Round 9 West v North

North are in a bit of a slump so we'd give ourselves a chance here. But then, we gave ourselves a chance against WWT too.

Maguire and Ned Stevens should come in.
Maybe Corbett and Mulady out? (It would be tough on Mulady given the jobs he's been given.)

Hopefully Bramich will be fit to play.

Aldo

I agree those are the 2 changes I would make.

Frost going into the midfield has given us more of a physical presence and Mattingly’s work rate has been very good.
We just need to find more avenues to goal and not have so many shallow entries.

Mulady out, May in.
It's looking like they've made the same decision about Maguire that they made about Boyle.

Who would have believed pre-season that by round 9 we'd have beaten both the 2022 Grand Finalists? At times yesterday we looked like a very good side, some of our ball movement from defence to attack splitting North up the middle of the ground. Josh Ryan, Park and Morrish are probably as good as any defenders in the competition at their respective roles. Morrish's precision kicking yesterday was outstanding.
I thought Bramich was our best, he set the game up for us. Harvey usually smashes us, putting the ball down the throats of their mids, but Bramich soundly beat him and did a mountain of work around the ground. Joel Stevens and Frost were also excellent, Mattingly continued his good form, Johnson did some great things, Meline was good again and McCormick looks a player.
I think Ned Stevens needs to come up - Corbett only had one tap out and 7 possessions, and I think with Gore, Redfern and Laudato that's one small forward too many.
But we do look like we're making progress and if we can get over our slow starts we'll be in most games for longer.
p.S. North were awful, their skills were horrible and they look dispirited. Pleasure to watch.

Yesterday was the best we have played for a long time. Still error ridden with dropped marks that should have been taken kicking to the opposition etc, but North were worse. We got jumped early but the fact we stuck in there and totally dominated the second half (held them goaless) is testiment to our improvement. North seem to have adopted our game plan from the past few years of short kicks sideways ,sideways again, then backwards and oops turnover. In fact I was talking to a couple of North supporters late in the game who were cursing this and wanting their coach sacked etc, and mentioned to them that we used to do that, and they are quite welcome to keep that game plan into the future as we no longer use it thanks to Adam and his team of coaching staff. LOL.
I firmly think if we can keep this young group together in a couple of years we can be a force in the SANFL like Centrals were for a decade in the first decade of the 2000's.
We have another year of pain to go yet with inconsistant results while they build up their physical strength and experiance at this level.
Who knows what the next game will deliver against the Bays? We could get belted or win. But overall they are learning and improving and that is all you can ask.
Adam and co are doing a great job thus far considering what he inherited and with a reduced salary cap. Yes we still need to recruit a few key players, but not go overboard but need to be very canny in our recruiting. If we can do that and keep this group improving by 2025 we will be in the frame for success and consistant finals contenders IMHO.

Adam Hartlett Can coach he has us playing a good style of footy.
Our skill level by foot has improved and we are trying to take the game on more.
I think we could have beaten North by more but in the last qrt we played keeping’s off.

Morrish for me has been our most consistent player this year, his ball use and decision making have been first class. A couple of years ago he was close to being delisted, but he has transformed himself to be a very very important player. Park and Ryan likewise they are playing the best footy of their careers.
Bramich definitely best, his first half was excellent and when you consider he’s come from a 2nd tier comp and had a limited preseason.
Stevens,Frost ( who’s an excellent recruit) and Mattingly are a very competitive midfield group.

We really do need to Recruit a couple of very good Key Position Players who can mark the ball, it’s an area of real concern. We also need to sign a strong inside MId.

Watched the ressies yesterday and Mulady,Maguire, Couroupis,Thackeray and N.Stevens all played well.

Brand and Beech up forward would make a difference wouldn't they.

Was it only 2 weeks ago that we watched our team thrashed at Richmond by the Eagles? The turnaround in attitude has been remarkable and credit to the coaching staff for their good work. With such a young side we will be inconsistent but we now know that we are capable of playing some top class footy.
The kids like McCormick (19), Bock (20), Minchella (18), Laudato (20), K Ryan (19), Sherlock (20), Frost (20), Nicholls (20) will only get better. As stated above Bramich had a huge influence on this game and was, arguably, our best player. What he lacks in finesse he more than makes up for in physicality and presence in a pack. If anything, our on-ballers were unaccustomed to roving to a winning ruckman.
North were pretty terrible with their short, chipping, sideways game but credit to our defensive efforts and fitness that forced them to play that way. When they turned it over we rebounded into an open forward line, took our chances and they paid off.
Our backline were superb. Led by Park, Ryan and the much improved Morrish.

I would really hope if Brand does playa again this year that we play him forward. Minchella who I think could develop into a very good player has done well considering his inexperience.