The Tackle: North's late failings have to be called chokes and Tigers flop again on big stage

NORTH'S failure to close out games has to be called out for what it is, and the Tiges yet again flop on a big stage. Replay Robbo's chat

North v Adelaide

COACHES are always learning and teaching, be it in specifics, be it across the board.

At Carlton, Mick Malthouse wants a more defensive attitude.

At Collingwood, Nathan Buckley needs a more defensive attitude.

At Geelong, Chris Scott is making the most of turnovers.

At Richmond, Damien Hardwick wants consistency.

At the Western Bulldogs, Brendan McCartney needs time to develop.

At Melbourne, Mark Neeld needs .... um, something.

At Adelaide, Brenton Sanderson had to conjure a a potent forward line without Tex Walker.

At Essendon, at Sydney, at Brisbane, at West Coast, at any club, coaches are working on improvement.

At North Melbourne, Brad Scott needs to - and surely has been - working on closing out games at the death.

That's four times this year they have lost by under a goal, after leading minutes before the final siren.

Yesterday, North Melbourne led with 16 seconds to play. It was worse last week, when they led when the siren sounded. The problem was Nic Naitanui had the ball in the his hands.

North Melbourne is very good at many aspects of the game, but a) have issues with tempo footy at the end and b) in all their close losses this year, have given up more than 29 scoring shots in each game.

Defensively, they are not sound.

Late in final quarters, they are a rabble.

Yesterday, coach Brad Scott called it diabolical.

His team wasn't able to play keepings off, which was a credit to Adelaide in not allowing a loose man.

For certain, Scott has been training to control the final minutes, yet it failed again at its latest examination.

The final quarter sequence was as follows:

Ben Cunnington kicked the first goal to make it 108-85 and a minute later Drew Petrie goaled to make it 114-85.

A Brent Harvey miss meant it was 30 points the margin.

Rory Sloane squirted a point from 40m and then Jason Porplyzia goaled in the square.

Daniel Wells missed a flying a shot, which led to a Brent Reilly mistake from the kick-in, which Wells marked and goaled.

Aaron Black missed another gettable shot, and the Crows surged it downfield for Sam Kerridge to kick his fourth.

Seven minutes to play, Roos up by 24.

North v Adelaide

Commentator Cameron Ling says: ''For Brad Scott the scoreboard is completely irrelevant,'' as a Scott Thompson pass out of defence is marked by Bernie Vince.

The Roos regain the ball, and Sam Wright loses opponent Scott Thompson, but he misses everything from 45m.

Crows win the ball and take it downfield, where Shaun McKernan kicks a point with five minutes to play.

Still, the game is wide open. Kerridge kicks his fifth with four minutes on the clock, and all players are exhausted.

Wright misses on his left from 40m, but the margin is still 18 points with 3.46 on the clock.

The Crows carry the ball into their forward 50m, where Richard Douglas goes one-two and goals. Commentator Dennis Cometti says: ''North Melbourne is quivering at the knees.'' Margin is 12 points.

Roos go deep forward, but Wright hits Daniel Talia high with a loose arm in defence and gives away the free kick.

North is still one-on-one, Crows go forward, and Tom Lynch wins the ball on the flank, baulks, goes long, where Kerridge marks in the square to kick his sixth. Margin six points.

The Kangaroos send Petrie to defence, and the Crows man him up with Ben Rutten to make it a seven-man Adelaide forward line.

Patrick Dangerfield wins the clearance, Jared Petrenko grabs the spillage forward, and bananas it for a point. Margin is five points with 1.31 to play.

Michael Firrito can't find someone short and his long kick to half-back culminates with a free to Petrie.

Petrie can't find a spare man, so he also goes long down the wing and it ends up out of bounds.

North skipper Andrew Swallow is dispossessed of the ball from the throw-in, Bernie Vince is terrific under the pack to handball to Douglas, who puts it to centre half-forward where North youngster Shaun Atley marks. But the umpire has paid a free kick to Petrie.

This is Petrie's second critical kick in as many moments. Forty seconds on the clock. No-one presents for him short or lateral, and he again goes long down the line.

Crow Josh Jenkins is huge in the air, controls the ball, handballs it forward where Kerridge runs on to it.

He kicks it to 30m out, where Atley and Petrie fly against Rutten, leaving Atley's man, Petrenko, by himself. Atley doesn't get a hand to the ball in the marking contest, the ball goes over the back and Petrenko runs on to the ball and goals.

Margin one point, 16 seconds to play.

Game over.

The choke tag is absolutely applicable.

