Preview Changes vs Gold Coast Franchise Sunday 4:40pm @ Metricon

[Roosurgence]

Howe isn't getting dropped. He was on of the better players on Saturday.

Better is probably being a bit kind as the rest of the team was so shit. He was just slightly less shit than others.

If you watch the replay there is one constant with Howe, his decision making is deplorable. He is that bloke that runs by and then goes Oh ****! What do I do now? The amount of times he took a handball receive and either stopped or slowed down and then proceeded to sell a teammate into trouble were numerous.

He’s Luke McDonalds twin. Two players who call for it without any idea of what to do next. Having these type of players in the modern game, which is all about keeping the ball flowing and linking up chains of possession, is death by 1000 cuts.

 

[DuckYeah]

What? no more than half that

Yep, too slow, too cumbersome. I reckon he was asked to push up to be tested how fast he can get back. Dont be surprised if Clarkson is testing him out. I dont think AC cares about W’s or L’s this year. He just wants to know what his players can and cant do. McKay cant create a contest midfield and get back fast enough.

 

[Liam Boy]

Logue and McKay could absolutely clean up against this Suns side, their deplorable forward entry might be enough to play the duo into AA form

 

[chubbspeterson]

Winnable game but we might not win as I reckon GC are better at home but they're a bit flaky as a side.
But really with their age and games experience they should really beat us.

Out: Simpkin (inj), Sheez (rest, copped a beating), Howe (spud), Taylor or Turner
In: Goater, Perez, Bergman, Curtis

With Simpkin out, I'd consider throwing LMac into the middle but I'd understand if he wants to stabilise a back six group.

 

[Mav]

Better is probably being a bit kind as the rest of the team was so s**t. He was just slightly less s**t than others.

If you watch the replay there is one constant with Howe, his decision making is deplorable. He is that bloke that runs by and then goes Oh *! What do I do now? The amount of times he took a handball receive and either stopped or slowed down and then proceeded to sell a teammate into trouble were numerous.

He’s Luke McDonalds twin. Two players who call for it without any idea of what to do next. Having these type of players in the modern game, which is all about keeping the ball flowing and linking up chains of possession, is death by 1000 cuts.

I agree he's not much chop but we had far worse player than him on the weekend.

 

[bennymate]

Mate, what a s**t weekend for us Arsenal and North supporters


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I've already started accepting 2nd

 

[Roosurgence]

I agree he's not much chop but we had far worse player than him on the weekend.

I’m not denying that point.

My statement was more in response that just because the rest of the playing list sucked balls, should we be praising his game on the weekend.

He was ordinary at best and as I stated was one of the main culprits for chains of play breaking down.

The club needs to focus on players that will make us better and I am not sure this guy fits that criteria.

I can live with the output of someone like Shiels, because he brings other intangibles to the table, but I am not sure what Howe brings?

Clarko seems to like him, so for better or worse it looks like we are stuck with him in the 22 for the moment.

 

[Cyber_punk]

We are cursed vs Gold Coast. We are horrible in milestone games.

I'll watch this somewhere public, sad and dingy after work, much like I recall watching us lose to the Suns in the pokies pub opposite the Airlie Beach caravan park in 2015, ruining our chances of a top four finish. If we win this week I'll know that something has really changed in this club's DNA.
I don't think it has yet though.

Want to see Curtis and Bergman in.

Whenever I think of the typical Brad lose-a-game-we-should-have-won match, that's one of the first ones I think of.

From memory they were bottom 4 at the time with extensive injuries and they belted us by 9 goals. Just a 'yeah, whatever, we'll do it next time' attitude that stunk under Brad sides. 2014 and 2013 come to think of it too...we have form in saving our laziest for this mob.

 

[R00StaR]

Yep, too slow, too cumbersome. I reckon he was asked to push up to be tested how fast he can get back. Dont be surprised if Clarkson is testing him out. I dont think AC cares about W’s or L’s this year. He just wants to know what his players can and cant do. McKay cant create a contest midfield and get back fast enough.

Id want to see more under Clarkos plan to come to that conclusion tbh, but you may be right.
There were times he and others to be fair pushed up to impact the play ahead and either didnt impact at all or we turned it over in lightening fashion which caught out our structure probably 10 times. McKay's mistakes in that regard im confident he'll over come, its a timing thing.
For mine its pretty simple, the 500k + range is key forward and mids money. Top line defenders might push 500 + incentives but thats about it.

 

[Event Horizon]

I've already started accepting 2nd

It’s pretty hard to do after such a season and given we never got anywhere in any other competitions, with the Sporting debacle especially hard to take


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[The Nostradamus]

I’m not denying that point.

My statement was more in response that just because the rest of the playing list sucked balls, should we be praising his game on the weekend.

He was ordinary at best and as I stated was one of the main culprits for chains of play breaking down.

The club needs to focus on players that will make us better and I am not sure this guy fits that criteria.

I can live with the output of someone like Shiels, because he brings other intangibles to the table, but I am not sure what Howe brings?

Clarko seems to like him, so for better or worse it looks like we are stuck with him in the 22 for the moment.

