Sorry Mrs C, but easy targets! Sorry, sorry. No more.

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"You will always miss 100% of the shots you don't take"- Michael Jordan

I have been critical of Stevens but he did receive a hit to the shoulder/neck area during the game and that may have affected him for the rest of the game. He is a talented player and has had to change his game since crossing over from Port. He was never an in/under player and played wide on the wings where he picked up a lot of easy kicks and kicked more goals while Francou/James/Carr did the heavy work in the middle.

I'm more interested in how he prepares for next season ie weight issues etc and I want to see that professional image that Judd projects. I felt he was tending to be sulky initially after being passed over for the captains job and it took a while for him to get over it.

We need Stevens firing if we are to play finals down the track and do well...he has the class that some of our other players dont and we need the ball in his hands more often....

A good coach would challenge Stevens....not drop him....drop him to do what?..get 30 easy possies vs some hack from the burbs and that would be in one half of footy.

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"When you have the attitude of a champion, you see adversity as your
training partner."
- Conor Gillen

Can't believe I log on 24 hours later and this stupid thread is still alive and over 5 pages.



Everyones been crapping on about how players have been given certian roles by Ratts this year and - regardless of stats or effectiveness - if they carry out those roles they will continue to play in the firsts...



Does anyone here know if Stevens has a role - and if so, what it is?!

How about JR's role?!

Wiggin's role??

Waite role!?



No idea.

For all you know Stevens is being asked to play off the wing, stay been wing and half-back and link up play from the backline - to catch the Swans on a fast break before they flood.

It worked a couple of times.

Man on man is different, but Stevens might not neccesarily be told that tight marking is a priority.


There are at least half a dozen, possibly more that could go before you'd even consider Stevens. Players that have had next to no input to the result of a game since they've started - but you'd rather give Stevens the arse for a few bad games.



This thread is ridiculous - and I have not else to add.

Not a great thread this one!

Stevo has class. Not his best game on the weekend but Carlton need players with class.

I expect blokes like Bentick and Carazzo to be at the bottom of packs farming it out to blokes who can actually kick the thing.

Not Judd and Stevens getting it out to Bentick and Carazzo!

Keep Stevo, I luv im.

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I support the Navy Blues whatever happens!

I love the indignation argument.

The point is stevens has class. Can we improve upon that or is it enough?

so some say it is enough

I believe he can improve and wonder how best to do that. Perhaps dropping him wouldn't work - okay then, what would? Just carry on regardless?

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This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

POOF

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Richard Pratt - A Carlton legend.

I thought indignation was a girl oh my God I've been Crying Gamed!

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This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

That's your excuse for everything.

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Richard Pratt - A Carlton legend.

yeah well @#$%&! you too!

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This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

The bloke is in th top players week after week . 1 below standard game and he has to be dropped . He wasn't the worst player by a longshot anyway . Did some of you mss the first quarter ?? Get off his back . Threads like this should be ignored .

klakker please ignore away

and let others decide for themselves

any reason why he was left in the backline in the last - or do you subscribe to the idea that the coaching staff overlooked that?

and again, this is about wanting to find ways to improve stevo. Not a judgment on his overall form.

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This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

Stevens totally nullified both Ablett and Moore keeping both goalless while playing back pocket/full back.

It was pure genius from the Match Committee with the game in the balance in the last.

Just couldn't squeeze him into the votes.

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Working alone. At the coalface. Scott's gone for lunch! Said he would be back in 30 mins.

ahh, well done stevo.

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This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

Don't thank Stevo. He was just doing his job. Thank the MC

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Working alone. At the coalface. Scott's gone for lunch! Said he would be back in 30 mins.

Why does he get tagged every week if he's performing so poorly?

The other 15 coaches must have no idea.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

no, he gets tagged for 2 reasons

as I've said - he has skill and yes he will definitely hurt you when he has the ball. That's the thing, he has skill. And as someone else said he is tough - he is (and from reports can handle himself) but then there is b

because they know his tagger can hurt us the other way.

Now this is true of all taggers, I agree, but we have to minimize this side of our game. How can we help stevo minimize it?

See I'll ask again - someone answer.

Are you happy with the defensive side of Stevo's game, his eeforts in chasing for example, his 1% when they have the ball, contesting a mark for example?

if no, how would you try and improve it (I'll give you my answer I think he can get better and so I was wondering in the train how, and so I chose the most radical to see what people might come up with - again, I have said numerous times I think he is a good player - really that's my point, how can we make him better?)

or do you just accept it? Is that good enough?

or will he be replaced by the time we are ready to seriously challenge?

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This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

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“It is a state of mind, a system of belief, a way of seeing the world, a deep faith that, because you are Carlton, you belong to something great.” - Mike Fitzpatrick articulating what Out of the Blue means.

As in most business', people have K.P.I.'s that they are measured against for evaluation.

I would hope in this day & age of professional football, each player is measured against their personal KPI's & against those of the team.

To make Stevens better; maybe set higher standards for him to reach & if he is unable to, there must be suitable sanctions in place.

See this is where the argument losses all validity for me.

Believe it or not AFL footballers play different roles based on their skills and attributes and we have inside and outside players. I have no doubt in my mind that Stevens is playing a role and if you want him to win more ball (Rank 3rd behind Judd and Bentick only) then I suggest you vent your anger at Brett Ratten and the MC.

The MC clearly wants Stevens to be one of the final links of the chain and the reasons for this are obvious to all. I would love Bentick to bang goals 55 on the run but his skills lay elsewhere.

The lack of accountability for midfielders only applies to the whipping boys like Stevens. Blokes like Judd, Kerr and Ablett wouldn’t give a flying who their direct opponents is because most of the time it’s the bloke holding onto their jumper. And how much defensive effort do you think they would put into Luke Ablett, Ryan Crowley or Andrew Welsh? Judd is not accountable at all and nor should he be. His job is offensive and to win the ball not to worry about some pleb like Luke Ablett. Like Stevens he chases and tackles when we don’t have the ball (Stevens 3rd in tackles again behind Judd and Bentick).

When Judd was injured against the Bombers Stevens takes his role in the engine room and gets 10 contested possessions for the game. He can play that role when required.

May only concern with Stevens is that when he is beaten like he was against Dempster and Ablett the MC don’t seems to have a way on getting him into the game. Playing back pocket on Jared Moore is not it. He played a great game on a half forward flank after getting touched up by Peverill last season in our great come from behind victory against the Bombers. Maybe even a half back flank for deeper forward to provide support to Betts.

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Working alone. At the coalface. Scott's gone for lunch! Said he would be back in 30 mins.

Leave Stevo alone. What really lets us down is the difference between our best and worst players. Our core group of gun players - Judd, Murphy, Gibbs, Fevola, Stevens - are all yards above players like Wiggins, Russell, O'Hailpin. We need to correct this imbalance. Look at Geelong. Players like Gamble and Prismall would be in our best 22 yet they struggle to get a game at Geelong.