After five promising weeks since returning from the bye, North Melbourne had their reality check at the SCG against the best team in the league.
If a few bounces of the ball went differently, Sydney could very well have been 16-0 heading into Saturday: their three losses to date by a cumulative margin of eight points.
The game swung on two areas: North’s base style they attempted to implement, and the general on-ball battle.
They’re the main topics to be covered today, with the on-ball battle through the lens of changes compared to previous matchups between North and Sydney.
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In games where sides have got close to Sydney, controlling and owning the ball – which neutralises the Swans’ ability to get their formidable ball movement going – has proved a key.
Richmond had 110 marks in Round 3, Fremantle had 105 in Round 16, and St Kilda 126 in Round 17. It was above each team’s average for the season, and well above the league average for marks per game which was 92.9 at the start of Round 18.
North set out to try and do the same, and they have had some success lately in picking and choosing their moments to march up the field. But generally for it to work against the better defences it needs to be mixed with recognising the right times to move quickly – which, for the most part, they had done since the bye.
In Sydney’s three losses, their opponents hit the scoreboard regularly because they found that balance – 27 scoring shots for Richmond and St Kilda, and 28 shots for Fremantle.
By mixing the uncontested marks with aggression where possible, it forces a defence to remain constantly on edge, unsure which direction the offence is moving. Unfortunately for North their own ball use drifted a little too much towards safety. Minute by minute through the first quarter and a bit, it gradually dawned on Sydney they could be ever more aggressive with their own positioning in both phases of the game.
Allowing Sydney that sort of freedom is asking to get hurt on the scoreboard. By the midpoint of the second quarter when Swans clicked they could go ultra-aggressive, it was game over.
Combine their stoppage dominance – to be expanded on in the next section – with the understanding they could be ultra-aggressive defensively, and the end result was North’s safety repeatedly picked off. Of North’s rebound 50s, they retained possession from less than half and basically lived in the back half of the SCG for most the afternoon.
While the 64-39 inside 50 count highlights the territory gap, it doesn’t tell the full story. Instead, turning to time in forward half shows a whopping 21 minute and 45 second differential, properly illustrating how North’s ball use got stuck and Sydney repeatedly picked it off.
Although this screenshot is from the third quarter and not the second, all the Swans swarming to North’s first choice short option shows how the game unfolded:
In the big picture it’s nothing worth panicking or worrying about because it’s all part of learning and growing each week. Against Sydney though, it meant pain.
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For those who have missed previous match analyses, here are links to the last five matches:
477 days later: Round 17 v Gold Coast
Midfield mixing: Round 16 v Western Bulldogs
Decisions and progress: Round 15 v Melbourne
Riding the rollercoaster: Round 14 v Collingwood
Foreign concepts: Round 13 v West Coast
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A theme of North’s last two games against Sydney before Saturday was the joy – offensively – they got from clearance wins.
In both the 2022 and 2023 clashes, they kicked nine goals from clearances. On Saturday there was nothing of the sort: partly because of what was discussed earlier, but partly because of the changes each team has made since the last head-to-head matchup.
| North Melbourne v Sydney | Total clearances | Scores from clearances |
| 2022 | 38 v 42 | 57 v 62 |
| 2023 | 47 v 27 | 55 v 27 |
| 2024 | 34 v 38 | 13 v 77 |
Sydney’s changes have been well documented. The addition of Brodie Grundy, Taylor Adams, the move of Isaac Heeney on-ball, and the general step forward from pretty much all their midfielders has transformed their contest setup.
Continuity has also been a major factor: Heeney’s absence on Saturday was the first game any of him, Grundy, James Rowbottom, Chad Warner, or Errol Gulden has missed all season. It’s no surprise their stoppage profile has drastically transformed this year.
| Sydney AFL rank | Points from stoppages | Points conceded from stoppages |
| 2023 H&A | 10th | 15th |
| 2024 R0-17 | 3rd | 1st |
Even without Heeney on Saturday, their mix of player types makes them less susceptible to an individual tag than many other teams. Justin McInerney (and then Luke Parker) slotted straight into the vacant on-ball minutes, Gulden’s constant switching between outside and inside makes him a matchup nightmare, and then there’s the second-string minutes from the likes of Adams and Tom Papley presenting ever changing threats while Chad Warner provides offensive explosions and James Rowbottom continues to be the glue guy.
From North’s perspective, the larger changes (in my opinion only, to be clear) have been structural more so than personnel, despite the obvious individual shifts since previous matchups. Different midfield coaches mean different priorities, as we’ve documented together on these pages over the season.
And when those priorities, still coming together week-to-week despite the promising recent stretch, come up against the best midfield in the competition, we see what we saw at the SCG. Overall the midfield rotations – which will be touched on further in the next section – are settling, and the progress is undeniable.
But progress up from the bottom can only do so much when it’s tested against the benchmark. Alastair Clarkson’s post-match press conference can basically be summed up in a sentence: ‘we tried our best, but they’re the best’.
It’s what makes next week against Carlton so intriguing as a level of progress. Although it’s the second time North faces a side again this year, the first instance was Gold Coast, and comparing a game in Darwin to a game at Marvel is hardly apples and apples. It’s more like apples and spaceships.
The return matchup against the Blues is at Marvel, as the Good Friday clash was. It’ll provide much more insight to how North have progressed since the early stages of the year.
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Away from Saturday’s game, and as shown in the picture above, it’s comforting to see a relatively settled structure across each line since the bye.
Although there have been tweaks inside the midfield setup, as detailed in the last two weeks, overall there are still five players running on-ball over the course of a game, with two main wingers and minutes for the third coming from a half forward (Liam Shiels).
The back line is a 3-2-2 split across keys, general, and rebounders, while at the other end of the ground there have been three key forwards and the remaining rotations filled with general forwards – with the caveat of making sure there’s enough pressure applied across the Eddie Ford and Paul Curtis slots.
With the injury list promisingly small and the VFL team in some good form on the whole – four wins from the last five games – any potential changes likely have to be viewed with how they fit into the existing AFL structure. It’s different to earlier in the year when there were reshuffles aplenty in the pursuit of anything to work.
So Griffin Logue, now that he’s played a few games at the lower level, will have to replace one of Aidan Corr, Charlie Comben, or Kallan Dawson if he returns to AFL level as a defender (other slim possibility: he’s eased in as a forward for the short-term only).
Zac Fisher’s spot is one of Colby McKercher’s or Darcy Tucker’s, depending on what the opposition has in terms of small forward threats (other possibility: any of these three moving into the opposite wing to Bailey Scott).
Will Phillips and Charlie Lazzaro are playing on-ball in VFL, but if they’re to do the same at AFL level they’re only replacing any of the five main on-ballers. And in the forward line, as Robert Hansen enjoys his best stretch since coming to North, his spot if rewarded is more than likely in place of one of the general forwards unless the decision is made to revert back to two talls instead of three. For the record I hope it stays at three. (other possible change: If Shiels needs a rest)
The overall point of highlighting all this isn’t to get in a selection discussion though. It’s to show the small steps taken over the last 18 or so months; structures built to allow for consistency between both levels.
All this was basically non-existent at the end of 2022. It was more or less, ‘guy plays well in VFL team, chuck him in AFL team’ and it was largely left at that. The lack of continuity didn’t put players in a great position to impact with their own games when afforded a chance at AFL level.
Some of the small wins are easily visible from week to week because we see it unfold with the AFL side. Small wins like solid links between VFL and AFL structures are harder to see on the surface, but just as important for long term development.