Henderson presented well - but got poor delivery
Backline strong
Poor delivery skills from our midfield. did not hit targets the whole night
Mitch Rob played extremely well

we never matched up well on Sydney. am disappointed with outcome, but not the end of the world. Just hope we beat tigers in round 1!

wont be a hard decision for the class of '95 to make, seems they find it very easy to cut lifelong loyalties at the drop of a hat (or tinny lid)

until we have a president who is a president and not a favourite son from Bogansville S.A. with zero business nouse (as much as i absolutely adored him as a player) not much will happen im afraid.

What exactly did Henderson present well? please explain. if u mean he ran at the vague direction he thought the ball might land or even into space as the ball came into the forward line then yes he did present himself there, but as far as I was concerned he presented us with not much of an answer.

Fact = unenjoyable game from every angle.
Myth = the year is finished.

Both teams were terrible last night, the game was sub standard in every way, crap pressure, crap skills, crap ball movement, etc.

Good points?

Bower was excellent, Jamo was interesting up the ground a bit and Lucas seemed destined to be in our best 22 earlier than expected.

Yarran!
He looked great last night, made his opponents look ordinary on numerous occasions.
Hendo
Was actually a lot better than I thought he would be. he presented and worked bloody hard all night. His skills were as good as everyone elses, shite!

Bad things?

Mr Mclean
WTF? He was woeful, I have never rated the Dees, but Brock was usually useful, he moved slowly, was out of position 100% of the time and did very little contested work, very disappointing. I hope that it was just a bad night.

Kruezer looked lost.
I totally agree with everyone on this site, he was so lost, he seemed out of sorts, never led well and only got the ball when on his knees.

Forward line?
So slow and cluttered. The only forward that looked dangerous was Yarran and that was only whe we moved it in quickly.

Indecisive.
They couldnt make decisions, it pains me to watch them hold the ball up and go backwards. EVERYTIME!
This is definently due to some coaching, what is with that? Why do they stop EVERYTIME!
I hope they iron that out.

Living in hope

We really missed: Murph, 1AW, Betts, Houla, Santa, Waite, Simmo.
These players are needed more than I thought. We missed te run of Simmo and the decision making of Murph particularly.
Waite gives our team another dimension and Betts is so direct around goal.
They seemd to run at 1/2 pace, maybe they jst tried a few things out that didnt work?


Living in fear

Is that it?
No forwardline to speak of. Ratten cant see the congestion and plugs away blindly with that set up.
The destructionof Kruezer...he isnt ready to play CHF or KPP in the forwardline, let him run and gain confidence.
Mr McLean...cmon flower...work! you were bought to work! Then do it please!
Injuries...if Judd, Kruezer, Gibbs or Murph get injured early in the season we are in trouble.

Go Blues!
Learn from mistakes boys.

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They coud'nt.....could they?

Spot on sadly

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It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it

The commentating generally was very average. The umps were variable both ways, too.

For me the game suggested:

- we will have a dominant ruck division this year (albeit against not much last night).
- hadley remains an absolutely critical player for carlton. thought he was our best alongside bower.
- agree that grigg's kicking is his absolute downfall - gets plenty of ball but then sends fish-esque helicopters off the boot
- setanta will be an important CHF option
- henderson will get better with the run and and a bit of confidence
- i don't care if players don't shake hands before the siren - different after the game (and brock did shake kirk's hand then)
- russell as the kicker in is hmmm

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"You're my boy(s), Bluuuee(s)..."

Correct weight

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It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it

Is Russell being blamed for the easy marks dropped by Scotland and Carazzo? Walls was off the mark when he said Russell shouldnt be kicking in. Good on Russell for nailing a 55 meter pass straight to Bower 10 seconds later on a kickin.

well I expected to lose by about 5 goals (in fact I was more interested in the vics/bulls one day game on fox) - I thought for the past 2 weeks the signs were that the club had not set their sights on this game. I mean knock Ratts all you want, I sure as hell aren't convinced but I am not going to hold up a NAB game (the same comp we did well in when we were the worst side running around in season proper as evidence I know what I am talking about.

