4 sale 6 Roo jumpers 1 long sleeve hoodie 2 tshirts 2 beanies 3 scarves and a kids backpack set. 99 cents. Will throw in a set of pool balls and pay for postage.
– Nick following the loss to the Western Bulldogs
When it swings, momentum can be impossible to stop. At the weekend Port Adelaide attained an elevated state of momentum and wild things happened. In eleven minutes Port kicked five goals. North Melbourne seemed motionless as their 32-point lead vanished.
The two point loss was shocking, and it left North’s reputation in tatters. They will not feature in September. Few clubs will lose to Port this season, which makes the loss more galling.
Inadequate sides squander five goal leads. It takes a special, inadequate performance to let it slip with eleven minutes to play.
On Saturday, North was 27 points up ten minutes into the last quarter when I left home and drove to my brother’s house. When I arrived, eight minutes later, Nick was standing up in front of the television. I looked at him and knew the score was bad.
‘North are going to lose this,’ Nick said. ‘They were 32-points up and now they’re going to lose.’
I went outside to say hi to his kids. When I got back inside, we watched Port kick two goals inside 90 seconds. The unlosable was lost. I couldn’t believe it.
‘I can believe it,’ Nick said. ‘That’s just North.’
When I left to go home I had a disturbing moment, a crippling in my guts, a sick feeling. Though it was brief, perhaps two seconds, the squirm surprised me. I called Adam.
‘That’s it,’ Adam said. ‘Scott has got to go.’
It was after Brad Scott’s first season as coach when Adam suggested Scott had been the wrong appointment. It seemed a tough assessment, but Adam is no football dill. When North kept getting belted last year Adam didn’t waver.
‘Scott’s game plan where he thinks we’re as good as the top sides isn’t working,’ he said.
In the minutes following the debacle against Port, I finally agreed with Adam about Scott’s coaching.
‘Last week Scott admitted opposition sides have worked us out,’ I said. ‘Wouldn’t you change things?’
‘We’re worse than we were three years ago but we’re softer,’ Adam said. ‘We’re not skilful enough for Scott’s handball game plan and we’re not hard enough to get the ball when we don’t have it.’
Adam didn’t sound upset. He wasn’t forceful or reserved. His voice was void of emotion. It’s rare to hear him talk like that.
‘Susan said to me you’re not even angry,’ Adam said. ‘I said no because there’s no point getting angry when the coach has one game plan and doesn’t have a plan b. It just proves what I’ve been saying for years that Scott can’t coach.’
The reality of mediocrity hurt. I stayed calm but bitterness overwhelmed me.
‘This year I’ve given North three hundred for their debt reduction program, a membership, fifty bucks for raffle tickets, fifty in merchandise and a hundred for a jumper with my name on it because I donated to the debt reduction program.’
‘I’ve given North seven or eight hundred this year,’ Adam said.
‘And we can’t beat Port.’ I hit the steering wheel. ‘They’ve fucked my night. I was going to watch the game later instead of Gold Coast against the Bulldogs.’
‘I just deleted it,’ Adam said.
As mentioned earlier, Adam is no football dill. A lot of Ramble topics arise during conversations with him. After round four, he said Richmond at their best were better than North at their best. I didn’t agree then. Now it’s hard not to.
‘Everyone’s taking the piss out of Richmond for being into the third year of their second five-year plan,’ Adam said. ‘But at least they’ve got a plan. Scott came in and got rid of the Shinboner spirit. He’s talking street talk all the time about how good we can be but I think he’s going to destroy this club.’
‘I’ll send you a link to the story where Scott admitted we’d been worked out.’
That’s how far our conversation degenerated. It was bitter, hysterical stuff. That’s what a loss like that can do, and footy fans can’t let a loss like that pass without analysis.
When I got home I found the link.
‘The template is pretty clear against us, really,’ Scott said on 15 May. ‘Place an enormous amount of pressure on us around the ball and we’ll cough it and turn it over and get scored against. That’s what sides have done to us really successfully. It’s up to us to counter that now.’
