obervations from tonight's game

[jschwag]

I agree that Josh Smith should have played in the forwards with Hale. We would have been better to see how the two tall forwards work together. Not use a good tap ruckman in a position he is not yet suited to.

There was so much wrong with tonight though, that forward structure was the least of our worries.

Did anyone else notice the number of times we won the hitout, and then didn't touch the ball again until we retrieved it from behind the Carlton goal?

 

[hsvclubsportr8]

There was so much wrong with tonight though, that forward structure was the least of our worries.

Are you serious? Every time the ball was either purposefully kicked or bombed into the forward line, our talls (minus Petrie) were behind the pack!

David Hales potential brilliance shone through late last year, but he shouldn't be completely relied on as Nathan Thompsons replacement just yet.

 

[LuvtheKangas]

my fourth observation



some of these ladyboys in patong have great ****......

Are your first and fourth observations somehow related?

 

[roosmad]

Are your first and fourth observations somehow related?

possibly so, it only costs 300baht for the first observation to take place

 

[ratten7]

Agree with all. We have a lot of work to do to get the right mix in the middle, but even it its current shape we will account for Carlton comfortably next time we play them.
.

How did you come up with that logic? You fielded a full strength side and got smashed. Based on our win tonight i won't blindly say we will beat you in the real season but i would definately give us a chance. You may have had simpson and Jesse Smith out.However we had Scotland, Walker, Carrazo who would fit in our best 22 out.

 

[Mario the Lothario]

The midfield wasn't much chop tonight but the backline was terrible.

 

[budge11]

lol dicky just got carded

 

[Mario the Lothario]

And lay off juddy mate if he said he wanted to play for the roos you would love him there mate so dont go there.

He's a protected species and its about time something was done about it. The holding the ball rule simply doesn't apply to Judd.

 

[Arden Street]

Daniel Wells - he was clearly our best player tonight. He showed great skill and class and kicked a few goals.
Jack Ziebell - played a great game for a first year player. kicked a few goals and set up a nice one for wellsy.
Lachlan Hansen - struggled to get into the game at CHF. He looks a lot more comfortable at CHB.
Liam Anthony - i was hoping he got more of a run. He was good when he was on and uses the ball effectively. I think he will be a handy player for us this season.
Ben Ross - didn't do much when he was on, i was hoping he got more game time.
Daniel Pratt - was often third man up in the contest and showed great courage all night. hopefully his ribs are alright.
Ed Lower - started of tagging stevens. I hope he isn't just pigoen holed as a tagger this season.

 

[Event Horizon]

How did you come up with that logic? You fielded a full strength side and got smashed. Based on our win tonight i won't blindly say we will beat you in the real season but i would definately give us a chance. You may have had simpson and Jesse Smith out.However we had Scotland, Walker, Carrazo who would fit in our best 22 out.

Logic is simple. I don't expect us to play with this level of intensity during the home and away season. If you have watched North play over the years (win, lose or draw) - playing netball with no tackling hasn't normally been the feature of this club's play. Poor skills - yes, but the intensity WILL pick up.

And with that intensity, I do believe that Carlton's reliance on two star players will be exposed as it was in round 20 last year IMO.

 

[NICK_ROOBOY83]

I observed man love from umpires for C Judd.

The love Judd gets from the umps is embarrassing. Even some Carlton supporters were embarrassed with that free he got when Rawlings pinned him.

Yeah. The guy gets a very good run there's no doubt. My fave was when he took possesion, handballed away while Rawlings was tackling him and Brady was pinged for holding him - all this by an upire fifteen meters behind Rawlings. He couldn't even see the ball. The umpiring was a spectacle in horror tonight both ways though. What a pity Collingwood whinged so much after we beat them last year, now I have to watch umpires bounce the ball multiple times just for fun. Yey.

The umpiring was shit as.

In the first quarter, we did get some frees that weren't really there, but after that it was all in Carlton's favor.

 

[HongKongRoo]

Wanted to give myself some time to calm down before posting and see if any of the reactions I had would be sobered over time.

We got belted, but more disappointing was that we only tinkered with a flawed structure. I would rather we took a big risk and got belted than play very similar to last year both in structure and in personnel.