I do not think we gave much away at all - maybe only that Yazz Robbo and Hendo will do well for us. We played all 4 ruckmen for God's sake! No wonder they looked faster.

Ratts is or isn't should not be argued over on the basis of that ridiculous preseason opener.

Let's face it those that want Ratts gone would have dismissed the game even if we had have won by 1122 goals.

If anything all this game showed was a change in fortunes - Sydney never won these when they were a good side - we always did!

Now we have our sights set on season proper and Roos and Co are trying to sell tickets.

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This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

Russell shouldnt be the designated kicker because he aint good enough in this area

Spot on.

That is your opinion and i will take it on board.

is it too late to nominate for the Draft?


I really should have asked Ratten to take me on... i could have kicked 50 Goals for them, better than the mob he is got at the moment


Many are saying we have no Forward Structure. Well, thats just it. This is the Only Plan possible for us to manufacture Goals and Win games. To have no Structure, Meaning just kick the ball long and get your good Small forwards to Steal and kick goals. Its not going to put you in the 8, but it will stop us from being an 8 Goal a Game Side for the entire Year....


We are in similiar position to the Bulldogs before Hall came aboard, except even with their Small forwards, they have talent and Structure and they manufactured Goals from everywhere. We will have to do the same, but HOW??


Ratten has all the thinking and answers to come up with

Truth is somewhere in between

Kruez and Hendo couldn't take a mark above their heads. But both are only 20. Time will tell

Waite, Santy, Betts are our best fwds in 2010, and none played last night

Kruez should play as a mobile running ruck. Let him drift to the fwdline to get most of his gls.

Santy should be CHF, with Waite FF, with Hendo the 3rd fwd.

The idea of our fwdline revolving mostly around 200cm rucks is sketchy to say the least.

One Qn though - Gibbs seems a bit uninterested and lacking in zest, in the 2 games I have seen this year. And I notice he is still not signed for 20111 +, despite Swann saying things were looking good 2 weeks ago. Is there an issue here at all? he is playing like a man who is not thrilled right now. I might be wrong though, maybe it's the long hair cut vs the hard core balded look that looked so menacing.

Only good thing to come out of last night was back six got another game under its belt, and Bower and Jamo are good developing young talls.

Sreiously hope last night was an abberation for Brock. He'd want to do 200% better than that moving fwds. Kirk is a star though, and not shaking hands with him pre game wa a death knell for Brock IMO.

Midfield lacked zest and run, but that always happens against Syd bec they play a certain type of clog-it-up footy. Simmo, Walks and Murphy missed and they provide a lot of our run n carry. So not overly worrid there. Even Judd shanked half his kicks last night.

But I have for a long time queried how good Ratts is as a coach, agree with someone who said he reacts to other coaches rather than innovates, doesn't seem to have a game plan that stands out as unique. Time will tell, but he has a huge challenge now he has lost his superstar fwd. CFC needs success, so he won't get too many repreives IMO if he fails.

I don't know as much about game plans as a ft employee at an AFL club would, nowhere near, but I can though see we chip it around too much, and don't move it quick enough. But again, we mised our prime runners last night.

Would also have liked to have seen Casboult. He has strong hands, would have held a few that Kruez and hendo let slip.

So, all in all time will tell. hendo and kruez will do better when they are 23 rather than 20. But even still, Santy and Waite are 27 now, so where is our young gun fwd?? Do we have one? Maybe, maybe not.

And game plan a worry for me personally. But others might disagree and that is fine.

Got a terrible feeling Lions and Brown and Fev will hammer us.

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It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it

The end of the world after a round 1 NAB Cup game in Sydney in February. People wonder why we laugh at times.

As for Ratten...4 wins....10 wins...to 13 wins suggests to me he's going alright.

