WB vs North Gameday March 4th Pre-Season 2023

[GVGjr]

Despite the tall forward line, I thought our forward pressure was pretty good. JUH and Naughton are great pressure footballers for their size. Lobb is also very good for his height. Even Darcy is better than expected.

Encouraging wasn't it? Perhaps a more organised back line might have done better against us but some good signs.

[azabob]

Although it only lasted one quarter; I thought it was extremely telling that the match committee went with older experienced heads in our defensive 50. Jones, Keath, Duyrea, Crozier, Daniel, Dale and Richards. Even bringing Bruce on rather than pushing Darcy back.

Our set up also indicated perhaps we are willing to sacrifice run and focus more on 1 on 1 defending.

Hard to tell from just one quarter but I will watch this with interest as we get into the season proper.

[aker39]

Why and in what capacity?

Here's his professional experience (that needs updating, possibly unless you meant Norf instead of Hawthorn?) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-c...ls/experience/

What would he bring to the table for us that we don't already/ mightn't already have?

He's a much admired player of ours, and I understand why in terms of his dedication to improvement, courage, use by hand and accumulation skills. Though I don't understand how his post career exploits make him a standout candidate for recruitment.

Sorry if the above seems like an attack, though it's a bit of a trigger point for me because I reckon if you asked who of Gia, Crossy or Morris our supporters would love to have back at the club the latter two would rank in front of Gia because of the way they played and their perceived strengths. And I don't get it.

And sorry again if you have personal or other experiences/ insights with Cross post his footy career that I don't know about as well. And tripple sorry if this seems overly harsh, it's not meant to be.

Yes, I meant North. I saw him standing next to Clarko, which is why I typed Hawthorn.

This article when he was appointed at Nth Melbourne talks about some of his skills, which I'm sure we could put to good use.

https://www.nmfc.com.au/news/1023844...rmance-passion

[dog town]

A few rambling thoughts on yesterdays game and what it means for the weeks ahead.

Observations

1 – I thought the 3 tall defenders plus Crozier impacted our ability to move the footy. At half time the inside 50s were basically level and very few of these were due to ball movement from North they were almost all either generated from stoppage and mostly repeat entries due to us giving the ball back. Bruce, Keath, Jones and Crozier are all slow hand to foot and none of them are going to bite off a risky kick.
I have separate concerns on Bruce which I will cover later but especially in the first half I thought we were getting held up when we won it back too often. Kicking down the line or just straight to the opposition isn’t something we want to repeat in round1. Hold off full judgement until we see Duryea, Daniel, Richards and Dale all out there together more often but we couldn’t find a mark, handball receive or an angled kick early.

2 – Team defence continuing with the back shoulder approach when they are setting up behind the ball.

3- Saw some commentary that North were moving the ball end to end too easily against us which I didn’t think rang true. When I am reviewing games as a coach I like breaking down oppo scores by sources or taking it even further and breaking down the inside 50 sources. In the first half they only took the ball from back 50 to their forward 50 on 4 occasions, that means there wasn’t an opposition disposal or stoppage. I think 1 was from a shallow entry mis-kick which left us exposed, 1 was a kick in where they won a hard ball and scrambled it to space but on all 4 occasions we had opportunities to break it up eg: missed tackle (Darcy), poor commitment to an intercept (Marra), ground ball 1 on 1 (Daniel). That is a pretty good sign in terms of team defence but I think we will see it tested further in the coming weeks, the point is yesterday the transition defensive work was fine most of the 50s came from turnovers or stoppage losses.

4- Our ball use and decisions on how we move the ball will impact how we defend more than ever. I suspect that is what the insiders refer to when they reference the work done on how we bring the ball inside 50…it isn’t rolling the ball to mids and having them kick daisy cutters at the forwards.

5- 16 tackles inside 50 is outstanding but we are kicking to contests and getting numbers. The test of whether we are too big will come when the ball is open play and we need to close space or push up the ground to cover angles. Another thing on the size of our team is that for all the talk Melbourne are going with a very similar set up to us particularly if Fritsch plays.

6- Does the ball bounce on its point or really high at that ground? I always thought this when we played at Optus Oval for years, seems to be more goals from bad bounces or good bounces than anywhere else.

7- Too many easy goals deep need to kill the ball and spoil it aggressively and forward. Can think of a couple that got over the back as well as one on the goal line that should have been punched through. Particularly important with the size/mobility of our deep defenders.

8- Missed Hunter and his ability to create an exit kick option.

Bruce- Besides the obvious ball use issues I am concerned by how much he is using his hands as a defender on players who are not established. He took the 3rd most intercepts so he did a heap right but it really concerns me that he could give away critical free kicks and easy goals on turnover. If there is a positive I think he will be back somewhere near his best if we ever flick him forward again.

McLean- Not a winger and would play inside mid (his best spot) for most teams but won’t at the moment. If he plays at the moment it has to be as a high half forward which is where we settled him after half time with much better results. Disappointed for Toby because he was absolutely outstanding in match sim as a mid. Seemed gassed on the wing without the stop start stoppage nature of being inside.

Jones- I actually thought his kicking was ok but if you were any of our smalls you would be sweeping around for the handball more often wouldn’t you. We should be able to score off intercept at times not just kick it back where it came from.

English- Looked a bit lazy I thought at times. Didn’t take enough care with the ball and fumbled a few times.

