Mick I think Pickett isn't quite match fit yet given his injuries over his career
Will be much better after another preseason

Pickett to me is a bloke with plenty of natural talent i agree Frank.I also reckon Jed Lamb is highly talented......................my concern is can they bridge the gap.For instance,compare Picket and Lamb to PetSet.PetSet runs at the ball.Pickett and Lamb run beside the ball.They have to push themselves right into the guts of the contest.Sure its not fear,seams like its lack of confidence.I keep asking myself why
GWS didnt put up a fight to keep either....................Pickett looks good in space,but that dont impress me overly.Its what they do in heavy traffic is the clincher for me.And thats where PetSet and Williamson excell for mine.You could see after 5 minutes that PetSet and Williamson where players in the making.Pickett,despite his talent,has to get his hands on the ball in the heavy traffic before im convinced.......................anyhow Frank,love your work,and i hope Pickett throws mud in my face and goes on to have a great career with our GREAT club.

Regards Mick.

The Carlton Football Club..................Now Always Forever.

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All my dangerous friends

My two cents ...

Our tackling was poor and P.A. just got more and more confident that they could bust lose. Everything fell apart from there. Young team, lot of guys that haven't developed the required strength yet. It'll come. In the meantime it might be wise not to play quite so many of them at once. Rotate them in and out and mix it up with some older players, (I know blokes like Armfield, Graham etc aren't world beaters but they're solid footballers who have a role to play).

If Weitering did anything good I missed it. We know he's a good footballer ... don't know what went wrong this game. Perhaps he's sore or unwell?

Harsh on Phillips. We've seen him play well, but I don't think he's in match condition at the moment and wouldn't have played if cruiser was fit.

Agree with comments on Murphy re:captaincy. Be a good support player but too often looks like he's getting beaten up. Not the look you want from a captain.

Thoughts Smedts looked good in the twos ... may be a recall in order.

I understand your rotation sentiment but at some stage they'll all have to play together.

Is it better for them to develop with each other or with mature players that can't hit them on the chest by hand or foot?

There may be some rhetoric to this question.

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We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion.

Port have always been one of the great flat-track bullies out there. They probably saw the number of kids on our team and counted the days until they could slap them around "Cobra-kai" style.

(Mind you I have seen it pointed out that Robbie Gray and Ollie Wines looked almost 'embarrassed' while some of their teammates carried on like pork chops)

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WADA medical director Dr Alan Vernec describes Essendon* FC drug case as biggest scandal in team sport the world of sport has seen. #WC2WB

#GUILTY

If GWS wanted them, they would have kept them.

They were both contracted on decent coin (very decent coin in Lamb's case) which we picked up!

GWS needed the salary cap relief/list spots and saw no future for either player at GWS.

They also needed high picks to pick up their academy players

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

Positives

C.Curnow - his best game. Marked the ball with confidence which hopefully he will build on from here.

Levi - 4 goals. Think ruck forward is the only way to go with him takes the pressure of the kids like Rowe. If he gets 30 goals for the year and as a ruck forward people might have to praise him.

Williamson and Fisher - Developing nicely.

Negatives

All the posts whinging about the pre-match comments by the experts we would be flogged and that they are idiots for not knowing what they are talking about or biased against Carlton. Well they were right you were wrong!

Phillips - Yep limited preseason etc but had a bad a game as you could have. Just don't see anything but a backup ruckman at best with him as he is nearly 26yr old hasn't established himself and hasn't had a breakout game. Drafted as a mature age ruckman by GWS so don't see any massive development in him.

Murph - Had an average game but nothing like suggested on other threads. While Cripps gets he look injured all the time as an excuse Murphy gets smashed on here with no excuses. Strapping below his right knee that I haven't seen him have before would suggest something is up. End of the day he had a DE% of 76 while Cripps went at 64%. Though 0 tackles from him is not good enough even if injured. And those who say he is soft have NFI.

Kids in general - apart from the ones above they were overwhelmed. Considering they have all shown something it was to be expected at some stage.

No small defender - We need to find one quickly our defence is to top heavy.

Picket - Only early days but just see a highlight reel player not a consistent top line AFL footballer.

I don't understand the performance by Phillips. I watched him play the previous 2 VFL games and he took some strong contested grabs. Yet in Adelaide, he seemed to consistently run under the ball.
It's like the previous weeks hadn't occurred.

I also agree about Murphy not being soft. He's been great in the first 2 weeks and when fit, he's our best player but his leadership was poor on Friday. Even if your leaders are having a poor game, I still expect them to set the example with defensive efforts, chasing and applying pressure to the opposition. If I was Bolton, I would have taken him aside at half time and told him some home truths.
Even if you're having a bad day, you still have responsibilities. Gibbs showed a heap of guts IMO.
Agree with your thoughts on Cripps. He had a heap of the ball but Ollie Wines ran off him far too often.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

Totally agree that he's not soft, but to me he always looks like he's taking a beating. He takes it manfully but it's not a good look for a captain IMO. Compare that to guys like Selwood, Hodge and, if you go back a bit Voss. Those guys would always looks like they wanted to bring it on (and dish it back).

Murph is a good little player, but he gets ragdolled, which isn't a good look for a captain.

I think he was upset with himself for missing that easy shot and he looked like he was carrying the burden of letting the team down.
I don't think 'home truths' at half time would have been the answer but rather to keep your chin up and focus on the next contest, not the previous one.
As it turned out, I think the whole team dropped their heads with all those misses in the 2nd quarter. Murphy needed to lift them all but was perhaps too affected himself.

Murphy will tackle chasing but rarely tackles people coming at him.

That's what you do when you have a shoulder problem or don't trust your shoulder .

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I hope Essendon* folds.

His shoulders look knackered. It looked obvious the first tackle he went for in the opening minutes.

Well, if we're being honest, not being able to tackle is a serious issue that shouldn't be ignored.

Jesus christ, you're all such @#$%&! experts.

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Between our dreams and actions lies this world

Jackson Trengrove sporting a black eye.....we couldn't give him one....someone else did!

Oh well

Phillips was drafted as a 17-18yo straight from Tassie.
He was in my car a couple of months before the draft having a driving lesson as a 17yo iir.
He is seriously underdone atm. He finished last year well and has yet to find decent form but he had no pre-season at all and for a midfielder to have no miles in his legs coming into the season is a serious disadvantage,
Yes he is 26 but what are the options?
I once suggested on here we go after Witts and got howled down. Currently #1 rated in the league according to the commentators during the GCS game.
Sometimes they take a while.
Phillips is all we have. Korcheck won't make it. He's about the same age as Phillips and a long way behind him in ability. He'll be let go at the end of the year i suspect.
Either we get another ruckman through trade or we punt on one or two through the draft and wait several years to see how he goes or we persist with Phillips for a while longer.. The no third man up rule should make it easier for rucks to play late into their thirties.

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

I watched the replay looking for this horror game that Phillips had.

Couldn't find it. It wasn't a great game but not terrible.

First game back, no pre-season in a match we were very lacklustre .

Hope he gets another run at it .

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I hope Essendon* folds.

Philips is the least of our worries right now.

_________________
WADA medical director Dr Alan Vernec describes Essendon* FC drug case as biggest scandal in team sport the world of sport has seen. #WC2WB

#GUILTY