Tuohy can do 60 quite easily. Not in the Quinlan mould but can roost a ball.
Watson goes without saying and Bootsma is proving to be a very good and long kick of the ball.

Unfortunately none of those are real forwards, nor obvious best 22.

Looks like Jon Pierek has had a bit of a read as well.


http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/a ... 2d7hy.html

_________________
"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

I read that article in the Age.

Unless there was some real meat in the Champion Data article, to me it looked like they were asking questions rather than making a forecast.

No doubt the potential is there. Two months ago i was feeling very uncertain as to 2013. I was thinking anywhere between 6-12th. I'm probably more towards 4-10th now. Sounds like the players have ready bought into and benefiting from the structure MM is bringing.

I'm leaning towards 4-14th myself. Finding it hard to get odds, though.

_________________
Let slip the Blues of war (with apologies to William Shakespeare) (and Sir Francis Bacon, just in case)

I believe the list if fit (with only a couple of injuries) is balanced right across the board.
Plenty of rucks, KPs, midfielders and redundancy (depth) to replace injured or for form reasons.

Add a great coach to the mix and improvemnt in strength stamina and skills form the young guys and we should be competing for a top 4 spot this year.

I'm thinking 2nd to 7th on the ladder.

I believe with an improvement of the defensive side of the game, we can stop the leaked goals we see happen against Sydney and Hawks. Watching those 2 teams in the GF singled out the defensive effort required to play on the last day of the year....and I think we might match them after this preseason.

I expect to pass many teams above us at the end of 2012 such as STK NM, Feo, Cats, Pies, Swans and compete well with the tough Hawks Eagles and Crows.

I'm expecting Hawks the finish on top, and don't believe Tigers or Bombers will pass us this year as they improve their stocks...they may pass some I mentioned above.

We have the list to go all the way.

_________________
Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

IMO we have a very good side. We were pounded with injuries last year ... one year on with less injuries and a more mature playing group a premiership should be there for the taking.

Go BLUES.

_________________
I am as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more!!!

nice write up - though he missed the impact of injuries to depth players on the team as well (easy comparison to make if you go through the injury website) - we had by far more injuries to depth players than any other team -> their unavailability/reduced fitness when returning also had a significant impact on 2012.

The more I think about it, the more I think the season will depend on the third ruckman. Not just whether the style of play across the league finally allows for teams to play three ruckmen with some success, but also whether the MC give it the appropriate amount of time, rather than persevering with it for too long, and making sure that the best 2 ruckmen are picked.

No easy task all things considered. We get that right, especially with the new ruck rules, and I reckon it's a huge difference.

_________________
BLUES 2010: PAV AND JUDD = FLAGS. DOING IT FOR THE LOVE OF DICK PRATT.

HAVE YOU SIGNED UP FOR TALKINGCARLTON SUPERCOACH 2009 YET?

That's a good point you make.
There's a lot of good players with good skills on our list, and one would have to make way for a 3rd ruckman in the 22. Rob Peter to pay Paul, and lose a bit of ground speed too in a game that requires speed and stamina.

I've been a fan of playing 3 ruckmen IF they were all:

- in top/good form
-able to play a forward role well
- mobile with good speed (get around the ground and link up)
-dominant ruckmen

No point in carrying anyone with the IC rules as they are and the workload expected of the midfielders.

So pressure is on for ruckmen to stay healthy, fit and strong but be desperate to make one of the ruck spots theirs to lose...so they've got to win their battles week in week out and snag a couple of goals and feed the talented midfield that will include stints from Betts, Garlett, Walker, along with the other quality mids.

The more I think about it the more I believe there will be only 2 ruckmen if our tall KP's are fit (Jammo, Hendo, Laidler, Waite and Casboult). The deision MM will make is how many talls he has playing, and it wont be all of them.

May the best 2 ruckmen be there on the last day of September. Fingers crossed.

Great problem to have.

_________________
Everyone looks good in Navy Blue