Autopsy North V Crows

[True North]

Shit, I was close to tears watching the boys walk off. Can't believe it's over.

Very sad to see Harvey, Firrito, Petrie, Dal Santo and probably Wells off as NMFC players in that way, but it was expected.

There's no point looking back on this game as there's no next week, only next season. Here are some general thoughts:

- We need to resist temptation to have Andrew Swallow as a part of our best 22 to start the season next year. The game has gone past him so offers no trade value anymore, but could provide good depth.

- I think the biggest indictment on Brad's game plan is Shaun Atley. One of our only weapons and he's been forced to place tight defensive roles all year. NEEDS to be released next season and given the rope to be able to influence game, not just stop the influence of others.

- Jed Anderson is the worst kick of a drop punt since Jonathan Hay, who coincidently we picked up from Hawthorn. Will write this season off as a development year for him, but next year is huge for him.

- Dumont plays a semi defensive role, but needs to get more of the ball, as a midfielder 12 possessions isn't good enough.

- Thank god Cunnington's season is over. Hurt me to watch him this year. Needs to spend the whole off season RUNNING. You can still retain strength whilst getting fitter, not sure if he's aware of that. Hasn't done the basics well at all this year, and I think that's because he's operating under fatigue a lot of the time due to lack of fitness.

- We finally saw Majak looking to run at the ball carrier a few times and he looked miles better for it. Forget trying to jump over packs, push off with your massive arms and run at the person with the ball Maj.

- Expecting Higgins to be like a new recruit (again) next season.

- Can not stress how important it is to try and retain Wells. Give him a four year deal and I'll pay out his last two years.

- Already excited about seeing what Wood is going to do in 2017. Sky's the limit for him.

- 43 tackles in a final for the whole game is pathetic. Earlier in the season we were clocking up half decent tackle numbers. Last half of the year it went south quickly. Was embarrassing.

You obviously don't care that Wells refuses to tackle? Just like Boomer spent at least 5 years preserving energy by not defending.

We are crap because the only blokes in the team with any speed refuse to defend. The other crabs then are left out of position and can't keep up.

 

[Shinboner roo]

Swallow is the worst disposer of the ball in the AFL out of the players that consistently get at AFL game.

We need to have a damn good look at him and others to determine if it is worth keeping them around next season.

The position we are in atm. We should send him north to play with his brother

 

[koshari]

We absolutely fell in against Essendon, Melbourne and Collingwood and collected 12 wins. He actually said we would win about 8. Not far off.

after what i saw today a few clubs will be simply competing for runners up in the next few years.

 

[astrovic]

astrovic

Yeah I read that.

Loved your first post, but the second is rubbish, sorry.

 

[Reagan Smash]

Harveys, Dal Santo and Wells defensive application was deplorable tonight.

 

[Flawed Genius]

Yeah I read that.

Loved your first post, but the second is rubbish, sorry.

Fair enough.

 

[Lavy_Panther]

You obviously don't care that Wells refuses to tackle? Just like Boomer spent at least 5 years preserving energy by not defending.

We are crap because the only blokes in the team with any speed refuse to defend. The other crabs then are left out of position and can't keep up.

Wells has the fifth best tackles per game numbers for 2016 for the club. You're wrong. Don't judge his defensive output for the year on tonight's game.

 

[True North]

Neg: Everything since the Richmond game.

We need to start again and earning a game should be mandatory. That won't be possible under the current management group so clean them out.

 

[shintemaster]

Top 2 possession winner were Dal (29) and boomer (25). Did you feel that either of them had a great impact? Crafty old bastards have mastered the art of accumulation, but confirms for me that stats do not tell the full story. Right time for them to finish up.

Big overhaul ahead in 2017. Exciting times.

I felt like that tonight. Even Boomer in the last 2/3rds of this year just hasn't managed to have the same impact with really good numbers. I can see the argument there about getting some of these guys out of the way.

 

[Thewlis Dish]

Is anyone really surprised?

The same issues that have plagued Scott's tenure:

- Inability to win key 50/50s and kill contests
- Horrible entries inside 50 and inability to keep it away from the loose man
- Allowing opposition men out the back of the stoppages
- Playing on and handballing to no one/team mates under pressure in the back half
- Giving up countless contested marks

Anyway, who cares? We're not getting close to a flag with out playing group and coaching staff. We all know it, and we managed to send off yet more club stalwarts with a belting.

