Autopsy NAB 3: Richmond vs North Melbourne @ Etihad Stadium - Saturday 1:10pm, 21 March

[tigs2010]

It's a pity Petterd just lacks the toe to play the Morris role.
He ticks every other box but unfortunately you can't play that role unless you're fast.

Didn't he play it reasonably well against us while at Melbourne? He has more offensive ability too.

Having said that Morris was good today especially after half time.

 

[tigs2010]

I also think Grigg played really well. Looks like he's playing with some urgency rather than his usual complacent efforts. Maybe the added depth is bringing the best out of him.

 

[theflea]

My thought while watching the game on the TV. Thought Morris was ok(not going to can him for kicking points as our much better players do it. They ALL have to get better), Cotch Dusty, Lids,Houli all good. Macca looked good, but needs to keep his feet more, but suggest he is growing into his body. Astbury good in defence as was Rance. Grimes still looks fidgety while being ok. Ty was junk, as was Ellis. Tend to think only play 2 talls with Lloyd coming in for him. The biggest issue for me is separation from opponents when kicking. They need to get that metre separation so these kicks aren't spoilt, and we do need to be harder doing it. The last thing is our tackling is ordinary and needs to be fixed(or at least stuck more), however I cant see it. Would love to see the tackler of the year award with the numbers highlighted so there is more competition and therefore the players want to do it more.

 

[Tiger71]

I also think Grigg played really well. Looks like he's playing with some urgency rather than his usual complacent efforts. Maybe the added depth is bringing the best out of him.

Spot on. He ran all day, tackled and more importantly his kicking and disposal was fantastic. He gut ran today. Play like that as your normal grigg and you will stay a permanent 22 for a few years yet.

 

[johnno77]

The last thing is our tackling is ordinary and needs to be fixed(or at least stuck more), however I cant see it. Would love to see the tackler of the year award with the numbers highlighted so there is more competition and therefore the players want to do it more.

This did my head in today. It's a real indictment on our playing group when a 3rd year player is our best tackler (Vlaustin). Too many missed tackles. Far too many.

 

[johnno77]

I also think Grigg played really well. Looks like he's playing with some urgency rather than his usual complacent efforts. Maybe the added depth is bringing the best out of him.

Agreed. He was very good today. One of his kicks on the wing today where he threaded the needle in heavy traffic I couldn't quite believe my eyes that he had hit such a short target without the ball hanging in the air for an extended period.

 

[THE THIN MAN]

Been saying it since day 1.... Vickery is nothing more than a spud.

Watch him get picked Round 1 though.

With spuds you can make chips

What does Vickery do?

 

[GoTigers2015]

Watching the game, there were lots of positives but also areas that we need improvement.

• Really excited about Ben Griffiths improvement. Does look like he will be a very good player for us but needs to convert more and not drop so many easy marks. He's improved his mobility and offers a target for our midfielders to hit.
• Shaun Grigg looks like he take over Jacko's role as inside midfielder. His skills were also much improved and rated him our best player against Norf.
• Kam McIntosh played well and can add to our midfield strength. May not get into for round 1 but he is not far off selection.
• Ben Lennon shows glimpses of talent but needs to improve his tank.
• Hunt had a poor game but still can be a good player for us. Still a monty for round 1
• Sam Lloyd had more impact in 10 minutes than Vickery had in a full game, Deserves to get the gig for round 1 IMO.
• Much better game from Morris and seems to growing into the role of a defensive forward.
• Our defence looks like a strength Grimes and Bachelor are playing well. Rance is in All Australian form again
• Our guns looked good Dusty, Cotch, Lids and Jack all in good condition for a big 2015
• Uncharacteristic bad game from Eliis.

Areas that need that we need to improve

• Too many easy goals given away. North got a free run into their forward line too many times.
• Our ball movement not as precise as it can be
• Need to apply more tackling pressure on the opposition

Team for round 1
B: Grimes, Chaplain, Bachelor
HB: Vlastuin, Rance, Houli
C: Ellis, Martin, Grigg
HF: Edwards, Griffiths, Deledio
F: Morris, Riewoldt, Lloyd
R: Maric, Cotchin, Miles
I: McIntosh, Hunt, Petterd Sub Conca
Emerg: Lennon, Lambert, Knights

 

[Stylo]

Spot on. He ran all day, tackled and more importantly his kicking and disposal was fantastic. He gut ran today. Play like that as your normal grigg and you will stay a permanent 22 for a few years yet.

His kicking surprised me. Was pinpoint. That kick at full stride to Morris on the run was at a level of skill I didn't know Grigga possessed. I reckon he's in for a big year.

