Game Day North intraclub blue vs pink 15/2/25 at 10am

[The Nostradamus]

Getting Goater back from injury will be big for us at hbf

hopefully forces his way in early in the year

 

[Augustine]

Rewatched the game

I get caught up in emotion and tunnel vision from pre conceived perceptions so need to see a replay to fully appreciate what happened

I was wrong about RHJ. Played very well despite not finishing a few plays as he would have liked. Overall very busy, got heaps of the footy that I somehow missed live. Round 1 lock of he produced near that over the next two games.

Darling also did more than i thought. Not that he was amazing but serval, good marks, numerous great tackles. His game was better than any pink or teakle player last year.

Parker. Some offered some comments that he was underwhelming. I’ll take 2 goals and 20 plus possessions every week thanks.

I knew Whitlock played well, but rewatching, he played a bit better than that.

Overall, I think the mighty Pinks were very physic and had a nasty edge. That was a good hit out for the boys.

And all we need from Darling is to be an improvement on Pink/Teakle/Sellers for a year or two. Shouldn’t be hard for a guy who’s kicked 500 goals.

Then, hopefully soon enough Dawson, or Whitlock take his place or we get a free agent from another club.

I think Darling was a good decision by the club.

 

[Horizons_00]

Chom is a huge persist for me down back. Sum of all parts and all that and Logue down there will be great for him.

But Corr, McDonald, Tucker and Fisher cannot get games down back under your metrics.

That will help.

On potential alone, he will get better. Saw both good (great intercepts) and bad signs yesterday.

 

[Dinkers]

Just finished watching the first half, I suppose it is the Pinks that have impressed me the most. Seemed to cover the ground better and have more options available.
Happy to see Ford do well and Duursma started very well. I or we all hear that Goad won't be rushed, but you could suggest he is a better option than Teakle as of now.

Disappointed to see Tucker in the blue side, but and I feel that we should have a very competitive VFL squad in 2025, that is the first step towards having a competitive AFL side.

 

[speedy]

Did the 8 point scenario’s instil any confidence in anyone here? It looked like both team were still just kicking it long.

 

[Sphynx]

Rewatched the game

I get caught up in emotion and tunnel vision from pre conceived perceptions so need to see a replay to fully appreciate what happened

I was wrong about RHJ. Played very well despite not finishing a few plays as he would have liked. Overall very busy, got heaps of the footy that I somehow missed live. Round 1 lock of he produced near that over the next two games.

Darling also did more than i thought. Not that he was amazing but serval, good marks, numerous great tackles. His game was better than any pink or teakle player last year.

Parker. Some offered some comments that he was underwhelming. I’ll take 2 goals and 20 plus possessions every week thanks.

I knew Whitlock played well, but rewatching, he played a bit better than that.

Overall, I think the mighty Pinks were very physic and had a nasty edge. That was a good hit out for the boys.

Agree with you on Darling, he wasn't amazing but was in quite a lot of contests, took a few grabs on the wing when needed and was generally involved, if he is that consistently, he will be decent this year as a solid foil for Larkey.

In fact, I think if anyone is up for crticism it's probably Nick. The club has invested in support. He needs/is required to begin to change his playing style. He needs to lead up/play in front more than he does. You can't get out the back every time or only try and body from behind, it's a high degree of difficulty kick for our mids to get the penetration for that every single time. I think part of this is a contributing factor of how disfunctional the forward line can appear at times. Nick needs to play as a key forward. He needs to stop trying to play as a psuedo forward pocket trying to get over the back.

Goad will play plenty of footy this year based on that game. I have no idea how you mount an argument for Teakle over him now if we play a 2nd ruck. I don't think there's a player in the comp that could have been capable of that clearance from the center bounce, including Luke Jackson. The last one capable was probably Naitanui. He's 19 years old. If he can produce this at AFL level, he's an A+ level prospect on the Sheezel and McKercher tier imo given he has about 10-15kg to still stack on in the next 3-4 years. Unicorn, I think he plays around 10 games this season imo. Which is WAY ahead of schedule.

