Autopsy Tale of two halves vs. Freo

[gustaaf]

As disappointing as the collapse was, we can take positives out of the game. We now know that Northball can be devastatingly effective, but we need to have more strings to our bow to win games because Northball is aerobically very demanding. When we were on in the first half, it was mesmerising and a thing of beauty. North supporters haven't been entertained like that for many years. The coaching staff and players will learn plenty from this and we will get better. We have players to execute Northball, but we need to be able sustain it for longer and make changes when the game demands it. I don't subscribe to the gloom and doom sentiments expressed on the game day thread, although I understand how frustration and shock could motivate those utterings.

Freo changed their tactics with a slow possession game after half time, but the writing was already on the wall in the 10 minutes before halftime. We weren't helped by a few too many questionable umpiring decisions, but that doesn't excuse us for not being able to adjust to the tactical changes made by Freo. I couldn't understand why our players were standing off the Freo players to allow them to play that style of football at times almost unchallenged and I blame the coaching staff more so than the on field captains for not intervening. I also don't understand why we didn't activate the sub earlier when we had enough passengers that needed replacing.

Freo was more efficient with their F50 entries, which was already evident in the first half when we should have been a lot further ahead. Our goal kicking radar also switched off when we went from 8.1 to 9.9, including those three bad misses within a short period of time in the 2nd quarter hat could have put us 7 or 8 goals up. That contributed to Freo kicking 9 successive goals, which should never be allowed to happen, not even by a David Noble coached team, which the third quarter gave me flashbacks of.

In the second half we were once again too easily outmarked in our D50 after doing well in that regard in the first half. We lack aerial authority and I'm frightened of what Carlton might do to us on Good Friday. Hopefully Comben gets a start to give us more Aerial presence. Corr must be nervous about retaining his spot because experience is just a word if the performance doesn't match it.

In the second half we also reverted to the old blasting the ball into F50 hoping someone would mark or crumb the ball instead of the more measured approach of the majority of the first half when we went past the 50 points mark well before the end of the second quarter.

At least we didn't throw the towel in when the score could have got ugly in the last quarter. As well as Jackson played in the 2nd half, I thought Xerri overall was very good for us and he is growing into a quality ruckman, which justifies the decision to not offer Goldie a two year extension. Everyone made blunders, especially in the third quarter, but I thought Powell, Sheezel, Wardlaw, LDU, Mckercher and Scott played strong games. It is easy to get fixated on what happened in the third quarter when plenty of positives happened in the other three quarters. I'm still confident we'll win 6-8 games and give some higher rated clubs a fright in some of our losses. We're a work in progress in what was always going to be a transition year.

 

[Snojet]

Like many, I was excited by our young blokes and disappointed that we didn’t capitalise on our lead when we had the opportunity. More senior players need to lift.
Sadly as a bottom team we will get the younger, less experienced umpires and they impacted yesterday on our attempt to get back in the game.
Never thought I’d miss Razor Ray!

 

[Mixed Results]

At the ground the loss was completely gut-wrenching, but I woke up feeling a lot more positive about the experience and eager to check out the replay.

The defence is of course our major issue. When things are going our way, or the contest is even, they can hold up, but so far against GWS and Fremantle we've seen that when the opponent is on top they're able to score at will.

The biggest problem with Corr, Pink, and Dawson as a trio, is that they provide very little intercepting/aerial presence. Pink and Dawson are both inexperienced, so may improve over time, but for now I'd love to see Comben rushed into the side as soon as possible. Even the most hacked kicks inside 50 are giving opponents a great chance to score, because we don't have anybody consistently capable of a decent pack spoil or intercept mark.

Sheezel, Fisher, and McKercher all playing as defenders is not working either. We're missing the class forward of 50, and we're also getting exposed by our lack of true defenders. Fisher can be kept in the back pocket all year, but McKercher and Sheezel both need to be moved into more dangerous positions. Bergman needs to take one of those spots next week, and I'm hoping that allows Sheez or Kerch to replace Lazzaro's role. Then in time, the other needs to pushed out by one of Archer, George, or Hardeman.

