I'd get rid of Hadley and blast Carrazzo before considering Thornton.

He may not have had a good match-up in defence, but he gave plenty at both ends of the park and through the middle when called upon. For all the worthy complaints that have been made against T-Bird, he has gone back and worked on it.

For mine:

Out: Kreuzer (inj), Joseph, Hadley
In: Hampson (earth), Murphy (wind), Robinson (fire)

Robbo may be up on report though.

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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.

And you, sir, are my kinda supporter

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Don't look at me, I'm irrelevant....

I don't think it's a disaster.

I think any time you lose your ruckman in the first quarter then you can pretty well expect that it's going to be bloody difficult to win.
The fact that we came close to pulling it off against a top 4 side was fantastic.

However I AM concerned about Judd copping rough treatment and getting no support.

Can someone please mention this to Ratten.
Just because Judd is the Captain doesn't mean he should be left to fend for himself.
The way that Waite goes about exerting aggression on the game does not seem to be working... if he gets booted for another 2 weeks I will be a very frustrated supporter.

CMON BLUES
PLAY LIKE A CHAMPION TEAM

I saw a Carlton supporter leave the ground at the 22nd minute mark of the 2nd quarter last night! I wonder if it was Blues21?

Aside from the Kreuzer injury, I wasn't as disappointed last night as I was at the Dawks, Kangas and Essendon* losses this year. Freo are a genuine top 4 chance. We lost by under 10 points in a game where we were we only had 1 ruckman (vs the best ruckman in the AFL) and were a player down (a key player at that) for most of the match. Losing Murph before the opening bounce hurt too.

Let's face it, we've been disappointing since the Saints game. We did enough to beat Port, WCE and the Dees, but we hardly set the world on fire in those games, and we got smacked by Haw & Kang. I was very surprised we were the favourites before last night's game...

Maybe it's an expectations thing. I certainly didn't fall for the hype about us as a potential top 4 side. We're still a fair way off that, IMO. Before the season started, I thought we would finish somewhere between 6th and 10th. We're still on track to finish at the higher end of that range.

The positve for me last night was that Hendo showed signs of becoming the player we want him to be. Another positive was seeing Bower back in the team.

I actually thought our endeavour was OK last night. I wasn't overly troubled by coaching/structure issues either. Sure, there's definitely things to work on in that regard - but I thought the 2 main reasons we lost were not direct coaching issues - (1) our skill errors on the night (shocking); and (2) the Kreuzer injury. There's also a lingering question mark over our mental toughness when things don't go our way early (of which the skill error problem may be a bi-product?).

Anyway, there's 12 days until our next game so it's probably premature to speculate on changes (for one thing, we need to wait for the match review panel's verdict on Judd & Waite)...but after watching the Bullants today, I think we can pencil in Hammer for Kreuzer right now.

AJ, Armfield, Hadley, Tex & T-Bird's spots in the side might come under scrutiny - with Murphy to return and Ellard, Grigg, Robbo, Warnock, Austin, Fish & Wiggo (& Carlos?) in the mix to come in.

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

Long way to go before Brisbane game and with no Bullants next week either it will be a very interesting selection.

Based on what I have seen the past 2 days.

Possible Outs: Kruezer (inj - definite) Hadley, Waite (susp?), Thornton, Carrazzo, Yarran, AJ, Houlihan

Possible Ins: Hampson, Grigg, Murphy, Austin, Robinson, Ellard, White, Warnock

Probably 3-4 changes. I'll wait until closer to game before making final selections!

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#NewBlues beginning 25th August 2015

..waitey's aggressive style is too reckless, he'll cop another suspension this year if he continues to play so stupidly.... ..and juddles gets no support from his team-mates.. ..we've been a soft and selfish team for years.. ..before we got judd, murphy as a kid used to get smashed [still does].. ..not enough pride/heart for the jumper..

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

Hawks loss was awful but understandable. They won a flag two years back and with Buddy in the side they can beat most teams if they put in. The loss to FReeo was disappointing but with Big K going down was not a disaster. Freeo are actually a good side (and worryingly probably have more young players than us) The North loss really galled as we were so insipid. The most worrying things are that:
Some players are selfish
Some players clearly are arguing onfield indicating a lack of cohesion
We have too few leaders
We have to help and protect Judd.

We need space up forward and other sides won't give us that, we have to work out ways of creating it. Also we need to be more direct. Trying for the perfect series of handballs comes undone under serious pressure.
We must react quicker. The Dockers had a tagging forward line and we should have changed things around.