***

SEE WHAT ROBBO HAD TO SAY IN HIS LIVE CHAT BELOW

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***

TIGES FLOP AGAIN ON BIG STAGE

RICHMOND didn't dare win.

No confidence, no run and playing safe football leads to turnovers, which sums up the Tigers in big games.

They were desperately disappointing against Essendon in the Dreamtime at the 'G.

The Bombers played close to the complete game: defensively strong at the man and covering space, and dominant in winning the ball in the midfield.

The final margin was 29 points. It felt like 59.

It was September football from James Hird's men and VFL standard from Damien Hardwick's.

There's an element of flat-track bully about the Tigers.

They've beaten Melbourne, Port Adelaide, Western Bulldogs and St Kilda. The Demons, Dogs and Saints have won five games between them and Power is freefalling after an impressive start.

Richmond beat Carlton in Round 1 and got within a point of Fremantle at Subiaco.

Saturday night was to be a statement game. One was made: The Tigers aren't ready.

They needed dash and dare to break down Essendon's defence and what they offered was slow ball movement, presumably on instruction.

This time last year they were considered among the most devastating movers of the ball.

It would appear Hardwick has asked his men to play more tempo footy. Either that or the Tigers can't cope with the opposition's defensive strategies.

From a mark or free in the defensive half on Saturday night, the Tigers sent the ball lateral or backwards 38 per cent of the time, the third-highest percentage by any team this year. It's a trend.

Their past two games were similar: against Port Adelaide (35.6 per cent), against Melbourne (43.3).

Against the Demons and Power, they could swing the ball wide and back and then attack. Against Essendon, they hit brick walls.

Turnovers killed the Tigers. Their kicking efficiency in the defensive half was 69 per cent compared with Essendon's 83, and the Bombers scored 8.5 on Richmond's 44 turnovers, and the Tigers just 3.5 on Essendon's 33.

Damien Hardwick

Skipper Trent Cotchin remains in so-so form, Tyrone Vickery sums up Richmond's plight with his inconsistency, Nathan Foley is playing like a man who missed two years of footy, Shaun Grigg doesn't hurt enough with possessions, and I'm struggling to convince myself Robin Nahas is in the best 22.

Jake King was down, Shane Edwards butchered the ball and Luke McGuane had little impact.

Ruckman Ivan Maric is not having the same effect as last year and the ruck separation rule might be hurting him. The second ruck spot is a huge issue.

Vickery is not cutting it, so maybe it's best to leave him as a key forward and play Orren Stephenson against West Coast's Dean Cox and Nic Naitanui.

Aaron Edwards might be afforded a spot as the lead-up forward.

Herald Sun columnist Paul Roos implored the Tigers to tackle and 49 against the Bombers wasn't enough.

You can't win with four of your midfielders and your two half-back flankers producing low numbers.

The Tigers play the Eagles on Monday night and the whole country will be watching. Can they dare or will they be laid bare again?

***

OFFICIALS HAVE PLENTY TO DEE-SCUS

ON AFL360 on Fox Footy, we put in a doomsday prediction every weekend.

Mine was about Mark Neeld and Melbourne. Said if it was an 80-point plus blow-out we might have a press conference on Monday morning.

Who knows if it will happen, but unquestionably the hierarchy must be giving it consideration.

Just eight inside 50s in the first half yesterday was, to borrow a word from Brad Scott, diabolical.

They improved their output in the second half, and that's a minor positive ... minor.

Said two weeks ago, after the loss to the Gold Coast Suns, it was a matter of when and not if for Neeld

Yesterday's performance clearly won't change opinions.

Demons fans on Twitter were outraged last night. Enough is enough they say, although most of them don't have an answer.

If officials decide the on-field efforts are hurting the club to the point of harm, the club has to act.

It's a long flight back from Perth, and the conversations for several senior officials would not have started and ended with what they were having as the main, chicken or the beef?

***

LIKES

1. Adelaide

Thirty points down with 10 minutes to play and they win on the road at the death. It keeps their finals hopes alive.

Kudos to Brenton Sanderson for rebuilding confidence and structure in the Crows forward line after Tex Walker went down.

Yesterday the goals came from a brilliant Sam Kerridge (six) and Josh Jenkins (three). Jenkins is the surprising one. Thought he was a lumberer who would be target. He's better than that. He's a man who plays with heart and strength. That's nine goals in three games since Walker ended his season.

Special mention to Richard Douglas, the most unrecognisable, unflappable and underrated midfield star in the game.

