An eventful Good Friday clash between North Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs left plenty of talking points to discuss post-match.
From another close loss, to a sense North’s foundation is there and why the game unfolded like it did. It was all covered in Brad Scott’s post-match media conference.
Laying the foundations
“The framework of what we’re trying to do is hopefully on show for all to see. As coaches we feel like we’re doing a lot right but not getting a lot of reward for that effort. If the framework and the fundamentals were not there, we’d be really concerned.”
The first month of the season has seen North face four teams who are all expected to feature prominently in September.
And without exception, there have been positive signs in each encounter. In Round 1 it was the first half against the Eagles, followed by everything up to three quarter time against the Cats the next week.
The game against the Giants was still close in the final term, and the Bulldogs clash went right down to the final kick. The challenge is now for the Roos to maintain the level of play even when the results haven’t shown on the scoreboard.
Cleaning up errors
“We gave up too many goals at crucial times when the flow of the game was going our way. It’s a few rookie errors and some general polish that hurt us.”
After Jy Simpkin put North up by 29 points six minutes into the third quarter, the Bulldogs kicked the next five goals to storm back into the game.
But it was the five minute period between the first and second of those Bulldogs goals which proved crucial.
North had four consecutive inside 50’s and dominated the territory battle. It was only able to muster two behinds from those entries in a time period where a goal or two may have completely broken the game open.
Josh Dunkley’s goal at the 12-minute mark opened the floodgates. The next 20 minutes were all Bulldogs, kicking 4.5 to just 0.1 to set up for a grandstand finish in the final term.
Debating decisions
“The umpires will have to work out how they adjudicate the (third man up) rule because clearly there are some anomalies at the moment. I like the fact that we’re protecting the 200 centimetre plus players in the game.
“The spirit of the rule is good. When you’re four points down and trying to win the game, you’re not trying to hit it out of bounds. That’s where a bit of game understanding comes in.”
Those were Brad Scott’s thoughts on the two decisions which have dominated the post-match headlines; first on the third-man-up rule late in the third quarter, and second on the deliberate out of bounds call late in the final term.
Despite Marcus Bontempelli appearing to nominate for a ruck contest in the Bulldogs’ forward 50, Andrew Swallow was penalised for blocking Dunkley – the umpire’s reasoning being that Dunkley nominated ‘verbally’ for the ruck contest before Bontempelli put his hand up.
As the rule stands, the first player from a side to nominate for the ruck contest becomes the ruckman.
The deliberate decision came with just two minutes remaining, Scott Thompson deemed to have deliberately punched the ball out of bounds as North trailed by four points.
Post-match, Scott said the umpires have been instructed to pay a deliberate call if they’re in any doubt about the decision.