Apart from that, and the disappointment in our leaders (including Clarko) not responding well enough to the third quarter onslaught (from my perspective at the ground this stretch was 90% mental), it was mostly all positives. The mental collapse in the third, and how hard we were outworked in that stretch, overshadowed what was probably the best football we've played in years.

I'm not resigning myself to a loss next week. The quality of football we played early should push Carlton. I'm terrified of what McKay and Curnow will do to us, but I'm not ruling us out.

 

[tazaa]

What was notable to me about the majority of the first half was that we looked genuinely dominant. Not just some lucky goals. They couldn't keep up with us and we were piling them on. The game was ours. The sinking feeling that I sensed bubbling up in the back of my mind during those three missed set shots turned out to be well-founded, and the rest of the match came down to poor coaching and some heavy psychological capitulation that showed on-field as a lack of effort. But yeah, can't say I've ever seen a performance like that first half from this group.

Jy and Larkey missing those goals. You just knew it was going to hurt us.

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Jy and Larkey missing those goals. You just knew it was going to hurt us.

Turned to my cousin and made this exact statement.

The Duursma miss included.

Absolutely flying, moving the ball at will and not able to conver those basic set shots.

Absolute momentum killers.

 

[Possession]

Turned to my cousin and made this exact statement.

The Duursma miss included.

Absolutely flying, moving the ball at will and not able to conver those basic set shots.

Absolute momentum killers.

I hate that I've been conditioned to be this way but after the third miss I said to those I was with, "We're going to lose".

 

[Ischenko]

To echo the above: if we nail 2 of those last 3 goals we are 7 goals up at half time and we win.

I notice this in saints preseason game: we don’t know how to win. We need to work on it, whether it’s closing out a close one or putting a team away when we’re all over them. Cos the way we play we’re obviously vulnerable to being scored on quickly.

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

To echo the above: if we nail 2 of those last 3 goals we are 7 goals up at half time and we win.

I notice this in saints preseason game: we don’t know how to win. We need to work on it, whether it’s closing out a close one or putting a team away when we’re all over them. Cos the way we play we’re obviously vulnerable to being scored on quickly.

If we kick the first one, the ball goes back to the middle and we’re six goals up, after having dominated the whole quarter.

The red time shitness struck and the rest is history.

Don’t get me started on Corr hitting Walters high at the end of the first…..

 

[Hojuman]

If we kick the first one, the ball goes back to the middle and we’re six goals up, after having dominated the whole quarter.

The red time shitness struck and the rest is history.

Don’t get me started on Corr hitting Walters high at the end of the first…..

Where Walters " ducked " ? and out of 17,589 people there the only ones who didn't realise that were the 4 officiating umpires ?

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Where Walters " ducked " ? and out of 17,568 people there the only ones who didn't realise that were the 4 officiating umpires ?

Yep, definitely ducked.

But, as the most senior defender he needs to i) approach Walters with his ducking in mind and ii) make sure he goes low enough to avoid his head.

It was made worse because there was already someone tackling him.

 

[Mixed Results]

After watching the game back, we were dominant for three quarters, but allowed Fremantle's "dominant" stretch to turn 17 inside 50s into seven goals and five behinds.

In the final quarter when we are fighting back, I think we allow Fremantle three inside 50s in the first 15-20 minutes, but they score goals off two of them and put the game away.

The back six is a significant issue. Maybe at the other end we should have capitalized more and found other avenues to goal on quiet days for Larkey and Zurhaar, but the back half of the ground is a complete disaster.

Corr was a lot better than I first thought. Pink was the worst of the talls by far. Dawson anonymous in his defensive work, but that's not always a bad sign.

McKercher was found out the most of the smaller brigade. It's not his fault, but we really need to be moving him to a wing or in Lazzaro's role. Outside of his defensive work, he is an absolute star. We need his kicking and attacking power ahead of the ball.

