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 (4-11-1) meets the Brisbane Lions (10-6) at the Gabba on Saturday night.

The players were obviously disappointed after the draw, though they were looking at a club record given how much they trailed by at half time.
To the boys' credit, we changed things around at half time and got some players into positions where they probably had been playing. We experimented a little bit in the first half – not greatly – but had Drew (Petrie) back and Brady (Rawlings) not running with anyone through the midfield. We wanted to take the game on a bit but our guys weren't able to do it. At half time, Crock gave them a bit of a shake-up and the leaders came out and had a fair bit of impact through Boomer (Harvey) and Drew and Haley (David Hale) taking a few marks forward. There was some pleasing stuff in the second half but the first half was pretty disappointing.

I felt the second half, for the first time in a fair while, really justified having four talls in the side.
It did. In that third quarter, Goldy (Todd Goldstein) and Hamish (McIntosh) both got their hands on it which allowed our runners like Leigh Harding and even Pratty (Daniel Pratt) to get into the game. Hale was able to take a few grabs and even though Drew didn't have a huge impact forward in taking marks, he was able to create space for Haley to work into and we were able to hurt them on the scoreboard.

Haley was really a reflection of the game. He was lost in the first half and went off with an injury concern but the side really lifted when he returned to the field.
He got a bit of a cork in his tibula (lower leg). Before that, we weren't getting the ball inside 50 for him to mark it but when we were, he wasn't able to. Also, the way we were getting it in there made it easy for their defence to get across and spoil the footy. In the second half we were able to open the game up. We got 26 inside 50s and used the ball a bit better and Haley was able to find space and lead to that.

Boomer said that the players basically took Monday to 'sook' and then move on. Was it hard to encourage that?
We'd already planned to give them a day off because we've got a big three weeks – three games in 13 days. It was always the intention after the game on Sunday for them to go and do recovery at the pool and then take Monday off and do recovery by themselves and get them away from the footy club. It was good for the boys to be away from the club and the coaches and just have a look at the game on their own and try to evaluate how they went. On Tuesday, we came back and did a review of the game. From Wednesday, we were looking forward to Brisbane.

You knew on Saturday night that Daniel Bradshaw and Jared Brennan would be out. Nice to put a line through those two guys.
Absolutely. Bradshaw and (Jonathan) Brown have done a fair bit of damage against us in the past, especially at the Gabba. I think they've averaged nine goals between them the last three or four times we've played them. In round 10, Brennan was pretty significant in their victory against us. To have those two guys out, (Jed) Adcock not playing and (Troy) Selwood still not playing ... we get a couple back this week with Matty Campbell and Gav Urquhart so that will give us a bit more run, which should help us.

It must help the players psychologically because whenever there's a game against Brisbane coming up, the concern of Brown and Bradshaw is the first thing they mention.
While we've still got a game plan for Brisbane which is not just on those two, they've got a pretty good midfield and do a lot of their attack from their defensive half with (Josh) Drummond and (Joel) Macdonald and (Luke) Power when he's been playing there. In the past we've really had a tactic of trying to block Bradshaw and Brown's space. With Bradshaw out we've still got Brown to worry about but, as has been the trend in the last few weeks, it's more about our style of play. If we can match them in contested footy, which is going to be a big key this week, and get the ball to our runners like Boomer, Gav Urquhart and Daniel Pratt and take the game on a bit, we might be a big chance.

So it doesn't necessarily mean you'll think smaller when it comes to match-ups in defence?
We probably will go a bit smaller. They've only got Brown as a tall and they might have a young kid like (Matt) Tyler or (Tom) Collier or someone like that come in. They'll only play two talls, so we've got Scotty Thompson and Josh Gibson will probably play back this week. That allows us to play Brady (Rawlings), Gav Urquhart and a few more runners in our back half.

As you said, it was only round 10 that you last played the Lions. That must help preparations.
It does. It's a game that still sits in our memory. We got beaten by three goals. We had a look at that game on Wednesday morning and one of the things that really came out of that game was that a lot of the goals that Brisbane got were not really from their own hardness or style of play. They were more from our errors. We've got a real emphasis this week on contested footy and being hard against them but once we actually get the football, being able to use it and not cough it up like last time. We only got it inside 50 48 times for the game so we've got an emphasis on trying to get the ball in there more and trying to kick 100 points. It should be entertaining footy.

Are you surprised that the Lions have done as well as they have? They could finish top four.
Not really. When you look at their side they've got a lot of strengths. In the defensive half, (Daniel) Merrett and (Joel) Patfull have done a really good job as their key defenders. They've got (Ashley) McGrath, Drummond, Power and Macdonald who provide a lot of run off half-back. With their midfield, obviously (Daniel) Rich, (Simon) Black, (Bradd) Dalziell and (Justin) Sherman have got the ability to work back hard and support their defence but then push hard forward and hurt teams offensively. And then they've got Brown and Bradshaw and young guys like (Albert) Proud and (James) Polkinghorne forward. They're pretty even across the board and have had an even contribution from everyone. They're a pretty hard side to stop, especially up there.

Is Rich their most dangerous midfielder now?
Yeah. I've watched them a fair bit over the last month and obviously Black is a champion footballer and someone we need to watch, but Rich has got under a few guards in the last few weeks. Against us he had 25 or 26 touches and kicked a couple of goals, so we'll certainly have a match-up for him through the midfield. It might even be a job for one of our younger kids again.

It's amazing that a kid in his first year has had that sort of impact.
Absolutely. When he was drafted, everyone knew that he had a body ready to play AFL football and he's certainly proved that. His ability to get through 16 games and not lose any endurance or look tired has just been amazing. We've got a kid who's not too dissimilar in (Jack) Ziebell, but unfortunately he's copped a couple of injuries. I think when our supporters look at Rich on the weekend ... they should get some encouragement knowing that Jack's not too far behind him.

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