Why is everyone down on North?

[100action]

Reading around, it seems that I'm the only person that thinks not all things are doom and gloom and north.

Some positives:

1. Bailey Scott looks decent and had a very good first game
2. Luke Davies Uniacke coming along nicely as well
3. Aaron Hall seems like a decent recruit and was one of the few to try last game
4. Cunnington continuing to play at a high level
5. Daw coming back in would arguably stabilise the poor backline.
6. membership continues to grow (37k full members? compared to 35k last year)
7. pittard as a recruit seems decent

In my opinion not all is bad at North. What do you guys think of North and where they will finish?

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

8. They just lost a hard fought battle to the Premiers

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

We're ****ed. Tracking for 16th, just ahead of the joke teams, if things don't turn around quickly.

 

[Righteo]

They'll be better when Jacobs and Anderson come back but their fwdline looks like a major handicap at this stage and is probably the source for the most pessimism.

 

[Power Raid]

They have enough to build a solid team around. It will just take time do get time into the kids.

geez......... I wish Brown played for Port

 

[FrankDrebin]

Reading around, it seems that I'm the only person that thinks not all things are doom and gloom and north.

Some positives:

1. Bailey Scott looks decent and had a very good first game
2. Luke Davies Uniacke coming along nicely as well
3. Aaron Hall seems like a decent recruit and was one of the few to try last game
4. Cunnington continuing to play at a high level
5. Daw coming back in would arguably stabilise the poor backline.
6. membership continues to grow (37k full members? compared to 35k last year)
7. pittard as a recruit seems decent

In my opinion not all is bad at North. What do you guys think of North and where they will finish?

Probably because if you were to do a list of positives for all 18 clubs most would look better then what you have provided for North.

Bottom 6 for me. Although both Hall & Polec certainly have their attributes they require the whole team to adapt to play with them, as they don't really tackle or apply pressure.

 

[Americanpies]

It's because their list is actually in their prime in terms of age. They don't have a young team and the players they brought in are also in their prime.

They get smashed by nearly 100 to a young team in Freo, then lose to another young team in Brisbane. With the list they have, they should have enough talent and experience to defeat both of these teams. If they don't make finals now, it's a complete clean out and rebuild, which is obviously different to where they believe they should be.... they see themselves as a top 8 side by bringing in Polec and Hall. If they were expecting bottom 4, they would not have brought these guys in.

 

[master bate]

Forward line: looks very average without Waite. Teams might be starting to get a handle on Ben Brown and Ziebell is struggling getting a quality 2nd defender not the 3rd option.

Midfield: Higgins maybe not at his best (plenty of the ball but little damage v Bris) and when he is he's a star but he's 31 now. Cunnington will continue to do what he does - alternate between dominant inside games and solid inside games. The depth with Hall, Scott and Polec is better but it's still not an elite midfield.

Backline: Defensively can be good especially with more midfield and forward pressure but trying to run and carry like they are Geelong 2007 makes very little sense. It's going to be Luke McDonald, Marley Williams and Jasper alternating turnovers or hospital handballs.

Losing to Brisbane isn't a great shame. They are a good side. I expect North to still finish somewhere between 6th and 14th and be a tough opponent most weeks, but they are probably still an elite player on each line away from a contender and certainly a good 2nd key forward away.

 

[Dazb86]

I don't think the loss to Brisbane will be viewed as bad by the end of the season. North responded after a poor round 1.

They were an outsiders chance of making the 8 prior to the season starting and nothings changed.

 

[master bate]

It's because their list is actually in their prime in terms of age. They don't have a young team and the players they brought in are also in their prime.

They get smashed by nearly 100 to a young team in Freo, then lose to another young team in Brisbane. With the list they have, they should have enough talent and experience to defeat both of these teams. If they don't make finals now, it's a complete clean out and rebuild, which is obviously different to where they believe they should be.... they see themselves as a top 8 side by bringing in Polec and Hall. If they were expecting bottom 4, they would not have brought these guys in.

Brisbane are far from a young side. They have young tall forwards and a spread of youth in the midfield/forward mix but they are more than ready to win games now.

North are older but their rebuilding method is very clear - they are searching for value when adding players in order to stay up the ladder and attempt to land some big fish. In this age when some teams are constantly rebuilding it's quite a valiant effort.

 

[chunkylover53]

It's because their list is actually in their prime in terms of age. They don't have a young team and the players they brought in are also in their prime.