 

[Arden]

Ralph thinks Hartigan's trip/kick is just a fine, tried to talk it down and was almost laughing at the fact it was on LT.

I so want to kick a wet footy straight into his smug face.

 

[Thewlis Dish]

You obviously don't care that Wells refuses to tackle? Just like Boomer spent at least 5 years preserving energy by not defending.

We are crap because the only blokes in the team with any speed refuse to defend. The other crabs then are left out of position and can't keep up.

Which falls back on the coaches and their inability to set standards and punish those who don't adhere to them.

Bad habits don't just magically appear; they are allowed to develop and fester.

 

[True North]

Dal was good. He would be playing next year if tonight was standard, or close to it. Nice audition for his next gig.

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Is anyone really surprised?

The same issues that have plagued Scott's tenure:

- Inability to win key 50/50s and kill contests
- Horrible entries inside 50 and inability to keep it away from the loose man
- Allowing opposition men out the back of the stoppages
- Playing on and handballing to no one/team mates under pressure in the back half
- Giving up countless contested marks

Anyway, who cares? We're not getting close to a flag with out playing group and coaching staff. We all know it, and we managed to send off yet more club stalwarts with a belting.

Unable to prevent disposal of the ball whilst tackling.

Players getting sucked into contests.

Multiple players tackling when not required, leaving spare men on the outside.

 

[True North]

Wells has the fifth best tackles per game numbers for 2016 for the club. You're wrong. Don't judge his defensive output for the year on tonight's game.

Fair enough, Wells has been defensively solid this year.

Just saving his body for his next club then.

 

[Samsquanch]

- Thank god Cunnington's season is over. Hurt me to watch him this year. Needs to spend the whole off season RUNNING. You can still retain strength whilst getting fitter, not sure if he's aware of that. Hasn't done the basics well at all this year, and I think that's because he's operating under fatigue a lot of the time due to lack of fitness.

Exactly. I also mentioned this in the game day thread. The team looks like they ignored speed and aearobic work in the preseason. Not that they appear to be built like the brick shithouses that emerge from your average bikie gym, even though Cunners himself has probably got a bit too carried away with pumping iron.

Run guys, then run some more. Speed and endurance will serve you far better than sheer muscle mass without the tanks to support it after half time.

 

[XU1-ROO]

Was always going to be a hard challenge to win in Adelaide. We move on and look forward to 2017.

 

[Lavy_Panther]

Dal was good. He would be playing next year if tonight was standard, or close to it. Nice audition for his next gig.

Haha this bloke. Wants Wells shown the door on the back of his tackling pressure (despite being the 5th most prolific tackler in our side for the year) yet lauds Dal Santo's game (which consisted of one tackle and several 'walk on throughs').

Can't have your cake and eat it too.

 

[Heaps of fun]

I think this performance (plus the entire second half of this season) showed off why more than ever we had to usher out the old guard. Will miss Boomer, **** will miss all of them--even Dal Santo's shimmy, but we can't get any more out of him than we already have and still build to the future. Add in what we saw GWS do today and it's even more reason to start focusing on exposing what youth we do have because our go at a flag came and went in the last 18 months.

Jed Anderson - did some impressive work in the centre and that tackle was silk. Less blues than usual this season. I see a lot of good footy in him if we can keep him fit and let him become an important part of our team.

Shaun Atley - liked that he tried to create and use pace with ball in hand. Was destroyed by Betts and largely anonymous outside of the backline. No tackles.

Ben Brown - Talia gave him an absolute bath. Non-entity. Will be very upset to have let us down again in a final and be back with a vengeance next year hopefully.

Ben Cunnington - proven finals player. 9 clearances, 13 contested disposals, 6 tackles and 2 goal assists. Needed more assistance but stepped up from some playing some very average footy this year.

Nick Dal Santo - composed with the ball in hand as always and knows how to find it, that we will miss. Won't miss his defensive attributions and slowness though. Needs to be replaced with a harder faster model.