Yep Howe got to his 100 games milestone which looked like he was never going to get once delisted

He can **** off to the vfl now

 

[franjon]

Better is probably being a bit kind as the rest of the team was so s**t. He was just slightly less s**t than others.

If you watch the replay there is one constant with Howe, his decision making is deplorable. He is that bloke that runs by and then goes Oh *! What do I do now? The amount of times he took a handball receive and either stopped or slowed down and then proceeded to sell a teammate into trouble were numerous.

He’s Luke McDonalds twin. Two players who call for it without any idea of what to do next. Having these type of players in the modern game, which is all about keeping the ball flowing and linking up chains of possession, is death by 1000 cuts.

The new Shaun Atley?

 

[shimaburnsgrieg]

Winnable game but we might not win as I reckon GC are better at home but they're a bit flaky as a side.
But really with their age and games experience they should really beat us.

Out: Simpkin (inj), Sheez (rest, copped a beating), Howe (spud), Taylor or Turner
In: Goater, Perez, Bergman, Curtis

With Simpkin out, I'd consider throwing LMac into the middle but I'd understand if he wants to stabilise a back six group.

You do know we were over a year older than GC with an extra 30 games experience per player last week? We will have them easily covered in both departments this week.

 

[shimaburnsgrieg]

Better is probably being a bit kind as the rest of the team was so s**t. He was just slightly less s**t than others.

If you watch the replay there is one constant with Howe, his decision making is deplorable. He is that bloke that runs by and then goes Oh *! What do I do now? The amount of times he took a handball receive and either stopped or slowed down and then proceeded to sell a teammate into trouble were numerous.

He’s Luke McDonalds twin. Two players who call for it without any idea of what to do next. Having these type of players in the modern game, which is all about keeping the ball flowing and linking up chains of possession, is death by 1000 cuts.

So a chance to be Captain and given a 6 year contract - I'm sure he will lap that up.

 

[Liam Boy]

You do know we were over a year older than GC with an extra 30 games experience per player last week? We will have them easily covered in both departments this week.

Many of those experienced players are A. very new to the club and B. old and past it. Todd Goldstein and Ben Cunnington push those figures up very disproportionately to what they're actually bringing in 2023.

 

[berniemccarthy]

Mate, what a s**t weekend for us Arsenal and North supporters


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Hideous. Players thought they were home just like we did.

 

[berniemccarthy]

It’s pretty hard to do after such a season and given we never got anywhere in any other competitions, with the Sporting debacle especially hard to take


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I was at that game. We need another game like that v City.

 

[franjon]

I mostly feel sorry for Goldy that he's playing his 300th up there and not at home in front of his fans. We're all family at North.

 

[Rod Stroker]

Dew and the Suns are getting hammered in the media. 1 and 4, lost winnable games, were they right to extend him, etc.
They will be fired up this week. Hope I'm wrong but I expect them to win at a venue that we notoriously struggle at, particularly at night.

 

[Rod Stroker]

Howe isn't getting dropped. He was on of the better players on Saturday.

Sadly this is true. After Sheez he was our highest ranked player. But that's not saying much when so many of our guys were poor and the opposition dominated.

I would prefer his spot went to someone else, but I can't see it happening, at least not this week.

 

[FootySmartSimpson]

While we are likely to persist with Corr, Logue and McKay for a few weeks, I hope Clarko starts thinking about alternatives for the third KPD. Whether that be Bons or Dawson (as a leaner faster rebounding interceptor KPD). In addition to Ziebell, we are effectively playing 4 KPDs atm.

Long story short, we need to drop Corr for one of Hall/Bergman/Goater.

Would rather McKay earn his game time in ones by gaining some form.

 

[FootySmartSimpson]

Really strong VFL performance. Really poor AFL performance.

All eyes on integrity of selection this week.

Keep it simple. Reward good form.

 

[amaz199]

There's also a big difference between a team under the same coach for more than 5 years compared to Clarkson that just got 5 rounds in.

I went to home games last year thinking 'gee I hope we can keep it under 10 goals today'. Such a loser attitude. What a horrible time to be a North member with the horrifying 'privilege' of watching your beloved footy club get pummeled only to be game over by HT. Even against sides that were average at best, we couldn't even muster up a fight.

I'd like to see how we're tracking after we've moulded into Clarkson's structures. Right off the bat, they seem a little bit extreme but there's clearly been some improvement already. From the players we've brought in and how we've set up. Putting Brisbane aside, there's been some circumstances out of our control that meant our depth gets tested again.

This season, we've owned WA, gone through some shitty periods against Hawthorn with a very inexperienced midfield, got done against Carlton with no backline then have to contend with a hot Brisbane looking to finally put it together. That sounds like a lot to take in for a footy club that just won the wooden spoon twice in a row.

The difference is, at least we're going in with something. The footy side has to start somewhere. We've regressed so badly and gone through so much hardship and pain that I'm prepared to give Clarkson quite a bit of leeway before even attempting to be critical. There's just so much of the playing group still trying to play footy proper again after being coached by absolute knobs that took the club for a rollercoaster ride.

