You’re all right Bloke and me too

I’ve never minded losing games as long as I see effort and I didn’t see very much at all on the weekend. The guys that did bring effort stood out like dogs balls i.e Quaynor, Daicos, McCreery and Mihocek and a couple of kids. I watched DeGoey run out late for kicking practice before the game and if his shoulders drooped any lower during the game, his knuckles would’ve been dragging on the ground !! I would’ve thought after the numbnut phone episode, our Jordy might have wanted to repay the Club with some good footy, still waiting. I know it’s not our best 22 by any stretch but each and every player that puts my clubs guernsey on needs to look themselves right in the mirror and say to themselves, I need to be better and try harder. It’s one of the main reasons I go and watch the girls because what you get with them ( and I’m talking about the whole AFLW ) is 100% bona fide, rip in effort and that’s all I’m asking for !! Keep up the good fight Bloke, I live my life with the Side by Side mentality and I think you do too, Go Pies !!!

I agree entirely, I cannot for the life of me understand the commentary around a contract extension for him. I’ve been to the majority of games and the game plan stinks to high heaven. No one asks him why we go like crabs sideways at every centre clearance, not straight towards goal. We predictably go around the edges of the ground at kick ins, our defenders never look up the ground, always the sides. Just the Darcy Moore move shows to me he is completely out of ideas and just seems to be sucking the talent right out of any decent players we have left. Sanderson has been taking money for nothing for far too long and Harvey isn’t too far behind, all three need to go for us to have any chance of starting afresh.

I respectfully disagree about your summary of Brodie, I believe we paid 2 million and two years more than we should’ve for him and the last two years of his contract he will be an albatross around our neck. I’ve watched every game live except the GWS one and he goes and sits on the bench for huge amounts of quarters and at key times in quarters. He very rarely hits to advantage and his second and third efforts at the ball are getting less and less. He didn’t do very well in the hub last year and his form suffered, I’m sorry but if you’re going to command that sort of coin, you need to suck it up and be more professional. Grundy is in the business of elite sport, win, loss and criticism comes with the territory and if you want the big dollars, that’s what you sign up for. I went to a meet and greet not long after his contract extension and the body language from our Brodie was poor to say the least, he just looked as though he didn’t want to be there. I know he might have had just an off day but once again, be professional and don’t show it to the people that are paying your wages.

I feel your pain Bloke, I see a tired worn out coach peddling a tired worn out game plan that does not stand up to the current game. I’ve been to every game except the Giants one and all I see is the same old tired down the line to no one in particular. We never take the centre corridor on, even when we kick out from defence, it’s looking left and right, never up the guts. Our skills by hand and foot are poor and most of our players have very little muscle tone which I put down to not much pride in the weight room and incredibly soft coaching. To flip flop with Darcy shows to me ( and the rest of the team ) that Bucks has no idea and is completely bereft of any game plan at all and smacks of desperation. For the new president to come out and say we can still make finals and to make it uncomfortable for Graham Wright shows to me that it’s time to give the paying members a say. Because if you were at the game, I wouldn’t be even mentioning the F word , all they should be focusing on is the first bounce on Saturday afternoon against the Suns !!

Lol, hopefully no more comic relief after 2021

Sadly Bloke I agreed with your assessment, Bucks had a lot of credits in the bank with me but after the loss to the Giants, he just ran out. I’m sorry but he just doesn’t deserve another tenure for the sheer fact that nothing is new, we keep making the same mistakes over and over again. Brenton Sanderson needs to go as well, what has that bloke done for us in the last three years apart get a pension cheque ? We utilise our players poorly i.e DeGoey should be our full forward and LEAVE Darcy Moore as our full back ( I don’t for the life of me understand why anyone wants to move our best backman for a very long time, to put him forward ! ). Cox has been worked out and drops oh so many important marks with those hard hands of his, I wouldn’t have him anywhere near the forward line because he gets in the road all the time. Give DeGoey and Mihocek a free rein down there so we can get some decent forward 50 entries instead of the rubbish that’s being delivered at the moment to them. We never take the middle on, always down the old predictable line and our hand and foot skills are poor which I put down to soft coaching. I hate to give my Club a whack like this but where’s the first half of the Preliminary Final against Richmond or the one point win over WC in Perth gone because when we play that brand we win but we look a hell of a long way from that now ! I too hope that Graham Wright is sitting back observing all this and when he believes the time is right we go looking for a coach who has absolutely no old affiliation with the Club from the past. All I want to see is a consistent four quarters effort of exciting free flowing footy that we take on at every available opportunity, not too much to ask, is it ??

I agree and a lot of people forget that he took on the job no one wanted and a first time coach at that, a huge risk on his part, he’s still got a lot of credits still in the bank for mine

To be fair, they had a crap board run by an idiot, also sold the farm on Fevola who came to the club carrying two big suitcases of personal issues. Voss a lot older and wiser now and would make a great coach somewhere, a few clubs could do a lot worse with some of the crabs going around at the moment.

