If round 1 was next week, I'd have Rowe in before Waite. Great effort on the weekend.

Also kicked straight to the opposition in space when under no pressure. I know it's the first game for the season but that was pretty ordinary.
We're all pretty hard on Gibbs but he needs to lift his game. he was after all, a pretty high pick and rated as the superstar of his junior era.

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

They can both play.

HF Waite Rowe Garlett
FF Betts Casboult Walker

Waite is mobile and doesn't have to be a KPP. He just happens to be tall. A swingman playing HF to HB chasing the footy as the press moves. Also, if we are going to kick to the boundary, it makes sense to have someone on the boundary who can take a mark.
Walker is really a small forward who can jump. He also has speed and endurance and can be rotated through the midfield.
Betts and Garlett rotating through the midfield with however many others
Leave the others to play more conventionally.
Hendo will play back. No question of it.

For those who think that forward structure is too tall, I think both Waite and Walker have the ground level attributes to offset that.

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

I agree that we can play 3 forward talls, but Hampson will be one of them.

..i would agree, but then again most young kpp's aren't "best 22" when they start getting games.. ..they need seniors football to make the transition.. ..you have to juggle what they bring, and can potentially bring, vs other established players.. ..but if you never give young players some 'leeway', they'll never make their debuts until injuries or some other such neccessity dictates it.

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

..obviously, waite's not proper fit yet.. ..it's like saying if we play tigers next week, i'd have graham ahead of judd..

..Rowe looked good, sure.. ..i'm impressed with what he can deliver.. ..a strong bodied, hard working [engine needs to be rebuilt] relief ruck that can play fwd and back [levi seems more fwd and ruck].. ..so he's possibly our most versatile relief ruck/kpp option.. ..but let's not think he can give us what we need, week in week out.. ..he'll need time to be able to withstand the rigours of AFL football, especially in his sort of role for a whole season..

..in this regard i think Levi may be the same, i'm not sure he's ready yet to compete strongly for an entire season..

....then again, Waite hasn't delivered on a full season in years, and that goes for the majority of our kpps/talls.. ..all pretty much except Krooz, where it took a blown knee to keep him down, even last year he played thru an injury that most wouldn't have been capable of [and he shouldn't have either, all good intentions aside]..

..so i think for this season at least, we should expect a rotating doors policy in regards to our kpp's, more a forced situation than choice.. ..however, when in past seasons this would be the end of any serious chances for the season, with MM teams our talls that come and go should all be playing on the same system, and our team shouldn't be too disrupted by this..

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

I like that structure. Not tall at all. My guess is that if they go that way only one of the three ruckman will play.

The only thing I think will change is Garlett. Can't seeing him playing round one at the moment and is playing a different role in pre season. More wing/hbf.

I believe MM will go with extra mid such as Robinson, Gibb, Judd etc pushing through that position and up onto ball to create extra numbers.

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#NewBlues beginning 25th August 2015

Looking forward to getting to some "Bullants" games this year at Visy. With a tighter alliance and the MM influence could well be worth watching.

Round One could be like this:

B: Temay White Watson
HB: Davies McCarthy OKeefe

C: Garlett Curnow Bootsma
Foll: Hampson Cachia Graham

HF: Menzel Rowe Collins
F: Dale Mitchell Buckley


Some potential there!

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#NewBlues beginning 25th August 2015

yes so that makes him a depth player who will get games when players are rested,rotated or injured and if he plays well he at least has to be pushed out .

Lucas is no cert. Has shown improvement but can not see what he brings that is better than Armfield for that spot.

Warnock is a real hard one, and although, IMO he's our best ruck , he's not as useful as the other two around the ground.....which is 75% of his job. Hammer is doing my head in. In the intra clubs he didnt impress me at all but in the NAB games he played as we all hoped he one day would!!!!! Can he keep that up though??????

Ellard??? Really? With our list , you can find a start for him in our best 22? He's great back up but not in our best 28 IMO.

Duigan.... He's in but just hagin on. The fact he's in leadership group may mean that MM has more faith in him than I do but in picking the 22.....he'd be one of the last 3 picked I reckon.

Robbo..... one of my fav's to watch. Love his passion and aggression..BUT , has any1 else noticed the lack of polish with his disposal or is it just me?? When in the guts, he seems to have the sole target of getting the ball to foot as quick as possible and booting it fwd, without looking for targets or any possible advantage for our forwards...its 90% of the time just a kick in hope! He's got to get better than that. His agression is phenominal but I dont know if MM will automatically pick him if his disposal doesnt improve.


If Garlett can get his touch back in the remaining pre season games, he cannot possibly be left out. His defensive pressure in our fwd line cant be underestimated. He does need to regain some form, I agree.


Bloody hard isnt it!!

After last night you would think that White will get a go round 1.

At the moment I reckon Hampson/Kruezer is the combo but that doesn't mean it won't change during the year.

Was interesting was sent to follow Clarke back into our backline.
(Warnock)
Moved ok.

Clark is verrrry aathletic

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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.

On the subject of our ruck/tall forward situation, David King on SEN made the comment last night that if Carlton are to play finals this year it will be on the back of an elite midfield group (ie. Judd, Murphy, Gibbs, Simmo, Carrots). He said we should be asking ourselves - which ruckman will best give that group of midfielders first use of the ball? Based on Warnock's superior hits to advantage, he thinks a fit & in form Robbie is exactly what we need.

Kruezer's a good AFL tap ruckman and gives more at ground level than Warnock with the way he hunts the ball, but Warnock at his best (eg. Elimination Final vs Ess 2011) gives those midfielders an arm chair ride with his tap outs and allows us to exploit our strengths (ie. elite midfield).

