Sunday’s result at Manuka Oval was more or less a foregone conclusion from the outset, so today’s post will zoom out a little bit and talk about a big picture aspect of open play.
At times, a passage ends with what seems like the simplest of goals, or passes, and the normal reaction is either:
a) How did that happen?
b) Why didn’t <player at the end of the chain> do better?
While reaction b) is sometimes warranted, so many times the answer to a) and b) lies somewhere further up the field, a few moments earlier in the possession chain.
Today’s post will pluck out a few examples – both good and not so good – and how it impacts the flow of a game. One particular passage also led to arguably the best show of leadership North have seen on-field all season.
—
The Patreon is up and running once again for 2025, which you can find right here. The three tiers are much the same as previous years, with refined features for the top two.
In addition to Patreon, you can find me on Twitter – and also Bluesky, where vibes are much more pleasant and there’s much less hate. It’s nice, even though there’s not a large AFL community yet.
—
First, some context for why I keep droning on and on about these sorts of things, over and over again. The kids might even call it Shinboner Lore. Maybe. If I was even remotely in touch with the youth of today I might be more confident in that statement.
Nevertheless, back in the day when I was lucky enough to work as part of the media team at North Melbourne, every so often there’d be the opportunity to sit in a game review. A few times it was with the team, and at other times the admin staff would be taken through a replica of what the players saw.
After the final home and away round of 2016 – a 37-point loss to GWS at Marvel Stadium, preceded by some other list management decisions people might remember – it was time for the ‘take admin staff through a review’ category.
There was one particular passage of play which stood out to me. On the face of it, as we watched behind-the-goals vision, it seemed like there were a few simple errors from North players during the chain that ended with a Jonathan Patton mark inside forward 50.
The call came out from Brad Scott, words to the effect of, ‘where do we think the key mistake was here?’ All these seemingly simple errors were called out by various people. Time and time again they were dismissed with a response to the effect of, ‘that wasn’t the key mistake though’.
Eventually the room fell quiet, which was Brad’s chance to highlight the actual key mistake. As Zac Williams gathered possession, Brad explained, it’s on the closest players to make sure he’s either unable to look inside, or if he does look inside to make sure the eventual disposal is made under pressure.
If there’s pressure applied on the ball carrier, North can relatively control the pace of play. Ideally to force a turnover as the end result, but if not that, then to at least slow things down.
But instead, Williams was allowed to look inside and dispose under minimal pressure, if any at all. Everything that flowed from there – the exact kick to Tom Scully, the long switch, and then the unpressured kick from Phil Davis to a leading Patton – wouldn’t have happened as easily if the initial pressure was up to scratch.
It was the cliché ‘lightbulb moment’ in real life. Suddenly so many things crystalised and structures made a lot more sense. Here is the relevant passage of play, remembering we saw the behind the goals vision in the review, rather than broadcast view:
—
For those who have missed it, the last five North Melbourne match analysis pieces on The Shinboner, plus…
The 2025 Team Structures Page
North Melbourne’s Round 21 analysis v St Kilda
North Melbourne’s Round 19 analysis v Sydney
North Melbourne’s Round 18 analysis v Melbourne
North Melbourne’s Round 17 analysis v Western Bulldogs
—
The natural reaction when looking for these examples in play is to look at things in transition and in the first quarter, North were genuinely good at stopping GWS from going end to end.
Of the Giants’ 10 rebound 50s, only one turned into an inside 50 of their own. If we take the following passage as an example, once the Giants gain possession deep in defensive 50, it looks as if they have the numbers to chain out relatively easily.
But the exits are blocked, the Giants slow down, and it takes a 10/10 kick from Toby Greene to find a mark. Sometimes the opposition is too good. It happens! But the key is North stay connected, forcing Darcy Jones into a straight dump kick, which Griffin Logue easily picks off.
While the natural reaction is ‘bad kick’ – and not to claim it’s anywhere near good – part of that is down to North’s defensive structure.
In the second quarter, the transition was … not as great. Of the Giants’ eight rebound 50s, four turned into scoring shots. Inaccuracy meant of those four scoring shots, only one turned into a goal, which is the relevant clip for this section.
If we start with the very end of it, we see Callum Brown running into an open goal. The natural reaction: how on earth has that happened?
To find out, we go back to the very start of the possession chain. Lachie Whitfield’s left foot kick, not the cleanest of all time, floats over Dylan Stephens’ head into Darcy Jones’ lap.
Zane Duursma leaves his man, intending to stop Jones from moving any further. That’s the good part.
