I was excited for this game. My housemate and myself were both working from home on Friday and spent much of the afternoon around the watercooler discussing how we thought this game would go. There were two teams who were 0-3, there was no home ground advantage, and both teams would be desperate for their first win of the season.
Brisbane had lost to Carlton, Freo and the Pies; North had gone down to GWS, Freo and Carlton. I was keen to see how far North had come having reviewed their loss to GWS in Round One. Such was the talk around the watercooler, that I almost considered changing my tip from Brisbane to North at the last minute – almost.
Boy am I glad that I didn’t!
I wasn’t actually scheduled to review this one, and at half-time my housemate and I decided to go and grab a slab thinking we were going to need some beers to get through the remainder, because make no mistake – this game was well and truly over by halftime. I paid more attention to North than Brisbane in this one, and despite the final scoreline I still think there were some positives for North. Here’s what I noticed:
North’s Defence Against a Powerhouse Forward Line
In my Round One review I commented how North’s key defenders were essentially VFL quality, and that lead to their loss against GWS. I mentioned not every team has as many dangerous and quality key forwards as GWS, but nevertheless it was potentially going to be a long season for North fans if they were relying on blokes like Pink and Dawson to stop guys like Jesse Hogan etc. This was not a knock on Pink and Dawson, they tried hard, but sometimes even effort cannot bridge a gap in quality.
Since that round 1 match, where GWS’ talls kicked a combined 13 goals, the same North defenders went up against Freo and Carlton. Against Freo they did reasonably well against the talls, but then they came up against the Curnow/McKay tag team, allowing them to kick 9 goals between them. Once again I am not meaning to simply put down North’s key defenders, and in GWS and Carlton we are talking about quality tall forwards who will put many teams to the sword, but how is this the best North could find to replace Ben McKay given how long they knew he was leaving for?
In contrast, Ben McKay played on Dixon in the later game and was very effective on him. Again I ask the question – are Essendon overpaying McKay? Perhaps, but this was another game where North really missed him, particularly when you look at the potency of the Brisbane forwards.
Really, Joe Daniher could have had seven or eight goals in this one, had his notorious radar not been on the blink. His work as a backup ruckman gives him freedom to venture back inside 50 when the moment calls for it, and it is in these circumstances he becomes even more dangerous. Rucks cannot go with him when he gets on his bike, and the North defence is already stretched enough without having to cover a big bloke floating forward.
With Joe and Eric Hipwood combining for 8.6 and a couple out on the full, it was once again clear that North was overmatched against a strong duo of marking forwards, however, there was a shining light in defence for North yesterday….
The Shining Light:
Joe Daniher’s first goal of the game came from a mark in the goalsquare. There were three North players around him (including Comben who had matched up on him) but not one of them managed to get a fist to the ball, though Comben tried hard. I was immediately worried for North. A forward line of Daniher and Hipwood is always dangerous, no matter how out of form they might be, and this was Comben’s first game down back, a move much talked about in the pre-season.
As the game wore on, Comben really made me sit up and take notice. He really impressed me, and North may have found a solution here. He attacked the ball well in the air with eight marks, and repelled Brisbane where he could with a game high 13 intercepts. He also managed to pick up 25 disposals to be North’s second-highest possession winner and perhaps more importantly went at 80% efficiency in a game where North just continually hacked the ball out of D50, often straight to a Brisbane player.
No matter how you look at it, Comben played really well. At one point the commentary team mentioned he was “growing before our eyes” and it was hard to disagree. His confidence grew as the game wore on, and while I was sceptical of a ruckman playing as a key back to begin with, Comben made me eat my words, and he should only get better from here
Neale and Wardlaw:
Lachie Neale was on fire in this one. I think he had 14 touches by quarter time. There was a passage of play in the first quarter (I think it was the first) where he won the clearance, played a one-two to get himself into space, before trying to hit up a Brisbane player at the top of the 50 on the lead. The North defender managed to spoil, and who was there at the drop? Neale, for his third possession in about 20 seconds – where was his North Melbourne opposite?
This is the strength of Lachie Neale, and something the North mids need to aspire to. His work ethic to get from contest to contest is just about as good as anyone in the game. I mean, I know I am preaching to the choir on this – they don’t hand out two Brownlows to just anyone!
