Generally Wednesday night for a Thursday game.

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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.

I hope Bokehurst plays. We gave up our first rounder on a 21 year old that supposedly can slot straight into the team. I'd expect him to play.

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"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit"
- Aristotle

IMO:

FB: Docherty Jamison Jaksch
HB: Tuohy Rowe Yarran
CC: Gibbs Murphy Simpson
HF: Everitt Henderson Thomas
FF: Menzel Watson Jones

RR: Wood Cripps Judd

Int: Carrazzo Bell Curnow
Sub: Buckley or Boekhorst

Then you have these names sitting on the fringe for various reasons:
Tutt, Smith, Casboult, White, Warnock, Armfield

And depth from:
Fields, Byrne, Johnson, Ellard, Graham, Dick, Viojo-Rainbow

Developing project types:
Foster, Russell, Gowers

And some triers:
Walsh, Holman

Then there's Walker, Kreuzer, Sheehan, Whiley and Giles sitting on the injury list, most of whom are 3 weeks or less from resuming. I think we're in pretty good shape, and if we continue to develop the playing list it will be playing a pretty skilful and impressive brand of footy. Work rate is there, smarts and skills are on the up. I'm feeling better about our season than most of the pundits.

There's some unknowns, but what those unknowns have shown us are pretty promising.

We probably need to average 15-16 goals a game to win more than we lose and make the 8. Assuming a full season, if we can get 30 goals each out of Jones, Henderson, Menzel and the combination of Watson and Casboult, 50 total from of Judd, Murphy and Gibbs, 20 goals each from Bell & Thomas, and another 50 from Tuohy, Yarran and Docherty, that's already over 16 a game.

All of those are reasonable and achievable targets to set for each player/player grouping if we're not bundling the ball. They've all shown themselves capable of being multiple goal scorers from their likely positions, and when they're not firing we can surely scrape another 40-60 goals from the remainder of the 22 (10 players) to make up any shortfalls due to form and injury.

The much bigger question for mine, is team defence. Can we manage it consistently enough at a high enough standard to restrict the opposition below 15-16 goals a game? Hawkins showed that if we miss a match up against a talented forward line, we can get blown out of the water. I don't expect Jaksch to be lining up on him any time soon but the increased mobility we'll be seeing from the bigger forwards this year may prove challenging at times given how poor our zone defending tends to be in terms of quickly shifting to position through the midfield/HB areas.

We can help for this with better I50s and better F50 pressure and we showed the way here a bit towards the end of the year with how we started to move the ball. We also seem to have plans to run it through the corridor a bit more when it presents, which means we should be more prepared to take what the opposition gives us and capitalise. The quality of the delivery to 1v1s deep in 50 is still a bit subpar but there is more to come from the playing group in this regard.

Long story short: we're ok up forward if the structure from pre-season is any indication. Midfield and flanks need to play a good team game to support the more than adequate tall talent at either end.

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

20 goals each from bell and Thomas, 50 goals from Tuohy, Yarran and Docherty? In your dreams.

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"I had to eat"

Bell and Thomas are both expected to improve and play HF roles. A goal a game is a good return, and like I said there was room for a shortfall using those numbers. Bell scored at a goal a game in the final 7 games last season after returning from injury.

Do you think Thomas looked slow or misfiring in the NAB game compared to last year? He's going to improve dramatically; I haven't even mentioned Walker.

Yarran, Docherty and Tuohy managed 35 last year from a collective average of 19.7 games. If they all played 22 they'd score 39 going off last season, but you could easily suggest that all will improve on last year's form. Tuohy could easily kick 10-15 for the season, which would take it to 45-50 alone; Yarran was a goal a game last year.

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

Here we go, season proper starts tomorrow and I'll jump in early and say we'll smash these nuff nuff's by 5 - 6 goals.

Well start off in Crush, Kill, Destroy mode in the first quarter. Like a feral pitbull let out of its cage we'll hit hard and fast, from center clearances to goal with lighting efficiency, Richmond will hardly see their forward fifty.

After a nice 5 goal lead midway through the first Mick will send the word to tone it down a bit and we'll back off the accelerator some. This will of coarse allow our defensive structures to test their metal, and of coarse test our rebound structures.

We'll play the give Richmond hope game for the second and half of the third quarter throughly testing our defensive structures and defensive rebound plays. Then halfway through the third we slam the foot down again, making sure our forward players haven't fallen asleep, and of coarse to prep them for the final quarter mauling.

The last quarter will be a thing of beauty. Resting our quality stars and allowing our young future stars a taste of dominance. Letting them bask in the lime light of 80.000+ spectators. Making a mockery of Richmond and showing the entire competition ...