2. Addison and Stevens

Yep, another duo who, together, could be the name of a South Yarra legal firm. These two are what we call AFL battlers, players who give their all without having the polish to ever be considered stars of the game. But they were stars on Saturday.

A defender/midfield stopper, Addison has been re-wired into a hard-working forward. He kicked four goals in Round 21 against Sydney last year and followed it with another four goals against the Saints, so kudos to him and to coach Brendan McCartney.

Stevens was recruited from West Coast and can be wayward with the ball, but Saturday was his career day. Clearly is best possession game with 31 (next best  was 20) and his three goals took his career tally to six.

Those two are the epitome of the blue-collar Dogs.

3. Adam Goodes

Said my piece in Sunday's paper, and want to say it again: This was a moment in time for Goodes, for the girl, for the AFL and for all of Australia.

4. Quick hands

Reckon the Swans are the best in the competition at sharing the ball in close.

How many times on Friday night did you see Hannebery to McVeigh, to O'Keefe before they cleared the congestion? And throw in Kennedy, Jack, Parker and Malceski. There's no hesitation. It's bang, bang, bang and gone.

The Hawks and Cats are very good as well, and Essendon at their best are also clinical. But this is Sydney's signature.

5. Good hands

Hello Fremantle. Again, the Hawks are outstanding in the back half in regards to taking marks or spoiling the ball, but Dockers are among the best at intercept marks, leaving their opponents to help out a teammate, and spreading from the back half.

Yesterday against a listless Melbourne, the Dockers defence ravaged the Demons. Of the defenders, Michael Johnson took 10 marks, Ibbotson 14, Spurr 11, Duffield 11, Pearce 10 and McPharlin 10 before he was subbed, to his astonishment.

Not for the first time this season, the Demons must have felt like they were hitting a human wall when they eventually got into their 50m, and a human tsunami when they watched it surge out.

6. Good kicking

Play of the weekend among many contributions was Luke Parker's kick to space for teammate Lewis Jetta to run on and goal. How Nick Maxwell found himself to be the chaser is anyone's guess, for Maxwell was not Jetta’s match-up.

Anyhow, Parker assessed he had no options down the corridor and put the ball 20m in front of Jetta. It was great decision-making and awareness and the execution was perfect.

7. Steve Johnson

Is he a better midfielder than half-forward? Worked over Port Adelaide in all areas: ball-winning (33 touches), tackles (team-high nine) and clearances (team-high seven).

Shutdown jobs are not working. Johnson's is always in motion, shuffling here, back-tracking there and slicing through stoppages. He and Motlop are killing it.

8. Stephen Milne

Like him or not, and I do, Milne has copped abuse over the fence for years, so much so that at one stage Collingwood president Eddie McGuire had to speak a section of his supporters.

"We've got to try and stamp it out because you can't be yelling out them kind of things when there's kids around in cheer squads and stuff like that," Milne said yesterday. "It's not good for the game, and it's not good for kids growing up.''

He was on Channel Nine which is ironic because it was Channel Nine who celebrated the women abusing Milne over the fence by inviting her on to the Footy Show to brag about it.

9. Sam Mitchell

Has gone close to winning the Brownlow Medal and this might be the year.

Watson, S Johnson, Hannebery, Ablett and even Michael Barlow deserve to be the leading contenders after Round 9. And so, too, does Mitchell.

In nine games, Mitchell has returned 37, 31, 27, 25, 28, 29, 30, 35 and 36. The Hawks have won eight of nine games, so Mitchell should be front and square when the voting is sorted.

Not everyone judges Mitchell's performances as vote-worthy, a la yesterday, but history tells us the umpires do.

First long-term bet of the season will be Swans/Hawks/Cats into Mitchell. (This was not brought to you by Tom Waterhouse).

10. Jarrad Waite

While most people were watching the Dreamtime, Blues fans were watching an intriguing game at the Gabba.

And there's no more an intriguing player in the game than Jarrad Waite. He took 12 marks, of which seven were contested, and looked like the player than Jonathan Brown used to be.

Please, no more brain fades because you are the difference between the Blues being a contender or not.

Honourable mentions

Jonathan Simpkins' 33 for the Hawks, Buddy's flamboyant third quarter, Harry Taylor, Bob Murphy's bounce, baulk and goal, Dempsey's dash, Chaplin for the Tigers, Nic Nat again, Dangerfield's last quarter, Kane Lucas, Jobe's leadership, Mundy and Fyfe. 

***

DISLIKES

1. Racism

Enough said.

2. Darren Jolly

Sloppy from the big man and his attempt to convince the umpire he hit Geelong's Matty Stokes with his shoulder proved to be unsustained.