The 'problem' we have is that we have two #1 ruckman. Warnock & Kreuzer both need to be playing in the ruck. I'm not sure we can play them both in the same team unless Kreuzer can become better in the forward/2nd ruckman role. Hammer, Rowe & Casboult are all better forward targets than Kreuzer at the moment, IMO, but aren't at the same level with their ruckwork (although Hammer is about on par in terms of tap work). I think our preferred structure would be:

Ruckman (Warnock)
Forward (Waite)
Forward/2nd Ruck (Kreuzer/Hammer/Rowe/Casboult)

As exciting as it was to see Kreuzer showing signs last night that he has found his mojo again, I think he either needs to lift his ruckwork to another level (effectively forcing Warnock out of the side, which would allow us to play Hammer, Rowe or Casboult in that forward/2nd ruck role) or become a lot better as a regular forward target. The latter would allow us to play both Warnock & Kreuzer, which (should they stay fit and in form) could give us a ruck combination approaching the Cox/Naitanui level of awesomeness....

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It's never as good as it looks and it's never as bad as it seems.

I agree with you aboynamedsue. It really is a tough one. I believe that Knockers is a better tap ruckman and you could see that at the game last night. I just don't think that we can leave out a fit and firing Kreuz. I would still like have Kreuz in the centre square sometimes in a type of midfield role if we started losing the clearances. I know we tried it a bit last year with what I thought was some success. I suppose the other question is can Robbie ruck for the majority of the game.? I know that MM likes him. He said so when he was at that other mob.

I noticed Warnock get in to the game a bit more last night. Not often you see him pick up touches "in play", under Ratten, was always the kick out target or loose on the wing.

I have questions about his ability to maintain the sort of intensity required to play that sort of role. If Warnock were to succeed as a number one ruck, you'd think we'd have needed an o'hAilpin type to cover the sort of contests I don't think he has the game for.

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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?

My Round 1 team at this moment (based on Waite & Scotland being unavailable)....

B: Tuohy Jamo Laidler
HB: Yarran Hendo Duigan
C: Gibbs Judd Lucas
HF: Simmo Rowe Robbo
F: Betts Kreuzer Walker

R: Warnock Carazzo Murphy

Inter: Brock, Garlett, White
Sub: Bell

NB-
* Casboult unlucky but I don't think we can fit him into a side with Warrnock, Kreuzer & Rowe. We'd be too top heavy.
* Like others, I'm not sure Duigan is good enough for the role he's being asked to play. I don't think he reads the play as well as he needs to and he's a bit slow. Skills are OK, but nothing special. It looks like MM is going to give him every chance to succeed (which is a good thing), but he is the link in the chain that looks vulnerable to me in defence.
* Lucas looks part of the plan for Round 1, but he really needs to reduce the gap between his best and his worst IMO. He is still the classic 'girl with the curl' at the moment.
* We all love Robbo, but he's a player that needs to keep improving (particularly with his ball use) otherwise I could see him coming under pressure to keep his spot as the year goes on (especially if Bell comes along). Love his attack on the ball/man, but his all round game can't afford to drop off. Improved last year, but needs to improve more.
* Garlett's no longer an automatic selection, but he's doing enough at the moment. Needs a good season. I've got him in just ahead of Armfield....but only just.
* As discussed in an earlier post, Kreuzer needs to improve as a key forward if he's not going to be our #1 ruckman. Warnock is our #1 ruckman, IMO, because he gives our midfield best use with his taps to advantage. Ideally, we play both (but that would require Kreuzer becoming more consistent as a forward). Both big men looked good last night.
* I've snuck White in because he could be a useful 'swing man'. I can see he & Hendo switching between back & forward depending on match ups (as they did last night). White isn't up to it as a #1 or #2 KP, but I think he'll do OK filling in gaps as a #3 tall forward/defender. Alternatively, the MC might play Armfield, Ellard, Curnow or AJ (instead of White) for a specific role (depending on opposition) and if they want more run. A slightly more 'left field' selection for that last spot in the 21 might be Frazer Dale, who hasn't looked out of place at senior level so far.

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It's never as good as it looks and it's never as bad as it seems.

Apart from the 10-12 auto selections, I have no idea what out best 22 is.

TBH, it ain't a bad thing... competition is good

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“I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned.” ― Richard Feynman

..regarding rucks from nab rounds 1 and 2..

..for the '3rd tall [fp]/relief ruck' role, Hammer has his name all over it.. ..has very little actual fwd craft [neither does knockers, krooz has a little], but his sheer athletic ability, and the fact it's finally beginning to click, will mean he'll be all over the 3rd tall defender every day of the week..

..for the primary ruck, i'm completely in team Krooz.. ..Knockers did very well when he came on mid-way thru the 3rd Q, but well he should have being super fresh..!!.. ..if you think of games where Knockers has dominated, i can name 3 or 4 games of Krooz's.. ..Knockers has a few years on Krooz, and has played fewer games, even with Krooz's ACL.. ..Knockers' has no mongrel, and sweet F.A durability.. ..and quite frankly, his tap-work isn't that much better than Krooz's, when you consider Krooz is by far the superior all-round player.. ..and honestly, the strong workhorse bullocking hungry ruck is the ruck that wins finals.. ..Knockers doesn't fill me with confidence if i were to count on him for a full finals campaign..

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

Casboult is a black caviar to be playing in our best 22.

Outside of injury, put your house on him lining up Round 1.

Have to agree....certainly ahead of Rowe.

Kruezer is also a shoe in....

And for any doubts on Jeffie G......look no further than 16 possessions, 7 of which were contested, 3 goals and our leading tackler with 6. MM has him 3 kgs heavier for a reason.

No chance of Waite playing round 1 and will come back via the reserves.