for sure..

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There's so much I could say...

Not too many players created enough run to receive a handball, which is why we look stoopid when we do it.

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“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.

How do you fit Browne, Robbo, and Anderson in the team. Surely we would have to shed some DEADWOOD! But who?

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Alot of our players dont run and have been somehow conditoned to receive chipped footballs and small handballs.

I have a few of our players in my dreamteam and theyre doing fabulously...

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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.

SuperCoach is better Sailor Man - Dreamteam is for people who don't know a thing about football.

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“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.

I said i use our blokes in dreamteam..... dont need contested footy and dont need to hit a target....
But im in the top 3k out of 250k off...

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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.

All this Deadwood stuff is pure rubbish! Blaming a lack of cattle is a habit from when we had sporn and deluca running around.

How many number 1 picks do you guys want? The list we have now is the list we have to win a flag with - we aren't gonna get a top 6-7 pick again hopefully. And we can win a flag with this list!

It is not 2005 anymore - we have built a list that is easily (easily!) in the top half of the comp. Young and talented.

All of you who read my pros and cons know I don't mind bagging players - and when they're not up to it I say it.

But you have to accept that in this even comp every team has a Cloke or a Wiggo - even top 4 teams.

But the top teams have their players playing to a gameplan they understand and it makes their Cloke and Wiggo look better. Our players are OK but the way they combine as a unit is an incoherent mess.

If you were at the Hawthorn game - did you see the way their players (all 18!) pushed back when we had a mark or free in the middle, playing 18 man defence? Do you ever see Carlton do that??? Do you ever see us break a team down with hard running to block the holes? Have our players been taught to do that.

Have they been taught to take the game on through the corridor? Or do we take it wide and enter the F50 like a bunch of stumbling drunks.

Have you seen the confusion of a Carlton player running down the wing?

Have our boys been taught how to set up at stoppages? (At least 2 goals a week from not being "goalside" of our opponents)

How many bombs up the line have we kicked from half back? Too many!

How are our kickout takeaways? Predictable! Hopeless!

How has our forward set up improved after working on it for a whole summer?


We have the cattle. But they don't "get it". They have not been taught.

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They will know that they've been playing against the famous old dark blues

You kill me - berate the game and how some teams play it, but milk the hell out of a fantasy game that rewards the very thing you hate about AFL.

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“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.

Horses for courses....

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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.

Not sure wholesale changes is the way to go, at this point in time. We have a strong enough list, and with a little tweaking, we will see some very encouraging signs.

The move to include Austin, is one of those tweaks. His inclusion will allow changes to both ends of the ground, by freeing up waite to play forward, whilst adding size to our back 6.

Our forward structure is a problem, I'm not sure you can afford to play cloke, wiggins in positions which require them to score. To mind, they are not causing enough of a problem to opposition sides, to allow the forward line to truly function with defenders scurring back to pick up individuals, they need to be causing you concern.

The introduction of Yarran, in time, should help the cause, but what we realy need is a player, who has good leg speed, height and ability to kick long 40-50mtr goals (other than fev). Edwards comes to mind, but not sure where he is at. My theory is that forward setups work well when your forward line has an element of diversity. Players who kick contstant long range goals, good over head, players who read the ball well of the ground, and players who know how to draw their opposition players away from congested forward structures.

The changes will come through slowly, it will be to no ones advantage to make them in haste. We need to keep our eye on the prize, develop a team which will participate in finals for a long and successful period. We do not wish to become a team who may satisfy its supporter base by scrapping and pinching a win here and there, with little opportunity of sustain success tomorrow.

Keep the faith.

Go Blues.

Wouldn't it be refreshing and exciting to see an Austin or Hartlett play Clokes role. They couldn't do a worser job at it at the moment and who knows may even pluck a few and excite the team and supporters.

Im looking forward to seeing Grigg, Walks and Johnson fit and firing and back in the side.

Waiting to see Robbo, Armfield, Browne, Garlett and Yarran maturing as footballers.

The rehashed Cloke, Carrazzo, Wiggins, Russell, Fisher and possibly even Stevens know that there future is bleak and almost coming to an end.