Whitlock looks ultra comfortable in an AFL environment and looks far better than I thought he would a few months in. Even more comfortable than Dawson did last year who would have played even more footy if not for injury. His agility with the ball on the deck jumped out imo his vertical was also on show a few times.. Always good to see it around AFL players in an AFL speed environment. All the commentary out of the club is they know they have a beauty. Super prospect and our back stocks are very strong now with Matt and Dawson both excellent long term defensive prospects imo... He may even be a Rnd 1 smokey tbh based on the club commentary. I think they see him as that third defender until he fills out, capable of play on the mobile talls because of his speed and agility. Kicking is wonderful also.

We have probably jagged one with Urquhart also. Luckily for us he was in WAFL colts for most of lastyear, which often tends to water down some prospects as the weakest of the 3 u/18 comps. The fact he missed his bottom age years has helped also. He's going to be an absolute tank in time, kicking already looks improved and is a point of difference to most of our other mids (apart from Wardlaw) with a genuine defensive edge.

FOS will be close to the best player from that draft, again, we have lucked out with this back injury. Will no doubt podium as an absolute minimum in the Rising Star and will play 20+ games from the wing. Expecting a Caleb Windsor type year from him. Class personified. He's already put on some nice size and is going to be far from a skinny outside type in a few years.

Im a big Hardeman fan, but outside of Daniel, the best half back on the ground was clearly Hopkins. We should be doing anything we can to secure him as an SSP. He looked like a top 20 pick out there with his speed, movement and exquisite ball use.

 

[speedy]

…..the best half back on the ground was clearly Hopkins. We should be doing anything we can to secure him as an SSP. He looked like a top 20 pick out there with his speed, movement and exquisite ball use.

By the sounds of the intra-club broadcast, Tom Lynch is heavily involved in the vfl recruiting too. He has turned the vfl program around…. a lot quicker than the seniors anyway.

Potential senior coach candidate?

 

[Lomas]

By the sounds of the intra-club broadcast, Tom Lynch is heavily involved in the vfl recruiting too. He has turned the vfl program around…. a lot quicker than the seniors anyway.

Potential senior coach candidate?

Succession planning from assistant coach ranks should only be for successful teams.

 

[pitchster]

He gave away two goals in 5 seconds with two complete brain fades and had a number of lazy kicks he turned over. We just can't have defenders that make basic errors like that. We need to stop leaking soft easy goals which kills any momentum.

it doesn't matter if you are solid 95% of the time but concede 3 rookie level goals, if each defender does that then we are 18 goals down before the game has started. This has been a huge part of why we lose so many games, we have a lot of defenders that leak goals or are just dumb defensively, like McDonald, great guy, most of his game is fine but just coughs up easy goals, just kills our ability to be in games.

I don't mind if he he is learning the caper but he can learn in the VFL, the expectation for anyone who puts an AFL jumper on is they aren't going to repeat the same rookie errors over and over, it is hard enough sport to win when you don't constantly leak goals. It is impossible if all of your defenders are rubbish. He needs to focus on not doing rubbish plays because outside of that he is solid.

Sorry, I may be harsh but my opinion is if you can't land a 30m lateral pass under no pressure and hit the opposition on the chest instead you shouldn't be playing at AFL level. I am out of patience, I want us to start winning games consistently.

Whoa whoa whoa. Back it up, do you want to win or something? All aboard the PP train choo choooooo….oh sorry….wrong year

 

[DuckYeah]

Hopkins

He did look decent. Club should explore all options for that last half back spot

 

[DaveyBoy123]

Goad will play plenty of footy this year based on that game. I have no idea how you mount an argument for Teakle over him now if we play a 2nd ruck.

My main concern - only at present, of course - is his forward craft.

