draft picks. Outside of that, depending on where we play the Dockers, we're not in huge danger of getting on a run and finishing ninth.

I think we roll Melbourne.

I reckon we roll Freo as well.

There is a sizeable unknown of what the compressed fixture does to teams, how they cope, how we cope.

I think 3 things will happen from this point
1) we will see at least another win or two.
2) we will have games where we're in it but not really in it
3) we will have games where we look nothing like it.

Bottom 6 almost certainly.
Bottom 4 probably.
Bottom 2 possible.
 
Didn't watch a second but happy to tell us we are all wrong.
Mate, Arjen has been banging on about picks for YEARS, so he's pretty frustrated given the mid table cycle we've been stuck in for years, so I can understand where he's coming from.

But, it's pre emptive tears at this stage. Melbourne have a game in hand on us & have Adelaide next match. We've got Geelong who will be smarting after last night. Hawthorn have Freo. We aren't rocketing up the ladder just yet and given our horrendous injuries are unlikely to either.

We're still firmly entrenched in top 5 pick territory and with Melbourne still around the mark, then that's just all the better.
 

Waussie

Premiership Player
Nov 26, 2017
3,375
5,294
AFL Club
North Melbourne
A couple of comments for anyone who wishes we’d lost yesterday.

First, Adelaide were as bad as I’ve seen a team play. At least you knew GC and GWS had talent even if they were being outmuscled. Crows played with no skill, no confidence and no fight. North couldn’t have lost that game without pulling tanking tricks so obvious they’d have seen us fined and banned from the draft.

Second, the players aren’t doing this for us or our draft dreams. I exchanged texts with Jack Mahoney’s mum yesterday and suffice to say he wouldn’t have thrown away his first goals and first win, after a lifelong dream of playing AFL, because a couple of Bigfooty numpties decided a loss would have been for the greater good. These guys have their careers on the line. Six losses takes Ben Brown from one of the league’s top forwards to a guy dropped from the team sitting 17th. What does a season of losses do for any of them, whether in or out of contract. Pull your heads in. They are playing professional sport to the best of their ability and we pay for the pleasure of watching them do it. Enjoy it or choose not to but yesterday they had the chance to do well what they love to do and are paid to do - and to share it with a teammate who 18 months ago might not have walked again.

It’s not the first step to a flag but if it is a step towards them regaining some confidence and belief that can only be a good thing. Draft pick stars plus no belief and you are down for a decade or more like Carlton or Melbourne. And if it’s just one fun day, then honestly - especially now - that can’t be a bad thing either.
In a nutshell^
 

7577969923

Norm Smith Medallist
Sep 20, 2018
6,178
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AFL Club
North Melbourne
Mate, Arjen has been banging on about picks for YEARS, so he's pretty frustrated given the mid table cycle we've been stuck in for years, so I can understand where he's coming from.

But, it's pre emptive tears at this stage. Melbourne have a game in hand on us & have Adelaide next match. We've got Geelong who will be smarting after last night. Hawthorn have Freo. We aren't rocketing up the ladder just yet and given our horrendous injuries are unlikely to either.

We're still firmly entrenched in top 5 pick territory and with Melbourne still around the mark, then that's just all the better.

Becoming an obnoxious twat because we beat the team that is clearly the worst in the comp is not the way to handle things. Yes, we all want top-quality draft picks this year but they are not a silver bullet. Look at Carlton who can just about put 18 top 10 picks on the park and yet have been rubbish for a long time and are still at least a year or two away from being serious contenders. Yesterday was great for the development of a lot of our young players and it is important to keep a culture of setting standards and ruthlessness.
On top of those things, we can't tank and that was the only way we lose to Adelaide. I can't see us getting close to Geelong unless the travel really knocks them around. We should be sending players that need surgery to have it done now rather than after the season, we should be picking young players to get games and development into them, we should be trying to build a game plan that maybe we are not ready for but is what we need to compete at the level. If we do those things then we might lose a few that we otherwise could have won but we should absolutely have the expectation that on game day the players we have and the coaches are committing 100% to win on the day.
 

DunderHead

Premiership Player
Apr 12, 2007
3,697
6,432
Melbourne
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Watched the replay today and I was really impressed with our kids.

Curtis Taylor hasn’t had much of a rap on here. Some of his contests and disposals were super impressive. I seriously could go through each of the kids and list of some really good pieces of play. That’s where our skill is coming from. Future looks bright guys.
 
Always happy to get a win myself, especially against Adelaide.

Like you, I don't know why people would be getting upset after yesterday either, regardless of whether you're a glass half empty man or a half full one.

Shaw will still experiment with roles, personell, game plan, etc. & we're still going to have a pretty awful injury list for the moment, so we don't need to 'tank". Throw in an uncertain draw, Corona Virus impacts and God knows what other s**t we get this season, then our likely finish is bottom 5. On top of that you can add the Melbourne deal, so I see top picks next year being pretty much a fait accompli.

That should see the Anti Tanker Camp as well as the Draft Picks Before "meaningless" Wins Camp both satisfied.
 

7577969923

Norm Smith Medallist
Sep 20, 2018
6,178
16,389
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Watched the replay today and I was really impressed with our kids.

