To me it seems T bird has done something behind the scenes and is now serving a penalty that will see him leave the club. The coach, leadership group and board would have had a hand in deciding how to discipline T Brid i am guessing.

Either that or they dont rate his style of play.

Thats the whole point Gerry.Over the whole day,Ratts did OK.Some of his matchups worked,one or two didnt.Thats fine,you are never going to get it completely right.......................but when that critical moment came,the match defining moment,well,nothing...............thats not just my opinion,the dozen or so Blues fans i were with were screaming at the TV in unison.DO SOMETHING.You could feel it.It wreaked of danger.Sorta when you walk into a darkened room with people in it.You cant see them,but you know they are there.There are good coaches,and great coaches.The great coaches have eyes in the back of there heads,if you know what i mean......................how many times do you see a side peppar the goals for no reward,and then the opposition whisk it up the other end for a goal against the grain of play.................Everyone was screaming WATCH GOODES<WATCH O"KEEFE and for christ sake dont let Kenneally and Malceski charge.............thats not just me,but the other dozen supporters i was with.It was common knowledge,everyone knew it was going to happen.I laid off on Ratts last year after the debacle in Brisbane.But i aint gonna be a squib two years in a row and say nothin'..........that was a bullshit effort when it counted and to make excuses is gutless imho.

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All my dangerous friends

I think a positive is that the board is well aware of the need to bolster up our coaching department- accusations they dont have the ear of members is slowly being rectified..
expect a review and a few improvements

I like a lot of your posts Mick but i think on this occasion you are way over the top. Ratts did what it took to win that game but was let down by poor finishing. After locking the ball in for 15 mins of the last quarter and not scoring we were shot and our defence as a team dropped right off.
Blaming Ratts after the fact for not picking which premiership Swan was going to inflict the pain is not something i am going to do. Why not blame Ratts for playing Waite inthe forward line in the last when he should have known he would chock in front of goal.
Why didnt Roos know judd was going to rip them to shreds in the third? Why didnt he sense Sauce was going to get on top of Mumford for a patch or that carrazzo was going to find the ball and use it well in the third?

We got outplayed in the end by a team that took its chances. We got beaten by a bees dick and Ratts was oh so close to claiming a great win over the coaching guru Roos' premiership hardened team after spending the previous 2 weeks busting a gut travelling the nation.

The coach , team, and recruiting team are going to have to knuckle down and work harder and harder to keep improving.

Hard work is the answer.

Club,as you know,im very tolerant and welcome everyones opinions...............BUT,forget about Roos and what he didnt do,thats his problem................but i stand firmly behind what i said.Not just me,but every Blues supporter were screaming at the television for something to be done...............i agree,you cant cover them all,but the likleyhood of certain players bobbing up would be foremost in your mind.The most likely number one danger would be Goodes.The second most likely danger would be O"Keefe.I actually was happy for Gibbs to tag Goodes and as a matter of fact i thought he did OK.Goodes played OK but he hardly blew Gibbs away......so,no problem with that.Ratts matchup of Jordan Russell on O"Keefe was a masterstroke.Im sure he exceeded everyones expectations.No problem with O"Keefe kicking that goal to hit the front.O"Keefe just got lucky and happened to be on the end of one.Great move Ratts,coz your judged on results,and Russell killed O"Keefe.The goal was just incidental................now this is the point yo dont seem to get.......What happened during the game,the various matchups you suggest are good points,but they dont mean jackshit when the game is up for grabs.And i repeat,forget about what happened previous,AT THAT CRITICAL MOMENT,he froze.I sensed the danger,everyone i was with felt the danger,the boot studder felt the danger,snowey on the tram felt the danger...............thats what sorts the champs from the also rans.Making the right decisions when the heat in the kitchen is almost unbearable.

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All my dangerous friends

That's right.

For about 10 minutes there was no one in the Sydney forwardline. That was their tactic; to withstand as much of the Blues pressure as they could because the Blues were coming and looking like they were going to run over them.

The Swans are a damn patient lot; hats off to them.

When the Swans scored their 1st goal in the last it was a herculean effort of gut running by the Swans to make it happen.

We should've won the game. We had plenty of opportunity; everyone knows that.

I cannot believe Kennelly was left without an opponent in the last.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

We will have to agree to disagree Mickster. I think we just got outplayed by a team that took their chances. One team has to be better on the day and this day on their ground, with all their premiership players, two time brownlow medalist ,gun coach and their farewell party they were 5pts better than us.

... and for the record i cant for the life of me think of what Ratts could have done in the end to stop Kenneally without robbing us of the things that had worked well for us to that point. Even with the advantage of hindsight.

I also think we will be better for this loss. I know many were saying the same thing last year but this year we have the side in that is going to take us forward. No Cloke, Wiggins, Thornton, Stevens or Fev.

I really hope you are right Josh !!!

I can't help but feel the propoganda machine has been in full swing since sunday's game....there appears to be a lot of carlton backslapping emanating from the media and supporters...which to be honest not only is nauseating, but is also frustrating and alarming!!!

The cold hard facts are that since Rd 11, Carlton had 4 wins and 8 losses (with the 4 wins being over the bottom 4 sides). There is nothing impressive in that...and if we take a couple close losses at the end of the season as a sign that "she'll be right".....we are kidding ourselves.

A review needs to be undertaken, questions need to be asked and changes need to be made (and let's not think that getting a 30yo Tarrant will solve all our problems)!

We are in the hands of our board....

I just couldn't work out why we didn't persist with Warnock at full forward.

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#DonTheStash

When Henderson finally converted one almost at the end of the last quarter, Richo commented that that was our first goal in 20 inside-50s.

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"You can't polish a James Hird"

The big fella up front is used as a bit of a shock tactic, I don't think they like to leave them too long.

But we did appear for a while there to be pumping the ball in long to a contest and 206 was clunking them, so he may have been able to graba few more if he'd had longer. He's not a nervous Nellie when kicking for goals either.

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I hope Essendon* folds.

AND NEXT YEAR JORDON RUSSELL?????????????

Spot on Bondi.They get back,rest up,absorb the punishment,and just when we thought we had 'em,KAPOW.Sorta footy's version of "Rope a Dope".It was the thriller in Manila all over again.........

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All my dangerous friends

If we had've kicked straight it probably wouldn't rate as much of a tactic.

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This might sound extreme in the context of alleged sexual assault, drunken violence and a drug trafficking charge...

Wasn't it the Rumble in the Jungle? Next year it'll be "Armfield Boom-ba-yay"

Yep,you are correct Ari,it was actually in Ziare.Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

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All my dangerous friends

As foreshadowed-- things are happening-
Might be throwing everything at Laidley

ooh delicious

perhaps they should throw everything at henderson.... until he damn well learns to catch!!!
just jokes - the kid will be a gun.