We have failed the test

[Event Horizon]

Dean and JB can talk all they like about our lack of experience and our rebuilding phase, but I am not convinced. I saw a gulf the size of Pacific ocean between the two sides and too many issues that can't be simply ignored due to our youthful side.

We were always going miss the run of Boomer, Wellsy and Campbell. But I did not expect our in and under brigade to be treated like amateurs by Geelong. On paper I thought that Harris, Firrito, Simmo and Swallow would at least fight it out against a group that was missing Ablett, Chapman and had two ordinary rucks. But the way they simply grabbed the ball away from us was as though we were a suburban footy side. It had a 100+ loss written all over it but lucky for us Geelong wasn't in their killer mood after the break

As much as we had some promising kids out there I am not sure how Dean can get away so easily with the normal rebuilding excuse.

I did not expect us to win but didn't think we showed enough to achieve a pass mark.

 

[Mr Reliable]

Unlike Essendon, who appear to be rebuilding according to a plan, we are taking it one week at a time. Two weeks ago we had only 27 AFL standard players to choose from and no matter how you counted it Sam Wright was not in the number. Two weeks later he's playing against the best in the business.

Now I'm not opposed to picking Sam Wright. I'm not opposed to dropping inconsistent senior players and promoting kids on merit.

What I'm opposed to is the BS stats that Dean runs (before the game) to excuse the upcoming loss.

That would inspire confidence among the players.......(not).

Essendon showed last week against Hawthorn that if you've got a well practised, effective game plan and players trained to execute it, and genuine positive commitment, you can work wonders with lots of inexperienced players.

 

[Event Horizon]

Our plan is to just chuck as many kids in there as we can, so that the pressure to win is not there. I am all for playing the kids but I still want to see things like structure, game plan and consistant approach in selection.

 

[HUTCHYHAIR]

Dean must be thanking his lucky stars that he can blame playing young kids is why we are not winning games..... Whats been his excuse the last 6 years?
Also to hear JB on TripleM yesterday singing the same song makes me sick! To the guy that called Triple M and put in on JB to look at changing the coaching staff and our current game plan i say to you well done, you had JB lost for words, once again when the hard questions come out James is unable to answer and trys to make a light hearted joke about the question. You only have to look back to the Footy Show Thursday week ago about the jumper fiasco, James all but had to hide under the desk as he could not answer the questions from Billy and Sam.....

 

[Comebackmick]

Can you be red carded for pure negative bulls*hit?
No?
Pity.

 

[Star]

Dean and JB can talk all they like about our lack of experience and our rebuilding phase, but I am not convinced. I saw a gulf the size of Pacific ocean between the two sides and too many issues that can't be simply ignored due to our youthful side.

We were always going miss the run of Boomer, Wellsy and Campbell. But I did not expect our in and under brigade to be treated like amateurs by Geelong. On paper I thought that Harris, Firrito, Simmo and Swallow would at least fight it out against a group that was missing Ablett, Chapman and had two ordinary rucks. But the way they simply grabbed the ball away from us was as though we were a suburban footy side. It had a 100+ loss written all over it but lucky for us Geelong wasn't in their killer mood after the break

As much as we had some promising kids out there I am not sure how Dean can get away so easily with the normal rebuilding excuse.

I did not expect us to win but didn't think we showed enough to achieve a pass mark.

Quality post.

That said, I think to be fair even though we were going down the young/inexperienced route, yesterdays team was the youngest, the most inexperienced and against the best. To that end, if we fielded the same team for 6 weeks (which obviously we wont with players coming back) it would be interesting to see if there was any improvement. I think it is a bit unfair to pass judgement at this stage.

 

[snrub]

Dean must be thanking his lucky stars that he can blame playing young kids is why we are not winning games..... Whats been his excuse the last 6 years?
Also to hear JB on TripleM yesterday singing the same song makes me sick! To the guy that called Triple M and put in on JB to look at changing the coaching staff and our current game plan i say to you well done, you had JB lost for words, once again when the hard questions come out James is unable to answer and trys to make a light hearted joke about the question. You only have to look back to the Footy Show Thursday week ago about the jumper fiasco, James all but had to hide under the desk as he could not answer the questions from Billy and Sam.....

Yes brilliant post. Indeed we need to get rid of the kids, pick senior players only whether they are fit or not, and sack JB as Chairman.

