Went to the Crows game yesterday (and what a win) so i thought i'd give a bit of a run down.
Probably my biggest worry, defence, seemed excellent early with precise short kicking to get it out of defence with our young no-name defence looking good. I suspect this must've come in with Walsh as i distinctly remember last year more long wide kicking out of defence to a contest that quite often ended up out of bounds. North either had a slow start or they wern't expecting this new game plan and didn't know what to do. Kinda looked like both early, like rabbits in the Crows headlights.
Mids looked ok with Sloane seeming to be Mr Everywhere and providing a fair bit of run and carry up the ground. Dangerfield seemed to have a slow start but looked to be spending a bit if time deep up forward before moving into the mids again later where he got a lot more of the ball. I wonder if Walsh will use this as a tactic to make him hard to match up on. Ellis-Yolman while he didn't get a heap of it seemed to in and around all the contests, good signs.
Forwards, what can you say power display by Tex in his first outing as captain, with his usual trademark aggresion getting into a few scuffles and even got his jumper ripped off at one point. Eddie bobbed up every now and then with his usual magic for a couple and Jenkins seemed to be that handy second tall who doesn't get a heap of it but is still damaging just by being there and not missing the few opportunities he does get.
All in all pretty good, North obviously got a rocket up them at half time and came out to play kicking five straight with the Crows not having an answer for most of the third. North just seemed very fast and effective with the ball when they turned it on and the Crows almost seemed like they didn't have time to get their new defensive structures in place in time. Suspect they needed a bit more defence from the midfield especially as Jacobs looked like he was losing the hitouts badly during their five goal run. Not too worried though as he won't be up against a ruckman of Goldys quality all the time and should get better as the season goes along.
Crows managed to claw back though and had a big enough buffer that it didn't matter, North seemed to give up the fight in the fourth and it ended up being a whitewash, but the Crows would't be able to afford to do that normally especially against teams like Hawthorn or Geelong who won't give them that buffer in the first place.
All up good game, though if you're North supporter - dark clouds, played one great quarter of football but it was too late, seemed to give up after that too.
Probably my biggest worry, defence, seemed excellent early with precise short kicking to get it out of defence with our young no-name defence looking good. I suspect this must've come in with Walsh as i distinctly remember last year more long wide kicking out of defence to a contest that quite often ended up out of bounds. North either had a slow start or they wern't expecting this new game plan and didn't know what to do. Kinda looked like both early, like rabbits in the Crows headlights.
Mids looked ok with Sloane seeming to be Mr Everywhere and providing a fair bit of run and carry up the ground. Dangerfield seemed to have a slow start but looked to be spending a bit if time deep up forward before moving into the mids again later where he got a lot more of the ball. I wonder if Walsh will use this as a tactic to make him hard to match up on. Ellis-Yolman while he didn't get a heap of it seemed to in and around all the contests, good signs.
Forwards, what can you say power display by Tex in his first outing as captain, with his usual trademark aggresion getting into a few scuffles and even got his jumper ripped off at one point. Eddie bobbed up every now and then with his usual magic for a couple and Jenkins seemed to be that handy second tall who doesn't get a heap of it but is still damaging just by being there and not missing the few opportunities he does get.
All in all pretty good, North obviously got a rocket up them at half time and came out to play kicking five straight with the Crows not having an answer for most of the third. North just seemed very fast and effective with the ball when they turned it on and the Crows almost seemed like they didn't have time to get their new defensive structures in place in time. Suspect they needed a bit more defence from the midfield especially as Jacobs looked like he was losing the hitouts badly during their five goal run. Not too worried though as he won't be up against a ruckman of Goldys quality all the time and should get better as the season goes along.
Crows managed to claw back though and had a big enough buffer that it didn't matter, North seemed to give up the fight in the fourth and it ended up being a whitewash, but the Crows would't be able to afford to do that normally especially against teams like Hawthorn or Geelong who won't give them that buffer in the first place.
All up good game, though if you're North supporter - dark clouds, played one great quarter of football but it was too late, seemed to give up after that too.
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