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 (4-11) meets Richmond (3-12) at the MCG on Sunday afternoon.

You must be tired of getting so close every week.
There have been emotional last quarters in the last few weeks where we seem to be over sides but can't put the nail in the coffin. Last weekend their class acts got involved and we just couldn't stop them. We needed to kick a goal; if Jonesy (Corey Jones) or Lindsay (Thomas) had kicked one of them we'd have probably won. Buddy (Franklin) getting hold of us hurt us a bit. It was disappointing because out of the three games, that was the one we really deserved to win.

This game's such a hard one to read. We've got two sides in very similar situations.
There are two caretaker coaches which hasn't happened too often in footy. They've been pretty competitive and lost games by two or three goals and Jade (Rawlings) was lucky to win one with his first game. It's going to be another battle of attrition. You look at Richmond and their quarters; they're very good in the first and fourth quarters whereas they're our worst quarters. We're extremely good in second and quarters and that's where they struggle.

How much has last week's effort set you up for that elusive win now?
You can look at it both ways. It was probably the most shattered I've seen the players after a home and away game in my time at North. They were pretty heartbroken because they'd put so much into it and to just let it slip in the last 10 minutes was so disappointing. It was a bit of a grind keeping the boys up and about this week.

We did our review on Tuesday and basically put it to bed. There were some terrific things in there but there was also some stuff that we need to work on still. In a way, it's good it's a seven-day break because it's enabled us to go through the process and then Wednesday, Thursday and Friday move forward.

And it's helped the recovery from such a physical game, which saw 111 tackles for North. On that number alone, you were very unlucky to lose.
When you look at our tackling stats, they're a bit different to Champion Data's stats. We had 155 tackles at something like 78 per cent, which would normally win you a game of footy. There were a few bruised and battered boys after the game so we actually had to drop in at a pool on the way to the airport so they could freshen up a bit.

You could have used Daniel Pratt last week. He's a pretty important addition.
He hasn't had the best year for us form-wise and injury-wise so it's probably one of those selections where [you have to choose whether] you play him or give him a week at North Ballarat. He's one of our leaders so it's important for him to come in and show the way down back for us, which is going to be pretty crucial against Richmond. In the couple of games leading up to his suspension, he had shown a little bit of the form he had last year. It was a hiccup we didn't need. He knows he shouldn't have done it.

Looking at the Tigers' win over you in round five, it was a game they carried a lot of emotion into. How much of that do you peel back when preparing for this one?
We've spent a little bit of time going over that game. We got off to a good start, kicked the first three and then we lost Boomer (Brent Harvey) with that injury and Lachie Hansen later. We were two down, even though that's no excuse for the way we played. They were just able to get the game going on their terms. It was pretty emotion-charged. They had a lot of fire in their belly, we just turned the footy over too much and they were able to slaughter us the other way.

We've spent a bit of time not so much reliving that game, but just working on some areas we didn't do too well in. Hopefully we can make a better fist of it this week, especially considering the last one was an Anzac Day clash and held so much importance for the footy club playing on that day. I think we owe our supporters a little bit from that game.

Are the boys hungry for a rematch? Angry?
They're a little bit angry about a couple of things that happened in that game, especially to their skipper. It's important for the boys to make sure they come out and fly the flag. We don't want to be seen as a soft team or one that cops stuff like that. We'll come out and have a crack, be hard and fair and we'll take it right up to them.

Jade Rawlings was a teammate of half of the boys in 2006 and a popular one by all accounts. That adds to the feeling a little bit, doesn't it?
It probably does. I was talking to Brady (Rawlings) on Friday morning about how he was feeling about it. Brady being Brady, he hasn't really thought too much about the consequences – if Richmond lose what might happen to Jade and the consequences for us. He's treating it as a normal game and so are we.

Jade's done a good job with the Tigers since he's taken over and hopefully he does for the rest of the year but come Sunday, there are no friends.

Nathan Grima, Scott Thompson and Scott McMahon have jelled pretty well in recent weeks. Is this the week you release Josh Gibson from the backline and leave them to it?
That's a fair call. A couple of times Gibbo's been given roles through the midfield on (Matthew) Pavlich and (Adam) Goodes. He's been able to do it and done a good job. When you look at Richmond's forward line with (Mitch) Morton, (Jack) Riewoldt and young (Jayden) Post down there, there's probably a match-up for him but I think you might find that we use him a bit more through the midfield, the wing and onball.

Nathan and the Scotts have been terrific for the last five weeks but it's probably a week we've got to settle Drew (Petrie) down a bit and actually find a position for him forward or back. You'll find Drew won't play that wing role anymore.

Who do you expect Daniel Jackson to go to?
Andrew Swallow. (Matt) White will go to Boomer and we'll have to play them on their merits. Boomer's ready to go. He's had a couple of hiccups the last couple of weeks with injury but he's 100 per cent fit now and looking for a big game. He prides himself on his performance and he thinks he's let the club down the last two weeks. Andrew's had a terrific season.

What about Ben Cousins? It's been a couple of years since you've had to consider him.
He's obviously hit some pretty good form in the last few weeks and he's finding a fair bit of the footy. Sometimes you can be seduced into playing on all of the key playmakers and we've probably been guilty of that in the past. We'll go after one or two. Brady will get a job as he always does and Gibbo might get a role, but that will be about it.

If Cousins plays half-forward, our defender will take him. If he plays on a wing, our winger will take him. If he plays onball, our midfielders will take him. We've spoken to the boys about him, how he gets his possessions and where he hurts sides. That becomes a team-defence attitude rather than worrying about tagging too many and not worrying about how we play the game.

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