Curtis Taylor hasn’t had much of a rap on here. Some of his contests and disposals were super impressive. I seriously could go through each of the kids and list of some really good pieces of play. That’s where our skill is coming from. Future looks bright guys.
Didn't get much of it but his vision, decisions, and execution with the ball in hand are as good as we have already. He gave two brilliant handballs out of congestion that opened up play for us and led directly to goals. Playing his role and at his age, there will be some days where he has low stats and others where he gets the ball 15 times for 3 goals and 3 assists. Loving his development and proving to be an inspired selection at 46 in his draft. Would easily be top 20 if that draft was run again.
 

7577969923

Norm Smith Medallist
Sep 20, 2018
6,178
16,389
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Against a sh*t side, our full battlers from 2020 looked like A graders. Dont read too much into it. We’ll get pantsed by geelong and back here slaughtering senior leadership players.

A fair dose of truth in that. Would the team that Adelaide put out yesterday beat the Richmond VFL team from last year?
 
Watched the replay today and I was really impressed with our kids.

Curtis Taylor hasn’t had much of a rap on here. Some of his contests and disposals were super impressive. I seriously could go through each of the kids and list of some really good pieces of play. That’s where our skill is coming from. Future looks bright guys.
I have been impressed with Curtis this year. He is my fave player. I look forward to watching his career unfold.
 
Oct 9, 2003
44,641
42,267
Singapore / 30,000 feet
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North Melbourne
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Eagles (NFL), Suns (NBA)
Where's Rod Stroker and his pitchfork?

.
Obsessed.

Must be difficult for you to type with those pom poms in your hands.

If you're satisfied with beating up on 18th, while ignoring that our season was already over before the game started because our coaching isn't up to it with poor skills, game plan, selection, positional moves... then I'm not surprised. Widespread acceptance of such mediocrity only exacerbates the issue.

Wonder if you'll be as lippy on Wednesday night.
 

DrZaius

GENERATIONAL
Mar 28, 2016
4,226
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norf
Celebrate what mate?

I didn’t watch a second of it.

Happy for Maj, Luke and LDU, but meaningless wins that are detrimental to our future are going to be called out.

Well mate if you actually bothered to watch the ******* game you would've seen that some of our kids (i.e our FUTURE) were some of our best.

LDU 2 goals, Mahoney 2 goals, Zurhaar 3 goals, Larkey 2 goals. Bloody hell Simpkin had a down day but even he had 17 touches and a goal.

How can winning games by playing our KIDS possibly be detrimental for our future?
 

Ether

Club Legend
Oct 21, 2019
1,128
2,708
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Geeze you're a real pleasure to have around to celebrate a win huh? We put out a team yesterday with plenty of kids, lacking brown, polec, ziebell, cunnington, pre-game I thought those selections (polec, brown) were showing we were trying to tank against the bottom side. I think it'd be a negative to tell the kids that we're trying to develop into our next premiership side, to deliberately play worse than they can.

Do I think on the back of yesterday we can achieve anything meaningful in terms of finals or premiership this year? No. But I also don't think we could have managed to find any way to lose against that rabble in a way that would have avoided us accusations of tanking and potential sanctions. And the positive of getting some confidence into the kids is probably a better net result.

Don't worry, geelong will probably still comfortably beat us on Wednesday, and you can still have your favoured result.
You should hear him after a loss.
 
If you're satisfied with beating up on 18th, while ignoring that our season was already over before the game started because our coaching isn't up to it with poor skills, game plan, selection, positional moves... then I'm not surprised. Widespread acceptance of such mediocrity only exacerbates the issue.
Nice strawman :thumbsu:
 

DrZaius

GENERATIONAL
Mar 28, 2016
4,226
11,294
AFL Club
North Melbourne
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norf
Obsessed.

Must be difficult for you to type with those pom poms in your hands.

If you're satisfied with beating up on 18th, while ignoring that our season was already over before the game started because our coaching isn't up to it with poor skills, game plan, selection, positional moves... then I'm not surprised. Widespread acceptance of such mediocrity only exacerbates the issue.

Wonder if you'll be as lippy on Wednesday night.

So what will your response be when supercoach Teague takes the blues to a podium finish of 12th this year?

EDIT: I don't think Teague is a bad coach.
 
Oct 9, 2003
44,641
42,267
Singapore / 30,000 feet
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
Eagles (NFL), Suns (NBA)
Nice strawman :thumbsu:
headinsand_getty_crop_nov_2014_0.png
 

Ether

Club Legend
Oct 21, 2019
1,128
2,708
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Obsessed.

Must be difficult for you to type with those pom poms in your hands.

If you're satisfied with beating up on 18th, while ignoring that our season was already over before the game started because our coaching isn't up to it with poor skills, game plan, selection, positional moves... then I'm not surprised. Widespread acceptance of such mediocrity only exacerbates the issue.

Wonder if you'll be as lippy on Wednesday night.
I may be crazy but I barrack for my team to win games. Given that the draft is going to be a lottery we may not lose anything by dropping from pick 2 to pick 5 anyway.
 
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