 

[DrZaius]

Don't really give a shit about any positives tbh this is up there with some of the worst performances of the last few years for me. Call me a sook or whatever but this losing culture has completely permeated every single aspect of our club like a cancer all the way from the top down to us supporters, and until we correct that we are just going continue to tread water regardless of the empty platitudes we hear over and over about improvement. For all the talk and optimism of the preseason we are still plagued with the same inability to arrest momentum and so far there hasn't been much to suggest any meaningful improvement has been made in that area.

You could just tell at the start of the 2nd half what was going to happen and while the players obviously take a fair amount of blame for the performance what did we do as supporters at the ground? A couple of dodgy umpiring calls happen so we give a few token boos, but largely we sit there in silence and meekly accept the inevitable without showing much passion and fight - which was a great parallel to what was occurring on the field. It was great when we were up and about early but I think every single one of us sitting there in the stands knew deep down what would happen and so did the players.

How many times are we just going to make excuses and repeat the mantra of patience while patting ourselves on the back about the small wins of individual performances as though our improvement is only a matter of time? Even though the scoreboard will show a 'respectable' margin of a handful of goals, any other team in the league would've put up more of a fight than we did from the winning position we were in. It doesn't matter the amount of talent we have or how good our coaching staff is when we are completely head****ed and scared of winning.

Taking nothing away from Freo though they played us perfectly in the 2nd half.

 

[franjon]

Stephens was a disappointment for me today. Looked forward to him and Fisher playing and only Fisher impressed me.

I know it's early days, but what I've seen in the first two games and the hanging out, I think we're seeing why Sydney weren't that fussed to see him go. Needs to get WAY more involved.

 

[DrZaius]

Because it's only round two I'm going to make the assumption that youth and a lack of experience played a large part in our falling away and over the course of the season the 40+ point shlacking we received in the third quarter will be an anomaly and not a regular occurrence. Despite the defeat there were a lot of things to like today.

We have been saying this for 4 years though, not really sure we can be giving the benefit of the doubt anymore.

 

[CURVE]

We have been saying this for 4 years though, not really sure we can be giving the benefit of the doubt anymore.

If you are not going to give the benefit of doubt, then you may as well give up on the club and go support Collingwood, Carlton or some other club.

If you are a genuine North Melbourne supporter then you have no choice.

I'll leave it up to you.

 

[DrZaius]

Not true at all. Laughable base-level analysis. We played West Coast and a less capable Freo side in rounds 1 and 2. Compare that to this year. I’ll let you do the thinking with this one.

A full strength Freo at Optus stadium with the crowd behind them is less capable than an undermanned Freo at Marvel that's had 4 forced changes due to injury while also coming off a shorter break than us? Come on dude

 

[DrZaius]

If you are not going to give the benefit of doubt, then you may as well give up on the club and go support Collingwood, Carlton or some other club.

If you are a genuine North Melbourne supporter then you have no choice.

I'll leave it up to you.

Lol ok righto. I see you joined in 2000 so it's a safe assumption you were there to enjoy our last period of success.

I am 29 years old and all I've known is a shit North Melbourne. I was alive in 96 & 99 but I have little to no memory of that time so the peak for me has been a slightly above average team that is widely said to have overperformed - I don't have any good times to fall back on yet I'm still here as I have been my entire life and I'm not going anywhere.

That won't stop me though from expecting more from a club that is seemingly incapable of doing what every other club in the league is able to. Seriously our bar is so low right now that Hermes Conrad wouldn't be able to limbo underneath it.

 

[DrZaius]

To echo the above: if we nail 2 of those last 3 goals we are 7 goals up at half time and we win.

Do we though? Not sure how you can come to that conclusion based on our 2nd half performance yesterday.
Sounds like whataboutism and wishful thinking which is pretty commonplace on this board these days.

