AFL Toast Rd10 vs. North Melbourne - Medium Win against Little Brother

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Overall I’m pretty happy with the result.

Did we win? ✅
Did we try hard/play with effort? ✅ *

Plus there was one quarter of competent transition football like the good teams play.

This team is a huge work in progress. Especially in transition. But they have about 12 weeks to fix it before finals

Gotta just take the wins and be happy for the growth
 
I understand and I don't think you're wrong, but Gold Coast have never made finals and they always crush side. It's an issue that's hopefully identified and needs to be worked on.
In QLD or Darwin. How many bottom sides would they crush if everyone played at Metricon 15 times a season ? They get crushed playing away. It is not a direct comparison as sides have to travel to what is a different climate . I do not think you work on smashing sides. You work on the basics and culture and when you get good you start to dominate the poor sides. First things first. Do not get smashed yourself too often and win games but also keep the opposition under 75 points as often as you can. Last year we let them kick 99 and 77. It was not a great game from us but it was defensively sound. We just have to keep putting together games where our defense holds up. That is the first step. It will be identified by simply working on getting the basics better for longer and a continued turnover of players.
 

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Weird sort of game, never had control but we seemed to be effective in short periods. The third quarter shows we have gears and we can put teams away.

40 points is nothing to sneeze about, im just glad we came away, not only with the 4 points but very few injuries either.

With reinforcements returning at the lower level spots will get more difficult to come by, would not surprise to see the VFL side go on a tear and surprise a few teams well above us.

With so much upside to the output we had today, I hope that in the review Scott gives a rocket to a few guys who played for themselves in patches, not only letting team mates down but jittering when it matters.

The big positives today was the fwd line, Wright (4 goals), Stringer (3 goals), Langford (1), Gresham (1), Jones (1), Davey (1) all contributing.

The midfield was workmanlike and is probably the main area of concern after recent big weeks. The Ross monstered us in the clearances (28 - 42) but we were able to win the ball back through pressure (56 tackles to 42).

I must say, the defence albeit shaky and glued together with duct tape is holding up. With reinforcements set to come back, Laverde, Heppell, Kelly maybe could all be upgraded if we move to a bigger unit (Ridley, Reid to come back).

I still think that the small forward spot is up for grabs, Davey obviously the incumbent but more so with little to no pressure on spots, wouldn't surprise me to see Jye Menzies 13 possession, 3 tackles VFL game rewarded as a desperate attempt to improve on what the small forward currently is. Davey.J and Tex still have a fair work to do for consideration.

Anyways, 4 points is 4 points. Take it and move on
 
Strange game, was sitting near/adjacent to the interchange on centre wing.. can state that Merrett is the best captain in the AFL. Even when prowling the boundary getting oxygen is fully invested in game.. talks to everyone come on and off the ground, positions them and went and had quiet chats with a few when things were looking dicey in that first half. Was actually amazing to watch him go about that leadership stuff. No chance we were 'slacking' off with him out there.

Our play was meh and we got a very subdued 40 point win.. Norf are a truly bad football team but they came with a bit of pluck in that first half. However the only reason why it was remotely 'close' at times was some of the most bizarre umpiring I have witnessed in a long time. Farcical non calls for holding the ball.. meant that our players weren't rewarded for effort. Then you would have patches where they were calling free kicks every play.. then 20 minutes of nothing. Meant the game never really found a rhythm.

So overall a forgettable game.. as it should be if we really want to be a powerhouse team. Top teams don't dwell on near misses, or 'target' win margins. Be ruthless.. be clinical. Rock up, play hard, win and move on to the next. That is exactly what we did.

And right now we sit 2nd on the ladder.. What a result!! Now the hard work starts to make sure this group doesn't get ahead of itself. Bring on the Tiggies.. can't wait to finally win a dreamtime!
 
I’ll take that margin given Goldy was towelled up for the first time this season. Prob worth giving him a rest vs the Tuggers and give Bryan a run.

Just on the umpires and the ruck, I reckon there were at least two occasions Goldy was blocked from getting to the throw up due to being blocked by Norf non-rucks. The umpiring for the whole game was bizarre.


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Honestly it was the best I’ve seen North play. Not that that says much, but we didn’t play as bad as some people are suggesting.
 
Performance was decent. Our strengths this season don't really lend themselves to thumping a team like North. We've been really good at winning contest in the middle and making the right decisions when the frontal pressure comes to get out the back of stoppage/play more. North didn't really bring that much frontal pressure, so we were just kicking into numbers, kinda hampered our ball movement. No surprise that this type of game suited Wright who had his best game of the year.
 
Performance was decent. Our strengths this season don't really lend themselves to thumping a team like North. We've been really good at winning contest in the middle and making the right decisions when the frontal pressure comes to get out the back of stoppage/play more. North didn't really bring that much frontal pressure, so we were just kicking into numbers, kinda hampered our ball movement. No surprise that this type of game suited Wright who had his best game of the year.

Good observation of the game styles


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I wanted to beat them so badly that relegation was on the cards.

Also I wanted Goldstein to 360 no scope from the 50m
 
Bizarre that Clarko would say that the long term plan with Comben is still for him to play ruck/forward.

Looks an absolute natural in defence and the best of their kids outside their blue chip top end picks.
 
Bizarre that Clarko would say that the long term plan with Comben is still for him to play ruck/forward.

Looks an absolute natural in defence and the best of their kids outside their blue chip top end picks.
He was genuinely very impressive I thought. Should be the general of their defence for years to come
 

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