Opinion Commentary & Media VIII

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Clubs should be careful complaining about father-sons. Swings and roundabouts. Saints might be unlucky but it isn’t as if Peter Daicos had some crazy power others don’t to teach his kids.

Geelong drafted Hawkins with a third rounder, which resulted in the system changing. If the system didn’t change we could have picked up McDonald for a third instead of a first.
 

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Black Diamond said:
Clubs should be careful complaining about father-sons. Swings and roundabouts. Saints might be unlucky but it isn’t as if Peter Daicos had some crazy power others don’t to teach his kids.

Geelong drafted Hawkins with a third rounder, which resulted in the system changing. If the system didn’t change we could have picked up McDonald for a third instead of a first.
Click to expand...
Ablett, Scarlett the other Ablett, Blake and others
 
Orange Peanut said:
They were all me weren't they 😳
Click to expand...

Nah

Rather sad how it all turned out from the high hopes of Drafting year

Point is that it’s easy now to say it didn’t work out

There was doubting Thomas though he did point out an inability to lower the eyes
 

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Black Diamond said:
Why did WC bid on him too?

This is a development problem for us. Not a talent ID issue.
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From memory they needed a Half Back…
Think Sheppard had been injured/form unreliable initially
Needed mids too, Sheed at their first wasn’t seen as not filling a need
 
Hojuman said:
HAHA ! You had 5 years Curtis. Good luck elsewhere mate, but you're not it.

Other clubs surprised we delisted you ?
Opportunity given, not taken.
Click to expand...
What surprised that the club who was at the bottom rung decided to end the gravy train to easy street…had plenty off opportunities….but this attitude of lm surprised…get stuffed..
Glad the club has finally got the right attitude of you’ve played bugger all seniors …we’re not paying your wage to do that any more..
Good luck in the real world Curtis…as for other clubs surprised…if your that surprised pick him up …but lm seriously doubting any might…
 
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In that era, Lmac was is the least of our issues draft-wise.

2011 Brad McKenzie
2012 Taylor Garner
2013 Luke McDonald
2014 Sam Durdin
2015 Ben McCay

He stands out as the best first round pick of five years in terms of positive output for the club.
 

From three wins to finals contenders? Parker and Darling are the veterans North desperately need​

Dem Panopoulos
North Melbourne is doing the absolute right thing in chasing veterans heading into the 2024 player movement period.

Already, we’ve heard plenty of names linked with North. Luke Parker has requested a trade to the club, Jack Darling seems to be on his way too. There’s significant interest in Caleb Daniel and we just know that coach Alastair Clarkson will give it his all to entice Dan Houston to come across.

There’ll be more names linked throughout, maybe even definite movers that pop up as obvious selections.
Houston makes a lot of sense as an established star, a two-time All-Australian who’ll cost a future first you’d imagine as part of a deal, but someone who transforms the direction of attack out of defence with an equally damaging, yet more aggressive set of skills than North’s current silky users.

The 27-year-old is more of a speculative link at the moment, so while the fit is natural, we won’t dive too deeply into him.

Daniel too is a player in his prime that needs more of an opportunity and is another great potential utilitarian fit for North, with his skills and IQ perfectly capable of having an influence anywhere on the ground.

It’s easy to forget that he’s also an All-Australian, as well as a best-and-fairest winner and a premiership player, all because of an unclear situation that emerged at the Bulldogs in the last 18 months.

Having interest in a player with nearly 200 games worth of experience, with those accolades, who has consistently been rated above average for kicking efficiency, score involvements and pressure acts, all of which can potentially be brought in on a cheap deal – of course it’s logical.

Again, Daniel seems a more obvious and likely recruit, but that one’s still speculation.

It’s the veterans that really catch the eye here for North Melbourne, a couple of players that may divide opinion, but two recruits that will elevate this club into finals contendership sooner rather than later by simply being there.

2024 was a moving season of sorts for Clarkson and his team from a tactical point of view. There was some oscillation in styles of play, although by the end of the season, it was all a bit messy.

Initially, watching North, it just felt like it was about going out there and having a go. A backline featuring all of Colby McKercher, Harry Sheezel and Zac Fisher was the first telltale sign that the coach wanted to see what he had offensively.