They get smashed by nearly 100 to a young team in Freo, then lose to another young team in Brisbane. With the list they have, they should have enough talent and experience to defeat both of these teams. If they don't make finals now, it's a complete clean out and rebuild, which is obviously different to where they believe they should be.... they see themselves as a top 8 side by bringing in Polec and Hall. If they were expecting bottom 4, they would not have brought these guys in.

They probably should’ve traded their currency and started rebuilding after their prelim losses however they keep choosing to top up. Whether that’s because they think they’re not far off or they can’t afford to be bottom 4 from an fan interest perspective is only known to them I guess.

 

[Pea Nut]

Forward line: looks very average without Waite. Teams might be starting to get a handle on Ben Brown and Ziebell is struggling getting a quality 2nd defender not the 3rd option.

I read over and over and over on this site how much better Mason Wood was compared to Mitch McGovern. I still don't know why. He can't even get a game in a dysfunctional forward line.

 

[CH Jazz]

I just can’t see anything other than vanilla. Vanilla list, vanilla coach, vanilla drafting, vanilla game style. Can’t muster any reason to like them or dislike them. Classic recipe for a 10-14 finish.

 

[The King!]

They are rubbish

 

[Pykie]

They probably should’ve traded their currency and started rebuilding after their prelim losses however they keep choosing to top up. Whether that’s because they think they’re not far off or they can’t afford to be bottom 4 from an fan interest perspective is only known to them I guess.

If by top up you mean drafting 2 top 10 picks in 2 years, then yeah. We’ve been topping up...

You need a relatively healthy list to have a crack at it, season was pretty much over before it began.

Anderson, Jacobs, Daw, Garner are all x-factor types and all very important to our structure, all not likely back soon with the exception of Anderson.

Wood is a cat.

Scott has lost the supporter base by not playing Ahern, he’s close to our best ball users and had an exceptional pre-season/debut season. Baffling.

LDU, Scott and Thomas look exceptional though. They aren’t ready to carry a side though.

 

[100action]

If by top up you mean drafting 2 top 10 picks in 2 years, then yeah. We’ve been topping up...

You need a relatively healthy list to have a crack at it, season was pretty much over before it began.

Anderson, Jacobs, Daw, Garner are all x-factor types and all very important to our structure, all not likely back soon with the exception of Anderson.

Wood is a cat.

Scott has lost the supporter base by not playing Ahern, he’s close to our best ball users and had an exceptional pre-season/debut season. Baffling.

LDU, Scott and Thomas look exceptional though. They aren’t ready to carry a side though.

Ahern is an interesting one because he seems to polarise north supporters. Some don't want him in the side at all.

 

[FISTO]

...Have you seen them play?

 

[Jibroni]

Could be 18th on % this time next week.

 

[Yojimbo]

You can't hide a tall man in the short grass.

I have tipped North this week against the Hawks, they are due.

 

[ThatsjustDappa]

Too many sports reporters with SFA to say.



It's 2 rounds in FFS....

 

[Pykie]

Ahern is an interesting one because he seems to polarise north supporters. Some don't want him in the side at all.

I don’t think you would find one of them on this entire site.

He doesn’t polarize supporters at all...

Wood on the other hand...

 

[GroggSquad]

It was clear at the time and is painstakingly obvious now that Brad Scott royally ****ed up when he pushed games record holder Brent Harvey out of the game (which North young gun half forward flanker’s development was he holding back again??).

You would think he might learn from this tragic mistake (Boomer could’ve played 400+), but no he has completely ****ed up again pushing Waite into retirement, under the delusion that notorious pea-heart Mason Wood would be a formidable replacement.

Fast forward to 2019 and Brad’s got himself a one-dimensional North forward line with an underdone Ben Brown and not much else.

Someone please enlighten me to how this moron has lasted 10 years as the head coach of an AFL club.

 

[Harris 10]

Ahern is an interesting one because he seems to polarise north supporters. Some don't want him in the side at all.

Find me one that doesn’t want him in the side?

 

[Tramps]

We're really bad at development of younger players. Conspiracy theory but I actually reckon the club knows this hence the 'topping up' every year.

 

[Mofra]

We're really bad at development of younger players. Conspiracy theory but I actually reckon the club knows this hence the 'topping up' every year.

I was talking about this the other day, I think it's a real issue. It seems like Scott is a bit stale and a new coach could invigorate the group and give the kids a bit of a boost - he seems to coach-out any X factor the kids come into the system with (exhibit A - Jy Simpkin who was genuinely exciting but seems lost now).

I still can't believe a team with Higgins, Cunnington and Goldstein can get smashed in the centre clearances without some sort of coaching issue. From the outside looking in I'm not sure North fans en masse would be upset with Brad moving on either.