Our forward structure was out by about 30 meters. When we went tall with Goldy and Hale they should have been more spread out, one about 10 in front of the square and the other at about 35-40. Our midfielders just don't have the Judd, Dew, Lonie range on them, plenty of times they looked like they were sticking to the plan and bombing it in long but still falling 20-30 meters short of the pack. How can a professional footballer not know how far they can kick it? There's no way power, lower, swallow etc... would have had a hope in hell of making that distance yet they continually bombed blind short of the hotspot.

Rawlings is a tagger and made power look worse than he is by almost running into him and yelling useless instructions. Rawlings may be a leader and an older head but he shouldn't be giving advice on how to present into the forward fifty. All he should be doing is tagging and blocking. He could have provided some physical support instead by putting on a block.

Firrito looks better up the field. He has an attacking game and a big body. Hell Gibbs and Murphy made our midfielders look like stick insects.

I know lots of posters have hard-ons for lower and i reckon he will be better this year than last but he seems to play his best footy off a half forward flank. Not damaging as a midfielder and gets creamed in the backline.

Swallow stood up and showed a bit more of what he is capable of. Not a superstar but I think should be in our best 22. Is tough and couragous. He brings some grunt into the midfield.

Very disappointed in a few players
McMahon, CJ both offered little to the team. No hardness from McMahon which is normally a trademark when he plays in the backline. Was Ross injured? LT, Hamish, Flash, Petrie, Urqs, Boomer will improve once the real season starts. Hale got some shocking delivery after the first quarter. I think he will lead more when the real deal happens cause if he just sits in the square he'll never get a kick.

Very happy with Ziebelle and Anthony's games. Anthony will be a better player this year but Jack will be a star. Liam improves our midfield significantly.

Not really angry but just saddened by Harris. Was just average which we saw too much of last year. Laids should forget the rockets, just play players on merit. If they are no good they play seconds, simple. Should have happened to Brown earlier, CJ, Harris etc... Seems like there is too much preciousness with our list, if they were world beaters then by all means but they are too inconsistent to be given a free ride into the team each week.

 

[HongKongRoo]

Forget the umps, we need to toughen up, win some footy and kick the bloody thing straight.

 

[Long Live the King]

Great post HongKongRoo........I totally agree....whilst you can draw the conclusion that the performance was the result of a pre season focused on strength and not skills/speed, at this point we need to remember that we are blooding young kids who need to be inspired by the older guys...dropping your bundle when the opposition kicks clear doesnt send the right message...im glad Jack/Liam etc busted their guts to the very end...even Thompson was putting in..

if the strategy was to try players out of position then tell us coach Laidley (as Paul Roos freely admits)....if supporters see that rubbish not understanding there was some sort of logic behind it then they start assuming stuff ie players are no good...coach is no good etc.....just read the comments on this website...

 

[HongKongRoo]

if the strategy was to try players out of position then tell us coach Laidley (as Paul Roos freely admits)....if supporters see that rubbish not understanding there was some sort of logic behind it then they start assuming stuff ie players are no good...coach is no good etc.....just read the comments on this website...

Thanks LLtK, I for one would have been happy if there were some interesting and unusual positional moves but as it was we saw SFA except for the experiment of having Goldy and Hale in the square and no CHF.

 

[Rippednew1]

WHAT THE HELL ARE THE COACHES THINKING?

We all could be feeling a lot easier now if we knew:

Why wasnt Grima in the team? Why play Thompson at all roaming?
Blind freddy knows we need a full back for the years to come.
Nathan thompson played in the ruck round 1 last year after knee surgery? Why wasnt Grima given a shot?
Scotty shouldnt be playing if not at full back.

Greenwood deserves a go, he could be the tough presence we have lacked since Arch left. Why wouldnt you play this guy. We are soft.

Josh Smith should have played, dominated VFL finals, deserved a shot. We dont have a CHF FFS. Hansen is not a CHF, the sooner we realize this the better.

