Match Day Rnd 8. North Melbourne V Sydney. 16.40 pm. Etihad Stadium.

[Nico]

I liked Hewitt's game today. There were a few occasions where his ability to keep his feet in the contest won him some important possessions. He's coming along really well.

I have been questioning whether Hewett will make it. My criticism of him has been scrappy and poor disposal, not leading up, playing for frees and constantly going to ground. He turned all of that around, and to me it was his breakout game. What he did today was to finally play instinctive footy. Hope goes on from here.

[Auntie.Gerald]

I think saw one of the worst teams for a long time today ....... north were just aweful

But enjoyed the win

[Markwebbos]

I have been questioning whether Hewett will make it. My criticism of him has been scrappy and poor disposal, not leading up, playing for frees and constantly going to ground. He turned all of that around, and to me it was his breakout game. What he did today was to finally play instinctive footy. Hope goes on from here.

+1 only you put it much better than I could

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I think saw one of the worst teams for a long time today ....... north were just aweful

But enjoyed the win

I think we had a hand in that. This is the team that trounced the invincible Adelaide last week

[Nico]

I think your criticism of the 2 plays that led to goals is wrong.

The blame for the first incident rests with Mills who handballed to Newman with Turner so near that Newman was under intense pressure. Turner charged at Nic and made contact with the head. The right decision would have been to rush a behind, but there really was no time at all to collect his thoughts.

The second incident he tried to body the lighter Hrovat off his position, but Hrovat had the sit, has a low centre of gravity and was able to stand his ground. Good on Hrovat. I've seen Jeff Garlett and Eddie Betts do that many times to 100kg defenders. Newman has used that tactic successfully so many times in the NEAFL I'm not surprised he tried it today. He'll have to come up with something different next time. In any case, I'm not sure sure how many of our players would have be able to stop the mark.

There were other goals kicked against us today. Were they all due to defender mistakes? Brown took a mark on Grundy. Do we say that we hope Reg improves as well?

Newman is a tough physical player who plays a smart game. He's not just a good kick. He's in our best 22 without question. And that's just after 5 senior games. I would expect him to improve. That said, he will makes mistakes, no doubt, but probably less than Buddy or Parker.

I was sitting on the HFF near the 50 to the right of the screen, on the camera side of the ground. When playing defence at that end you could see Newman reading the play and dropping back as the ball came in. Much in the way Rampe plays. Prior to today I thought he might be a bit soft, but that was put to rest. He was cool under pressure when he had the ball and used his kicking skills to very good use. 35 possessions at 77% ground time is amazing. No way that Allir will come in for him.
Sitting where I was in the terraces you saw the intensity and the absolute will to harass and tackle North. The 2nd and 3rd efforts by Hanners signalled that he is back.
Might I add that we were outstanding at centre bounces. It just shows how it puts a defence under severe pressure when it comes out quickly. About the best I have seen in this department since 2005.
The work of Isaac Heeney is a joy. He is such a star. He always seems to be in the right place. Makes a huge difference to the team. And Mills just keeps on keeping on.
People are saying Rohan comes in next week; well I can't see him coming in. 2 stats against Hawthorn before he knocked himself tells me he needs to earn his spot now. Towers played his best game and I didn't see a mistake. I thought both Sincalir and Naismith played top games. Stats didn't show it but their centre bounce work was superb. Both of them buttered up time and again when the ball hit the ground.
All of a sudden Reid is a valuable utility player who can play forward and back when required.
After today we must retain Reid and Jones at all costs. Maybe a couple of the highly paid boys might take a salary hit for the team.

[Auntie.Gerald]

Rd 8, 2017: Scott post-match - NMFC.com.au

Agree nico
Brad thought that North got destroyed in contested possession and he is right
But they were absolutely terrible in the contest today north

[Industrial Fan]

Its amazing the difference some continuity makes.