 

[HUTCHYHAIR]

Yes brilliant post. Indeed we need to get rid of the kids, pick senior players only whether they are fit or not, and sack JB as Chairman.

Do you think JB is doing a good job selling and promoting the club?

 

[Event Horizon]

I have no issue what's so ever with how JB promotes the club. I admire the man for what he's done for us since 2007.

This thread was never meant to be about JB not doing his job or anything along those lines.

 

[Moti]

As I said in another thread, our midfield setups are all wrong. Have a look at HS article on Gary Hocking and the way he explains the roles to the players. We don't have a structure in the middle so when Harris gets the ball lets say, he has to find a target. When Geelong get the ball, say Selwood, he knows there will be a player positioned on the attacking side of the pack at the rear and he charges through with that in mind. Our midfield setup has been poor for 7 years and we always leave this particular area open for opposition sides to waltz in.

We work hard for every goal, until that changes, we won't be a threat. How many boring predictable goals did we kick in the nineties where we just clapped half hearted while talking to our mates about other stuff.

Get a coaching group that can understand our strengths and create a game plan around "our" strengths and you will see a much more effective midfield and team performance.

 

[Horace]

Perspective please everyone.

Campbell, Hansen, Harvey, Pratt, Rawlings, Jesse Smith, Wells, all out. Combined games experience 758 games or 108 games average.

Of these Campbell and Wells in our best 5 last week. (In the case of days like yesterday, when Geelong had Scarlett, Blake and Hawkins as father-son selections, the loss of Jesse Smith hurt so much more.)
.
Against

Goldstein, Grima, Riggio, Ross, Thompson, Warren, Wright. Combined games experience 35 games or 5 games average. Two of these playing their first game

Also out Ziebell in our best 6 last week and a NAB Rising Star nomination.

This against Geelong who have now won 50 of their last 53; and at their own ground in windy conditions.

Really, give our young boys a break, please.

 

[Long time fan]

I am pleased that we are playing young players and trying a more attacking game plan. Considering that we had a very inexperienced team yesterday, playing a relatively new game plan, I am not unhappy with the result. However this is not enought to convince me that we should extend Laidley's contract. The position we are in now results from 7 years of short term planning, chopping and changing game plans, negative tactics and an over reliance on recycled and older players. I think DL needs to keep playing young players and let them play attacking football. For next year, let us take appoint a new coach and take a long term approach to building a strong team once again. We have enough good young players to do that in a relatively short time, but we should do it with a new coach

 

[r_boy]

Dean and JB can talk all they like about our lack of experience and our rebuilding phase, but I am not convinced. I saw a gulf the size of Pacific ocean between the two sides and too many issues that can't be simply ignored due to our youthful side.

We were always going miss the run of Boomer, Wellsy and Campbell. But I did not expect our in and under brigade to be treated like amateurs by Geelong. On paper I thought that Harris, Firrito, Simmo and Swallow would at least fight it out against a group that was missing Ablett, Chapman and had two ordinary rucks. But the way they simply grabbed the ball away from us was as though we were a suburban footy side. It had a 100+ loss written all over it but lucky for us Geelong wasn't in their killer mood after the break

As much as we had some promising kids out there I am not sure how Dean can get away so easily with the normal rebuilding excuse.

I did not expect us to win but didn't think we showed enough to achieve a pass mark.

Well I did say last week how easy it is to relax against Geelong. They would have to be the heaviest and strongest team of all time bar none. Unless you're going in like your life depends on it (i.e. Hawks, Collingwood) they will just bully you and you will give up. I reckon there would be a 100kg difference between the two sides that ran out yesterday.

 

[snapperbowler]

I believe that we are judging our players unfairly.

This young team was playing a team that has won 50 out of 53 games. That is an exceptional team.

Take your mind back to 2007 when we beat them at Geelong. They were described as a rabble.

Since then their high possession game has been very successful and has only been tested on a few occassions.

At least our team yesterday fought the game out when a 100 point plus hiding was a possibly.

This side is a new era and hopefully it can go further than the side 0f 2007-2008.

Keep the faith.

Go Roos

 

[Sandgroper35]

EH is on the money.

Just have a crack at the flag you pussies (everyone employed by the club bar Eugene).