Scott suggested North’s game plan wouldn’t change.
‘If you want to play finals footy, finals footy is based around pressure so you’ve got to be able to withstand that.’
North couldn’t withstand it against the Bulldogs. In Adelaide, they conceded five goals in eleven minutes.
When North beat Geelong in round three, they used slick handballs to break through the zone. No one seemed surprised. Geelong was on the slide, North on the rise.
That game was where our season started and ended. It vindicated Scott’s belief in the game plan. Beating the reigning premier was proof.
Five rounds later it is clear the game plan isn’t working.
Following North’s win over Geelong, it took opposition coaches one week to work out how to beat us. Put pressure on them in close, affect the handball and cause the turnover.
It’s a simple game plan, if it takes one week to work out.
After talking with Adam, I called Russ. He wasn’t home. It was hours before he called me back.
‘When I got home Katrina said Matt rang,’ Russ said. ‘And I went, oh.’
The fact I’d called gave Russell the chills. He figured I wouldn’t call if North won by five goals. He figured I wouldn’t call unless North won by 100 points. He figured I wouldn’t call unless we’d lost.
‘I’m not going to call him back until I’ve watched the game,’ he told Katrina. Later, while doing a simple domestic chore with the television on, he heard the result.
‘I’m going to ring Matt now,’ Russ said.
When we talked, Russ was devastated. The loss seemed unexplainable.
‘After what they served up against the Bulldogs I wanted to put my membership in the microwave,’ Russ said. ‘I now know how it feels to be a Richmond fan.’
‘We’re not going to make the finals,’ I said. ‘Shit clubs can’t hold a five goal lead in the last quarter. North hasn’t been this low since we missed the finals in 2001.’
‘I know Adam is further advanced than me in wanting to get rid of Scott,’ Russ said. ‘But I agree with him now. I’m glad it happened, because it’s proof that we’re shit and we have to start again.’
It’s tough when the season is eight rounds old and your club is out of contention. Football loses its lustre. There’s a huge amount of jealousy associated with the winners.
I’d rather be talking to Nick, Adam and Russ after a win. Talking about finals would be a bonus.
I sent Adam and Russ the link to Scott’s admission.
On Sunday, the bitterness had abated somewhat. Unfortunately, footy flashbacks showed the 1998 grand final, when North gave up a four goal lead at half time to lose against Adelaide by 35 points.
I was at Elimbah with family. Nick changed the channel. No one wanted to watch North lose twice in 24 hours.
‘On Saturday, Tom wanted to put on his jumper when North was up in the last quarter,’ Nick said. ‘I said you’ve got about five minutes to wear it.’
Kellie, Nick’s fiancé, asked me how a team can lose like that. I shook my head.
‘Port Adelaide will probably win four games this year,’ I said.
‘Maybe five now,’ Kellie said.
Adam called in the afternoon. ‘Are you feeling any better about the world,’ he said.
‘Yeah, but I’m still shocked.’
‘I’ve been thinking about it,’ Adam said. ‘It wasn’t Scott’s fault that we lost.’
I agreed. ‘When you lose like that it’s the players fault.’
‘They weren’t mentally strong enough,’ Adam said. ‘Scott’s game plan had us 32-points in front.’
Amazing the difference a day makes to conversation following a loss.
Still, Nick, Adam, Russ and I are equivocal in all things. The list isn’t good enough. Scott has too much faith in a game plan the players can’t execute, and we’re still rebuilding.
Michael Malthouse defended Scott’s coaching against Port. Former North star Wayne Schwass wondered why Scott didn’t instruct his side to shut the game down.
Scott is probably wondering what the hell happened, as most people are.
Football is a great game but it provides hard moments. Nick, Adam, Russ and I reacted badly to the loss, as is expected. We’re not the first supporters in history to rag out the coach and the club. It’s arguable that we were too vitriolic during our analysis, but you can’t love a club and debate otherwise.
Particularly after a loss like that…
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