This game simply reflected that we are a game behind in our match preparation and our training loads are up. Of course our work rate and intensity were down.

And who said Yarran was hanging out the back being a squib? Again he presented an option and this time was duly honoured, or won his own ball. Skills and touch were down but that's to be expected.

Some sloppy marking however, only the core defensive unit was bothering to do a job on their direct opponent, case in point was Jetta: he was running free on that flank.

Not sure why people have been pumping Kreuzer's tyres up so much as doesn't look flash out of the square. Personally, I felt Hampson was better for the structure we had in place because he actually drew defenders with his leads. Henderson just kept presenting as rarely got a decent kick. Garlett was not front and centre enough.

Jacobs' tap work impressed me as per usual but he was not up and about in the mobility stakes. Robinson was definitely high-motor but he was making a splash in a game where most were playing at 80%. Still not in my 22.

Warnock, Browne and the new boys (save for Brock) impressed me. Grigg showed signs of improvement. Joey was average. Skills were definitely up on last week's effort. Wait until week 3 when our training levels start to get dialled down and you'll start hearing really good things.

I just hope we don't have another Challenge series game in central Australia.

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29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.

LOL at some of the ridiculously premature comments in this thread.

Same old TC, same old panic merchants.

There is no way we will ever win a flag when 75% of the side are poor or average disposers of the ball.

For example, I'm a fan of Garlett but how much better was Jetta than our bloke when he got it.

We've all known for years that Fisher and Carazzo are poor kicks.

Browne, Grigg and Jacobs (who shouldn't have to kick) continually either miss targets or kick up-and-unders. Brownes left-foot kicking and Grigg's right foot are deplorable. Hampson's kicking is totally unreliable. Kruezer's is so-so.

Robinson mis-kicks often on the run.

Yarran missed some simple shots but I think it's a concentration thing and believe he can improve.

Russell is a quite good kick when he belts it long and low but is a menace when he tries to short-pass.

Judd is even starting to shank kicks.

I reserve judgement on McLean and Henderson.

_________________
"You can't polish a James Hird"

By the way, Ten must have shown Sydney players being sprayed with fan-forced water 15 times.

I'm guessing we didn't have the same set-up?

Is this right?

_________________
"You can't polish a James Hird"

Positives for me:

Yarran - potential to be a gun player. His after burner run in the last quarter would have been great if sealed with a goal.


Experimenting with forward line. I think Henderson will spend some time in defence, and Thornton could be the swing man into attack. He has more potential to read the play.

Robinson - played a great game.


Negatives for me:

Team style - switching and going down the opposite wing EVERY time will be predictable to opposition teams. Need to go down the guts/corridor sometimes. It becomes too slow if you don't use the corridor at all.

Kreuzer - the Swans knew he was the target and the kicks to him weren't in front of him with him leading so he was swamped so many times.

no fev no carlton

we are in the depths of ten years of nothingness....

and youre saying "
Same old TC, same old panic merchants." lol

thats one of the funniest things ive ever heard...

10/10 for comedy genius.

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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.

Everybody just settle down. :shock:

Game was ordinary and played in muggy, sticky conditions which made the ball hard to handle and almost impossible to mark.

Sydney play that very congested football which unless you are really switched on is hard to combat. It was also our first real hitout after one intraclub played with no pressure.

Not going to highlight any individuals as it was not a night to judge and it was ONE game.

Three things though stood out for me.

1. To work a multi dimensional fwd line (especially against sides that drop numbers back like sydney) we need to be more direct and get the ball in longer and quicker. The rare times we did we lokked better.

2. Kick ins. We are slow and stagnant and dont seem to have a second phase option. Who controls this?

3. Our midfield was woeful and lacks speed and run. This was evident in the practice match last week and more so last night. Not only could we not find the ball but we are SLOW with both leg speed and decision making.

Just a few things to work on before round one!

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#NewBlues beginning 25th August 2015

Since when did so many people care about mid-February form? Unbelievable! Not to mention the fact that Murphy, Waite, Betts, Houlihan, Simpson and Walker are still to come into the side. It was always going to be a scrappy game...some of you lot should have known that from the intra-club. The only bloke to get anything out of that would have been Justin Cordy...he's now got a far better gauge of where his troops are at physically...some of the cobwebs are out of the system now, and guess what?

There's still more than a whole month until the season starts! Who knew?!!

It is what it is....

Everybody knows that we can't replace Fevola overnight, its going to take some time to rebuild a forward line, it could be years.

But things won't be helped by bringing the ball into the F50 via the flanks at a snails pace.

No point in recruiting midfielders all the time if we don't run and take the game on, instead like robots who mark, run 10 paces backwards to kick 20 meters sideways... Not going to kick many goals this year playing like that.

Its early days but I fear a long long year ahead.