Towers was pretty good today, deserves to hold his spot again. Sinclair played well, but I hope his pressure with 9mins to go in the 3rd qtr gets shown to him. Casually jogged to the ball and then feigned pressure.

All in all no real whipping boys today.

Now that we have the team settled no issue with Rampe in McVeigh out for next week.

[Odysseus]

A terrific day at the footy. Great to see the captain's best game all year. Hannas wasn't giving the impression that he was knackered, bent at the waist and grabbing his shorts after every kick or run. Reg was solid. Parker looked as if he's coming into form. Sam Reid such a smart player. Tom Papley dangerous, and he's got a bit of cheek and aggro, but not more than Zac who played another fine game. Etc, etc. I went expecting we'd lose to the outfit that took down the ladder-leaders last week, but we were "on" from the first bounce. What I couldn't believe was the turnaround from the last game I attended - our insipid effort against the Blues, where we looked not only outclassed but dispirited and disinterested in a way I've not seen for a long time. A much happier trip home. Even more so for the boys, and hopefully that feeling will inspire them to play the hard footy that has earned respect and brought success in recent years.

[0918330512]

Lets not get ahead of ourselves. Win the next two before we start thinking about the F word

Better than the first 6 weeks when we were saying the F word

[bloodspirit]

I think saw one of the worst teams for a long time today ....... north were just aweful

But enjoyed the win

They were a damn sight better than Brisbane last week. We were much better too.

[aardvark]

It was good to see Newman recover to play so well after a nervous start. Ultimately the value of his performance will be decided by the selectors this week.

[MattW]

So, three things for me.

The next d-head that says Grundy is expendable should be banned from RWO as a matter of principle. Ben Brown didn't get a look in today.

Papley adds such value. He's occasionally a bit excited, but adds an energy, pressure and pace to our game that is crucial. And like all good small forwards, if he can add the odd moment in the centre as he has the last couple of games, his bursts will be priceless.

Hayward really is going to be ridiculously good, touch wood. There were four or five things today that made you go wow. His kick into 50 to Towers in the first quarter, a shimmy through the middle, that handball tight on the boundary in the last quarter, a squared up kick into 50 in the third quarter, and the way he kept his feet and put on a few sharp steps to create space for his own goal late. Love him.

Right on re all 3. I'm also a massive Hayward fan.

I thought each of our midfield guns were back on form today, and this was the game I've been finally, definitively been convinced by Hewett. He was very good. Good to see Reid play well again after a couple of quiet weeks.

[Cheer_Cheer]

I loved that one hander by Reid. I noticed after that how he has added some bulk... Please can we keep him. He is only just coming into him prime. I know others say he is a tease but he is such a great swingman. An underrated craft that he seems to be perfect at.

[CureTheSane]

The negativity towards newman is crazy. Yes, his error lead to a goal and he had a poor 5 mins. Lets put it into perspective, from that point he regained his composure went on to have 30+ possessions and contributed to our win. All this from a kid in his 5th game. Newman should be receiving nothing but praise for what he did today.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

Talk to Towers about negativity.
Couple of errors in early games and he was written off here.
Some posters are now stretching and warming up for their back flips.

oh, and the desperate pessimists who completely wrote off finals will be also in a couple of weeks...

[Beerman]

After years of watching the ball land on top of the head of our forwards, I was shocked when Hayward kicked beautifully to Towers' advantage in the first quarter. Then when Hewitt kicked to Papley in the third it was nearly too much for me and I started to break down. Great game.

Zak Jones was very good again too. Plus the players you *expect* to be good (Kennedy, Hannebery, Parker) went well. Good signs all round.

[barry]

I would think nainsmith is more likely to make way for tippet than Sinclair. Tippet/Sinclair is a better combo IMO.

I think we can put to rest that we need McVeigh in the backline pointing to win. Unless he was doing some serious long range pointing, including some monster 150m points.

So far we've beaten 16th and 18th. Saints are our first real test of this mini revival.