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Yeah, you were right, Mega. I'm still a bit concerned about having only one small in our starting forward line, but we'll see. Agreed on Alessio and Manton likely both playing for their spot. The fact that Lazzaro and Kuol Mun both left us for Werribee presumably looking for more on-field success should give our players a bit of extra motivation, not that I think extra motivation is needed, particularly as we are looking to stay in the race for finals. Grant and Penry do have their work cut out for them in this game.

That was a great game to watch - aside from the fact that a terrible internet connection obliged me to watch the second half in 10-60 second bursts over 3 and a half hours! Definitely a lot of scrappy contested play, but it was great to see we could grind it out and then pull away for a 26-point win. Good point about the marks, NorthPort. Our forward entries did look better than usual - interesting to see we actually had 3 fewer inside 50s than Werribee but 6 more scoring shots - and our defence has actually looked like a cohesive unit for the past two weeks. Van Es is back in form, and Baldwin and Gahan had very good games as well. Moving Baldwin back to defence in the second quarter did end up working well, as did having Tovey up forward again and then coming into the midfield late. Great to have 4 different players with at least 2 goals. Rider is coming along well, and Bedendo has been more involved in the play again over these past couple weeks as well.

It was also great to see our midfield doing so well against a Werribee unit with Dom Brew and Charlie Lazzaro. No surprise to see Kuol Mun leading the hitouts, but Grant put up a good fight. I've been impressed with him this season. Polkinghorne is coming on very well indeed as a midfielder. Given Lazzaro's speed, him versus Lazzaro is not a matchup I would have expected to work well despite thinking Polkinghorne is very promising, but Polkinghorne matched him for clearances, finished very slightly ahead on disposals, and didn't let him go on his trademark long runs. Hird did a great job on Brew as well, clamping down on him very tightly in the second half in particular. That did come a bit at the expense of winning the ball himself, but it was worth it to restrict Brew. Brew did finish with more clearances and slightly more disposals, but his disposal efficiency was well down (only 38.1%), and Hird had the goal as well, so particularly with Port Melbourne winning, I'd say that matchup was a win to Hird. Brew did drive Werribee's win over us last season, so holding him was always going to be important. And with Hobbs delivering his usual excellent performance and Polkinghorne also performing strongly in the clearances, Hird was free to take on that more defensive role. Hobbs was probably our best today.

Stubbings and Tovey were good as well. In general we had a lot of solid contributors around the ground, which made it a very satisfying game to watch. It was also particularly satisfying given how disappointing it was to lose Kuol Mun and Lazzaro - can't blame them for doing what they think best for their careers, but good to see we can play this well without them. A very good turnaround from our game against Werribee last season. I was not quite sure what to expect coming into this game - figured our best was good enough to beat Werribee even with them handing Willy their first loss last week, but whether we'd manage to bring our best was another question. In the end we definitely did and actually looked like a team with a coherent structure all around the ground.

The commentators expressed some concern about Ben Hobbs' shoulder in the second quarter, though it certainly didn't stop him from playing well. Perhaps the bye isn't coming at a bad time, since our midfield is definitely better with him there.

[Edit: I thought I had divided this into paragraphs when I typed it up, but apparently not, so I came back and edited them in.]

Riley Polkinghorne is a midfielder or on baller not a winger or flanker & Macca has finally woke up when he should have known better.

That was great. In the second quarter it looked like the team was repeating all the classic mistakes of poor forward 50 entries and leaving opposition defenders wide open - great to see them fix those mistakes, claw the lead back, and win. The commentators had called the game for us about 16 minutes into the last, which seemed premature, but in retrospect the team did have a fairly solid handle on things by then.

Bedendo, Baldwin, and Hobbs a clear top three, but it was a solid all-round team effort. Manton and Rudd did some solid work higher up the ground. We're going with an extremely tall forward line right now, but so far it is working. Graham is back in form as well. Having a more stable back 6 with fewer midgame changes is working well, though Baldwin did go back late and had a good impact there also. I am particularly pleased to see Baldwin doing well up forward as I've thought since last preseason that swinging him forward would be a good idea! On the other hand I was definitely underestimating Grant at the end of last season - thought he was showing good signs but would not have liked the idea of him becoming our main ruck. But he had another very good game today. Not sure what to expect when he goes up against Crossley next week, but he's been in good form. Good contributions as well from Hird, Rankin, Gahan, and George - really a very good team game barring that second quarter. A highlights reel from that game would feature something from everyone, and it's good to see the team able to respond when the opposition gets a run on.

Interesting that North led in most of the stats - we are seeing the benefits of cleaner, more direct ball movement. The forward 50 entries are continuing to look better, as you mentioned last week, NorthPort.