The attempts were there to try and use clean footskills out of defence and play in an attacking manner that didn’t care much for the actual art of defending.

More Football​

Football
Of course it wasn’t effective, at either end. We should preface this by saying the numbers weren’t good any way that you look at them in 2024, but when the switch was made to play a style that had more structural integrity in defence, North were clearly a much-improved team.

Their 11-match losing streak had the opposition breaking triple-digits on every occasion. In the five following games, they conceded more than 83 just once. You can argue the later season games against Carlton, Geelong and Richmond were pretty decent defensively too, even with Charlie Comben playing forward for the first two. His absence hurt late in the year.

Even off a three-win season, the signs are clearly there for North, with this team more than capable of standing up defensively without ever having been able to have a good block of games with all their first-choice defenders in the team.

We know the abundance of young talent that exists within this team, particularly through the middle. Offensively, there’s a lot to be desired, outside of Nick Larkey, Paul Curtis and Cam Zurhaar.

There’s a lot invested in Zane Duursma but he’ll take time. Eddie Ford ended up moving onto a wing/high half-forward flank, the rest were either inconsequential or resting in attack.

So these two veterans, these two, decorated but at times, out-of-favour veterans. They’re meant to be the saviours of North Melbourne?

Well first, let’s differentiate the motive from that of the recruitment of Liam Shiels.

Shiels had 33 games in two seasons at North after coming out of a short retirement to join the club. His recruitment was very much one of Clarkson bringing in a trusted, former soldier from the glory days who could help set up standards that could assist in the long-term. Lead by example, as it were.

Now, of course, the expectation with Parker and Darling will also be for them to help set standards at training and on gameday, but these two are a little different.

They aren’t trusted lieutenants that are the only former Clarkson guys available on the market. In fact, they don’t have any connection with the legendary coach.

Parker and Darling are specific recruits to bridge the gap between a couple of glaring deficiencies at North, which they’ll hopefully improve into at least a neutral, if not positive aspect of their game.

North Melbourne’s forward pressure was poor this season. They averaged 8.4 tackles inside 50 per game, the worst in the league, which is made worse by the fact they were only just below average for total tackles per game.

Logically, it makes sense given the fact they averaged the fewest inside 50s in the league, making it harder to record higher numbers, but at times, the efforts in defending from the front were non-existent.

As per Wheeloratings, they were a bottom four team in the rate at which they took marks when getting the ball inside 50, bottom three for offensive contest wins and despite being the most accurate team by far, averaged the fewest shots per inside 50 in the league.

Luke Parker is still a very capable midfielder, but more in spurts these days. It’s just at Sydney we didn’t even get to see much of that. Even in the grand final, with all hope lost, he barely got to be around the ball. His days were numbered at the Swans.

We can expect him to get a bit more midfield time as a feeder for Sheezel and Luke Davies-Uniacke. He’s the perfect mentor for George Wardlaw and Zane Duursma, for a multitude of reasons.

Parker will spend a lot of time in attack though, where he has consistently been rated at least above average for marks inside 50 and his ability to actually generate scores.

Even if he isn’t the player he once was, the 31-year-old demands attention and is strong to a fault. You talk about wanting to straighten a forward line that has barely had any magnetism to drag defenders away from Larkey and Zurhaar – you’ve now found your man.

Parker alone helps improve North’s ball retention inside 50, both by marking it on the lead, but also by his significant ability to win the ball at ground level. This is something Paul Curtis was ranked elite in this season and adding Parker only helps his development.

Then there’s Darling, who’s the far more divisive recruit, mainly because he’s averaged barely over ten disposals and a goal a game for the last two seasons and, at times, just looks like such a shadow of his former self that it’s baffling why he gets picked. Indeed, the Eagles opted to leave him out a couple of times in 2024.

Why then, should North chase the 298-game forward who turns 33 next season?

It’s pretty simple really. If Parker helps improve the clear deficiency in winning the ball in the attacking 50 and actually increasing the ability to mark it, then Darling is the one who’ll help drive up the standards of forward pressure, while creating space inside 50 with his work rate to push higher up the ground.

When we criticise older players who are beyond their best form, blinkers tend to be applied and it’s about highlighting everything that they do poorly, that they once did well, until they retire. AFL media and fans are good at that.

