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Crunch Time

Round 8 - West Coast vs Richmond Discussion (3.05.26)

03 May 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What power tools are featured in this episode?

0.031 - 18.551 Adam Cooney

Azito Brushless Home and Garden Power Tools are built to work. Do it with Azito. Do you. And brought to you by Ford Ranger. The 4x4 you really want. You're listening to Crunch Time.

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18.571 - 34.782 Liam Pickering

The Brownlee medalist Adam Cooney, the Geelong best and fairest Liam Pickering and Cam Luke. For a Zito right around Australia. Back of Smarsh, under 12, most improved. Exactly. Except I didn't win most improved, but I tried hard. Hey, Geelong. Least improved.

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Chapter 2: Who are the main speakers and what are their roles?

34.822 - 48.177 Liam Pickering

Brilliant last night, Pickers. I know you don't miss a moment of these games. And a big one for North, who were pretty good last week in Canberra. But those honourable losses need to be four points. And they were, well, they led. They led by a goal and a bit early in the third quarter. Late in the third quarter.

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48.378 - 68.023 Cam Luke

Late in the third quarter, they were in front. The Cats started the game really well. Excellent start to the match. Four goals before North had blinked, really. And then I thought North worked their way into it really well. On the back of some dominance by Tristan Sherry in the ruck, who was just monstering young Mitch Edwards. But the clearances were reasonably even.

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68.003 - 76.122 Cam Luke

But there was just those centre clearances at times where he just gave them first look. Gave North first look, I should say. Gave them. Gave North first look.

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76.222 - 79.57 Liam Pickering

It was the Liam Pickering Cup, so you could actually have it both ways.

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79.65 - 96.705 Cam Luke

It got to the stage where it was a real arm wrestle at halftime, and it was quite frustrating. There were a few players from the Cats that I thought were down on form. I thought... Simpkin was doing a really good job on Bailey Smith. The Cats lacked run. And they were turning the ball over a bit as well. But when the pressure came on after... North hit the front in the third quarter.

96.725 - 111.527 Cam Luke

The pressure really came on. And that's when North started to turn it over. I mean, it would have been frustrating for the coaches. And I could see it in the box with Alistair Clarkson that... He was getting frustrated with some of the, not just the decision-making or the ball use, but the decision-making as well.

112.367 - 130.485 Cam Luke

And once the Cats got the outside run game going and got forward of the play, and Max Holmes is such a critical part of that, and his run was excellent, especially late in the game. He was the best player on the ground. There was a big difference, and then Cameron got involved. And once they all got involved towards the end, the game goes another quarter, they probably win by 15 goals.

130.845 - 136.193 Liam Pickering

Max Holmes, who's been robbed of two All-Australian Blazers in... in my opinion, the last two years.

Chapter 3: What were the highlights of the Geelong vs North Melbourne match?

136.213 - 154.93 Liam Pickering

How he hasn't had one is... He's won back-to-back BNFs, hasn't he? Yeah, he's their best player. But, Adam, I know you're a Jeremy Cameron guy like the rest of us, but he doesn't... He's not going to have to kick your 10, but he's just so dangerous. The entire time as a defender, they just don't Jeremy Cameron watch because he must make you so nervous as a defender. It was obvious last night.

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155.095 - 175.922 Adam Cooney

Well, it's a bit like Wanganeen Miller. I mean, he can kill you in so many different ways. He can mark the ball contested style. He can get up on the wing and lose you on the way back. But what he is becoming now, he's almost the designated handball receive guy if someone marks the ball from 55 out. He is there just about every time, and he could have had an absolute day out.

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175.902 - 191.402 Adam Cooney

Yesterday, if he'd kicked straight, he could have kicked his seven or eight. But he's so athletic. He's a key forward that gets it 20 times a game and has seven shots at goal on an average night. So, I mean, he's just almost too hard to stop.