Jones still runs straight past Duursma. That’s the part where everything breaks and the scramble begins. All that follows from the moment Jones gets past Duursma – seven handballs, a knock on, and a kick to Brown – never happens if the initial play is executed properly and Jones is forced to stop.
It’s not to say the passage can’t be nitpicked for areas of improvement, whether it’s the positioning of fellow Roos and whether they could have been quicker to help elsewhere, but the overall point is they were put in a position they never should have experienced in the first place.
Here’s the full passage:
A sidebar on Duursma and a key moment after the link break…
—
For those who have missed it, the last five Notebook entries on The Shinboner, plus…
The 2025 Team Structures Page
Hawthorn’s shift, St Kilda’s list approach: Round 20’s Notebook
Brisbane testing tweaks, a crack in Collingwood’s midfield: Round 18’s Notebook
Essendon’s changes, Adelaide in the air: Round 17’s Notebook
Brisbane, Essendon, Geelong, GWS health checks: Round 16’s Notebook
Adelaide, Hawthorn, Melbourne, West Coast health checks: Round 15’s Notebook
—
Clearly Duursma is low on confidence, but him showing that visibly brought the most important part of the afternoon from North’s perspective. It was also another case where players look out of place at the end of a chain, with the key point happening earlier.
After GWS bring a kick-in to halfway with minimum fuss, North are scrambling back but manage to gain possession. Their structures are scattered at this point – Comben and Toby Pink stuck up the field – due to the previous few seconds, but they’ve got the ball so it’s a chance to go back at GWS.
But Finn O’Sullivan’s hot handball is fumbled by Colby McKercher and GWS get it straight back; play even more scrambled than before if that’s even possible.
It’s this series of events which leaves Duursma on Aaron Cadman, the latter with plenty of space and an unencumbered Stephen Coniglio able to pick his spot with the delivery.
Duursma had no chance of spoiling and was understandably flat afterwards. None of it was his fault, just a matter of looking like a scapegoat for what happened further up the field. It was what came after Cadman converted that was so important in the bigger picture.
In a struggling team, it’s so easy to retreat and look after yourself at every opportunity while offering empty platitudes elsewhere. It was a key point of last week’s post when talking about the overall ball use having long periods where it slowed to a crawl.
Here, from the vision we see, Logue is the first person who goes up to Duursma and offers a little bit of body advice. But most importantly it’s the way Comben follows up. It’s an arm over the shoulder, it’s clearly positive reinforcement, and it’s obvious to anyone with eyes the message is sinking in.
It’s proper, proper leadership.
—
For those who missed the announcement, the Finals Dossiers will return for 2025.
In the sixth edition of the series, all of the top four teams will be covered, with each post covering a team’s evolution from week to week throughout the year, how they beat you, how you beat them, along with a couple of other tweaks to previous editions that won’t be revealed until the first post drops.
Depending on an individual’s Patreon subscription level, they’ll receive access Finals Dossiers access at different times.
Here are all the details on what to expect.
—
Given North’s transition defence was relatively good for three quarters…
| GWS’ transition offence | Q1, 3, 4 | Q2 |
| Rebound 50s | 25 | 8 |
| Turned into inside 50s | 5 | 4 |
| Scores from those | 2.1 | 1.3 |
| North’s scores from GWS r50 turnovers | 3.2 | 0.0 |
…it’s only fair to finish on a good example of a domino effect.
In the last quarter, Lachie Ash found room for one of the few times during the game, Jacob Konstanty doing an excellent job holding the Giant to 13 disposals and just six kicks; the kick tally his lowest in a full game since Round 1, 2022.
Ash goes on a run, looking for options. But it’s clear there’s nothing he likes the look of. So he holds, and holds, and holds. In the meantime, the easy exits are blocked, and Ash has morphed into Liam Ryan in Tristan Xerri’s eyes, so the big man keeps chasing.
Ash takes what looks like a bad handball – and again, it’s far from good – but it’s forced on him by how North have defended. It’s noticeable seeing Roos holding their space and shape to stop easy Giants cut throughs.
A couple of rushed handballs and more pressure later, it looks as if GWS have turned an easy rebound into an avoidable turnover, but it’s down to what North have achieved. Although the rushed snap from Bailey Scott bobbles through for a behind, the process leading up to it was good.
Hopefully today’s post was educational, broadening the horizons on what to watch for during a game and the different roles of players with and without the ball.
But for all the above, all the clips and all the words, if there’s one thing to take out of this game long-term? Charlie Comben’s leadership.