Next game is an absolute must win. The Lions have been diabolical, and the bad Fev is currently holding sway. We should and must beat them.
We need to be aggressive - that is not giving away stupid frees off the ball, but going hard at the man and the ball and blocking for Judd.
I'd bring in Hammer, Setanta, Murphy and Ellard. Big K, Thornton, Hadley and someone I haven't thought of yet to be out.
I'd play Waite across halfback and floating forward. Get the ball in quick. Kick to one on one contests deep forward if they are in space. Back our guys pace and mobility.
Jamo should be told he is Scarlett not Presti. he is a leader and needs to lead from the front, take a chance. He is better than just a defensive spoiler. The whole backline needs to take chances and run. The forwards have to hold the ball in.
We have to stop Black and Brown, hopefully neither will be playing because they always kill us.
Our 'leaders ' need to start leading.
Gibbs has been good, this is the game where he is great, where he is not just the icing but the whole cake.
Simmo is always a good example.
Setanta needs to rediscover his early form. He needs space ad he needs to use his athleticism.
Get Betts into the square at ball ups, he is brilliant at crumbing in contests
Give the players a bit of freedom, don't overwhelm them with plans, and be proactive in the coaches box
Hammer is the closest ruckman to NicNat in athleticism. Use it. Give the ball to him. Tell him if he is free on the wing to run fast for 20 metres and kick it long to advantage. Use his athleticism. He will burn off any gumby ruckman they put on him, let him play to his strengths.

Most importantly, play like you really care, like the crap of the last decade really hurts, like the navy blue actually means something more than a contract and a pay packet.

Time to stand up Blues, and that is every one. Don't wait for your team mate - Judd - to light the spark, play like you all have a box of matches!

Apparently Voss said last night that Brown could be back for the game.

Even if Brown doesn't play I think it's time Waite returns to defence (if he is allowed to play). He can't maintain enough intensity playing up forward and goes missing for too long.

Drop Thornton, put Waite in defence and bring Hammer and Setanta in. Waite/Bower/Jamison in defence and Henderson/Setanta up forward with Hampson occasionally going forward.

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"You are being watched. The government has a secret system. A machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I know because I built it." - Finch

Waite needs to play out of defence, I reckon he is better making the play when movement is in front of him. His vision is pretty good.

Waite needs to play half forward/wing where he can use his mobility, height and athleticism to our advantage.
He has shown us time and time again he is not a KP player and we need to accept this.

At this stage my changes would be:

In
Murphy
Hampson
Grigg
O'Hailpin

Out
Kreuzer
Hadley
Armfield/Joseph (stiff - but one needs to make way)
Thornton

Initially start with O'Hailpin and Henderson up forward with Waite in defence.
Waite to have brief stints up forward if/when required.
Carazzo and Houlihan on notice.

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There is no footy god

Just put a few blokes loose in the backline and Carlton have no answers. I have never seen a team as low as Carlton that cannot think their way through a situation when sides flood our forward line. Kick it long and hope is our only answer.

Also our forwards are lazy and need to show a bit more urgency, it is ok to flood up the ground to assist the midfield and defenders but they must push as hard to create a target when we rebound. The last 2 weeks is actually how I thought our forward line would function without Fev at the start of the year and slowly we would improve towards the middle of the year. Unfortunately it is the other way round which is extremely frustration to watch at the moment.

I thought Brown was supposed to be gone until about mid July? flower I hope he doesn't play.

We should start now..

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I will miss you Kouta - thanks for the memories. ps. Kouta > * for ∞

Dawks had their "line in the sand" game. Reckon its time we had ours........regardless of the suspensions.

Thorton gave plenty to Simpson too for not doing his, i.e.Thorton's, job of spoiling
Sandilands in the square. We don't need players who are going to turn on team mates
when something goes wrong. Sooner he's out the happier I'll be.

Freo were missing about 5 of their best 22 players, had a shorter break than us, had to travel and had lost last 2 games.

We should have been favourites and we should have won.

Just like the game against the Lions - They are missing players, have to travel and have lost 8 out of 9 of their past games.

However, if the Carlton that turned up on Saturday turns up again, the game will be over by 15 min mark of 1st quater again.

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when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth

Feelgood Hit of the Winter - GHRP-2, GHRP-6, CJC-1295, AOD-9604, Humanofort and Hexarelin

Where's the water jimmae? Where's the @#$%&! water?

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STURDYISM!!

Waite gone for 2 weeks....

Santy pants back in...

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31-3-2015 - R.I.P AFL, corrupted lying pricks
12-5-2015 - Go WADA
18-8-2015 - Suffer Hird* u lying flower
12-1-2016 - CAS goes bang, happy new year.. Drugcheats forever..

Someone sign Waite up for anger management while he's gone.