Hope Morrison's injury is not too serious - does anyone know how bad it is? The commentators were unsure if it was a knee or an ankle. It's a particular shame given his good form in recent weeks.

What's the reason for Bedendo's jumper number change from 2 to 1? 

Southport away will be a real test next week. Southport's form has been so variable that I'm not sure what to expect, but I am more optimistic than I was a few weeks ago.

As for the VFLW game, the effort was certainly there, but as was also the case last season, North's VFLW side is just that good (inaccurate goalkicking this weekend aside). And since we had 9 debutants it may take some time for things to gel. Of the debutants, I thought Alex McBride-Loame, Courtney Jones, and Seisa White looked particularly promising. Next week the VFLW side should have a real chance, particularly with Darebin's Ange Gogos reportedly considering retirement and therefore not playing.

Apologies for posting incorrect information earlier on Ava Seton - while it's true that she's signed with Caulfield Grammarians, I had incorrectly thought she'd left the VFLW entirely. Clearly she hasn't, since she's playing for North.

Yes I was concerned with losing AJ and thought we would struggle but Grant has filled the roll well and the forward line is functioning well and seems to be getting that slightly better as time goes on. I know that they do optional goal kicking practice on Mondays. 

With 3 wins in a row (which Im almost certain is the first time post covid weve done this) 2 against quality opposition I may have underestimated the sides ability. The season has a fair way to go yet but if we can make finals with this list ild say we have a excellent coaching set up. I realise that may come across as put down to this group however to explain - the list seems to be not as strong as last season with the losses of Hooper, Heppel, Miller, Lazarro, Aj etc and I feel to.improve ladder position with this list would be a good achievement. 

That's good to hear about the optional goalkicking practice on Mondays, Mega - even this week's win shows that there's definitely still room for improvement with accuracy. Since the cancelled 2020 is a long time to go without 3 wins in a row - I had actually just been thinking that I didn't think we'd had 3 wins in a row at any point since I'd begun following the club at the start of 2023. Very glad it's finally happened, and hopefully this group will be able to sustain that improvement over the course of the season. Agreed that it would be a real achievement to improve our ladder position after the loss of key players in the offseason. 

It seems that one thing behind our improvement in recent weeks is that more players are settled in one position, even though some in-game positional change are still working well, like Baldwin going back late in this weekend's game, or Tovey going into the midfield in the fourth quarter. But Van Es returning to the backline, rather than rotating between defence and forward, has enabled him to find form again. And the wing positions are more stable this year in that players don't rotate as much between wing and inside mid, which I think has also been helpful. We've also seen individual improvement from players such as Grant, Stubbings, Rider, and Rudd. And despite not getting a key forward or a ruck, we did land some good recruits, with Hobbs and Tovey in particular looking first-rate. Having only two genuine rucks on the list is still rather concerning regardless of how good Grant is, given the possibility of injury, but hopefully he'll stay fit.

In our last two wins, we actually slightly lost the inside 50s despite both winning and having more scoring shots, which shows our improved efficiency going forward and suggests we're defending better as well. On the other hand, Tovey playing up forward does come at a bit of a cost to the midfield. He is good in both positions, though, and having him up forward was of course a big part of our wins against Brisbane and Werribee. Also his move up forward opens a midfield spot for Polkinghorne, who is indeed a midfielder - great to see him getting more midfield time. Hird's defensive work in the midfield can come at the expense of getting the ball himself but that can be a worthwhile tradeoff, as in the last quarter against Werribee when he was gluing himself to Dom Brew at stoppages. Prior to last season, I had not expected Hird to become such a good midfielder given that his acceleration from the contest is not great, but he's somehow worked out a way to play very well despite that. He seems to read the play very well, which seems to be a big factor in him being as good as he is, and I've wondered if he has any interest in going into coaching whenever he's done playing, though hopefully that won't be for a good while yet. He and Hobbs, who of course is great, complement each other very well.

I notice that my thoughts on individual players frequently involve an acknowledgment that I underestimated them in some regard - to prove that I don't always do that and am aware that players can in fact improve, I will point to the fact that I've been consistently saying how much I like Polkinghorne and that I expect him to develop well! I also rate Drew Lloyd and think he could develop into a very good player - unfortunately he's had a bad run with injuries so far this season (shoulder, then hamstring, then ankle according to what I've seen reported), hence no games for us and only one so far in local footy. Hopefully he'll be back to full fitness soon.

Our next block of 3-4 games could be the toughest part of our season judging by current ladder positions, although this season has thrown up some surprising results, so it's hard to make predictions. But over the next few weeks we should definitely get a clearer impression of where exactly we stand relative to the rest of the competition.