 

[Dr Awkward]

Vickery is surely behind Griffiths. Griffiths still has some improvements to make but overall he's a smarter player and better competitor than Vickery.

My round 1 side...

B: Grimes Astbury Chaplin
HB: Houli Rance Vlastuin

R: Maric Cotchin Miles
C: Ellis Martin Deledio

HF: Grigg Griffiths Edwards
F: Morris Riewoldt Lloyd

INT: Hunt Conca Lennon SUB: Knights

Grigg has been solid.
Lloyd should have been given a full game. But he's shown enough to get in the team.
Astbury we could leave out of the side to give him a week in the VFL and also because we don't need him for Carlton's forward line.
McIntosh is getting close to forcing his way in, has been impressive.

 

[Dr Awkward]

Two players that concern me greatly and have done for a while - Vickery and Conca.
Both high draft picks and both are the most unnatural of footballers.
Both were very poor today, again.

The issue with Conca is that if you are going to be that small and that slow, then you need to be especially skillful and smart to make up for it, but Conca is neither of those things. He's good enough to get a game atm, but I agree that he is a concern.

 

[Tiger Claw]

I would say the decision making is poor in that we don't provide enough separation for these kicks to hit the target. Too many with the opponent up the ginger.

Agree. The only silver lining in that was we didn't kick backwards. We kept the ball moving forward. Wouldn't want to erode our confidence in doing that by having the ball constantly turned over.

 

[Tiger Claw]

Like Morris, I doubt Petterd would be able to hit the scoreboard consistently.

King's skill level often got overshadowed by his frenetic defensive pressure, but he was actually adequately skilled which allowed him to hit the scoreboard 2 or 3 times a game. Could kick smartly on both sides of his body, could bomb it 55m+ and had excellent crumbing sense. Neither Morris or Petterd have this package which is why I think we should persist with Lloyd. Lloyd has everything apart from the defensive pressure, which is unfortunately below average at AFL level.

I get the feeling King will be hard to replace for a while.

So in saying that you'd think it would be easier to fix Lloyd's weakness as opposed to the other two?

 

[TJTIGER]

How did Astbury go today ?

I haven't seen the game & not likely to for another month....

 

[GoTigers2015]

How did Astbury go today ?

I haven't seen the game & not likely to for another month....

15 possessions and didn't seem to get many goals kicked on him. Was playing on Petrie for most of the game.

 

[GoTigers2015]

Nice to see Kam McIntosh throwing his weight around at the end of the second quarter, Not afraid to square up with Scott Thompson after Cotch had been man handled.

 

[kempinsky]

I missed the game. How was Vlastuin? 8 possessions is rubbish. Surely he only played a half? Is he a lock for round one? Think he may be a tad overrated on here at times...

he was pretty quiet, played mostly down back. didn't notice him much tbh

 

[richcogs]

• Astbury is a gun, closed Pietry right out of the game when he went on him after Pietry kicked his first.

This is incorrect. He was on him from the bounce and then after that goal and another play where he was dragged into the play leaving Petrie alone he was temporarily moved off him for the first quarter.

I was in the pocket with Astbury's cousin's behind me talking non stop about what he was up to. So I was more aware of him than anyone else. Twice early he was drawn into the ball leaving Petrie alone. Have a look at the replay from 6.14 - 6.17 minutes you see Astbury running up Boomer when Ellis had it covered.

 

[30YearsOfPain]

Have not read the entire thread, but my thoughts on the game as I happened to ditch the wife who was shopping to head on over with 2 of my boys

Pros

• What stood out to me, was our ball use. For the time of year, we were very clean with our disposal by foot and hand.
• I watched the game also on the IQ when i got home and the TV did not show it but Kamdyn did really well today. He was on Dal Santo for large chunks and I would say beat him. Ran all day and did a lot off the ball stuff which was really good to see.
• Dusty got into the game after he adjusted to cunningtons tactics. The amount of holding of dustys arms to try to stop him impacting a contest off the ball was pretty damning on the umpires. They let it go, time and time again. You could see Dusty say **** it, and just charge in. Did well and blew him away.
• Griffiths worked his arse off. If he had of clunked those marks, he easily might have been BOG
• Jack is a freak, was everywhere, mid, back and also forward.
• Those that knock Cotchins disposal, need to see him live and keep watching him all game. Our Captain is elite, on the forward flank he did this fantastic side step surrounded by huge pressure, not once but three times to try to make space and release the handball, when nobody was free, he did this beauty of a kick that hit Jack lace out for a goal. Was magic stuff.
• Lennon has a good work rate, when he did not have the ball he kept moving and tried to be an option for our backs to kick too.
• Astbury is a gun, closed Pietry right out of the game when he went on him after Pietry kicked his first.
• Starting to like this game plan. We are lightning out of the back half and the boys tend to form a semi circle around a contest, which we allows our player who is pressed to handball his way to someone who is free. It was actually really good to see it. It worked more often then not and ****, finally we are using the whole ground to move the ball. It was great to see us using the fat side more often then last year, trying to use the corridor at all times.
• Also and another finally, we dont just kick to the right pocket in a kick in. We actually tried to mix it up.

