North.. On the wrong track?

[jacko57]

Y
Well. Exactly.


Lindsay Thomas is the epitome of finals football.

Gets the cheap goals when it doesn't matter!

So his 3 goals in the first 1/4 and one in the 2nd were all in junk time, were they?

 

[Bazzar]

You left yourself open when that's all you posted.

Bit sensitive aren't you.

 

[half_back_flank]

Bit sensitive aren't you.

Well then, why did you post the stats?

 

[Bazzar]

Well then, why did you post the stats?

I always do.

 

[Dan]

Gotta love a spurk thread

 

[Tas]

Too hard to judge based on one performance, but I always worry that the Roos just don't have enough mature bodies around the contest when it counts.

We don't but there are no miracle cures given we have a good group of mids, they just need more maturity.

We also have an issue in terms of balance of inside vs outside. Our outside is too outside and our inside are too inside at present, we need a better balance, our inside players need to develop more of an outside game and our outside players need to develop more of an inside or defensive game.

 

[dickballsack]

i'm with the north fans in that their skills were not up to usual standard and that did have a big impact on the game but it's not a concern based on 1 game. what is a major concern is that they played against a team with 2 less rotations for half the game and lost which in modern footy is almost unheard of.

 

[half_back_flank]

I always do.

But why?

 

[JoondalupJ]

Beaten well by a Collingwood seconds.

As a die hard, it's obvious the fundamental mistakes.

What's wrong with this team they can't deliver in a big game.

For me it's a long way back.

Players like Lindsay Thomas, sniping dog, cheap goal hero that will only ever add stats to a goal tally. Not even close to a player that will deliver when it matters.

Lachlan Hansen. Dumb. Painful to watch.

Should have played Daw instead of Hansen. Should have delisted Lindsay Thomas the fraud.

Gibson, Anthony? Duds.

Big rebuild needed. But not sure will happen when it needs to start with bunny assistants that have been around too long.

Brett Allison, Shane Watson. Time to go

The first half was great . I thought that North could have got away . Just a few skill errors stopped them. Pies always seemed to have the little answer. I had to go out , never saw the last two quarters . Its the first game of the season and I have to say of all the games I,ve watched so far if some of the clubs don't lift greatly, the club that can make the least mistakes is going to murder everyone .
I am very curious to see my boys against Geelong tomorrow.
If the Hawks have kept up precision kicking and high skill levels at or even better than last year, then they will be bloody hard to beat.
But from what I've seen, everyone looks rusty , so what does that say about the waste of time called the Pre Season Cup, what crap. You just never know , nothing is predictable first round. But a lot of sloppy footy around.

 

[mysainters]

These reactive round 1 threads are getting beyond a joke.

Agree

I mean, it's Craig Hutchison like...

 

[Tas]

i'm with the north fans in that their skills were not up to usual standard and that did have a big impact on the game but it's not a concern based on 1 game. what is a major concern is that they played against a team with 2 less rotations for half the game and lost which in modern footy is almost unheard of.

Well, we played against Essendon with no bench and 1 player on the ground injured and ran them off their feet last year, it is tough but not Herculean. It was just disappointing that we didn't give our forwards much of a chance and we kept giving the ball back to Collingwood. But, to Collingwood's credit, their pressure was first rate.


Look, lets be realistic, Collingwood is a top 4 side and should be a contender, we have the 5th youngest list and while Collingwood had 9 players out, we are struggling to figure who are our last 9 or 10 odd players, we have a fair bit of talent but it isn't established. We still have a fair bit of work to do but desptie our issues today I think we are heading forwards. It was only a couple of years ago that Pendlebury, Swan and Cloke on fire would have been a 100+ point victory, irrespective who was out.

We just need to be cleaner with our ball use and show a bit more composure going forward.

However, in saying that. Our current gameplan is not finals material. I am not sure if the grand plan is for it to evolve as we mature, but I would prefer to see a lot more tackling and defensive pressure.