Perspective isn't a big word in the eyes of some footy supporters. It's funny to read though.

I think everyone needs to ask themselves what the MC wanted to get out of the game. If I was Ratts perhaps these are some things that I would have been thinking, looking for or wanting to achieve
1. Who are our leading rucks and can I use the others effectively in the forward line.
2. How effective would Yazz be if he is given a bit of creative lattitude in the forward line
3. Is Fish a viable forward option in 2010 with the departure of Fevola
4 Ditto Lachie
5. Has Grigg gotten over his 2009 woes - where is he at
6. How is Jammo/ T-bird/Bower looking in real time as the core of my backline
7. How do some of the new recruits look in real time - Lucas and Davies
8. I wonder how JR would do in kick-ins
9. Run Brock against one of the best close down players in the comp to he how he goes
10. Check Brownie's and Ando's progress
11. Give Judd a real hard hit out as he's going to miss the fist 3 games
12. Blow the cobwebs out
13. Avoid any kamikaze efforts at this stage
14. Look more closely at team structures later in the NAB period when Betts, Houlihan and Walker can participate
15 ditto Murphy, Waite et al
16 Take note of Swans new players and set-ups
17 Have a beer with Sticks and the MC
18 Remember to pick up a pizza on the way home
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19 Worry about winning a NAB game
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20 Worrywhat Keogh and Synners think

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I need some new conspiracy theories; all my others have come true.

I was at the match last night, it wasn't as hot or muggy as some say it was, actually could have done with a jumper after half time. The water fan for the swans wasn't really needed for the heat perhaps that was Roo's secret plan to have his players run faster than our blokes. Did notice the swans did flood big time, at one point they had only 2 players outside their defensive fifty, at times looked typical of SCG scrap but the ground is bigger.

I liked Jetta and Rohan a lot, Jetta is very quick, I doubt we have any player who could have gone with him and Rohan intensity and smarts justify Roo's glee with him. Lucas looks composed reminds me of Campo hope he turns out to be able to ski up hill as well. Was vey disappointed with Brock as per most people, I actually thought he wasn't playing because I didn't see him do anything.

Swans were quicker over the ground and much more fitter, our blokes were blowing big time, hand on hips a lot - I didn't see swans do the same. Fev has stated at Brisbane that he has never had so much running training, so I am guessing our fitness may not be up to some sides. (No doubt some replies will remind me our 4th quarters from last year to debunk this?)

I think this lack of fitness prevented our ability to work hard especially off the ball and contributed to the lack of options, mistakes that were made and the turnovers we did.
This is the catalyst to everything people have identified as flaws in the game, we put pressure on ourselves because we didn't work hard enough, subsequently we did look slow and turned the ball over because we didn't create options so first time movement could be done. We scored some goals when we did move it first time.............

Perhaps Ratts is doing a Roos in other years of the NAB cup and building slower up to season regular? No point commenting on the game plan when Ratts didn't show it last night IMO as he was experimenting like most do this time of year.

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I have nothing further to add..........for now.

Our most intimidating weapon is...............Chris Judd running through the corridor uncontested sprinting from a contest and kicking to a forward.


How can we get Judd to have more uncontested possessions?
This is where Hadley is vital. I hope it happens more often this year. I hope we have the courage to use the corridor sometimes.



re: umpiring. There were at least 4-5 woeful umpiring decisions regarding holding the ball. I don't care what team it is but PRIOR OPPORTUNITY means you had the opportunity to get rid of the ball. Robinson being tackled within 1 second of him obtaining the ball and preparing his body for the hit is not prior opportunity.

Smartest thing I've read since 10pm last night Common sense has no place here stubba.

Regards Cazzesman

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Ricky Gervais - “Everyone has the right to hold whatever beliefs they want. And everyone else has the right to find those beliefs f***ing ridiculous.”

Agree with Cazzesman - but wonder why he and the few quality posters actually bother.

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TC suffers from the social media illness - the death of respect and constructive discourse by keyboard.