Neale simply outworked any North player who stood near him at stoppages yesterday. He was first to the ball more often than not and finished the game with a game high seven clearances and 27 disposals, despite finishing the match subbed out for the last quarter – interestingly he did not want to be subbed despite a rolled ankle, perhaps thinking of his Brownlow chances? Neale played yesterday like a man who was taking it personally that his team was 0-3, and he pulled the rest of his team along with him.
As good as Neale was, he was “cooled” considerably when Wardlaw was moved onto him from halfway through the second quarter. Although the damage was already done, Wardlaw stuck to his task of running with Neale and will have no doubt learnt a lot from playing on one of the best midfielders in the game – perhaps this another string to Wardlaw’s and North’s bow in the near future?
Although I’m sure Wardlaw will one day be a start in his own right, there are worse ways to learn the caper than by shadowing the best players in the game.
Still, in three quarters of footy, Lachie Neale stood head and shoulders above any other player on the ground. I wonder whether the umpires will be swayed by what happened in the last quarter, as it was largely extended garbage time? Neale did his damage when it counted, and his game should be assessed in that context.
Tristan Xerri:
I said the same thing after round 1, but geez this bloke is turning into a genuine star. He won the hitouts with 41 of them, but I’ve never really been too concerned with hitout stats. What again impressed me most about Xerri was his follow up work. He was second to only LDU at North for clearances with 6, and laid the second most tackles with 9 behind Powell.
If there was one player for North who you could not accuse of not putting on pressure yesterday, it was Xerri. He has that mongrel about him (if you’ll pardon the pun) and I really love watching how he goes about it. There aren’t too many ruckmen in the game today who are willing to get down and dirty the way Xerri does and I really hope we get to see a complete season from this guy. He is only 25 and they say the big men take a bit longer to find their feet. If he continues with his form he will be hitting his peak around the same time as the younger North midfielders, which should make opposition teams nervous in the future.
Taking 30 Minutes to warm up:
One thing I’ve noticed with the Lions games thus far in 2024 is that Hugh McCluggage has taken a while to get up and going. He gets there, and when he does get there, he plays some remarkable footy, but twice this season, he has been slow off the mark.
He had one touch against Collingwood in the first quarter, before ramping it up through the remaining three, and this was a similar situation.
McCluggage had four touches in the first quarter of this one, but added 29 over the following three quarters, as his running power saw him put distance between him and whoever the Roos threw at him.
It was similar to the way Neale was able to power from contest to contest, outworking his opponents. I wonder whether Brisbane just have a much higher fitness base than North at the moment? It certainly seems so.
McCluggage pumped the footy inside 50 ten times, to top that category in the game. When he gets time and space, he can carve a team up, and that is exactly what occurred in this game. In many ways, with him, Neale, and Josh Dunkley easily winning the midfield battle, it was as though this was a contrast between a team with their best players at the top of their game, and a team with their best players aspiring to one day do what the likes of Neale, McCluggage, and Dunkley currently are.
Brisbane had winners all over the park, but it was the most evident in the middle, where they finished +10 in clearaances for the game.
Where to from here?
North are still winless this season, and while there are reasons for optimism, it looks like it could be another long season. You can see the nucleus of this side building, and if Comben can continue in defence like he did today, it will make a huge difference. I did feel a little let down by North in all, but perhaps both teams being 0-3 was misleading coming into this one, and Brisbane’s quality shone through in the end. North come against Geelong (in Geelong), followed by Hawks and Crows, and perhaps they could pinch a couple of wins in the latter two games.
Brisbane were really just the better side in this one, I know I haven’t written too much about them above, but what can you really say? Last season’s grand finalist came up against a team that won 3 games last year, and despite their early season woes Brisbane did what was expected. It’s hard to get a gauge on them at the moment, and their next 3 against Melbourne, Geelong and Giants will show where they are really at.
And that will do me for this one. I wasn’t expecting to review this game so forgive me if this review as complete as it could be. I paid most attention to North while watching as I was keen to see how they are travelling, and the review probably shows that haha.