 

[NMFC Est 1869]

I actually think our younger players 'passed' the test, once again it was the middle-tier players who did squat!. They had to lead the way & they 'failed' miserably. The fact we got within 70 points was pleasing, we had no right to get within 100 with the team we fielded. Grima held Hawkins, Thompson battled manfully against Mooney, Wright showed a bit, as did Ross. 'The Rig' has missed a fair bit of footy so deserves another chance. So there were a few positives

 

[Long Live the King]

I think to try and benchmark against the cats is a waste of time...they are at a different stage in thier cycle.....they eased up yesterday and it could have been really really ugly...if we went down by 120 the Laidley would be out of a job...the fact the last 2 qtrs were relatively equal is the only reason Laidley is still coaching....

A more obvious comparison are teams like Essendon and more recently Hawthorn who appear / have agreed a team structure and gameplan that they have stuck to....they have sought the support of their respective boards and supporter base who understand that the plan is not a short term fix but a 3 -5 year solution....when you have that support and agreement then hiccups along the way are merely that..hawk supporters signed up on mass knowing the team would not be successful early in the rebuild but would eventually come good...

With North it appears different...its bushfire season every week...we appear to survive like most pay packets....now is the time for the board/coaches to come out and make a statement....tell us who they see as their long term players....who will not get a game....who we will look to draft from a position perspective....in other words a long term strategy....Eug and JB have got us to a position of stable management and infrastructure...what we now lack is the onfield direction...Someone has got to take the lead and drive us moving forward.....Its not going to be Laidely

 

[Rooboy 96]

I am pleased that we are playing young players and trying a more attacking game plan. Considering that we had a very inexperienced team yesterday, playing a relatively new game plan, I am not unhappy with the result. However this is not enought to convince me that we should extend Laidley's contract. The position we are in now results from 7 years of short term planning, chopping and changing game plans, negative tactics and an over reliance on recycled and older players. I think DL needs to keep playing young players and let them play attacking football. For next year, let us take appoint a new coach and take a long term approach to building a strong team once again. We have enough good young players to do that in a relatively short time, but we should do it with a new coach

I still come back to who made that decision... from what I have heard laidley had little control over the first five years... surely you have noticed a different approach to youth since JB took control...

 

[Long time fan]

It may be that Laidley was under some pressure from above fro quick results, but I can remember him giving plenty of interviews praising our new recycled recruits, as recently as last year when we picked up Power and Davies. I can also remember him saying that we were close four years ago and getting a full back like Hay would make all the difference

 

[Event Horizon]

I actually think our younger players 'passed' the test, once again it was the middle-tier players who did squat!. They had to lead the way & they 'failed' miserably. The fact we got within 70 points was pleasing, we had no right to get within 100 with the team we fielded. Grima held Hawkins, Thompson battled manfully against Mooney, Wright showed a bit, as did Ross. 'The Rig' has missed a fair bit of footy so deserves another chance. So there were a few positives

Yes there were some individual positives. No doubt about that. But does anyone have any confidence that we as a team are on the way to matching it with Geelong in a year or three?

 

[Hoser]

Yes there were some individual positives. No doubt about that. But does anyone have any confidence that we as a team are on the way to matching it with Geelong in a year or three?

Yes I have confidence. I think we have individual players showing good signs. I think we are blooding young players and that they will come together as a group. The key is to spend some time figuring out which players will be the ones in the core group. This is difficult at the moment due to a fair few injuries BUT I definitely believe that the last half of this year will show some promise and it will be a case of where we can take it from there. I don't think that we are as far off as some might.

 

[naturally north]

I don't say a lot here , but read an awful lot sometimes agreeing other times wondering what/why people have such high expectations of our boys at this stage of the clubs development. During pre-season i did a' Thomas 'and ducked my head - wasn't game enough to say I don't think we'll make the 8 I do however remember 06 vividly and how poor we were , also recall 07 and how well we did with a fair few avg footballrs that gave it their all but came up well short. It would've been easy having Thommo still playing , Brown on the list , Sinclair going around again etc. Now yesterday we saw the truth , Edwards can play , Ross is a beauty , Ziebell was sorely missed , Liam Anthony is as of now a better footballer than Lower , Swallow ( was found out yesterday - you need to be either quick or strong he's neither unfortunately not saying he lacks commitment or desire just not good enough against the best and thats who you need to beat.) McMahon has a go , but lacks like Swallow , Power just not up to it sure might make a decent tagger in a side that can afford negative footballers , we need ball winners atm. Anywho am not feeling let down or angry i think we're 12 months of having a very exciting side....