Cons

• Huge one for me was the umpires, or the lack of any action from them. I am not blaming them for the loss but the Norf players must be instructed to try to ****** there opponents while off the ball, and they were never pinged. There was an incident when Jack was about to move to the top of the forward 50 to be that release player and I shit you not, his opponent was pulling his arms back so bad it was like a tug of war. Good on Norf for getting away with it but IMO when the real stuff starts they are going to give a lot of free kicks away.
• Our forward 50 mix is a real concern. So many times our mids kicked it high to a short bloke and low to a tall bloke. Also our forwards lead to high up the ground which creates all this space but nobody pushes hard enough back to make use of it. Dimma needs to go back to a more traditional set up IMO.
• I dont know if Chaplins injured but his work rate is pathetic. So many times he would just walk while his opponent is 20 meters in the clear. Only when he realised they had the ball would he run to try to catch up.
• Not convinced about Morris in our F50. He did some nice things but IMO those nice things don't out way his benefit to us manning a Thomas for example. He also calls for the ball, when by all rights he shouldn't. Guess he will improve that with experience but its a worry as they go to him, even when he is right under pressure.
• Tyrone is ******* lazy.

Good post. Thanks

 

[30YearsOfPain]

His kicking surprised me. Was pinpoint. That kick at full stride to Morris on the run was at a level of skill I didn't know Grigga possessed. I reckon he's in for a big year.

It was a good kick. I remember Blight saying years ago that the kick over the top is the hardest kick in footy.

 

[Infamy]

Sheds aint the best kick either.

I think he's actually quite a good kick, but sometimes he just tries to do too much.
This is why he was often shanking them early in his career, but he's much much better at picking his options now

 

[TigerTime88]

Apparently North will be top 4 AGAIN (6th actually commentary team) no offence North supporters. Aside from individual aspects of the game you couldn't get much from it. Both sides were running 75% with the exception of a couple.

No injuries is the best thing + a better idea of our round 1 team.

1 thing to note is Miles is one of our most important players. It is amazing the difference he makes to our clearances, we need another player in this category.

Also did anyone notice the change in the backline when Batchelor came on? Ragnar is certainly a lock round 1. I'll post my round 1 team in a moment need some composure...

I don't think Miles would have made a huge difference today as Goldsteins hitouts killed us.

Vickery is the most dissappointing player. He cant play round 1 on current form. Also playing 3 bigs is one of the reasons its so easy to rebound off HB, so unless it is worrying opposition then its a poor game blame. Lids and Lennon both play tall as does Gordon. I would prefer that forward defensive role be given to Gordon over Morris who I think is an absolute battler both forward and back.

A lot of talk about Concas pre season...14 touches tells me he is not stepping up anytime soon.

Pretty much in the same spot as last yeat fighting for the 8. If Knights stays healthy it makes a big difference.

 

[TigerTime88]

Also Griff is the other factor that could push us higher. 1.4 yesterday and dropped a few marks but he is ready.

Cant wait until he has 100 games under his belt. Think he will improve dramatically this year.

 

[Cotcho]

Ps I went to the game with a North Melbourne mate and he was furious all day at the state of their members scarf compared to ours. Theirs looked like a table cloth with a patch. Very ordinary choice by their membership department and a nice little victory for us!!

 

[Barry_Badrinath]

Apparently North will be top 4 AGAIN (6th actually commentary team) no offence North supporters. Aside from individual aspects of the game you couldn't get much from it. Both sides were running 75% with the exception of a couple.

No injuries is the best thing + a better idea of our round 1 team.

1 thing to note is Miles is one of our most important players. It is amazing the difference he makes to our clearances, we need another player in this category.

Also did anyone notice the change in the backline when Batchelor came on? Ragnar is certainly a lock round 1. I'll post my round 1 team in a moment need some composure...

They finished 4th. Prelim = 4th