Precipitous Decline of North Melbourne

[shanegrambeau]

Managed 3 behinds in the entire 2nd half today.
Smashed by Melb 57 pts.

Geez..

[samuraisaint]

this was the one that got away.
we've played exactly the same way against North since 2012.
they own us.

[saintsRrising]

When we played North, our team balance was quite poor. We were down a mid because we went extra tall with Ryder, then dropped another mid for a third small forward,

I don't follow?

How was it quite poor with respect to team balance?

Structurally the only key difference is that Battle is back in now. Which gives us a tall utility option as he can play forward or back or on the wing. Apart from that it is quite similar though we had a full complement of mids.

We are now playing less true mids, but I think this is more due to injury than choice.

Since the North game we have also tended to be slightly quicker as a team, but this is more due the like for like being quicker. Coffield for Robbo, Hind for Lonie and that our extra outside mids now playing are quicker than Dunstan.



We normally play 2 rucks and 3 small forwards (currently Butler, Kent and Hine).

In the North game we had mids of:

Steele
Hannas
Jones
Dunstan
Gresh
Hill

Small forwards in Butler, Kent and Lonie.

Overall the team we played against North looks to be quite well balanced to me.
I think that Ratts will want to keep us quick and at present Hind is an upgrade on Lonie, but equally if all our mids were available I am pretty sure that Ratts would be playing more in the team that we currently are.

[Trev from the Bush]

Forget about round 1, it is history and we have moved on.

StKilda, Carlton and North Melbourne all changed coaches around the same time late last year. By season's end media hounds were painting rosie pictures about North and the Scum for this season while continuing to lies on our shoes.

Twelve months later, how are the three clubs really looking?

[HardSaint]

Jasper Pittard grew up a mad saints fan from a mad saints family
Always liked him, but seems lost at North, did some good things at Port
Something in me wishes there was a spot available down at RSEA

[Toy Saint]

Pretty sure Brad Scott told Nth they needed a rebuild, but the club wouldn't accept his opinion so they parted company.

Saints traded out Bruce, Newnes and Acres, all decent players and in our best 22, but really not likely to take us to finals. Perhaps Nth should bite the bullet and try something similar.

[saintsRrising]

Pretty sure Brad Scott told Nth they needed a rebuild, but the club wouldn't accept his opinion so they parted company.

Saints traded out Bruce, Newnes and Acres, all decent players and in our best 22, but really not likely to take us to finals. Perhaps Nth should bite the bullet and try something similar.

Though Newnes was not traded out. He was offered a 2 year deal, most likely minimal, which he declined . He was then delisted. Blues picked him up as a DFA.

But yes with what we had coming in clearing the decks has worked well.

[CURLY]

Jasper Pittard grew up a mad saints fan from a mad saints family
Always liked him, but seems lost at North, did some good things at Port
Something in me wishes there was a spot available down at RSEA

No thanks no way no chance. The bloke is a circus.

[diddley]

Jasper Pittard grew up a mad saints fan from a mad saints family
Always liked him, but seems lost at North, did some good things at Port
Something in me wishes there was a spot available down at RSEA

I have always kept half an eye on him, as he was the player taken with pick 16 that we offloaded for Lovett.
Haven’t been disappointed with losing that pick ultimately, but in hindsight, could have had Fyfe who went at pick 20. He would have been handy.

[shanegrambeau]

The decline continues...anyone speculating on a collapse? Change of regime? Mass exodus?
Players...
North Melbourne Kangaroos Player Contracts Out of Contract AFL Players
Name Final Year Years Service* Status
Aaron Hall 2021 3 Non-Free Agent
Aiden Bonar 2020 1 Non-Free Agent
Bailey Scott 2020 2 Non-Free Agent
Ben Brown 2020 7 Non-Free Agent
Ben Cunnington 2022 13 Unrestricted Free Agent
Ben Jacobs 2020 8 Restricted Free Agent
Ben McKay 2021 6 Non-Free Agent
Cameron Zurhaar 2022 6 Non-Free Agent
Charlie Comben 2021 2 Non-Free Agent
Curtis Taylor 2020 2 Non-Free Agent
Dom Tyson 2021 3 Non-Free Agent
Ed Vickers-Willis 2020 6 Non-Free Agent
Flynn Perez 2021 2 Non-Free Agent
Jack Mahony 2021 2 Non-Free Agent
Jack Ziebell 2021 13 Unrestricted Free Agent
Jamie MacMillan 2020 11 Unrestricted Free Agent
Jared Polec 2023 5 Non-Free Agent
Jasper Pittard 2020 2 Non-Free Agent
Jed Anderson 2020 5 Non-Free Agent
Joel Crocker 2020 2 Non-Free Agent
Joshua Walker 2020 1 Non-Free Agent
Jy Simpkin 2022 6 Non-Free Agent
Kayne Turner 2020 7 Non-Free Agent
Kyron Hayden 2020 3 Non-Free Agent
Lachlan Hosie 2020 2 Non-Free Agent
Luke Davies-Uniacke 2021 4 Non-Free Agent
Luke McDonald 2021 8 Restricted Free Agent
Majak Daw 2020 11 Unrestricted Free Agent
Marley Williams 2020 4 Non-Free Agent
Mason Wood 2020 8 Restricted Free Agent
Matthew McGuinness 2020 1 Non-Free Agent
Nick Larkey 2021 5 Non-Free Agent
Paul Ahern 2020 4 Non-Free Agent
Robbie Tarrant 2021 14 Unrestricted Free Agent
Sam Durdin 2020 6 Non-Free Agent
Shaun Atley 2021 11 Unrestricted Free Agent
Shaun Higgins 2021 7 Non-Free Agent
Tarryn Thomas 2022 4 Non-Free Agent
Taylor Garner 2020 8 Restricted Free Agent
Thomas Murphy 2020 3 Non-Free Agent
Todd Goldstein 2022 16 Unrestricted Free Agent
Tom Campbell 2021 3 Non-Free Agent
Trent Dumont 2021 8 Restricted Free Agent
Tristan Xerri 2020 3 Non-Free Agent
Will Walker 2020 3 Non-Free Agent
* Years service at end of contract.

[Saintmatt]

They're in all sorts. Massively overrated their list and where they're actually at. They have some ok kids but their best players are still their oldest players. Horrible position to be in. They're going to have to trade Brown and get minimum chips for Goldy and Higgins. They're really the only three (apart from a couple of their kids) who have any currency. And this in a period when the cap is coming down as well as list sizes.