Autopsy AFL 2024 Round 7 - North v Crows Sat April 27th 1:45pm AEST (Blundstone)

[TheKanga]

No supporter base deserve this

I've lived in my current house 2 years in that time seen only 3 wins.

Makes me almost lose interest in footy at times.

 

[TheKanga]

They deserve this and worse. and they will get worse in a few weeks. Playing against JHF then Reid back-to-back.

And you will deserve the tarps again next time your bottom 4 and JHF will cry

 

[BratPack]

Clarko is straight up stealing money from North, there seems to be absolutely no direction to this side.

You could reincarnate Norm Smith and Norf will STILL be 0-7

 

[Pies No 1]

They need to start demoting teams from the AFL. The two bottom sides should go into a competition at season's end with the best teams from the next tier down. I think Port Melbourne, Norwood, East Fremantle and probably a random team up in QLD could beat North Melbourne right now. If North lost to one of these teams.. that team takes their place in the League for 3 years.

 

[Blightys Barrel]

Will probably move to the Dons.

Smilie must be dreading hearing his name called out. Would be surprised if many kids aspire to go to nmfc, aside from some father sons.

I reckon to get an established champion to move there would cost $2.0m pa. The only players going there atm are fringe C and B graders.

That’s been super kind to Stephens and Fisher. Have collectively averaged 3.4 tackles a game this season. I reckon Horse and Vossy must have been high 5’ing each other after the trade season was done. “We could not believe Clarko and Rawlings put 4 year contracts in front of these guys who were clogging our lists. We should have offered a few bottles of snake oil while we were at it”.

 

[Blightys Barrel]

My enjoyment of the game has waned because of our performances. Gotten worse each year.

The priority picks we got were essentially start of 2nd round picks, which with father-son and academy picks, are about pick 20-25. The AFL also gave us some 2nd round picks that we had to trade, so other clubs knew they did not have to offer much.

The only players silly enough to want to come are C graders like Coleman Jones from Richmond or Stephens from Sydney, Tucker from Freo, and Zac Fisher. The one decent player we got in Logue does an ACL.

Then we get JHF but he doesn't want to stay, and then lose a chance to draft Harley Reid, and then Taryn Thomas gets sacked.

More punches to the gut.

Recruiting has been awful - some of the new recruits got 4 year contracts. We tried to land big fishes in Gaff and Dusty with money, to no avail too. So money isn't going to attract good players.

The only senior players left in the team in are:

150+ games
Luke McDonald - wouldn't get a game for any other team, should be dropped but he's captain

100-149 games
Aiden Corr - should be dropped
Jy Simpkin - hasn't regained his form since multiple concussions in the last 12 months
Darcy Tucker - the only type who'd come
Zac Fisher - another experienced recruit
Cam Zurhaar - has put contract talks on hold
Nick Larkey - probably should be captain, and our only AA player

The type of players we can recruit are Fisher, Tucker, Stephens etc, that no other club really wanted. Dangerfield, Tom Lynch, Jeremy Cameron types won't pick North.

Of the 7 players who've played 100 games, I think only Larkey and perhaps Zurharr would be in another teams best 22.

It's really hard to see a short term fix. More priority picks aren't the answer. We've recruited midfielders, yet can't win a centre clearance. And there are unlikely to be KPD or KPF in the top ten of the draft this year.

Having opposition fans kick their boots into us when we're down doesn't hurt as much as it should, as we know it's going to be years to turn this around. The young talented players need to get to 50+ games, and that's 2-3 seasons away.

What we need is the AFL to allow us to spend more in player development, recruiting resources etc. Maybe increase the soft cap, or give the club the money to spend. It's terrible for the competition, as any club that plays us twice has an advantage over teams that don't.

To those who want us kicked out of the competition or to fold - we have a unique game that's played in one country only. It's the best game in the world. If you truly love footy, you embrace the history, spectacle and uniqueness of our sport. Losing any club tears at the fabric of our game, and makes it poorer. I bought Richmond memberships when they were almost broke and donated to them. Same with Fitzroy and Footscray. Losing any club erases some of the history of our game.

Post of the day - you get my 3 votes

 

[Soggy2112]

To those who want us kicked out of the competition or to fold - we have a unique game that's played in one country only. It's the best game in the world. If you truly love footy, you embrace the history, spectacle and uniqueness of our sport. Losing any club tears at the fabric of our game, and makes it poorer. I bought Richmond memberships when they were almost broke and donated to them. Same with Fitzroy and Footscray. Losing any club erases some of the history of our game.

I understand this but it comes from an inherently Victorian-centric point of view. If the AFL is truly a national competition then North Melbourne has the same historical significance as Norwood or Subiaco.

As a member of a club languishing at the bottom I find the idea that North are entitled to benefits that we aren’t to be incredibly frustrating. We are trying to scrap our way off the bottom and are doin so with zero assistance.

I get that it’s near impossible for North to get out of their hole on their own, but if they can’t do so, do they deserve their place?

 

[Obzerva]

For North’s sake I’d hope they’re not in the same position in 3 years time, otherwise it’s really going to hurt with a double whammy coming at them both on field and off.

Draft talent heading to the Devils, and the Tas government cutting off their funding with no more games in Hobart.