We had a patchwork team out there.

We were right on the fence to give my kids a real close encounter and our guys weren't frothing from the mouth for the contest, meekness is a word that comes to mind.

Swans took the foot off the pedal in the 2nd half last week and had 8 days rest and whereas we used up every ounce of energy in the 2nd half last week to get us over the line, and only a 6 day break. Some of our players didnt make the game, and others carried niggles and fatigue into the game. That's what it looked like.

Smashed in the midfield. The less I say about the midfield leaders of last week the better.

The Swans had system, strength and desire in the guts and surprisingly spread really well.

Structure was a real issue. That was coaching or strategy or what? We can't break lines look up and nothing there. Really sad.

Swans are a top 4 team and played as such. Gallant effort by our guys when we were making up the numbers.

The surface of the ground was pathetic. Looked like carpet but more like a skating rink. Really bad but both teams had the same challenge. Swans held their feet better. why?

Season over. Great way to finish the year albeit lucky.

We have a lot of gaps. Casboult was my weakest link and He needs to improve a lot because hes not AFL ready. Need to fix up tackling, shepherding, kicking and find new personnel in the midfield. kPs can wait...we have them if they stand up.

Well done, but expect top 4 next year....and to do that we do need to add 5 or so new really good players in the guts.

Missed Kreuzer

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

You expect top 4 next year? Sorry but who the flower are you to expect top four from this mob?

On what basis??? Seriously, make a reasoned case for "expecting top 4 next year"!

I hope we finish top four next year, and of course it's possible I suppose - but I have no right pretending that we aren't miles off the pace, and that our list isn't getting worse, not better.

The fact is not only the light tower is out of action but also the fact that the ground is being redeveloped means that capacity is closer to 30,000. The place would have sold out and there would have been fewer tickets for Carlton supporters if the game was at the SCG in any event. When the redevelopment has finished, the place will seat 50,000 which is probably about right.

There were also 2 NRL finals on or about at the same time. In Melbourne, there was only 1 event on the Sunday afternoon.

Games at ANZ never attract as many as SCG games because so many of the Swans supporters live in the eastern suburbs and couldn't be bothered to go to ANZ (despite it being very easy to get to via a bus to Central and then an easy train).

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"A good composer does not initiate. He steals."

- Igor Stravinsky

We were cooked halfway through the 2nd qtr for 2 reasons.

Firstly, lack of preparation (re footwear) for the stadium conditions affected confidence which exacerbated fatigue.

Secondly, as Mick stated, a lack of run in the team due to years of poor list management.

This

Difference is the previous coach put this list together.
This is his list... and MM has inherited it.
If Mick had more than 5 years with a group he had moulded together.. id be saying to mick what i was saying about ratts.

ive been saying we dont have hard runners (yes inclu ding judd)..and swans a bone fide finals outfit exposed us.

i was confident before the game..

but the players didnt wanna get injured.. you see they had a final again st freo next week.

But we really dont have the right mix
and we have thrown away a bunch of picks on players who are not suited to the modern game

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Where'd all these @#$%&! wits come from that weren't here in the last two weeks?

We lost to a better side on the night, and the end of season finish is at best a fair reflection of where we stand against other clubs, possibly/probably over-inflated, but also consistent with pre-season expectations of the same people slagging us.

Bring on trade week and the draft, bring on hopefully an improved year next year. In the words of our PM, shit happens sometimes.

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

HAVE YOU SIGNED UP FOR TALKINGCARLTON SUPERCOACH 2009 YET?

We can take the other view in that if we had won we would likely get hammered by Freo next week.
Better them than us attitude.
We are just not good enough.

Agree with all those

What he said

Didnt Armfield sign a new contract this year?
Curnow wont go.

This is it in a nutshell and really, did anyone really go into the game thinking we were the better side?

You forgot Collins

Expectation is a personal thing aramari.

Who the @#$%&! am I? I'm just a supporter who has been waiting 10 years for a list to build up with a plethora of high picks and good development.