We're Here!

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We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion.

Only changes I'd make to Jimmae's side would be

a) I feel like White plays. Appears to me he's one of MM's boys, and will play regardless - especially if we're using Rowe/Watson as the back up ruck. Maybe in for Bell?
b) Think Tutt plays ahead of Buckley/Boekhurst as the sub.

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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?

Carlton FC ‏@CarltonFC 15m15 minutes ago
.@KristianJaksch will debut for Carlton tomorrow, while three key Blues are fit: http://cfcblu.es/JakschDebut #NAVYBLUES

Interesting reading everyone's thoughts going into Round 2 last year against this mob - the general consensus was that we were very pessimistic, maybe that was after the Port Adelaide game, but even before round 1 last year many here weren't giving us much chance. This year the vibe is noticeably more upbeat. I really hope we prove many people wrong this year, I really do, starting with a 10 goal thumping of this lot for a start.

We played Tiggs last yr coming off a deflating Port defeat, yet drew level in last qtr after dishing up garbage for most of the game. The next week Bombers beat us by 14 goals...yeah, we were really flying back then.

Against this lot, this year, I'll be disappointed if we lose.

OK ... this is the team I think will be named rather than the team that should be selected IMO.

Basically ... Jones and Tutt seem to have been promised positions in the team (might be wrong on this but ... thats what it sounded like when we recruited them). White is a Madhouse favorite. The Super Duper coach has already stated that Jaksch will play. It sounds like the MC is keen to get 1 or 2 new Draftees into the side and I reckon they will go with Smith.

B. Jaksch Jamison Touhy

HB. Simpson Rowe Docherty

C. Everitt Gibbs Thomas

HF. Yarran Henderson Tutt

F. Menzel Jones Smith

R. Warnock Judd Murphy

I. Carrazzo Cripps Curnow

S. White

I hope I am wrong on this ... would like to see Bell, Buckley, Boekhorst and Casboult playing.

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

I can't see Bell missing.

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dane's trolling again

Your hope will come true in part.

Players to play First Carlton game: Jaksch Jones...coz MM said so

Bell >>>>>> Tutt ( imo Bell in our first 22 )

Boekhurst or Clem will play as sub to give them the experience and inject some pace on the outside or some crumbing in the forwardline. Clem's crumbing in the forwardline could be the surprise inclusion of the two, but I'm backing BB to play.

50/50 between Casboult and White. Both Casboult and Jaksch have a height advantage over White, Cas is a great contested mark and our best relief ruckman (if we need one) and Jaksch has been great as the third up in the backline. So Jamison Rowe and Jaksch will be our 3 talls in the backline...imo

Really surprised Warnock will be given the nod. Only just declared fit. He'll need a rest every now and then because he hasn't been playing much with the shoulder injury from a couple of weeks back..Casboult imo if MM plays it safe and doesn't disrupt backline to pinch Rowe for the cameo ruck role.

Come on Bluebaggers ...cant wait to get on that plane....and March with the Blue Bagger army with the kids to the G. What a great thrill it will be and when we win..fingers crossed...by 5 goals...the weekend in Melbourne will be the best ever....and kids can attend training at Princes Park on Tuesday with a big grin from ear to ear.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

I know people think White is a Malthouse favourite, and a Ratten favourite before that, but I just can't see him in this team at the moment. He is good depth, and will be used at either end of the ground as a third tall and a runner off the flanks when required. Really improved his stocks last year, but he is not an elite user of the ball or possessing elite speed.

Jaksch, Everitt and Jones have him covered and he's not playing a key post unless we're missing several players.

I think it'll only be one of Smith or Boekhorst, and Buckley is a smokey but his entry into the team would otherwise be at the expense of Carrazzo, Curnow or Docherty (assuming everyone who is available is fit to play).

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

are we there yet?

every offseason seems longer and longer.

..White is a coaches favourite because he plays angry, and for too long the team lacked it.. ..he's a versatile utility type foot soldier, he is always a chance for selection but in a fit, or even mostly fit squad he doesn't make the cut for me..

_________________
..if you can't be good, be good at it..

Just win.

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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

I reckon Curnow has to play ... even though we have other players that could take his spot. He needs to shadow Cotchin all night.

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

White will play and play on Martin.
His preseason has been very good.
He did a good job on Motlop.
He has dropped weight so he can play on big midfielders.
The only other chance is for him to play as third tall if Rowe plays as second ruck.

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"I'll tell you what I didn't do;
I never injected anyone."
AD 3/3/14