Round 2 – North Melbourne v St Kilda: St Kilda boys unlikely to add my footy audiobook

Friday, 30 March 2018
4:20 pm
Docklands Stadium, Melbourne

 

Yoshi Milney is very disappointed with the Good Friday footy result.

 

I watched the first half of the match live before getting to work in the evening, and saw too much wasteful and sloppy footy.

 

The score was level with each club kicking 2.10 (22) to half-time. I was worried about losing, but hoped I would be happy at the end of my shift at 11 pm. But my worry became the reality.

 

I had planned to watch the replay of the last half on Saturday morning, but decided not to watch when I woke up to avoid being sad and getting frustrated.

 

Like last weekend, we couldn’t fire up at the beginning. We allowed Kangaroos to bring the footy to their forward line. Ruck is  hard work, but we need more accurate hit outs. Plus centre players need backing up and accurate handpasses.

 

Kicks were often delivered to the opponents rather than teammates. My notebook about our kicking was written primarily about Jack Steven’s kicking and North getting the footy. As a player, I find kicking is  hard and I need to kick accurately, but they are professional footballers. Don’t disappoint passionate supporters…

 

Also such kicks wasted some good marks.

 

Coast to coast (ball handling in the wing) was not seen during the match. The technique was what we were good at a few years back, but we fumbled the footy.

 

Riewoldt’s gesturing and collecting footy or Montagna’s running and backing up was not done by young players. We should have trained current players with such skills before they retired.

 

Inaccurate handpasses were also seen. Why didn’t we find the right player to handpass?

 

Footy is a fast-paced sport and players have to respond quickly to avoid being tackled. We worked hard but wasted a lot.

 

Here is my player note from the match.

 

1. Handpasses over opponents’ heads are important – like what Kangaroos did in the second quarter.

2. Backing up is needed, not only to collect the footy, but also to cover mistakes – it came up after having seen too many sloppy plays.

 

My enthusiasm for supporting boys and practising footy even when I have a fractured finger didn’t pass to my boys. It’s sad but happens.

 

Are we ticking back the clock to years when we struggled with winning?

 

No more Stephen Milne, Lenny Hayes, Nick Riewoldt or Leigh Montagna at the club. It’s your responsibility to be a legend like them, young boys. You need to find the way to climb up the ladder. I want you guys to be the 2018 Bulldog boys of 2016.

 

I look forward to the next round and please, please do not make me worry while watching live. I believe we can win the flag in the near future, but realise we need to work hard.

 

Boys, I promise to train and practise hard to be a good player at the Osaka Dingoes so please make  efforts like me. Thanks!

 

 

NORTH MELBOURNE 0.6 2.10 6.16 13.17 (95)
ST KILDA 1.2 2.10 5.11 5.13 (43)

GOALS
North Melbourne: Brown 6, Waite, Anderson, Turner, Hrovat, Hartung, Jacobs, Cunnington
St Kilda: Carlisle, Gresham, Steele, Steven, Acres

 

BEST
North Melbourne: Brown, Higgins, Jacobs, Macmillan, Waite, Hartung, Ziebell, Thompson
St Kilda: Webster, Steven, Armitage, Geary, Savage

 

 

Official crowd: 33,966

 

P.S. I forgot to upload the IMPACT Anzac Day Cup Tournament’s poster in my last post. Here it is.