Why not do something about it now instead of wasting another year with these guys when clearly they are not going to take this club any further and are passengers.

It is a compromised draft, it's a smaller pool to choose from, and as drafts go it's not the strongest anyway. Just be prepared to bring in a bunch of flawed juniors if you want to make wholesale changes. Everyone loves the hope brought by fresh faces, but 18 year olds who can't kick and are slow have a tendency to turn into 24 year olds who cant kick and are slow.

The basic is, to have a consistant committed team you need to play consistant committed footballers who'll consistantly commit to the team plan.

For years we've prioritized supposed talent ahead of consistant committment (no I'm not going to name names).

I think if we go through the list we could field a young and committed side who'll grow into their roles and a team plan. We have to start somewhere by doing the right thing.

We must eradicate the serial inconsistancies because no matter how much talent they have (or don't have) they'll often let you down and you'll keep finishing nowhere.

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There's so much I could say...

Rubbish.

To say we don't have the cattle is the easy way out. Sure there are a few players that should be replaced and will be over time, but we have plenty of talent out there. It's the way we are playing that's the problem.

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This year's draft is not compromised.

The draft has been compromised indirectly.

The AFL changed the rules to boost the playing stocks of the Gold Coast by removing all the 17 year olds from the 2009 draft.

Imagine how the 2008 draft would have panned out if Yarran, Watts, Ziebell, Sidebottom, Blease, Hanneberry, Jones and Johnston weren't available last year.

The odds of getting a Robinson at pick 40 this year will be Buckleys and none.

AFL!

i see.

Apart from needing another decent ruck to provide genuine support to young Kruez, and apart from getting a gorilla down back (which is almost certainly not going top happen), the only glaring hole in our structure is up forward where we lack another good tallish option. Cloke is very, very average, and Wiggins can't kick and has had 2 shockers in a row. Wiggins is a good lead up HFF, but a prolific goal kicker and major threat near goals he is not. Either we have to draft/recruit one, or Waite has to go forward (which robs paul down back), or a Hartlett or Edwards or Austin have to surprise and make it as forwards.

Or Warnock goes into the ruck and Hampson matures and Kruez goes forward

Outside of all that, we need to find out which of the young lads is prepared to work hard all the time and go in hard all the time. It's as much about the quality of the list and list balance, as it is culture and having the right attitude and work ethic.

All of you know this.

Do we have a coaching issue? I'm not sure we do. The close losses tells me we have improved a fair bit. I think we all know we have improved a fair bit. And the coach can only be measured in the short term on improvement.

But if he wants to convert those close losses to wins, he has to work out the dysfunctional forwardline, and find out why every 3rd week the lads don't turn up to play (with the exception of Judd, Murphy, Gibbs, Waite, Kruezer).

Personally, I have a theory.

I think we need to eradicate those players who don't by their very nature like to take the game on. Players like Thornton whose first reaction is to coast and run in circles and go backwards. Players who don't run with purpose and aggression and direct. Players like Houlihan. I reckon these types infect the team with their complacent, sit back, don't attack the game attitude. I didn't watch the whole Freo game (will view tonight), but from what I saw we didn't take the game on, didn't hit the packs, didn't run hard, didn't go direct. Too much handball.

That's why I like Aaron and Army. They try and take the game on. They try to run and break the lines. They do it with purpose. They mightn't be the smoothest skilled players, but they give it a go. If all our players took the game on instead of running to the sides scared, we'd win more games.

It's a mind set.

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

Possibly the best theory i've read.

Thanks Melvey.

I reckon Scotto almost goes into that category too.

He runs like a crab.

Just reckon we have had too many 'safe' players, and they have often played in the back half.

Reckon club is trying to change that.

People diss the Bumbers, but geez, I reckon they are making up for a lack of elite talent by focussing on pace and taking the game on. Good on them for doing that. Reminds me a bit of the 93 Baby Bumbers.

DON'T THINK. DO !!!!

ACT.

DON'T RUN LIKE A CRAB.

ATTACK.

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