On a day where the Good Friday Appeal tends to crystallise what is and isn’t important in life, the actual football tends to feel secondary most of the time.
Nevertheless, football there was, and North Melbourne’s loss to Carlton brought up plenty of points to analyse.
Much of what’s conspicuous by its absence today will be discussed in the coming weeks, but in the meantime today’s post is in the jump around format, covering four topics:
– ‘Going too quick’
– Unexpected turnovers
– Half backs getting ‘lost’
– Outmatched key defenders
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‘Going too quick’
As the offensive style continues to bed in, the ‘going too quick’ phrase pops up from time to time. The latest instance happened in Alastair Clarkson’s post-match press conference:
“At different stages, we went too quick with the footy where we had a chance to (get an) uncontested mark, just to slow it down and wait for your defence to catch up a little bit and look for a better option on the inside.
“We just went far too quick, and your defence can’t catch up. Make mistakes with the ball and it just comes back with mayonnaise on it.”
It can be easy to get confused. After all, isn’t the whole point of this style to go quick?
The key lies in words not spoken. Going quick = great. Going too quick = going quick to low percentage situations. Think of it in this wildly oversimplified way:
– Going quick to a one-on-one where the North player has an advantage: Keep doing that!
– Going quick to a contest where the opposition has more players at ground level: Don’t do that.
The quicker the ball moves, the higher risk a team takes in search of reward. At some point the risk/reward balance tips too far into the negative.
Perhaps it was the occasion, or maybe the game flow forcing rushed decisions, but there was too much of that against Carlton.
The clearest example available to illustrate came late in the first quarter. A normal disclaimer before heading to today’s clips: this isn’t supposed to spotlight individuals, rather a look at the general team system.
This will gradually dissipate with time and repetition. How quickly that happens is anyone’s guess.
Unexpected turnovers
Turnovers are a part of football. Last year every team averaged between 64 (fewest per game) and 75 (most per game) over the course of a season.
The two killers are:
a) Turnovers in dangerous places
b) Turnovers out of nowhere
The latter is what cruelled North repeatedly against Carlton and it’s nearly impossible to defend against without a major stroke of luck.
It’s because as soon as a team gains possession – or looks like they’re about to, which is key to this discussion – their teammates start moving into positions to provide an option. Most of the time offence moves faster than defence, which means the other team have players lagging behind play.
An unexpected turnover or loss at a contest instantly wipes out all those offensive players running into position and suddenly puts those lagging behind play into a real Bradbury situation, presented with a great opportunity.
Take this passage as an example. It looks like North are rebounding until George Wardlaw is stripped of the ball. There’s only one result after that…
Here North have possession just outside their attacking 50 after a stoppage, in a position of strength. It’s also a dangerous area if turned over because then the opposition has a clean path down the corridor.
One uncharacteristic mistake from Tom Powell later…
Or this one to cap the trio of examples off. From this centre bounce North look to be working it out relatively well with a few Blues lagging behind.
But again the turnover brings those Blues back into play. Adam Cerra gets the handball receive and it’s impossible to defend against that kick inside 50…
These types of plays are momentum killers. It’s why North have been scored against so easily at times in the first three weeks: too much of them that opponents feast on.
Half backs getting ‘lost’
It’s probably almost a meme by this point how often I apologise when I’m about to bring up a point without vision to back it. Unfortunately this is one of those times, because without access to behind the goals vision we’re stuck with words only.
At every possible chance, Carlton made a point of bringing their half forwards as high up the ground as possible. From an attacking point of view, they had two main reasons for it:
1) To give McKay and Curnow the most possible room (more on them in the next point)
2) Once Carlton had possession, to lose North’s half backs in all the chaos and movement going back towards goal
Given the Harry Sheezel-Zac Fisher-Colby McKercher trio is set up to be ultra attacking, it was a clever set up from Carlton and worked a treat for them on both counts.
Many of those instances where you saw Carlton players free everywhere in their forward half in transition was this plan working to a tee, capitalising on North turnovers.
It’s a cliché, but as North’s trio grows through inevitable teething pains together, experiencing that strategy – with two monster key forwards waiting in anticipation if any mistakes are made – is an invaluable experience to help fast track progression.
Because the key defenders are outmatched in games like this – and in plenty of encounters until Griffin Logue returns – an outsized responsibility falls on Sheezel, Fisher, and McKercher to be nearly flawless in possession, which in turn protects those tasked with battling key forwards.
Ideally North wouldn’t be left in a situation like this, but… *gestures at the last few years*.
Got to start somewhere.
Outmatched key defenders
Speaking of key defenders, it was an unenviable task for North’s as McKay and Curnow ran riot.
For as much as they battled from start to finish, sometimes these things happen as reminders that they’re two of the best key forwards in the league:
There is little that can be done about that with North’s current list. It’s almost like a checklist of sorts:
– Is it frustrating to watch?
Of course.
– Can anything be done about it in the short term?
Next to nothing.
– Is it worth selling out other parts of North’s game to offer more protection?
This part is the fun discussion. I’d much rather see North continue on their current path, given a regression and further change leaves the risk of being stuck in no man’s land with game style. There’s also a valid argument in certain games that leaving outmatched defenders on an island doesn’t help anyone long term. Ultimately it comes down to how much pressure individuals are able to withstand without buckling.