According to the AFL rule book, ‘the winner of a Match of Australian Football is the Team which has scored, in accordance with these Laws, the greater number of points at the conclusion of the Match’.
In recent weeks, posts have usually focused on big-picture takeaways and items to build on in the future. Today’s a little bit different because it’s purely about single-game decisions.
Two weeks ago, I delved deep into my worries with North Melbourne’s ball movement. Against Melbourne, there appeared to be a few adjustments and the results looked much better to the eye.
If you know what to look for and what translates to AFL football, the VFL is an excellent place to fast track knowledge and identify trends before most.
Today’s post is going to focus on a common theme in this matchup, but so rarely do we get two complete opposite quarters to illustrate several key points.
For a while I’ve been trying to figure out how to create as many impartial, simple-to-understand tools when attempting to analyse an AFL list. Things that you can look at and instantly glean unbiased knowledge from.
In pre-season, it was termed as a year of discovery. Now we’re at the end of it – from an on-field perspective at least – what have North Melbourne come away with?
So, North Melbourne have a wooden spoon for the first time since 1972. And everyone will react differently, but mine is a world apart from 2017 and 2020 where finishing bottom was a live possibility at the start of the last round.
When Josh Kelly’s eight-year extension at GWS was announced on Tuesday evening, my instinctive reaction was ‘happy with that’. That was immediately followed by something along the lines of, ‘am I insane being happy with Josh Kelly not at North Melbourne?’
A fortnight ago the match post was comparing this year’s games against the Bulldogs, and today’s will be much the same with Essendon with a near-exclusive focus on the first half.
For North Melbourne to go to Perth with a clear plan, withstand a barrage, execute down to a tee and earn the four points is an enormous tick in a year which had a lot of small tickets up until this point.
Sunday evening marked the first time North had played an opponent twice at the same venue under David Noble, making it another important step in the process of learning about the team.
Luke McDonald’s return to action was interestingly marked by a new role on the wing. David Noble’s post-match comments on it revealed some fascinating possibilities.
A largely uneventful afternoon at Hobart, only featuring North Melbourne jumping out to a five-goal lead at three quarter time, getting reeled back in, plenty of notable talking points from siren to siren and it all ending with North’s first draw since Round 16, 2009 … actually, maybe there’s a fair bit to talk about.
For the game which marked the halfway point of 2021, a focus on three topics – Bailey Scott’s role, Tom Campbell v Tristan Xerri, and what the forward setup could (or should) look like down the road.
How do you defend against fast play? That was the task which confronted North Melbourne on Sunday, and one they ultimately failed on route to a 72-point loss against Essendon.
Forgive me if I’m a little bit rusty today, I looked up the manual on how to write about a North Melbourne win and it had been so long all the ink had faded out.
After the first player progress report a few weeks ago proved to be popular, and given the requests for individuals since, it’s now going to become a monthly thing for the rest of the season.
Although wind in Hobart makes for an exponentially funnier game, from a long-term development perspective it was great for it to take a rare Sunday off.
Today’s post is all about midfield structure; unfortunately one which broke down far too often for North Melbourne against Fremantle around stoppages and contests.
Where to start? The short version is all the negative parts of the first two weeks coalesced into an unstoppable snowball. The long version … well. Here we go.
Let’s step away from the football field for a moment. Every day, whether it be at work, social circles, spare time, or anything in between, we’re all aiming to achieve something.
It’s hardly revealing a state secret in saying North Melbourne won’t be playing deep into September this year, which makes it the perfect time to throw things at the wall to see what sticks.
With a remarkable 11 delistings, a quarter of North’s list disappeared in one fell swoop. To cut this deep, this early appears to mean plenty more wheeling and dealing to come.
It’s time for week three of the line-by-line look at North Melbourne. First it was the forwards, then the defenders, and finally a look at the midfield.
Over the final month of the season, I’ll be using each game to look at a separate line of the field. Round 14 was all about the forwards, Round 16 is all about the defenders.
Considering North Melbourne just lost by 63 points with only seven fewer inside 50s, it seems an opportune time to focus on just what happens when there’s minimal forward pressure
First things first, an apology for no post last week. Thankfully there’s a post this week with plenty to discuss both from a team and individual perspective.