Cracking game and classy response by Hardwick, in the end footy was the winner for mine

Brutal assessment but spot on, a conveyor belt of coaches will not fix Norths’ problems, underwhelming and mediocrity is in their DNA it seems

Underestimate a champion side at your peril

I was living in Perth at the time, tough gig

I was at the game and there was a collective groan around me when with about 4 minutes to go we started to try and milk the clock. I would rather lose a thousand times attacking than to try and protect a lead in your back half that was under a goal !! The Lions sensed it and so did West Coast on that fateful day, I don’t understand why Bucks keeps making the same mistakes that costs us dearly. Also if he believes that Jack Madgen is worthy of being in our best 22 and no one on the training track young or old is doing better, then we have some real problems with our bottom 6

Good, serial sook

I’d say Cameron and Goodwin as top two, especially Goodwin, he has been on a slippery slope since Roos let go of his hand.

I just think there are some things you do as captain that doesn’t deserve another crack at it and one of them is sandpapergate. I appreciate his contrition since that terrible day and that is the only reason he is still in my side. As for Warner, I don’t believe he should’ve ever put the baggy green on again because he was the one that told Bancroft to do the numbnut thing. In my opinion his lack of contrition and coming up with the idiotic idea in the first place and getting a junior to do his dirty work should’ve had him never play again. Double standards you might say but Smithys greatest mistake was to trust his idiot vice captain and we know how the rest goes.

Terrific article, I reckon they’ll keep you on lol !! I was really pleased with the way we responded to round 1, our forward set up at times was good with DeGoey and Mihocek being fed by Steele and Pendles patrolling the forward fifty arc. Josh Daicos, Quaynor and Callum Brown are getting better and better with every game. I really hope Darcy is a one club player, to see him live and how he reads the play is a treat, he’s a beautiful mark and that drop punt to a chest is gold, not to mention the golden fist !! His old man was god like to me when I was a little tacker and it certainly is in Darcy’s DNA. It is so good to be able to go to the footy again and feel the atmosphere and be part of the theatre. The way our game can build to a crescendo by bringing the ball down the ground and scoring a goal is addictive and just can’t be replicated on the tube. I’m definitely glass half full with the boys for the season and reckon with a lot of hard work, we might be thereabouts when the whips are cracking, Go Pies !!!

I don’t like it at all, I believe that whenever you joined the AFL with the guernsey that everyone agreed on that’s when your history starts. I don’t give a monkeys what you were before that, we are the black and white stripes in this competition and I’m sick of the nagging about it !! One game will turn into two and then we’re on a slippery slope from there and for David Koch to be handing out advice, give me a break !!! As you can tell I’m neither a fan of Port or the idea at all !!

Can’t wait to go tonight, Pies by 11, let’s get tribal !!!!

I’m fascinated to see how Collingwood as a team responds after the terrible performance and subsequent pasting in the press, which was warranted. As a diehard, not playing your absolute heart out against the Blues is non negotiable, it used to infuriate me when Malthouse used to play our rivalry down !! As you said, it is one of the oldest rivalries in Australian sport and now we are allowed to have up to 75,000 at the G for it, I for one can’t wait to go !!

He’s not being utilised properly Johnno I don’t believe, I’d much prefer DeGoey and Mihocek stay down in the forward line and be focal points because Mason and Elliott in the forward line is not going to win us games I’m afraid. We need to sell the farm on a big hulking gun power forward, all the good teams have them, Hawkins, Kennedy, Lynch, Reiwoldt etc. I think with Pendles, Sidebottom and Taylor should be able to win it out of the middle to give good supply to the forwards. Our forward entries were either two low to give anyone a chance or just bombed in and hope someone marks it, I know it’s only early days but I was worried with what I saw of Bucks’ overall game plan, whatever it was ? I don’t care what shape we are in, it is non negotiable to beat the Blues, Go Pies !!!

I was at the ground with a great vantage point and didn’t like what I saw from us. We had no forward structure at all, no focal point for players coming down the ground to kick to. Brodie got beaten time and again and whatever tap in the middle he did was crumbed by the Doggies midfield. We went around the fat sides of the ground all night, very rarely took the middle on at all, I haven’t got a clue as to what Bucks’ game plan is because their didn’t seem to be any at all. Thank goodness for our defence with Darcy and Jeremy leading the way, it could have been a lot worse if they hadn’t been a wall at times. The booing of Treloar was the lowlight of the evening for me and an embarrassment for our Club, we had an opportunity to show some class to a bloke who did nothing wrong and we failed. Why would any future gun want to come to our club if we are treating players like that, poor form indeed. A week is a long time in footy and we only have 6 days to get ready for the old foe who are improving, I hope Steele can come back because he was sorely missed, Go Pies !!

Doggies wheeled out as favourites, no one apart from the diehards give us a chance, it’s just the way we like it !! I just hope Bucks lets the team take the game on because when we bring that manic intensity, we win games. Put DeGoey in the forward line and attack, attack, attack, I can’t wait to go tonight, Go Pies !!

Hopefully by the final siren when we upset the Doggies !! It’s all set up for the Maggie’s I reckon, bookies underdog, no one in the tipping universe believes we can win. It’s just the sort of fly in the ointment moment we love, Go Pies !!!!