Like Goldy was, Xerri is another high TOG ruckman, so the 2nd ruck probably has to not be a liability up forward. I think you can mount the argument that we haven't see enough of Goad up forward to suggest that, while Teakle is at least serviceable - although he admittedly looked lackluster in yesterday's intra-club.

While I wouldn't have predicted it initially, I think the coaching staff might be leaning towards going into rd-1 with only X (backed up by Darling/Comben/Larkey). Let Goad & Teakle play 50% ruck & 50% forward in the 1st few weeks of the VFL as a mini-competition between them as to who gets called up when we may need the 2nd ruck.

 

[Samsquanch]

In fact, I think if anyone is up for crticism it's probably Nick. The club has invested in support. He needs/is required to begin to change his playing style. He needs to lead up/play in front more than he does. You can't get out the back every time or only try and body from behind, it's a high degree of difficulty kick for our mids to get the penetration for that every single time. I think part of this is a contributing factor of how disfunctional the forward line can appear at times. Nick needs to play as a key forward. He needs to stop trying to play as a psuedo forward pocket trying to get over the back.

Yep. Agreed.

While Larkey can certainly kick goals and his ability as a forward is well recognised, he should be leaving the cheapies to the likes of Curtis, RHJr and even Zurhaar. When he speaks to the media he often talks about the importance of leading patterns but quite often he's drifting back to a spot in front of goal and drawing a crowd by doing so. It's even worse when CCJ is in the forward line as they're likely to be shoulder to shoulder competing for the same mark, or worse still, Larkey looking to mark and CCJ going the big fist to spoil. At least that's how I remember it.

But maybe it's been a case over the past few seasons, where Larkey feels he has to be the goal sneak in addition to being the Full Forward because we haven't had enough ground level support.

I can't wait until we see some better spread, some hard running leads and some powerful marks, supported by the smaller forwards cleaning up anything that does hit the ground and who can find enough space to take a shot without having to navigate around a pack that's formed in the goal square.

 

[Horizons_00]

maddiemelb

My lord some awesome stats from the boys

 

[gokangas]

Was quietly impressed by Cooper Harvey. Seem to have developed a bit of c*** about him and looks really competitive type, which is what you need as a annoying small forward. Much prefer that than if he went out quietly & without much noise, if this really is his do or die year.

Developed?

 

[McKuursma]

He kicked 2 whilst Kal was on him then. So the club hasn’t released the stats? Probably couldn’t afford to pay someone to do the stats.

Please show me any club who has released a full stats sheet for an intra

 

[DuckYeah]

Please show me any club who has released a full stats sheet for an intra

Dont care about other clubs

 

[Sillygit]

My lord some awesome stats from the boys

He kicked 2 whilst Kal was on him then. So the club hasn’t released the stats? Probably couldn’t afford to pay someone to do the stats.

couldn't afford what now?

 

[McKuursma]

Dont care about other clubs

You are so dense it isn't funny. Lets unpack this to help you out

1. releasing stats isn't the same as not collecting stats
2. I cant recall any club ever releasing a full intra club stats sheet which probably suggests the lack of utility in doing so - its an intra club
3. clubs intensively track data whether it be for injury management or to pulse development schedules
4. the club can and does pay for this

But of course if we're paying for Emma to coach, which is funded by external means, clearly we don't have the ability to track player stats in an intraclub

 

[Gasometer]

Pink should get a game on form alone

Playing a full team of Probables only was extraordinary

 

[LB2Snake]

Developed?

What did cooper actually do? I know there was something that happened in his final year at high school, but have no idea what it was.

 

[Topparoo]

All those stats look great from Saturday's intra club, but I can't get excited about stats in a game when we are playing amongst ourselves. Taking all that has happened since 2020 it's a real challenge to be optimistic, hopefully that form continues when the real thing starts.

 

[Star]

For those interested…

 

[rooboy335]

Firstly just want to say apologies for the seriously long post. Was just meant to be a couple of words on each of the players, but I couldn't help myself...

