has he yet to return

Completely agree, that was the first thing I thought when I read the article. He said the same thing before last season, and clearly it didn't work.

Obviously, you can't just click your fingers and produce a CHF out of thin air, but I think they have to pick a forward structure and stick with it. To me, the two obvious CHFs are Waite and Hartlett. Clearly, there are issues with playing either of those at CHF. Fisher is NOT a second key tall, and playing there this year killed him and hurt the team. Cloke, jury is out. Walker is an interesting one, he's almost big enough, and defnitely mobile enough. In today's football, it's not a ludicrous idea.

Whoever it is, pick one and stick with it.

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Mens sana in corpore sano.

Bring back the laurel wreath logo!!!

lazy journalism.

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Last edited by true_blue3 on Mon Sep 26, 1981 5:07 pm; edited 92 times in total

and if we make the finals, i will be too.....

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my last one was rubbish

..was meaning Hartlett, the supposed actual CHF on the list.. ..not mentioned by Ratts..

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

Would have been pretty ordinary reading for Harts and to a lesser extent Edwards. Seems strange following their re-signings. Can only think Ratts maybe using the interview as motivation for them or has other positions in mind.

Better a rotation policy than a full time dud. Personally I think Walker would be an awesome choice - his pace and attack on the ball and opponents would make him damn hard to match up on.

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Hey Rocky; there are too many rabbits ... in China.

I quite enjoyed Hartlett's cameos in the backline in 2007...

Great read.

Great to hear about Fisher and Setanta - two players whom I have a lot of time for that have been considered "on the outer" since season 2008 wrapped up.

The success for Carlton in 2009 will depend on players like Fish and Setanta stepping up - you can't leave it to a handful of elite players to carry a side.

I'm predicting big things from Bower as well this year - I've got a good feeling about the bloke...

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What, were you coaching the opposition?

I agree we need Setanta. He beat some pretty handy players last year, including the aforementioned Cloke. Cloke was so affected he went insane at Setanta after he kicked his first goal. You don't have to be deaf to lip-read hi sreaction. Setanta didn't back off and just kept killing him for the rest of the afternoon. And we won to boot.
If he's fit I reckon he has to play.

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

A fit and keen Setanta would be invaluable for us. I still think his best position is down back, where he can not only match the 'gorillas' for size and strength, but out-do them with pace. Any coach worth a penny knows that the way to hurt us is to throw a resting ruckman into the goalsquare and get the ball as high as you can. If Setanta's on-song, this effect should be nullified.

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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

We could always play Brown or Pavlich at the CHF. You are of course spot on RR. You can't pull your socks up if you are not wearing any. Walker could be a very difficult much up across half forward and I don't think he would be playing the traditional CHF role. (If such a role, still even exists?)

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Working alone. At the coalface. Scott's gone for lunch! Said he would be back in 30 mins.

Yeah, that'll work. Haha, most armchair experts have run out of patience before the guys have run through the banner.

I agree with you though. But when we don't have an outstanding candidate for playing CHF, then, whether we like it or not, the horses for courses policy has merit.

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The highlight for me was this...


I know it's a bit of cliche, as everyone wants to play finals, but in Ratts you sense there is an unwavering determination to see the job completed.

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... of course... he gets the arse if he doesnt...

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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.

Is that the first knife in the back of Ratts Sinners?

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A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty" -Winston Churchill

L.M 35-06

So we don't have a regular CHF type player . Harts and Edwards aren't good enough and are only on the list at the moment because we haven't any other back up talls in case of injury .

Hahn did a great job there last season for thr Bulldogs on several occasions . Walker is bigger and stronger and is just as mobile as him , and would give a hell of a lot of CHB's a headache . Would need to be given a few weeks to settle in I know, but if told he could make the spot his own , I reckon he could do it pretty well .

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Get the facts first.
Then you can distort them at your leisure.

You obviously haven't been paying attention to sinner's posting, mark. Poor ratts looks like a Barak Obama voodoo doll at a John Birch Society convention

On the topic of forward setup, how's this:

Betts Fevola Fisher
Walker Kreuzer Ziebell

That's a shit-hot line up, IMO.

Betts, Fevola and Fisher are natural forwards and goalkickers. Remember, Fish has the potential to kick around 40 goals a year. I think last year was an abberation...his accuracy wasn't nearly as bad in 2007, and I think he does have some sort of chronic knee problem, be it ausgood schlatters or what - he's got characteristic taping in all the training photos I've seen of him.

Walker has shown he has the ability to kick a few goals, and he's got an element of "freak" about him.

Kreuzer has shown he's a natural when leading from the square in 2008 plus form as a goalkicker in the TAC cup. And you could always swap him with Cloke.

Then the possibility of Ziebell - I don't know much, to be honest, but a big-bodied midfielder who has ability as a forward would pretty much cap off that lineup. Yarran and Hartlett would also slot in nicely.

Three talented first round picks, three proven forwards, and not one weak player among them IMO.

Cloke, Wiggins, Russell, Joseph, Ellard, Hartlett, Edwards I couldn't fit in.

I sometimes think our forwardline is Fev + noone, but if we actually settled on something like this and each player could near their potential, we'd have a smoking forward line.