Riggio should have played despite form, we are crying out for a player like him, seems a rare commodity at North. Simmo will be played off the bench hopefully, Swallow will never be an elite player, Harris plays only 60 minutes per match and is hated by the coach and Ziebell shouldnt be expected to be our best player and best clearer at 18.

Why Goldy didnt play in the ruck has got me. Why play him? 2 ruckman up forward is what the shit coach at under 12 level does. H was average at best and Goldy should have been rucked so we could get a look at if potentially our biggest change for the year will work. If Goldy had of been tried and cut the mustard, and Petrie kept in a position,
would have been like adding cement to our soft, lopsided core.
Petrie in the ruck was the coach saying look, we are a crap team but there is a genius in the box, watch this.

Why Pratt was playing i dont know. Surgery, he played like crap.

Why Ross got benched is anyones guess, he is a potential midfielder. If you bring in Garlett, a career forward pocket should be benched. Not our future midfield.
Are these **** ups genius or a disgrace. Can see the demons running our unmotivated out of position lopsided group to the wire. Especially when 4 or 5 players that should be playing will be in the 2's.

 

[Ghostwriter]

It's Febuary.

 

[__aria__]

dean laidley has got no idea how to coach

 

[Rippednew1]

It's Febuary.

it will be September in 7 months also, hopefully avoid the pain this year, wonder if the players will go down that path this year.

 

[HongKongRoo]

WHAT THE HELL ARE THE COACHES THINKING?

We all could be feeling a lot easier now if we knew:

Are these **** ups genius or a disgrace. Can see the demons running our unmotivated out of position lopsided group to the wire. Especially when 4 or 5 players that should be playing will be in the 2's.

Expect Greenwood, Josh Smith, Riggio, JWS and Ross to get a run this week, unfortunately won't be able to watch it because we only get NAB telecast so will be looking forward to bigfooty reviews.

Agree that Hansen will not be a permanent CHF and he looks better at HB, peeling off his man and using his tank to hurt him the other way. He looks big enough now to hold down CHB.

Though Goldy played mostly in the ruck except for that atrocious spell where we had him and Hale in the square. I'm glad they experimented with having Dish, Hale, H and Goldy all in the team at the same time but two in the goal square at the same time is pretty silly. Hale is mobile enough to push up the ground when Goldy or H have a spell up forward.

On a positive note, Wells and Harding both played well.

 

[LuvtheKangas]

It's Febuary.

Second that.

 

[Rippednew1]

The opportunity for the kids to get valuable match practice is gone. Friday night NAB is a fairly high intensity and a serious practice match. The country rubbish practice matches are nothing games, players trying not to graze their knees really. The intensity is a joke, thats why Rawlings and Power will probably be best on ground on the weekend.
Was a massive **** up not playing Josh Smith the other night.

 

[HongKongRoo]

The opportunity for the kids to get valuable match practice is gone. Friday night NAB is a fairly high intensity and a serious practice match. The country rubbish practice matches are nothing games, players trying not to graze their knees really. The intensity is a joke, thats why Rawlings and Power will probably be best on ground on the weekend.
Was a massive **** up not playing Josh Smith the other night.

Let's hope they keeping him under wraps for a 20 possie 7 goal debut in round 1

 

[Rippednew1]

Let's hope they keeping him under wraps for a 20 possie 7 goal debut in round 1

yeah, feel like taking a paint brush onto the ground and drawing a big Bermuda triangle at CHF and FB. Might make it easier for us armchair people to know whats going through the mind of Dexter( apart from a slight breeze)

 

[goreds]

Yeah. The guy gets a very good run there's no doubt. My fave was when he took possesion, handballed away while Rawlings was tackling him and Brady was pinged for holding him - all this by an upire fifteen meters behind Rawlings. He couldn't even see the ball. The umpiring was a spectacle in horror tonight both ways though. What a pity Collingwood whinged so much after we beat them last year, now I have to watch umpires bounce the ball multiple times just for fun. Yey.

I have to pull you up on this one.

The free-kick was for Rawlings tackling Judd to the ground after the ball was disposed of.

It's not the old holding the ball rule, it's the new version.

You must let go of the player and not bring him to ground. This is a modification that taggers will have to get used to. Your also not allowed to hold the player down after the contest has moved on.