00:00I'll tell you who was frozen on the weekend, the Kangaroos.
00:02They were the Kangapoos on the weekend over there in Bunbury
00:05against Fremantle, a 124-point shellacking
00:08to the ladder-leading Dockers.
00:10And that's all very well and good to say that, you know,
00:12the ladder leaders are always going to beat the Kangaroos.
00:14But they've got to be better than theirs.
00:16This is a team that's had an unbelievable pressure on them
00:19and their development pathway and Alistair Clarkson,
00:21the way they invested in the youth.
00:23They just kept going to the draft and getting all these super-talented kids
00:26to try and eventually become a team that's going to be competitive.
00:29And we've talked about the Kangaroos a couple of times already this year
00:31on six points.
00:32I think overall they have improved, but that performance on the weekend
00:36was one I don't remember seeing a team where you could sit there
00:41upon reflection watching the game and say, you know what?
00:44They just checked out.
00:44They checked out against the Fremantle Dockers.
00:46They said, not too hard today, coach.
00:48I can't help you.
00:49That was as poor a performance as we've seen in years from the Kangaroos.
00:52Well, 19 goals in a row.
00:53They got what they deserved as well, selling a game to the WA government
00:57who then moved to Bunbury.
00:58I don't care who they sold it to.
00:59They still ended up in Bunbury.
01:01It was a huge free kick for Frio.
01:03Look, they wouldn't have lost by that much at Marble.
01:05They could have been competitive and got on a bit of a roll.
01:07Yeah, they weren't going to beat Frio.
01:08So we can put that on the table straight away.
01:10They were never going to beat Frio.
01:11They're the best team in footy.
01:12They nearly beat Sydney at Marble.
01:14Yeah, but they weren't going to beat Frio.
01:15Frio, the best team in footy.
01:16But I think North are better than that result.
01:18They haven't got that many holes, half the midfield looks strong.
01:21You know, good young players coming through.
01:23They've got Cherry in the ruck.
01:25They've got key forwards.
01:25Cherry got mauled by Jackson in the ruck.
01:27Yeah.
01:28Absolutely mauled.
01:28So the new rules you think have taken the cherry off the trick?
01:32I don't know how else to say it, but the cherry off the cake?
01:36I don't know.
01:37He's had some moments still this year where he's been more than capable
01:39and a real formidable force in that area.
01:41So he just got absolutely mauled by Luke Jackson,
01:43who was all over it from the start of the game.
01:45Yeah, so there may be weaknesses down back,
01:48but if you look at the way they've built that list,
01:50there's no way they should be losing by that much.
01:52So Clarko contracted for next year, the end of next year.
01:56He certainly wouldn't be rushing to re-sign Clarkson.
02:00If you look at the whole history of the Clarkson experiment
02:04at the Kangaroos at this stage, half, you wouldn't say it's a success.
02:07No, it's been a challenge certainly the first three years of the build.
02:10Well, we started to think that we were seeing progress.
02:12This was why the weekend's performance was so disappointing
02:15because we'd started to think, okay, it's all coming together a little bit
02:19and step by step they'll get better again.
02:21And that's a huge step back on the weekend.
02:23That was so disappointing.
02:24For Kangaroos fans who have had a bit to cheer about this year,
02:27and they've had the five wins this year,
02:29so they're looking half okay at times.
02:31Now, I know it's against a team perhaps down the bottom of the table
02:34and around them, but against a quality team,
02:36you try and measure yourself and work out whether or not you are
02:39taking steps towards being a good team.
02:41Well, Alistair Clarkson in a review with his coaches, his players today,
02:44we're sitting there going, well, what the hell happened there?
02:46How did we go from where we've been the last three or four weeks to that?
02:50I know they're in Bunbury.
02:51It's a different venue.
02:53It's Fremantle Dockers.
02:54I get all that.
02:55But that was as poor as I was saying.
02:57Yeah.
02:57I won't know many names,
02:58but they're pros playing football for North
03:01that aren't really playing for the jumper.
03:02They're pros.
03:03Oh, they're just playing footy for a living.
03:05Well, it seemed to be blokes just playing footy,
03:07you know, getting the money.
03:08I wouldn't imagine Clarko's too tolerant of pros just playing footy.
03:11He doesn't make a lot of changes, Clarko.
03:13He's fairly consistent in his selection,
03:16similar to Chris Fagan.
03:17He's backed in a lot of guys.
03:18Yeah.
03:18So they have got some pros running around,
03:20journeymen, if you like,
03:21that perhaps are they going hard enough for the cause half.
03:24So I think they'll fire up this week and probably beat West Coast.
03:27Well, they're in Perth for the whole week.
03:29It was Fremantle on the weekend, West Coast this week.
03:30So it's a week to reflect unless they're in consistent beds for the week.
03:35It's not their own bed,
03:35but it's a consistent bed for the week in the hotel,
03:38wherever they're staying, getting ready for that clash.
03:39Yeah.
03:39And free will be hard to beat.
03:40We've been talking about it all year,
03:42just the way they're going about it.
03:43Not many injuries and not many holes.
03:46If you look across and they've got two speeds.
03:48There's no holes at the Fremantle Dockers at the moment.
03:51They've just pretty much locked in a top two spot.
03:53Home games,
03:54there's six home games still to come for the Fremantle Dockers.
03:56They'll win all those and there's top two locked up.
03:59So they are in it up to their eyeballs,
04:00which means they'll stay in Perth for the first three weeks of the finals,
04:05whatever happens.
04:06And then they'll come to the MCG if they're good enough on that last Saturday in September.
04:10The more I crystal ball too,
04:11we're going to have a pretty barren September, huh?
04:14When you look at it,
04:14we could have two prelims in a state,
04:16two finals,
04:17luckily for the wild card.
04:18The beauty of the national competition.
04:20Yeah.
04:20The beauty of the national competition.
04:22The home of footy is going to be pretty quiet.
04:23Could be two prelims out of Victoria.
04:32You
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