 

[Dan]

Does the OP actually support the Roo`s?

Nope....just a Lindsay Thomas hater in the form of many aliases on BF.

 

[skipper kelly]

A couple of kicks in Round 1 against a hardened top 4 side. Nothing to be too concerned about. There is the real possibility of a full trolling meltdown of North if they happen to lose their next 2 games which are Geelong and Sydney.

 

[dickballsack]

Well, we played against Essendon with no bench and 1 player on the ground injured and ran them off their feet last year, it is tough but not Herculean. It was just disappointing that we didn't give our forwards much of a chance and we kept giving the ball back to Collingwood. But, to Collingwood's credit, their pressure was first rate.


Look, lets be realistic, Collingwood is a top 4 side and should be a contender, we have the 5th youngest list and while Collingwood had 9 players out, we are struggling to figure who are our last 9 or 10 odd players, we have a fair bit of talent but it isn't established. We still have a fair bit of work to do but desptie our issues today I think we are heading forwards. It was only a couple of years ago that Pendlebury, Swan and Cloke on fire would have been a 100+ point victory, irrespective who was out.

We just need to be cleaner with our ball use and show a bit more composure going forward.

However, in saying that. Our current gameplan is not finals material. I am not sure if the grand plan is for it to evolve as we mature, but I would prefer to see a lot more tackling and defensive pressure.

i think youre being a bit harsh on your team, its only 1 game. to put my comments in perspective when i call out the man power advantage as a 'concern' i mean that will be the main focus and discussion during the week - their work rate, i dont think they'll spend much time on game plan and skills, it will obviously be discussed individually with players during their one on ones/personal game debrief but they'll stick to and have faith in the plan but work harder to execute. i have them playing finals again

 

[Obeanie1]

We don't but there are no miracle cures given we have a good group of mids, they just need more maturity.

We also have an issue in terms of balance of inside vs outside. Our outside is too outside and our inside are too inside at present, we need a better balance, our inside players need to develop more of an outside game and our outside players need to develop more of an inside or defensive game.

From what I saw today North's seem to have too many of the same types of players / mids. Swallow played his heart out and was effective in parts and Thomas and Wells stood out because when they got the ball something happened. Ziebell looks like he will be a very good player but after these four I simply can't name another flanker or mid who looked really dangerous. Plenty of honest tryers but no stand out players who you would think could hurt the opposition with skills, pace or on the score board.

Maybe it was just a bad day at the office by a few more who do have a bit of flair and attacking quality about them.

I'd be getting Daw into that side to add a bit of spark and line breaking ability for one.

Harvey is an obvious one missing but he's in his last season.

 

[Tas]

i think youre being a bit harsh on your team, its only 1 game. to put my comments in perspective when i call out the man power advantage as a 'concern' i mean that will be the main focus and discussion during the week - their work rate, i dont think they'll spend much time on game plan and skills, it will obviously be discussed individually with players during their one on ones/personal game debrief but they'll stick to and have faith in the plan but work harder to execute. i have them playing finals again

We might win enough games to make the finals but I think you need to be defensively oriented to win finals. Our style is still too much kick more than what the opposition can rather than restrict the opposition to a score we can easily achieve.

Don' get me wrong, we front up against Geelong (Docklands) and Swans (Tasmania) in the next two weeks and despite our issues today, I still give us a pretty good chance of winning those games if we can get our shit together.

I am very happy with the quality of players coming through our system but if we were happy to be a young rebuilding team who is just competitive you would be enthusiastic about what you saw today, but I think if you have the expectation to do better then there was a fair bit to be disappointed about. it is true it is only round one and from round 2+ we could iron out the chinks in the armour, it just disappoints me when weaknesses of the previous year still stick out a fair bit, especially in round one. I think Scott was upset for the same reasons, we worked hard to address these issues and the players failed to come remotely close to the standard required.

I am still fairly optimistic going forward, if we were relatively happy with what panned out then I would probably have been more miffed. I am glad Scott is upset with that performance.

