Thankfully for all concerned except Richmond, North Melbourne’s last game in Hobart for 2025 went approximately a million miles better than their last game in Hobart for 2024.
In their farewell to Ninja Stadium as a home side, there were a string of personal bests and also a record equalling game on the way to beating Richmond by 48 points.
The win, North’s fifth in a season, is somehow their best tally in a year since 2019. Whether that’s a concrete marker of progress or merely faint praise will be drilled down into at a later date.
In the meantime, today’s post will touch on two topics:
1) Why North were able to dictate against Richmond in a way they haven’t managed elsewhere
2) A look at Harry Sheezel’s record-equalling 54 disposals: both the serious and the fun sides of it
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Last time these two sides met, there were 139 stoppages in perfect conditions at the MCG in Round 10. That total has only been exceeded once this season: Geelong and Gold Coast’s 154 in a wet slog at GMHBA Stadium.
Once again on Sunday it was a stoppage heavy game; 117 of them in fact. With the way both teams set up, it was probably inevitable. Richmond, at this stage of their rebuild with their experienced midfield, have been a grinding side focused on wearing their opposition down.
For the Tigers it’s a matter of necessity, playing to their resources while their next crop of midfielders develop at their own pace. Setting up for run and gun while Tim Taranto, Jacob Hopper and Dion Prestia are your main three on-ballers would be foolish at best and malpractice at worst. It’ll naturally change with time, but they’re not quite there yet.
Meanwhile North have averaged the second most stoppages per game this year, their 103.5 only just behind Gold Coast’s 103.6. Combine a team looking to reset with a team happy to grind in the figurative mud and we’re left with a game based around set plays.
Happily for North, Richmond’s preferred method (for the time being) also meant they weren’t equipped to exploit North’s weaknesses; the type of dynamic movement that has tripped them up repeatedly this year.
If we think back to their first meeting of the year, after North’s fast start Richmond had large spells where they dominated general play. But they couldn’t put the type of proper score on the board to dictate the game and North managed to squeak out a four-point win.
There were similar moments early on in Hobart. Richmond jumped out of the blocks, but it was very much Tom Lynch or bust. And although for a second it looked like the Tom Lynch part of that equation would win, North were able to work through things and look to handball chain their way out of congestion.
On the afternoon North had 211 kicks and 220 handballs, their lowest kick to handball ratio of the season. It was a distinct departure from the first time they played Richmond, when their 192 kicks and 127 handballs was their fourth highest kick to handball ratio for the year.
The switch up makes sense: handballs to chain away from the Richmond midfielders who, although they have plenty of strengths, aren’t exactly elite burst runners.
It paid dividends in the middle two quarters. With Tristan Xerri leading the way in the ruck, North had a 30-17 clearance edge, which translated to a 39-4 scoring advantage in that stat, and 12 goals to three overall.
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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 22 analysis v GWS
North Melbourne’s Round 21 analysis v St Kilda
North Melbourne’s Round 20 analysis v Geelong
North Melbourne’s Round 19 analysis v Sydney
North Melbourne’s Round 18 analysis v Melbourne
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This clip (that is deliberately cut off before the turnover to not divert attention from the point) is an example of the focus on handball chains from a general contest area.
North are actually decently set up from what we can see, and once the turnover is forced there’s no kicking through the middle. Just run and carry:
It hasn’t always been a feature of North’s game in recent memory, help in useful positions when needed, but it was on show on Sunday.
Too many times this year an effort like George Wardlaw’s here would have resulted in nothing because of the lack of help. In this case there’s Tom Powell ready, who then has the vision to look inboard to continue the chain that leads to a Sheezel goal:
To cap off a trio of third quarter clips, the goal from a forward 50 stoppage wouldn’t have been possible without the support positioning of Powell allowing Cooper Trembath an easy option:
Whether it all would have been possible against a team better equipped remains to be seen, but for now it was an enjoyable afternoon to watch, capped off by a record equalling performance.
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For those who have missed it, the last five Notebook entries on The Shinboner, plus…
The 2025 Team Structures Page
Houston’s role, Cameron’s focus, Carlton’s path: Round 22’s Notebook
Melbourne’s list and style assessment: Round 21’s Notebook
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
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Harry Sheezel’s record equalling performance
54 disposals in a game. Don’t see it too often! Here’s how Sheezel’s game looked quarter-by-quarter:
| Harry Sheezel v Richmond, quarter-by-quarter | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 |
| Disposals | 13 | 15 | 12 | 14 |
| Contested Possessions | 3 | 7 | 4 | 2 |
| Uncontested Possessions | 9 | 8 | 8 | 12 |
| Metres Gained | 153 | 223 | 219 | 86 |
| Clearances | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Score Involvements | 3 | 6 | 3 | 3 |
| Inside 50s | 0 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| Handball Receives | 6 | 8 | 6 | 10 |
| Tackles | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
Two things can be true about the last quarter:
1) The way Sheezel’s teammates were looking to pad his stats late was egregious
2) Which, in turn, made every second of it hilariously fun
In the last few minutes it was almost as if the stat-hunting energised North, which made it even funnier. Normally when a team is looking to overly funnel the ball through one player, the surrounding structures tend to break a little bit.
But in this case Richmond didn’t have an inside 50 through the last five minutes of game time, Sheezel going from 49 to 54 disposals during the same time. It looked as if the role simplification – everyone give it to Sheezel and get out of the way – helped North finish strongly.
After a bit of digging, it looks like Sheezel’s 10 handball receives in a quarter has only been bettered once this season: Finn Callaghan’s 11 in the second term v Sydney in Round 8.
On the serious side though, part of his game was made possible by how North have shortened their on-ball rotation in the last few weeks.
If we think back to earlier in the season, it was basically a six-man rotation. As a general top-line overview, when everyone was fit it was Luke Davies-Uniacke, Powell and George Wardlaw as the first choice three, Luke Parker sometimes supplanting Powell depending on the week, and then Jy Simpkin and Sheezel coming up as mid-forwards.
When Simpkin was forced out of the Round 21 game v St Kilda, Tom Powell was largely moved outside to a wing. Then when Simpkin returned against the Tigers, he took the wing and Powell shifted to the half-forward role, but playing specifically as a half-forward rather than coming up and taking a spot as an extra midfielder. Small difference, but noticeable, and he was very good in the tough role on Sunday.
It’s left a four-man on-ball rotation with Davies-Uniacke, Sheezel, Parker, and Wardlaw. More on-ball minutes for the quartet means more opportunities to get the ball, and when everything falls your way as it did on Sunday, we see a record equalling performance.
And probably the only time someone with 40 disposals, 10 clearances, 719 metres gained, 15 score involvements and 12 inside 50s gets completely overshadowed. Whoever that person was.
Anyway, there’s one more game to go: the not insignificant challenge of Adelaide at Marvel Stadium on Saturday.
While the Crows have a top two spot locked up, given they play so early in the round they won’t have the luxury of determining first-week finals opponents based on their result. It’ll most likely mean a strong side makes the trip over the border, which should be what North want.
Unlike last year, when there were some mitigating circumstances as North limped to the finish after the type of loss that knocks the stuffing out of a team, those same excuses only barely exist this year. The team should be steeled to give one more performance before heading off on holidays.
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