Now I know this was mostly against a VFL side and our seconds, so I'm trying not to sound too excited, but just some thoughts I had from watching online yesterday:

Finn O'Sullivan - think we have another gun on our hands guys and gals. I thought this watching his highlight vids pre draft, but moves in a similar way to LDU with his evasiveness imo. Agility coming out of his arse, difficult for the oppo to lay a hand on, and when they do, he has the core strength or strength through the hips to shake them loose. Going to be a powerful footballer in his prime.

Harry Sheezel - someone I think alluded to this during the game, but he just takes as much time as he wants. Most players struggle to find time and space to make the right decision, especially in midfield, but Harry can feint or position himself or do whatever he needs to do to find that extra second to assess and make the right decision. It's almost like magic. The fact that he has the IQ, the vision and then the foot skills on top of all that is just almost unfair.

Zane Duursma - pleasantly surprised at how he's tracking. Looked good in midfield for pink, and again when he swapped over to blue. Continue playing like that through the preseason and he'll probably end up in the rd1 squad. Just a classy, versatile player and will be an awkward matchup wherever he plays. Struck it sweetly for his goal that sailed through easily from about 40-45 out, when others (include a few uncharacteristic ones from Larkey) were missing or finding it hard to even make the distance.

Colby McKercher - Devastating, damaging player. Had a few of his now trademark runs, but I'm surprised at how far and accurate some of his kicks inside F50 were yesterday considering the speed at which he moves. Curious as to where he'll be playing and what he'll produce this year. Can't recall if he had any CBAs? Body is still probably not yet mature enough to play full time mid, but not sure if you want him defending at half back either.

Luke McDonald - played an okay game. Did a few nice things but can still resort to just going back to the boring and predictable long kick to a pack. So long as he plays within himself, I guess that's all you can ask for. Hopefully giving up the co-captaincy has a positive effect on his game.

Jacob Konstanty - Love the pressure and intensity he brings. Numerous times manning the mark, he would dive to try and smother the kick. Haven't really seen that intent since maybe LT? Hope he can impact more offensively as he seems to have the defensive side of his game sorted.

Taylor Goad - unicorn. Yeah, could be our most exciting kid of them all, which is insane to think. I think he will get some games this year, not just because the coaches will be saying it's for his development, but because he'll make it impossible not to through his performances (similar to what Xerri did in the VFL when he was monstering blokes and getting insane contested possession numbers). You'd think he's just about caught up to Teakle now if not already gone past him. Also doesn't bode well for CCJ unfortunately.

Geordie Payne - unsure if he makes it, not sure I'm seeing anything that screams consistent AFL player but of course hopefully he's just still finding his feet.

Tom Powell - has gone up another level. We all can probably see it. But it's almost as though his belief in himself has gone through the roof. Really hoping this translates to a big big year for Tom, as imo, the progression of Powell, Will Phillips and Wardlaw are going to be big factors as to where this team ends up this season and beyond. If he can become A grade, gee...what a bonus that would be for us.

Paul Curtis - consistent improvement every year. Can't ask for much more from a player than that. Paul seems to be on a consistent upward trajectory with really no ceiling in sight as yet. Can hurt you in so many ways, devloping into a very exciting and important player.

Luke Parker - already a valuable and astute signing but even more so now that Wardlaw has gone down. Offers leadership and other intangibles, but also will take the load off of LDU and Simpkin in the midfield which can't be understated.

Miller Bergman - concerned for Miller, like him as a player but will need to show more as he's behind a few.

Jack Darling - showed what we got him for. Another mature body who will take the hits but also apply some himself. Great tackling and pressure yesterday and I think his presence will lead to more opportunities at goal for others as we saw yesterday.