 

[Heeney2Franklin]

I think Buckley should do what other coaches have done in the past and pretend he didnt see it, speaking about it just does more harm than good imo.

 

[lihei]

Feel sorry for you bro, must have been terrible being a North fan today.

Not half as bad as being a Dees supporter (do they have any left?)

 

[lihei]

I think Buckley should do what other coaches have done in the past and pretend he didnt see it, speaking about it just does more harm than good imo.

Screw that! That lowlife cur Thomas needs to be exposed for what he his.

 

[Black Diamond]

Not half as bad as being a Dees supporter (do they have any left?)

 

[lihei]

You don't say??? KJ

 

[CF]

another round 1 over reaction thread. Put it back in your pants people.

 

[Heeney2Franklin]

Screw that! That lowlife cur Thomas needs to be exposed for what he his.

Oh i agree he is reckless but my other point still stands.

 

[Tas]

From what I saw today North's seem to have too many of the same types of players / mids. Swallow played his heart out and was effective in parts and Thomas and Wells stood out because when they got the ball something happened. Ziebell looks like he will be a very good player but after these four I simply can't name another flanker or mid who looked really dangerous. Plenty of honest tryers but no stand out players who you would think could hurt the opposition with skills, pace or on the score board.

Maybe it was just a bad day at the office by a few more who do have a bit of flair and attacking quality about them.

I'd be getting Daw into that side to add a bit of spark and line breaking ability for one.

Harvey is an obvious one missing but he's in his last season.

Not sure about Harvey, he might go on for a few more years. God, I hope so.

You are right; Swallow, Ziebell, Cunnington, Bastinac and Adams are all tough and hard at it and go in hard and we won the stoppages fairly convincingly but the issue is what happens after the first possession. We break down on the second and third disposal from a clearance.

Our inside mids need to have more of the outside smarts. I think we work hard on the contested possession and winning the clearances but it isn't evident from watching our games that there is much of a plan beyond that. There probably is, they probably put a lot of effort in it but it isn't visually noticeable or effective.

Personnel probably has a significant part in it. We don't seem to have a lot of natural run and carry type players in the side at present. Harvey is obviously capable in that area and Wells is as well, although for whatever reason he isn't taking the game on like he used to, he will get the ball and often just dish a short range pass to someone who is a significantly inferior option going inside 50. As the oldest midfielder he has to take responsibility to do what the others can't. He should be running hard at the contest and demanding the ball be given to him and demand the other mids protect his space rather than dish off. He has to be more than just a bit player in our side. He is a #2 pick and a very gifted footballer, he isn't making the most of his gifts.

Then sadly, our next best two runners are Anthony and Gibson. They bust their arse and while are relatively reliable at short-range disposal are hopeless going forward and are not the most defensively accountable players.

I am disappointed Atley hasn't been brought back into the midfield group, he is being dragged so far out of the defensive corridor that he offers very little rebound since late last year, he has the tools to be what is missing in our midfield. He needs to go into the middle.

I think we have tried to push Harper into the middle but he is a long-way off as a midfielder, he is a half-forward and could be a very good half-forward, not sure if playing him in the middle will be an overwhelming success.

Scott also has a lot of faith in MacMillan and Mullet, they can get a fair bit of the ball, not sure they have the class in terms of use. I can't say I am sold on either of these two yet, not saying they are shit footballers but they don't compliment the other group of inside mids by providing the run and carry and attacking skills. Our #1 pick from 2011 (McKenzie) is someone like that but he isn't ready yet. Also, McDonald we will pick up as a father son this year is very much that type of player, that doesn't help us this year though.

I think we need someone like a Jetta or Bennell who break the lines, has X factor, blazing speed and good skills, I mean an ultra outside player who demands the ball, a young version of Harvey, we have the guys that can get someone like him the ball, at present there is still a bit of a void in terms of someone who demands the ball on the outside who can use it well.

 

[Liam Boy]

This happens every year. We start slow and then mid-year we up the game significantly.