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191.442 - 209.568 Cam Luke

Well, he's also a beautiful field kick. So if he's up the ground, he is a guy you want the ball and the hands off because he makes good decisions. Yeah, especially when North flooded back. And they flooded back hard in that third quarter. to try and just plug Geelong up. But then, as I said, it got late in the quarter. They gave up a couple of late goals.

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209.588 - 218.321 Cam Luke

And then the floodgates opened in the last quarter. What was it? Nine goals to four in the last quarter. It was a real shootout. So the Cats were good. In the end, they were good. I thought there were some worrying signs early.

Chapter 4: How did North Melbourne perform in the first half?

218.361 - 220.164 Cam Luke

Still some players not in form at Geelong.

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220.204 - 234.726 Liam Pickering

Well, Sean Manning was one of those prior to last night. Yeah, he was good last night. And found a bit. But I tell you what, the ruck... is always a talking point right now. They took that big swing. Mate, they were early doors. It was one of the most one-sided ruck contests you'll see.

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235.087 - 249.469 Cam Luke

Early doors. But I do think that Deconing and Mitch Edwards, as the game went on, were able to get over the top of Sherry and get good looks at it. So maybe that's a confidence thing, but early days, you know, he just monstered them.

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249.509 - 273.766 Adam Cooney

So, Pix, how far can they go with this line-up? I mean, Chris Scott has said publicly that he's not worried about Mitch Edwards in the ruck at all because he's a strong bash and crash type of ruckman. But I mean, we have on the... He said that and he always defends his players. But we can see at the moment that he's not quite... at that level to compete with the best rucks in the competition.

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273.806 - 291.344 Adam Cooney

And, you know, that strength in the contest and all those sorts of things. And De Kooning is a lightly framed sort of backup ruck as well. So, I mean, they did, they turned the ball over. They looked a bit sloppy at times yesterday, certainly in the first half, just unexplained errors coming out of defense, which doesn't really happen a lot with the Cats.

Chapter 5: What were the key moments in the second half of the game?

291.384 - 295.768 Adam Cooney

But I mean, with this list and where they've got at the moment and some deficiencies in their back half, you know,

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295.748 - 296.79 Cam Luke

Yeah, there's some holes.

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296.81 - 301.118 Adam Cooney

And the ruck. Like, where do you see them finishing up this year?

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301.318 - 320.702 Cam Luke

It's hard to really get a handle on because, I mean, Chris Scott likes to pace his teams. And I think he is pacing this group. And there are some guys that I don't think are in great form that are big-name players. But look, they're eight and five. Sorry, they're five and three off eight games. They're sitting in fifth position, which will probably drop back to sixth by the end of the weekend.

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320.722 - 324.986 Cam Luke

But I do think that they're in that next group down. I watched Brisbane.

Chapter 6: How did Max Holmes impact the game?

325.006 - 343.104 Cam Luke

We did the Brisbane game yesterday and they just got gears. So to me, it's still Brisbane. I think the ladder as it sits right now is about right. Fremantle, Hawthorn, Sydney, Brisbane. And that's, I think, the four best teams in it. And I know we're only at round eight, but they look the best four teams in it. And then there's that group. There's a big group underneath that.

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343.305 - 348.553 Cam Luke

Cats probably fit into that at the moment, but if they get their act together, they could push up into the top four group.

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348.814 - 365.342 Liam Pickering

The dangerous thing with Geelong is, and you are right, there's some players who haven't necessarily been consistently as good as they were last year, but they still win games, and they're still right there. And Hawthorne are one of the best teams in the league. And Geelong, you could argue, blew that golden opportunity to beat them, only... three or so weeks ago. Yep, exactly right.

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365.362 - 373.881 Liam Pickering

Leon Cameron to join us in around 30 minutes time. Adam Cooney, Cam Luke. It is Sunday crunch time. And Liam Pickering's fired up. He's had an interesting weekend. Is your pub okay?

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373.921 - 374.843 Cam Luke

Did you say fired up?

374.983 - 375.344 Liam Pickering

I did.

375.544 - 380.515 Cam Luke

Is your pub okay? It's okay. It's okay. I'm going to check in on it after this.

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