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31-3-2015 - R.I.P AFL, corrupted lying pricks
12-5-2015 - Go WADA
18-8-2015 - Suffer Hird* u lying flower
12-1-2016 - CAS goes bang, happy new year.. Drugcheats forever..

Oh my god we lost a first round NAB Cup match!!

Well that's obviously the end of our season... in fact if we believe Synbad that's the end of our decade. I think I might as well go and top myself off.

LOL you guys are pathetic

The club have made some ridicolous decisions in the past
Getting rid of Fevola tops the lot
I know why he was sacked
Yep I guess he had to go
but so did any hope of winning a flag
Then they get rid of Cloke probably the next best option
Because tellme who is
Its called instinct
kreuzer is a running ruckman
Play him as one
Henderson would have to improve leaps and bounds to make it
lacks pace and his decision making is poor
Waite is probably the best option but i reckon he should play defence as he is the best zone off defender
Thornton shouldbe given a go in attack
Casboult should have played.
Hampson will make a good second ruckman. Skills are too poor to play up forward
Why does Ratten have this obsession to tag Goodes with Gibbs.
Why is Wiggins on our list
Russells decision making when he has the ball is and will always be atrocious. Why was he kicking in.

You have a 3year window to win a flag.
Fevola was our most valuable player
With all the concessions the new clubs are getting we wont get any better players in the future
So it comes back to the coach and how he plans to get the max out of his list

We looked disorganised
We fiddle about with it too much in the back half
We dont make position to receive the ball well enough
Our kick ins continue to be atrocious

It will be a long year

It is simply not good enough

Burn Them!!




Fev was a cancer in the club. Yeah you could argue that we won't be sucessful without him but I can tell you for sure that with such a selfish egocentric individual at the club we were never going to have the ultimate success. Get over Fev, he's gone and good riddence.

You are missing the point here
Synbad and I have being saying it for a long time
We dont have a structure
The players look lost
Fevola IMO still one us games by simply being out there
2 or 3 players on him
Without him and Cloke who was clearly the next best marking forward we dont have anyone to kick a decent score for us
So it comes back to Ratten and his coaching staff to come up with a game plan
They have had4 months to do that and have come up with $#ck all



What we have heard is Kreuzer spending more time in attack
He wont be a forward. He is a unique running ruckman and should be played as such
We have no natural key marking forwards on our list

With a game plan that is all at sea we are [REDACTED] unless coach genious comes up with something in the challenge matches.

_________________
“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.

...and Keogh, your coaching qualification is what again? Apologies if you've stated it previously.

The one thing that stood out the most was how much easier Sydney moved the ball into their F50, how much more sklillfull they were....

I though Hendo presented well. Considering he hasn't played a lot of senior footy I though he was composed and seemed to make smart choices at times... Will be good in tandom with Waite once the delivery improves in the season proper...

Yazz was very good, better intensity. Made some players look like they were standing still watching him ala David Rhys Jones.

Bower was fantastic, probably going to be our best defender.....love the way he attacks the footy with desperation.

Kruezer busted his butt, but can't do it on his own. Warnock was good in his first hitout in Navy Blue.



The most annoying thing about last night was that we started well, looking like we were going to control it ou of the middle.....Maybe we just thought it was going to happen.

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Circumstance has no value. It is how one relates to a situation that has value. All true meaning resides in the personal relationship to a phenomenon, what it means to you.

Keogh those calls you are making are crazy! It was one game. The first game of the year. The first game without Fev. A Nab cup game. An unbalanced side on the field at all times. It was a hitout. A chance for the boys to have a run, a kick and lay a few tackles.

You are off with the fairies if you thought last night was going to give you answers.

Let things play out for a bit. Watch last years Grand final. You will appreciate the direction the game is going. Its a dogfight out there. No slick ball movement in last years GF. Plenty of balls going backward, plenty of chip chip chip and plenty of mistakes.

Prepare yourself for a few ugly arm wrestles this season.

Such a tired old line Doc

And I suppose your next post will have a reference to being a Richmond supporter

Fact is you and others deflect the real issues and make personal comments.

Ratten might have been a great player but he isnt a good coach.
No Fevola brilliance to hide his obvious lack of tatical nous.

Your sarcasm cant hide the fact that this club is likely to finish bottom eight from what I saw last night

Enlighten me given our poor game plan and inability to move the ball quickly into the middle of our forward line who on our list can kick us a winning score

Oh and was Casboult injured
because if he wasnt he should have played
cant keep him under lock and key forever

I am sure he would have done as much as Henderson last night.

Structures structures structures...............they allow Malthouse to take a C grade footballer (no make that a D grade footballer) in L Brown and turn him into a forward option who now appears to be able to contribute on a regular basis?

It allows Malthouse to take a C grade footballer (when at Freo) in Medhurst and almost turn him into an all Australian.

I could go on on and on.

We have few structures and the ones we have are too simplistic, too easily picked apart.