Majak Daw - watershed moment. So proud of him and how he played. Walked around like he owned the 50 when he got going, just like he does for Werribee. Starting full forward in 2017.

Trent Dumont - dangerous player but need him with his hands on the footy more often. Good apprentice year but we need to utilise him better or he needs to get fitter, hard to tell when he's given tagging roles.

Michael Firrito - gonna miss ya Spud. They don't build 'em like you no more. Did his best in a D50 under siege.

Sam Gibson - mostly anonymous. Thought he used it well but hardly noticed him. If he was doing a defensive job I don't think it came off.

Todd Goldstein - good overall game and kicked a great goal along the ground but him and the other mids have to stand trial when Sauce and the boys went apeshit on us in the third quarter.

Lachie Hansen - thought he tried hard and took one very good mark. A few miserable turnovers too many though.

Brent Harvey - lots of the footy but lots of blues including costing us a 12 point play early in the game when he burnt LT up one end and kicked it into the man down the other. Can't help but feel that a passionate and proud man like Harvey couldn't have benefited from a public sacking and I thought it showed tonight as he lacked his usual killer instinct and humour. Looked distracted. Sad way to retire a champ but it would have been worse to retire him without giving the fans a chance to say goodbye.

Shaun Higgins - goal was class but by the end of the game couldn't help but watch his opponent run past and out mark him on the lead. I have worries that his knee will see him rapidly slow down next year.

Jamie Macmillan - a poor night by any standards but particularly his as I think he's been our second best player after Tarrant in the second half of the year. No tackles.

Luke McDonald - is below full fitness or at least played like it with a lot of defensive blunders including that horrid dropped mark. Onto greater things I hope.

Aaron Mullett - took a ripper mark which has become a semi-feature of his game this year. Has improved the longer he has stayed in the side but think he'll be trade bait as we could look to replace him with a player with a less weaknesses.

Drew Petrie - dreadful way to end a great North career. Couldn't get near it all night and had a momentum sapping miss.

Andrew Swallow - needs some sort of explanation for his drop in output this year. Can no longer be ignored. Too slow with ball in hand and is hardly even getting to it lately.

Robbie Tarrant - valiant as always and needs the support of another gun tall forward. One of the missing pieces of the puzzle.

Lindsay Thomas - didn't drop his head all night and did well to finish with three goals.

Daniel Wells - please don't leave. Good in close but needed more space made for him. Also needs to be told it's alright to kick a goal if there's no better option but to swing around.

Jack Ziebell - great first half but waned in efficacy though I did love that goal. Midfield chemistry needs to change though. Can't fit him Cunnington, Swallow, Dumont and Jacobs in, too bulky.

 

[Thewlis Dish]

Was always going to be a hard challenge to win in Adelaide.

Would have been nice to not lose by ten goals and give up another 40 scoring shots though.

 

[True North]

Which falls back on the coaches and their inability to set standards and punish those who don't adhere to them.

Bad habits don't just magically appear; they are allowed to develop and fester.

This x1000000000000.

There has been so much wrong for so long with our defensive standards.

Our game plan assists massively in covering up some cracks, so kudos for that goes to Scott. Yet our fiercest tackler is a first year 49kg player from Hawthorn who hasn't been out of a wheelchair in 3 years. It's an indictment on our standards.

 

[danj]

Dal was good. He would be playing next year if tonight was standard, or close to it. Nice audition for his next gig.

Serously? Mate i reckon he was just doing enough to get his card stamped, i for one will not miss him

 

[Groucho]

I felt like that tonight. Even Boomer in the last 2/3rds of this year just hasn't managed to have the same impact with really good numbers. I can see the argument there about getting some of these guys out of the way.

The way the games played now you can't have players who don't tackle like maniacs all the time! we've got quite a few who don't.

 

[koshari]

Was always going to be a hard challenge to win in Adelaide. We move on and look forward to 2017.

indeed, we were never a realistic chance, woulda been nice to keep it under 5 goals though .

 

[Roosurgence]

I'm sure Pyke had one of the easiest nights of his career in the box.

Predictable set up by Brad and didn't challenge him once with something new to look at.

It's not often Brad Scott makes a decision that requires an opposition coach to have a think about how to counter it.