Northcote were good. Very good players in key positions who kept things ticking over for them. No one trying to do too much, but always enough to add value and very much a team. Players in every position were comfortable on the ball and able to make good decisions. They were able to find space and connect passes much better than us and were a lot more patient than us with the ball.
This what a team can do if it starts the process from u8. Both Dom and I remember playing against (and getting whacked by) the same team, with almost identical players, when they were u9 and u10. [Our boys were at Redbacks then]. And they were already very strong then.
Perhaps we are still a season or even 2 away from being able to play as team in that way, (with good players in every position, a strong understanding of 'space, positioning, relative structure and the importance of being a team first but with good individuals, who trust each other and can make a difference when needed but don't need to do it every time').
This is all Dom and i are working towards. We hope that with maturity the messages we are trying to promote start to come through and we eventually get a great balance of discipline and creativity.
Back to the game.
On a different day with Ronan in goal, the results would certainly have been different. 3 or 4 of their goals Ronan would have dealt with comfortably i think. If this was Macca's cup game - it is a game we could win.
As for our performance, all players had their good moments. I think our defensive shape (without us doing any work on it) is good. This is all the players doing. I like their block when other teams play out. I like that they have organized themselves in this way.
Our midfield is still not quite right. We either have good technicians in midfield but cant get it right in terms of shape, positioning and playing relative to ' each other, those around them and space ' or we have players who do this but are then perhaps not technically advanced enough to make good positioning count. The space is there to be found in the midfield. Players need intelligence to find it and technique to use it. At the moment we do not have players who can do both really well.
We have technical players who don't understand space, movement and positioning as well as they need to, and we have players who do, but don't have sufficient technical ability yet to capitalize on their good off the ball work.
I think that sums us up at the moment.
It is clear that all players are works in progress, all with strengths and weaknesses and improvement will only occur by working hard over a long period (years) at training and in the back yard.
That's why i am quiet at games at the moment. We are at the point now where our problems are either technical or based on an understanding of abstract concepts. Neither of which can currently be corrected in real time on match day. When i try i just get really frustrated and have to take a step back. The boys don't need any more instruction. They need time. We must just work really hard at training and let match day be the test as to whether we are getting the changes and improvements we are looking for.
The penny will drop one day and i hope i am still around to see it happen because when it does, it will be good.