Will Phillips - Not sure I'm seeing what others are, it was a decent game from Will but I still want to see more. Just more dominance, arrogance, strength over the ball, zip in and around the contest. Just more. Maybe I need to re-watch. Maybe I'm being unfair and expecting too much, but given he's not really playable anywhere else, I feel like he could be running out of time. And I've been on his train from day one as someone who wants him to make it.

Charlie Comben - a bit disappointing. Looks more comfortable playing the intercept defender role. Although shouldn't be the creator off half back. There were a couple of times at least where he should've handballed to Daniel. It was so obvious and the exact reason we got Daniel, and yet Comben decides to take it upon himself to distribute. Might be an unpopular opinion, and I've flipped flopped on this numerous times, but given we have Logue, Corr, W. Dawson and Whitlock now, and a gaping hole at CHF, I think he should be moved forward again at some point. But I get there's the argument of it hindering his development and also his susceptibility to injury playing forward.

Matt Whitlock - very impressed with his composure and confidence. Seems way ahead of schedule for a KPD, and wouldn't be surprised if he gets some early games.

Caleb Daniel - crucial to our ability to exit out of D50, he did pretty much what we all thought he would. Good acquisition and should play a decent role in a lot of scoring chains for us.

River Stevens - thought he did okay and has a decent disposal on him. Hopefully he can develop in the same way Archer has where there are minimal expectations but after a few pre seasons he ends up surprising.

Cooper Harvey - doesn't have any elite attributes, but seems to always manage to bob up for a few. Helps when you're gifted a goal, but seems to have a knack for scoring and likes a bit of niggle. Still unsure if he makes it but there might be something there?

Tristan Xerri - asserted his dominance over the no.1 ruck role and thought he played pretty well throughout the day. So impressed as to how he's developed, full credit to monkey and the team. Always been that bullocking sort of ruck, but showing class and finesse with his tap work, as well as ability to go forward and impact. Has been a massive find for us and will continue to be as the squad grows together.

Finnbar Maley - wow. If only he could get that ball drop right. How hard can it be? He is so close to being another massive find for us in an area we are crying out for. Reads it so well, fantastic hands, just needs to learn how to finish. I'd like to see him rewarded with a game or two if he's deserving. Could probably see him become an instant cult figure as well.

Eddie Ford - on the cusp, as he has been for what feels like a few seasons now. Love Eddie and his personality, really want to see him do well, but needs to produce more imo.

Cameron Zurhaar - big beneficiary of both the new recruits and being in probably the best shape of his career. Expecting a career best year from Z, and he's off to a good start.

Robert Hansen - slightly edges out Konstanty I think, although it would be interesting to see how both in the team work when the real stuff starts. Another who, maybe not to the same extent as Powell, but seems to have gained more self confidence and is playing that way. We are desperate for pace, pressure and finishing up forward. Really hope RHJ can deliver. Good signs of improvement but still has a long way to go.

As for the team as a whole, really looking promising but obviously we won't really know how we're travelling until a few months in. I think the core of our team is there now, the coaches just need to nurture and develop them all as best they can. Bring on 2025!!!!

 

[Tas]

Good points. I think it’s harsh more so this is his maybe second year of footy in reality. He’s had SFA experience.

Agree with Lmac but he has zero excuses making brain farts, being in the system for a decade (he was decent yesterday though)

I am not saying that he isn't going to make it, nor that i expect him to be David Dench. All I am saying is that we can't be coughing up multiple cheap goals a game as a defender.

He probably should have started in the pink, he can't realistically be one of our starting tall defenders.

 

[Dinkers]

All those stats look great from Saturday's intra club, but I can't get excited about stats in a game when we are playing amongst ourselves. Taking all that has happened since 2020 it's a real challenge to be optimistic, hopefully that form continues when the real thing starts.

The firsts have been one of the worst sides in the history of the game. I feel you're being a tad harsh by suggesting the result doesn't matter because they were up against the guys that can't manage to get a game for one of the worst sides in the history of the sport.

That fyi is my way of agreeing with you, absolutely meant nought.