Mids - Liam Anthony , Ziebell , Urquhart , Harvey , Ross, Harris, Firitto with Power as a tagger maybe? -thats a fair midfield i reckon
Forwards- Hale , Edwards , Petrie , Campbell , Thomas , Garlett , Smith , Warren , Wright

Backs Hansen , Smith , Pratt , Grima , Thompson , Tarrant - since Chris's effort at FB reckon he'll be tried there, is super strong , Wells , Harding , Gibson (maybe)

Rucks McIntosh & Goldy - honestly i reckon we'll push most sides a lot sooner than non North people realise & some North people too.

 

[mako_roo]

Perspective please everyone.

Campbell, Hansen, Harvey, Pratt, Rawlings, Jesse Smith, Wells, all out. Combined games experience 758 games or 108 games average.

Of these Campbell and Wells in our best 5 last week. (In the case of days like yesterday, when Geelong had Scarlett, Blake and Hawkins as father-son selections, the loss of Jesse Smith hurt so much more.)
.
Against

Goldstein, Grima, Riggio, Ross, Thompson, Warren, Wright. Combined games experience 35 games or 5 games average. Two of these playing their first game



Nice to read some common sense , history says we had the youngest team playing since 1992. The boys could of rolled over and died, but they didnt they got outscored by 2 goals in the second half. GOOD EFFORT.
I was there standing in the outer and could see they wre trying bloody hard , trying to run to space. Laidley this and Laidley that...... come on when is the last time we can say that the NMFC is re-building we are now lets just show support to our boys and enjoy watching these KIDS play because i know i am. Future is bright, come on Rooboys



.

 

[Zondor]

Dean and JB can talk all they like about our lack of experience and our rebuilding phase, but I am not convinced. I saw a gulf the size of Pacific ocean between the two sides and too many issues that can't be simply ignored due to our youthful side.

We were always going miss the run of Boomer, Wellsy and Campbell. But I did not expect our in and under brigade to be treated like amateurs by Geelong. On paper I thought that Harris, Firrito, Simmo and Swallow would at least fight it out against a group that was missing Ablett, Chapman and had two ordinary rucks. But the way they simply grabbed the ball away from us was as though we were a suburban footy side. It had a 100+ loss written all over it but lucky for us Geelong wasn't in their killer mood after the break

As much as we had some promising kids out there I am not sure how Dean can get away so easily with the normal rebuilding excuse.

I did not expect us to win but didn't think we showed enough to achieve a pass mark.

Spot on Vlad. I kept on harping to Big DF in the first quarter how we were getting smashed in the clearances. It was so disappointing considering the likes of Simpson, Swallow, Harris and Spud were in the side and they were missing Ablett and Chapman. The trend continued for the rest of the day.

 

[Zvim]

We just had no run today, we were comprehensively flogged in the middle. When that happens it doesn't matter how many kids you have or how many vets you have, if you don't get the ball and don't retain it by hitting targets then you are screwed.

We got smashed for clearances and we had Simpson, Harris, Firrito and Power in the middle, it was not your U19 side in the guts.

Without Harvey, Wells, Campbell, Ziebell and Anthony who from the pre-season are the ones who have generated the run missing we were screwed before the first bounce. All are injured.

Geelong were missing Ablett and Chapman, thankfully, but they have enormous depth in the running department, largely because their KP stock is pretty ordinary.

We got thumped by 70 points and we only conceded 3 goals to their three key forwards. All their little blokes got a lot of the ball and pressed forward and got into the scoring action.

Our best small defender in Pratt, out injured. Our best tagger in Rawlings, out injured. Given they got out to a big lead early on I was happy with how the kids persisted and the final margin didn't blow out to something like 20 goals.

I think we kept them to a reasonable target, we were just impotent in the middle and we just couldn't put a score on the board. You can't blame Wright, if he came in when we only needed to make 1 change to our best side then I am sure he would have been a lot better but half of our best 22 was not out there and we were playing the best side that has been going around for the last few years and they were switched on from the first bounce.

Anyone who expected a lot more was kidding themselves.