Everyone would expect Carlton to be a top 4 team with the picks they've had. Get it?

And if my expectation is far fetched and leads to my personal disappointment and delussionment, well what's the difference with what I was feeling at the end of each year in the Ratts era? Same thing.

Furthermore, we are not a top 4 team and borderline top 8 team. Everyone including yourself can see we need more quality than we have. I am saying that with an addition of 5 very good players to fill gaps we will be a better team. Don't you think? With the addition of Kreuzer we'd be better than having Casboult. Dont you agree.

Well that's call improvement, and that what we all expect. Hence my expectation.

Now if we dont get the 5 or so new quality peronnel on our list next year, and we dont see improvement of the players who cost us high draft picks then I'm afraid we will be middle of the road.

I expect improvement.

We finished 6th, played shithouse and fatigued against a top 4 team. With a bit of improvement, we can move 2 spots higher.

Its all theoretical and based on hope, but I saw something special last weekend and so did you, and it gave us hope and promise. I can't pretend that didn't happen. Are you thinking I'm pretending?

Its a tough business footy, and tell me did you think Port would even come close to making the 8 this year?

There's a lot of luck, and changes which happen on a weekly basis in footy let alone over a preason, trade and draft period. Just like anyone, I'd like to see a bit of luck go our way. This year we got a bit of luck with Essendope. From that we saw what our players CAN do and DID do on a sunny day in September at the G...that's luck.

With a bit of luck, good trading, recruitment and development we can and should improve on 6th position. I'm sure everyone Carlton learned a lot about the team and how to improve it this year. Everyone.

I have good reason to expect a top 4 position let alone a 8 position in 2014. I hope you understand where I stand with my optimism aramari. The glass is half full.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

I thought we had a chance to knock an injury depleted Sydney off, but never thought we were the better team.

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"One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds." - Frank Zappa

Ditto.

We had good reason to feel confident and expecting McVeigh not to play or be underdone, and Hannaberry to be struggling for form. Who would've thought Jetta could run out the game?

Well those 3 guys did some serious damage to us.

It all came together for Swans. Refer to Longmire's response to his players' effort.

I didn't realsise how fatigued our players would be after that Herculean effort last week to win the game, and the impact a 6 day turnaround would have on us. Fatigue is fatigue.

I thought Kreuzer would ne right to go to, and doubted Brock would get up after pulling out with a twinge in his quad.

Casboult and Brock weren't fatigued from playing last week, but they sure didn't add pace and enthusiasm to a fatigued outfit.

Everyone knows the Swans are a great team and the envy of all

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

bingo BB.....great response.....................i get it....................your my sort of supporter!

The Sunday Footy show just raised a good point.
Because we finished top 6 next season we will have to play the other top 6 teams twice. I dont think it is all of them but at least 3.
This would mean we would not play Essendon*, Collingwood and Richmond twice. We would only play 2 of these teams twice.

Extremely disappointing.
Our players were shown up for a lack of composure and willingness to gut run. Sydney were too disciplined and too committed.
Credit to them.

Mind you, I thought we could have countered them better. There was an article in the media this week which outlined Sydneys gamestyle beautifully.
Geelong are the number 1 side in the AFL for handballs with 8700 metres gained. Sydney are the number 2 with 40 metres gain for the season. In other words, all of their handballs are release handballs out the back. What did we do to nullify it? Did we try to place a player there once?

The midfield comments are interesting. IMHO, they're an indication that Thomas will be our primary target. Yes we were beaten in the uncontested ball but their 3rd highest possession winner was their key defender with 30.
If that doesnt tell me we need a quality competing tall forward, nothing does. Uncontested ball has been our problem all year. That's not just about personnel but about fitness and gamestyle.

Credit to Malthouse. He got us a finals win and now he has the opportunity to shake up the list. to build his own list.
Lets hope he does it well. We cant afford to @#$%&! it up again.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

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"You are being watched. The government has a secret system. A machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I know because I built it." - Finch