purch wrote:Biggest question of the day for mine was why D. White was started in the backlines after what he did to us last tiime, esp. given the absence of Alleway and Gill.
We beat the zone/flood today for the first time this year against a team we hadn't beaten previously; albeit with the aid of some "criss-cross" play ourselves. Not always pretty but I'm glad we have a plan B now when the oppostion go so defensive. At times with Jarman, North's league team used to be a joy to watch with their attacking style. Thrings have gone "sideways" or dare I say "backwards" it seems. Still, North are a young side and if they learn to play attacking football they can be a force in the next few years.
Let's hope we can conquer the Bays zone in a few weeks, in a similar manner. I have a feeling their foot and hands skills will be a tad more precise...
Some fair points there Purch. North's defensive game up until our last bye had been pretty good but since then we hesitant in moving it quicky, making some very poor and costly turnovers. What attacking game plan we had has gone due to the midfielders etc having no confidence in the forwards but the delivery and decision making about who to deliver the ball to is appallling as is the end product with some very poor execution. We really miss Alleway who "straightens' us up, competes all day and can turn a game. We are also missing Gilly with his versatility playing both up fwd, back and on ball. Two very good talls like those two missing out of any side and you would struggle.
White is carrying a "groin" but I prefer him at CHB however without Alleway or Gill we are limited in options up fwd especially with Schwarze woefully out of form HOWEVER we won the rucks easily, had as much of the ball as Sturt all over the ground and our inside 50 count was high but we just couldn't score.
No excuses however as Sturt were deserved winners and if they had kicked straight in the end would have had a 10 goal win. The comments on some of the previous posts about Crane not having any first half influence seem a bit harsh. From my vantage point he was a key all day IMO. His ability to break lines was excellent.
Also Sturt execute delivery to Chambers very well. A couple of "on the run" passes to him were spot on given North "flooded" back and the space was limited however Chambers showed what a great player he is by timing his leads to perfection and finding that space knowing that his teammates would more than likely put it on his chest. No fault of Macca who did pretty good job on him considering.
Very poor crowd however for 2 teams who over the past few years have had some very good turnouts. Being on ABC and up against the Crows doesn't help.