North's focus- opposition coach.

[saintbrat]

Found this on the North website
Interesting- to see how much he does or doesn't mention but a little insight into the process.

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Know your enemy: Saints
By Steve Lavell 6:05 PM Wed 03 June, 2009

DANNY Daly is central to North Melbourne's knowledge of its opponents, briefing his fellow coaches and players in the lead-up to each game.

This week North hosts undefeated St Kilda at Docklands on Saturday afternoon.

Given how the Saints are travelling at the moment, you can't do too much homework on them.
You can always do plenty of homework but it's hard to get anything out of a side that hasn't lost. I've seen them a fair bit this year. In the first five or six rounds they were flying.

What sort of lead time do you give yourself when forward scouting: when you go to see them live, watching tapes of games and when you start presenting ideas to the players?
Four weeks before we play them I go along to start watching them. As it turns out, sides end up playing each other – ones that you're also playing around that time – so you see them a bit more. I've seen St Kilda five times this year already and I start collating information from basically five weeks out.

In the week leading up to the game is when I start honing in with our players, basically today (Wednesday) being the day that I present to them. From today through to Friday, I sit down with them individually and go through individual players or key information that they need to know.

The clash between St Kilda and Brisbane in round nine would have been a really important one for you then.
It was. I actually took a few players along with me as well to primarily have a look at Brisbane, but also in the back of my mind look at St Kilda. Those games don't come along too often where you've got two clubs two weeks in a row.

How much do things change from a planning perspective now that they've lost Michael Gardiner to suspension and how crucial big men are to North's set-up?
He's been up and running and probably one of their most important players. It's a big bonus for us and we'll take it any day of the week, losing someone of his ilk. Especially given players like (Lenny) Hayes, (Nick) Dal Santo, (Luke) Ball and (Brendon) Goddard are first-users of the footy, it puts a lot of pressure on (Steven) King, who hasn't played a heap of game time. They'll probably bring in young (Ben) McEvoy, who has played a couple of games.

Obviously Hamish (McIntosh) is in pretty good nick at the minute so it probably gives us a bit of an edge in that area of the ground, which we need to capitalise on.

Anthony Rock (an assistant coach at St Kilda last year) becomes a pretty important person this week, too.
I've had a bit of a chat with Rocky this week about their strengths and weaknesses. He's given us a little bit of information but it's more so about us. He's obviously working with the midfielders on what we need to do and he's left the rest of it up to me.

It's a season where Nick Riewoldt and Justin Koschitzke are playing a lot of football together. Drew (Petrie) played a good drifting role last week with the Brown-Bradshaw combination. Will that happen again?
He's done it a fair bit this year, that sort of role where he plays forward or just back or on a wing or on-ball and just helps the defence out. It's certainly one of the things we'll be looking at this week with Riewoldt and Koschitzke in pretty good nick.

It's a mighty challenge for North's midfield too, especially if you continue with Ben Ross, Jack Ziebell and Sam Wright as your centreline.
There is a big difference [in experience] but we've got to keep playing the kids. As you can see they haven't been the ones who have let us down. They've been terrific in their attitude and the way they've gone about it. The more games we get into them, the better equipped they're going to be and they'll get more confidence. A game like this is a really big test for these kids.

Adam Simpson said on Tuesday that 'perceived pressure' appeared to be one of St Kilda's biggest strengths, much like Geelong.
They're very, very good in their pressure and pressing up on opposition sides to turn the footy over forward of the centre, which has been a huge strength of theirs this year. Obviously we've got some things in place to try to counteract that. We've had a look at a few sides that have been able to get through it and get some clean inside 50s against them.

How do you counter their tackling and really physical game? Do you go in with the same? Adam Simpson said it would need to be a scrap for North to win?
It would. They're a really good tackling side and physical side around the footy and I think that's one of our strengths as well when we're up and going. They'll play their style like that and so will we. Whoever can gain the bigger advantage and use the footy from those turnovers and pressure situations will probably win the game.

Given the young side you have, does Dean promote a 'nothing to lose' attitude?
Absolutely. That's the way we've got to go about it. We've got nothing to lose and everything to gain. They're 10 and zip and on the rise. There has been a lot of talk about their upcoming clashes with Carlton and Geelong, but I think we've got everything to gain by the way we play this week and the instructions that Dean gives the players.

It will be a game hopefully our supporters enjoy and our players enjoy and one where we have a real crack at them.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.

[Ghost Like]

You're right saintbrat, says alot but really says nothing of substance or value.