It's not a hanging offence, but the beleaguered Pies will likely be without their ruckman for the Lions clash on Friday night.

He is at the crossroads, Jolly. His endeavour continues to be strong (seven tackles) but his impact around the ground is diminishing.

3. GWS

The Suns took a hammering in their second season for being uncompetitive - and strangely this year as well - but can't see the Giants being any better than the Suns in their second year.

Injuries have nailed them in the key positional areas, yet the fight we so applauded in 2012 has diminished somewhat. The talent and experience difference is cruelling them, and unfortunately we might see a team go winless throughout a season.

There are positives such as Adams, Treloar and Conigilio, and Lachie Whitfield will be a star, but this is quickly becoming a very long season .

4. Collingwood

Jolly aside, the Pies are on the nose again. Their season is WWLWLWLWL so to say they are inconsistent is an understatement.

For the first time I've heard, coach Nathan Buckley on SEN Radio on Saturday spoke of several youngsters in the VFL. He acknowledged issues in the team and said the club was developing a group coming through.

It wasn't a raising of the white flag on his current group, but an offering that had you believe that more youngsters will get an opportunity.

What I have learned is the experience and run of Heath Shaw is desperately missed when he's not playing.

5. St Kilda

Where to now for the Saints? Beaten by the Bulldogs, they hover in the bottom four with just two wins from nine games.

They show patches of brilliance, and have names such as Riewoldt, Montagna, Dal Santo, Fisher and Milne, yet their season is being swept away.

Coach Scott Watters has a difficult path. He has to manage the waning years of the greats plus inject youth. It's a unique situation because the champs are contributing. This is a long and delicate rebuild.

6. The bump

OK, trying to get my head around the use of the body in a marking contest, and gladly there appears to be a relaxing of the rule. That said, bumping in loose ball situations did my head in.

At the 'G yesterday, Gold Coast's Jarrod Harbrow bumped Jonathan Simpkins under a high-bounce ball and the umpire paid a free kick. He didn't hit Simpkins high, or front on, it was shoulder to shoulder.

It was smart football, yet the umpire said not allowed. Strange one.

7. 50m penalty (ii)

Players running through the five metre zone, who have no bearing on the play, and who are penalised 50m, are desperately unlucky. Players will learn in time, but the penalty does not fit the crime.

The rule was brought in for time wasting, which eventually seemed to also crack down on rough play after an opposition player marked the ball. Accept there were probably cases where players ran near the man with the ball and raised their arms to try to defend. But it also meant they were raising their arms to alert the umpire they weren't a threat.

Would like to see the penalty in that case reduced to 25m.

8. 50m penalty (ii)

The penalty against St Kilda's Clint Jones when handing the ball back to Bulldog Ryan Griffen was just wrong.

Jones had the ball and on his way back to man the mark, gently lobbed the ball to Griffen. Griffen didn't even attempt to catch it, allowing it to the hit ground barely a metre from him. Understandably, Jones was amazed with the call.

Again, the 50m penalty was far too harsh when it appeared Griffen had sucked in the goal umpire.

9. Mark Jamar

The Demons ruckman had one kick, no marks, six tackles and 34 hitouts yesterday.

Two aspects of his game were outstanding, the other two, you know, the ones about getting the ball, were astounding.

10. Supercoach

Lost by eight points and don't know who to blame. Moloney for being tagged out of it after half-time, Birchall for late withdrawal, Rockliff, or Dusty for missing goals? Ah well,  move on.

***

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@unclew74:  Dislike Michael Hurley Forward. Ruining his career.

@JulesWoodward:  Like:Crows coaches sharing a group hug  after the siren. Luv that Sando never hides his joy of the game

@ashclover92:  like: crows comeback win dislike: tigers performance, drove 5 hours by car and witnessed a lack of effort and discipline.

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@sportsmadash:  dislike - Mark Neeld. I have backed him for a long time but sorry to say, the players don't want you there

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@Strahany_:  Dislike: Eddie standing up to racism but continually ignoring the supporters that vilify Milne. Reeks of attention-seeking.

@toddnicolich: likes-the suns effort today-super. Dislikes -the kangas choking again-what excuse will the use this time

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@_dcam1: When will people start blaming the players for what happens on the field? So tired of coaches being blamed for everything.

@jlcsmith23: Dislike: Mark Neeld, as a 24 yr consecutive member, I can’t handle this anymore. We’ve gone backwards

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@johnn_ob: like: Sam kerridge dislike: being a north fan & having to put up with firrito, wright and daw every bloody week