 

[Only Forwards]

That won't stop me though from expecting more from a club that is seemingly incapable of doing what every other club in the league is able to. Seriously our bar is so low right now that Hermes Conrad wouldn't be able to limbo underneath it.

What are your expectations on this year?

 

[the big lebowski]

I’m going to do a forensic deep dive on the third qrt tonight.

 

[Only Forwards]

I’m going to do a forensic deep dive on the third qrt tonight.

Ricks analysis was insightful if you haven’t read it yet.

 

[the big lebowski]

Ricks analysis was insightful if you haven’t read it yet.

Other than it being painful I’m going in with no preconceived opinions or ideas

 

[Ischenko]

Do we though? Not sure how you can come to that conclusion based on our 2nd half performance yesterday.
Sounds like whataboutism and wishful thinking which is pretty commonplace on this board these days.

Based on AFL history/convention, yes. 7 goals up at half time at home is usually a win in the book. Maybe we would have bottled it. I dunno how it's wishful thinking to suggest if we'd nailed 2 simple set shots we'd have been in a far better position, and historically a winning one.

 

[ferball]

I’m going to do a forensic deep dive on the third qrt tonight.

You're a better man than I tbl.

 

[ohmygewd]

Happy the attendance... congrats to all who came after being mocked whether there would be a crowd at all...although at 1pm it was looking likely there wasn't but great effort although, if l could put it kindly, 25k North supporters probably gets us the win in our first home game!!

Yep it was a tale of two halves and another great step in the evolution of this teams as the hardest thing in modern day football is to try an arrest momentum which wasn't helped by very ordinary bounces that played into Luke Jackson

9

Luke Jackson

Age

23

Ht

199cm

Wt

102kg

Pos.

F/R

Career

Season

Last 5

D

8.3

2star

K

3.3

1star

HB

5.0

4star

M

1.5

2star

T

1.0

3star

G

0.3

3star

D

8.3

2star

K

3.3

1star

HB

5.0

3star

M

1.5

2star

T

1.0

2star

G

0.3

3star

D

8.3

3star

K

3.3

2star

HB

5.0

4star

M

1.5

2star

T

1.0

3star

G

0.3

3star

's hands quite a few times which should have been balled up...umpiring yesterday was quite poor tbh

Still, they needed to really pile on the goals when they were hot in the 2nd quarter as a 45-50pt lead going into 1/2 time probably would have secured the win...goal kicking especially simple shots needs to be buried regardless if it's Larkey or Fisher or Ford or Simpkin

Started to be a bit stagnant in the 3rd which Freo did well taking the heat out of the game and slow down the game which exposes a genuine flaw in the team that we are crap at guarding space or judging the dangerous space - maybe too may offensively minded players thinking the ball will get turned over and away we go? Either way, the midfielders and those pretending to be defenders need to be more defensively minded rather than point fingers of some else guarding a player when the oppo presses..how about a bit of awareness when picking up the ball as too many times our own player spoiled each other.

CCJ experiment is over, provided no value up forward and whether it's Sellers or Chom, we need another friggin target than Larkey and a bunch of under 190cm medsize forwards...give Sellers a go or stop the Chom project and bringing him back in at CHF - 57 to 45 inside 50's for reward of only 11 goals to 15 says two things 1) forward line is not functioning or 2) entries in the forward half is crap.
Lazzaro needs to reinvent himself as a clever, sneaky small forward if he want's to be in this team as being a starting midfielder isn't cutting it.

PS. Greenwood as a second ruck would get murdered at 190cm, rather Finbar come in for the 2nd ruck role than, yet again, another midfielder we want to turn into something he's not.

If this team wasn't so inexperience, l'd be blasting the crap out of them as that was a 59pt loss - up by 33pts and lost by 26...but as l stated above, arresting momentum is the hardest thing in footy today but this team better figure out a change of tactic when Northball isn't working.

Still...loved what l saw and genuine optimism in this team that we are moving forward.