There's one thing that hurts more than watching us lose is looking for answers and we got none from the guys in control. That's what confirmed to me that the guys training the boys didn't know what to do. Stark contrast to what we've seen from our coaching panel this year. Not even a comparison.

The club has got serious, but the players are still adjusting. We're not a overnight success.

 

[zoomba23]

There's also a big difference between a team under the same coach for more than 5 years compared to Clarkson that just got 5 rounds in.

I went to home games last year thinking 'gee I hope we can keep it under 10 goals today'. Such a loser attitude. What a horrible time to be a North member with the horrifying 'privilege' of watching your beloved footy club get pummeled only to be game over by HT. Even against sides that were average at best, we couldn't even muster up a fight.

You're obviously right in the broader context of what a footy club is supposed to be about, but I've gotta say, at the GWS game last year, I felt the tightest bond with North fans since probably the 2014 elim.

The media beat it up as an absolute non-spectacle that no one would watch, predicted less than 10k at the game.

13k people turned up, which was pretty ****ing good for a team with our fan numbers on the most wretched run of form in history. From memory GWS kicked the first eight goals, yet we didn't drop our bundle. In fact, every good moment from a North player was cheered with gusto. Every goal was savoured to the absolute max. Every shit umpiring call, and there were a couple, was taken personally. I've rarely felt such a connection to my fellow fans. It was like we all collectively decided to stick it to the media and, as cringe as it sounds, affirm beyond any doubt that we loved our club. We cheered every good moment for all it was worth and I genuinely came away from that game, which was a roughly 50 point loss, feeling happy and totally connected to the rest of the fanbase.

Now obviously that's not an ideal result when you consider that the objective of this league is to win a flag, but **** me did some of those games last year teach me some perspective. When better days come and we're contending again, I'm going to try and make sure to remember moments like that GWS game, because yeah, you could call what we had last year a loser attitude, but without the bad times, the good times lose all meaning. And I'm aware that that sounds preachy and w***ery, but that was some powerful ****ing shit I felt in that stadium that day, and I don't know how else to put it. The connection that the club's shitness brought was ****ing profound

 

[amaz199]

You're obviously right in the broader context of what a footy club is supposed to be about, but I've gotta say, at the GWS game last year, I felt the tightest bond with North fans since probably the 2014 elim.

The media beat it up as an absolute non-spectacle that no one would watch, predicted less than 10k at the game.

13k people turned up, which was pretty ******* good for a team with our fan numbers on the most wretched run of form in history. From memory GWS kicked the first eight goals, yet we didn't drop our bundle. In fact, every good moment from a North player was cheered with gusto. Every goal was savoured to the absolute max. Every s**t umpiring call, and there were a couple, was taken personally. I've rarely felt such a connection to my fellow fans. It was like we all collectively decided to stick it to the media and, as cringe as it sounds, affirm beyond any doubt that we loved our club. We cheered every good moment for all it was worth and I genuinely came away from that game, which was a roughly 50 point loss, feeling happy.

Now obviously that's not an ideal result when you consider that the objective of this league is to win a flag, but * me did some of those games last year teach me some perspective. When better days come and we're contending again, I'm going to try and make sure to remember moments like that GWS game, because yeah, you could call what we had last year a loser attitude, but without the bad times, the good times lose all meaning. And I'm aware that that sounds preachy and w*ery, but that was some powerful ***** s**t I felt in that stadium that day, and I don't know how else to put it

I was there too. I agree there were some entertaining moments but for me the best moment was the Richmond game. I didn't think we had it in us. Richmond choked and we somehow got home. That was just about the biggest upset since Melbourne beat *Essendon in 2012.

2022 was more about watching carefully how we were setting up from a opposition kick-in, centre bounce, stoppages and from our kick-ins. This was literally because it was boring watching us get belted. So I made it more worthwhile.

There's no surprise that Russell kept his job because the stoppage setups, centre bounce setups and how we were winning clearances was a good thing. Everything else was dreadful and the coaches were sacked as a result. I seem to recall just how essentially useless we were at defending the opposition kick-ins. We were so poor at defending the transition it was horrible to watch our players ball watch whilst their man got separation. The coaches did nothing about it. Couldn't give a toss until Patch had enough and stripped it back. Then there were the forward half entries LOL. They are still bad but my god we were much worse last year and I think we've forgotten how bad it was. It was painful getting the ball even remotely close to our 50 but to score meant we'd have to choose the hardest way to score at every opportunity.

This is all still fresh because 11 games of torture can do that to you (except for Richmond win).

We're just coming from such a long way back it's not even funny. It's really hard to see how we even managed to win two games. Honestly we could've gone winless (barely got home against WAFL Eagles). No joke, we were really that bad.

We were just so uninspiring and lifeless. That's what kills ya the most. Not when you care but when you carry the same vibe as the playing group. Depressing as hell..

So happy we've got Clarkson because he is already making an impact. I'd appreciate if everyone watched the post match interviews. The players are already switched onto what they have to work on. There's a clear message.

There's still a long way to go, but there's just so much more to look forward to.