It’s true, Darling has been poor at hitting the scoreboard and his marking has dropped off a bit. He isn’t rated favourably in these categories and can’t really be relied upon as a genuine key forward anymore. That’s not what North needs though.

If you watched West Coast this season, well, you’re either an Eagles fan or obsessed with the game. Truly though, the Eagles played decent footy in spurts and had their moments throughout.

Darling plays a blinder maybe once or twice a season now, but what really stood out was the pressure and the work rate.

The 298-gamer chased defenders out of his forward 50 and ran his guts out trying to defend in transition. It was shocking how often he did, far more times than he mailed it in, which you’d probably expect at his age.

Even locked into attack, he hunted the opposition and the tackles stuck. He was top 20 in the league for tackles inside 50, an area he has been arguably the best in for all key forwards in the last decade. That hasn’t dropped off.

And while he doesn’t get much of the ball, you won’t find his GPS numbers dropping off. Countless times, Darling led up and found himself 70 metres out from goal, on a flank. Whether they’re dummy leads or just designed to create space, he was willing to do that for the team. That’s what North Melbourne needs.

Opposition defences find it easy to restrict North’s scoring because they know where the ball is going to go once it’s inside 50, so they can put more players around key targets and overwhelm with numbers.

Having an option that is still capable enough to not ignore, and one that has to be followed up the ground, just creates that much more leading room for Larkey, which he loves, while also easing the pressure on the others around the mark.

Of course, it’s not as if North Melbourne just needs to sharpen up offensively and they’ll be a premiership contender, but for them it’s vital that certain habits are instilled into their core attacking systems to set them up for a genuine attack on September, and not some fleeting moment in the future.

Team chemistry is what will elevate the team in the end, but we know that they’re capable defensively, and we know the midfield talent is well stocked.

Offensively, they have and will continue to experience their challenges, but coach Clarkson isn’t sitting on his hands hoping for a miracle.

In recruiting Luke Parker and Jack Darling specifically, North Melbourne is addressing its biggest offensive deficiencies with two perfect fits, who can perform at a high level in resolving these issues while teaching the youth of the club.

Whether or not the team can land a big fish or two this trade period remains to be seen, but it’s almost irrelevant.

North Melbourne is doing the right thing in targeting Luke Parker and Jack Darling, two veterans who will help the club take a leap.
 
My Left Foote said:

From three wins to finals contenders? Parker and Darling are the veterans North desperately need​

Dem Panopoulos
North Melbourne is doing the absolute right thing in chasing veterans heading into the 2024 player movement period.

Already, we’ve heard plenty of names linked with North. Luke Parker has requested a trade to the club, Jack Darling seems to be on his way too. There’s significant interest in Caleb Daniel and we just know that coach Alastair Clarkson will give it his all to entice Dan Houston to come across.

There’ll be more names linked throughout, maybe even definite movers that pop up as obvious selections.
Houston makes a lot of sense as an established star, a two-time All-Australian who’ll cost a future first you’d imagine as part of a deal, but someone who transforms the direction of attack out of defence with an equally damaging, yet more aggressive set of skills than North’s current silky users.

The 27-year-old is more of a speculative link at the moment, so while the fit is natural, we won’t dive too deeply into him.

Daniel too is a player in his prime that needs more of an opportunity and is another great potential utilitarian fit for North, with his skills and IQ perfectly capable of having an influence anywhere on the ground.

It’s easy to forget that he’s also an All-Australian, as well as a best-and-fairest winner and a premiership player, all because of an unclear situation that emerged at the Bulldogs in the last 18 months.

Having interest in a player with nearly 200 games worth of experience, with those accolades, who has consistently been rated above average for kicking efficiency, score involvements and pressure acts, all of which can potentially be brought in on a cheap deal – of course it’s logical.

Again, Daniel seems a more obvious and likely recruit, but that one’s still speculation.

It’s the veterans that really catch the eye here for North Melbourne, a couple of players that may divide opinion, but two recruits that will elevate this club into finals contendership sooner rather than later by simply being there.

2024 was a moving season of sorts for Clarkson and his team from a tactical point of view. There was some oscillation in styles of play, although by the end of the season, it was all a bit messy.