Jamarra- Last two games have been a big improvement on the match sim month he had. Really getting involved and importantly has hung onto a couple of contested marks in each game. Urgently needs to improve his field kicking (what are you watching David King?) and start giving first option but a very good game. If he can get contest to contest the way he is and win the odd one on one as well it makes a huge difference to our balance.

Daniel- Has he lost a yard? Did some clever things definitely missed him early and I suspect he came on late because we were reshuffling plans after Duryea went down.

Darcy- Need him to pop up with a few contested marks a game inside 50 to justify what we are doing. How long before defenders are trying to put a block on him instead of Naughton?

Scott- Has hit scoreboard from the wing all summer and that continued.

Smith- How important is this guy given our lack of outside run? Looked a different game for us whenever he burst into space.

Crozier- I don’t think anyone who has ever criticised Crozier had any lack of respect for his efforts. Been brave, good organiser and seems a very good teammate. The issue has been that his strengths were actually becoming a weakness but I just have so much respect for the way he is applying himself to a new role at the moment. As MJP has mentioned a few times the ball tends to stop when it gets to him in transition (left sided, high kicking arc, slow hand to foot) but he is defending much better at the moment. He is still using his courage and athleticism but he is doing it within parameters that makes it effective to the team and also defending his direct opponent. Did try and take off with the ball a few times so that was a good sign as well. I really hope he can make it back into our mix by playing his role because he works hard and there is a spot for his size and shape.

[Go_Dogs]

Thanks for sharing DT.

On Smith - I had a few reservations on his defensive transition workrate. I suspect it’s because he’s gassed after pushing forward so hard and we are comfortable for him to be burnt on a turnover.

On Darcy - he’s got the hands to get those contested marks. If he starts attracting the block, Naughton is going to take mark of the year in the middle of some huge pack.

Does Hannan come into the frame to potentially play the Crozier role down back?

[DISHLICKERS]

We looked more of a football team yesterday than we have in sometime and a side that will provide a real challenge for opposition sides as a result of having Naughton, JUH, Darcy, Lobb, Jones, Keath and English playing.

All of the above players seemed to provide the team with a better structure and therefore cohesion.

PS Geez Libba is some player what a GUN.

[ledge]

I’m a bit wary of practice games as they are a little bruise free. The last quarter we dropped some marks and they ran away without pressure . A combination of relaxing a little I would think and not going in 100%
But all in all the forwards worked well . Jones in the back line reads the ball exceptionally well and don’t under estimate Larkey . The only downside of Jones is his kicks seem to hang in the air a little.
Extremely impressed with Jamarra, his tank his ball skills with ground balls. Much like the Bont. Darcy will be a superstar. Scott was extremely good and Baker was better than I thought . Melbourne will be an interesting gauge in round 1

[Jasper]

We looked more of a football team yesterday than we have in sometime and a side that will provide a real challenge for opposition sides as a result of having Naughton, JUH, Darcy, Lobb, Jones, Keath and English playing.

All of the above players seemed to provide the team with a better structure and therefore cohesion.

PS Geez Libba is some player what a GUN.

Libba was superb yesterday and must be ready for a big season. Agree about the structure of the team the pieces are starting to click together.

[Jasper]

Thank you Dog Town, WOOF has many fine contributors and I take the time to thoroughly read your posts.

[Jasper]

Despite the tall forward line, I thought our forward pressure was pretty good. JUH and Naughton are great pressure footballers for their size. Lobb is also very good for his height. Even Darcy is better than expected.

Great point Big Dog. The pressure applied by the forwards stood out.

[ledge]

Can someone tell Kelli Underwood Skinner reserve isn’t anywhere near Spotswood, neither is Ballarat. I also watched a practice match a couple of weeks ago and West played in it so I am not sure about his interrupted pre season.
Do the commentators do any research or just make it up as they go along ?

[GVGjr]

Can someone tell Kelli Underwood Skinner reserve isn’t anywhere near Spotswood, neither is Ballarat. I also watched a practice match a couple of weeks ago and West played in it so I am not sure about his interrupted pre season.
Do the commentators do any research or just make it up as they go along ?

I haven't watched a replay of the game and therefor Underwoods comments but West has had a few interruptions this preseason. I've seen him training with the other players on the restricted work loads.

[soupman]

Can someone tell Kelli Underwood Skinner reserve isn’t anywhere near Spotswood, neither is Ballarat. I also watched a practice match a couple of weeks ago and West played in it so I am not sure about his interrupted pre season.
Do the commentators do any research or just make it up as they go along ?

Oh man i nearly forgot how much better soccer commentary is. Not only getting stuff like the above wrong, but the usual AFL need to talk like they're mates about irrelevant stuff, one tangent being talking about an area being Brown or Matthews territory and going to visit. Can they just STFU and professionally call the game like basically every single other sport?

[Grantysghost]

Oh man i nearly forgot how much better soccer commentary is. Not only getting stuff like the above wrong, but the usual AFL need to talk like they're mates about irrelevant stuff, one tangent being talking about an area being Brown or Matthews territory and going to visit. Can they just STFU and professionally call the game like basically every single other sport?

Jonathan Brown epitomises the demographic they're aiming for.

[ledge]

I haven't watched a replay of the game and therefor Underwoods comments but West has had a few interruptions this preseason. I've seen him training with the other players on the restricted work loads.

Wait until Darcy takes a mark and kicks a goal and she remarks it bounced through when it clearly went through on the full and its first bounce was over the line.
I’m not sure what Wests interruption/injury was then but he was terrible at the open day game at Skinner even the players were screaming at him . Don’t get me wrong I like him but he definitely made some selfish decisions that day.