Initially, watching North, it just felt like it was about going out there and having a go. A backline featuring all of Colby McKercher, Harry Sheezel and Zac Fisher was the first telltale sign that the coach wanted to see what he had offensively.

The attempts were there to try and use clean footskills out of defence and play in an attacking manner that didn’t care much for the actual art of defending.

More Football​

Football
Of course it wasn’t effective, at either end. We should preface this by saying the numbers weren’t good any way that you look at them in 2024, but when the switch was made to play a style that had more structural integrity in defence, North were clearly a much-improved team.

Their 11-match losing streak had the opposition breaking triple-digits on every occasion. In the five following games, they conceded more than 83 just once. You can argue the later season games against Carlton, Geelong and Richmond were pretty decent defensively too, even with Charlie Comben playing forward for the first two. His absence hurt late in the year.

Even off a three-win season, the signs are clearly there for North, with this team more than capable of standing up defensively without ever having been able to have a good block of games with all their first-choice defenders in the team.

We know the abundance of young talent that exists within this team, particularly through the middle. Offensively, there’s a lot to be desired, outside of Nick Larkey, Paul Curtis and Cam Zurhaar.

There’s a lot invested in Zane Duursma but he’ll take time. Eddie Ford ended up moving onto a wing/high half-forward flank, the rest were either inconsequential or resting in attack.

So these two veterans, these two, decorated but at times, out-of-favour veterans. They’re meant to be the saviours of North Melbourne?

Well first, let’s differentiate the motive from that of the recruitment of Liam Shiels.

Shiels had 33 games in two seasons at North after coming out of a short retirement to join the club. His recruitment was very much one of Clarkson bringing in a trusted, former soldier from the glory days who could help set up standards that could assist in the long-term. Lead by example, as it were.

Now, of course, the expectation with Parker and Darling will also be for them to help set standards at training and on gameday, but these two are a little different.

They aren’t trusted lieutenants that are the only former Clarkson guys available on the market. In fact, they don’t have any connection with the legendary coach.

Parker and Darling are specific recruits to bridge the gap between a couple of glaring deficiencies at North, which they’ll hopefully improve into at least a neutral, if not positive aspect of their game.

North Melbourne’s forward pressure was poor this season. They averaged 8.4 tackles inside 50 per game, the worst in the league, which is made worse by the fact they were only just below average for total tackles per game.

Logically, it makes sense given the fact they averaged the fewest inside 50s in the league, making it harder to record higher numbers, but at times, the efforts in defending from the front were non-existent.

As per Wheeloratings, they were a bottom four team in the rate at which they took marks when getting the ball inside 50, bottom three for offensive contest wins and despite being the most accurate team by far, averaged the fewest shots per inside 50 in the league.

Luke Parker is still a very capable midfielder, but more in spurts these days. It’s just at Sydney we didn’t even get to see much of that. Even in the grand final, with all hope lost, he barely got to be around the ball. His days were numbered at the Swans.

We can expect him to get a bit more midfield time as a feeder for Sheezel and Luke Davies-Uniacke. He’s the perfect mentor for George Wardlaw and Zane Duursma, for a multitude of reasons.

Parker will spend a lot of time in attack though, where he has consistently been rated at least above average for marks inside 50 and his ability to actually generate scores.

Even if he isn’t the player he once was, the 31-year-old demands attention and is strong to a fault. You talk about wanting to straighten a forward line that has barely had any magnetism to drag defenders away from Larkey and Zurhaar – you’ve now found your man.

Parker alone helps improve North’s ball retention inside 50, both by marking it on the lead, but also by his significant ability to win the ball at ground level. This is something Paul Curtis was ranked elite in this season and adding Parker only helps his development.

Then there’s Darling, who’s the far more divisive recruit, mainly because he’s averaged barely over ten disposals and a goal a game for the last two seasons and, at times, just looks like such a shadow of his former self that it’s baffling why he gets picked. Indeed, the Eagles opted to leave him out a couple of times in 2024.

Why then, should North chase the 298-game forward who turns 33 next season?

It’s pretty simple really. If Parker helps improve the clear deficiency in winning the ball in the attacking 50 and actually increasing the ability to mark it, then Darling is the one who’ll help drive up the standards of forward pressure, while creating space inside 50 with his work rate to push higher up the ground.

When we criticise older players who are beyond their best form, blinkers tend to be applied and it’s about highlighting everything that they do poorly, that they once did well, until they retire. AFL media and fans are good at that.

It’s true, Darling has been poor at hitting the scoreboard and his marking has dropped off a bit. He isn’t rated favourably in these categories and can’t really be relied upon as a genuine key forward anymore. That’s not what North needs though.

If you watched West Coast this season, well, you’re either an Eagles fan or obsessed with the game. Truly though, the Eagles played decent footy in spurts and had their moments throughout.

Darling plays a blinder maybe once or twice a season now, but what really stood out was the pressure and the work rate.

The 298-gamer chased defenders out of his forward 50 and ran his guts out trying to defend in transition. It was shocking how often he did, far more times than he mailed it in, which you’d probably expect at his age.

Even locked into attack, he hunted the opposition and the tackles stuck. He was top 20 in the league for tackles inside 50, an area he has been arguably the best in for all key forwards in the last decade. That hasn’t dropped off.

And while he doesn’t get much of the ball, you won’t find his GPS numbers dropping off. Countless times, Darling led up and found himself 70 metres out from goal, on a flank. Whether they’re dummy leads or just designed to create space, he was willing to do that for the team. That’s what North Melbourne needs.

Opposition defences find it easy to restrict North’s scoring because they know where the ball is going to go once it’s inside 50, so they can put more players around key targets and overwhelm with numbers.

Having an option that is still capable enough to not ignore, and one that has to be followed up the ground, just creates that much more leading room for Larkey, which he loves, while also easing the pressure on the others around the mark.

Of course, it’s not as if North Melbourne just needs to sharpen up offensively and they’ll be a premiership contender, but for them it’s vital that certain habits are instilled into their core attacking systems to set them up for a genuine attack on September, and not some fleeting moment in the future.

Team chemistry is what will elevate the team in the end, but we know that they’re capable defensively, and we know the midfield talent is well stocked.

Offensively, they have and will continue to experience their challenges, but coach Clarkson isn’t sitting on his hands hoping for a miracle.

In recruiting Luke Parker and Jack Darling specifically, North Melbourne is addressing its biggest offensive deficiencies with two perfect fits, who can perform at a high level in resolving these issues while teaching the youth of the club.

Whether or not the team can land a big fish or two this trade period remains to be seen, but it’s almost irrelevant.

North Melbourne is doing the right thing in targeting Luke Parker and Jack Darling, two veterans who will help the club take a leap.
Click to expand...
Wow, great article, actual well thought out, proper analysis, backed up with facts and statistics... I wonder where this journo's career will end up, clearly no place for him in the AFL media!
 
Black Diamond said:
Clubs should be careful complaining about father-sons. Swings and roundabouts. Saints might be unlucky but it isn’t as if Peter Daicos had some crazy power others don’t to teach his kids.

Geelong drafted Hawkins with a third rounder, which resulted in the system changing. If the system didn’t change we could have picked up McDonald for a third instead of a first.
Click to expand...
Yeah, you're spot on. Every whinge rebounds awkwardly in this way. Just when you think you're finally going to game the system, years of complaining sees the system change just at the wrong moment.
 
Roo202 said:
Wow, great article, actual well thought out, proper analysis, backed up with facts and statistics... I wonder where this journo's career will end up, clearly no place for him in the AFL media!
Click to expand...
Pshh. He lost me when he said the more structured game style suited us better…
Well obviously he didn’t listen to Viney last week when he said we’re probably gonna go back to more of that start of season North ball fastball movement.
Clearly hasn’t been paying enough attention.
 
Black Diamond said:
Why did WC bid on him too?

This is a development problem for us. Not a talent ID issue.
Click to expand...

That's probably true to a large extent but also, I wonder what development coaches can do to make up the difference between being good enough to play as many games as Luke has, win a B&F, become captain, and the level of champion player that his draft class co-horts Bontempelli and Cripps got to.

That's to say, I can appreciate a development program and coach can be the difference between a plodder who gets delisted inside 3 years and someone getting to 100+ games. But can you take someone from being a good-ordinary player who racks up 200+ games and a generational superstar?
 
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