I thought we weren't allowed to play those any more?

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BLUES 2010: PAV AND JUDD = FLAGS. DOING IT FOR THE LOVE OF DICK PRATT.

HAVE YOU SIGNED UP FOR TALKINGCARLTON SUPERCOACH 2009 YET?

I think the step up in intensity is the biggest issue at the moment. His attack on the ball, and presence in contests leaves a bit to be desired at this stage. Seems quite content to lumber around, doesn't seem to have that next gear, which may come in time. Just seems a bit laconic at this time.

Read an interesting article by Darren Berry the other day talking about great first class cricketers who just don't exhibit that same swagger or play their normal game once they go up a level, and just look lost. I think Casboult is a very good VFL level footballer at this stage but I'm not sure if he feels he belongs at this level.

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BLUES 2010: PAV AND JUDD = FLAGS. DOING IT FOR THE LOVE OF DICK PRATT.

HAVE YOU SIGNED UP FOR TALKINGCARLTON SUPERCOACH 2009 YET?

My thoughts:
Alot of positives to take out, no where near our best 22 against a near best 22.
Kreuzer looks the goods, primed.
Murph & Gibbs second gear.
Betts smashed all Australian Murphy
Frazer Dale doesn't get alot of ball but his awareness is first class. Creates play from nothing.
Robbo has his work cut out pushing curnow and McLean out. Both have returned fitter and quicker than ever.
Hammer shows promise, still misses a few but getting more than he used to.
Scotland is the general, peaking at his age is a gift.
oh yeah and Yarran, his speed and skills are second to none and he was one who was sprinting still come last qtr, for a kid who was the unfittest at the club 18mths ago, he's done superb, is a real weapon and will wreak havoc on most teams this season.

Negatives:
Rowes fitness, can see he has ability but he played half a game and was exhausted for majority.
Bower is not a KP backman. Laidlers injury forced it but hopefully we don't resort to him in the real stuff. Also his kicks have no penetration and more often than not cause 50/50 contests.
Davies should not play seniors, fumbles, clangers, gives stupid frees.
Casboult is a young hampson, gets hands to a lot and drops, takes the odd good mark, sprays majority of set shots and if he wasn't big wouldn't of lasted this long, let's hope he can progress like hammer and quickly.
Garlett has the yips, seems to be second guessing his ability at every set shot, don't know whats happen to the confidence and cockiness.
Lucas was missing all night. Not sure if he had no game time or just off it.
Not sure what ratts is doing with Russell and Collins, both are swapping from fwd to back, need to decide which one can play HFF and send the other to reserves I think.

I went along today and not at all concerned that they kicked a goal with 2 mins to go and ended up winning.

Pros:
Hammer - looks good, hope he can stay up because we really need him in the forwardline, looking like he could indeed be somewhat the answer, in tandem with waite that is
Dale - showed a fair bit of poise in traffic, natural footballer with a pretty good tank. was so pleased when he slotted that goal on the run, but no one was more pleased than Frazer himself
Carrats/Simmo/Scotland - as consistent as usual, field kicking by carrats was good
Davies - did ok i thought
curnow/mclean - nice to see both of these guys pushing for selection
Henderson - so fluent, got beaten a couple of times but looks like he could become on of the gun afl defenders the way he's going.
Gibbs - went in hard - good work bryce, not unnoticed, keep it up!

Cons:
Lucas didnt do much,
Rowe lacked a little bit of judgement when the ball was coming in but was showed some signs - better for the run and will still get games early
Levi - battled away but was fairly sloppy n fustrating
Russell and bower look like they are def depth players now, but might be needed in the real stuff with duigan/laidler out

Good to read Laidler saying his knee feels ok. He's having scans tomorrow.

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Happy Days Are Here Again!!

You maybe right but I think its a little early to make these assumptions based on the lack of games at this level. He got around the ground really well IMO i was suprised actually. Anyways lets hope your wrong

nope, sorry.
might have looked okay at the ground, but on TV he clearly butchered the ball all day.

The Carrots situation is a strange one. His kicking is shocking and doesn't show any signs of getting any better.

Are we not good enough to challenge for a flag when he's in our best 22, or are our A-graders not good enough to cover the need for role players in the side, ala someone like Ben Johnson at Collingwood with similiar limitations.

_________________
BLUES 2010: PAV AND JUDD = FLAGS. DOING IT FOR THE LOVE OF DICK PRATT.

HAVE YOU SIGNED UP FOR TALKINGCARLTON SUPERCOACH 2009 YET?

I liked Yarran's new party trick - see two opposition players coming at you and sprint straight between them.

[youtube]zlbFVV-dj78[/youtube]

Missed a bit with his shoulder injury so not surprised he fatigued. Was always going to struggle for that reason but needed the run.

Bulldogs were paying $3 H2H today. Found myself quietly barracking against us in the last five minutes too......

_________________
BLUES 2010: PAV AND JUDD = FLAGS. DOING IT FOR THE LOVE OF DICK PRATT.

HAVE YOU SIGNED UP FOR TALKINGCARLTON SUPERCOACH 2009 YET?

I thought Rowe presented well actually...from what i saw, the delivery to him was terrible...and he finally let his frustrations show late in the quarter after a poor mclean kick (not a shot at brock here lol)

I learnt that people read far too much into preseason games.
I also learnt that my 5 year old son gets sad at losing now.
Finally, I learnt that after 35 years, I finally don't give a shit about preseason games.

Hope Laids' knee isn't too bad.

Oh and I reckon (like others) we might have found one in Frazer Dale. Apart from his physique, doesn't look out of place on an AFL ground at all.

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Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.

I agree and it wasn't really a criticism of his play - just surprised that he appeared to fatigue as badly given that he only played a half. He presented well at times but too many times he just didn't raise his hands (or only raised one hand) and didn't/couldnt impact the contest - generally a good sign of fatigue.

For mine, casboult showed a lot more promise, was fitter than I might have expected and I'd have him ahead of rowe at the moment

Managed to snatch 'defeat' again. I know the stakes aren't high, and we're missing key players, but that's the 3rd very winnable losses to bottom 8 teams. Obviously we're lacking some of our goalkicking punch, but conceding goals relatively easily is the real concern. Our defensive system is breaking down too easily. And our players are simply not running hard enough defensively to get back, or even when back to actually shut down an opposition player in space.

Pros:
A lot of the big guys again showed good signs. Kreuzer, Hammer, Casboult and Rowe. Still drop too many easy marks, and simply fail to make an impact on marking contests (when they should). What I liked about Rowe was that he actually used his strength to legally shove a defender out of the way a couple of times. Generally our big boys are far too timid in those aerial battles.
Dale again impressed.
The class of Murph and the 3 amigos.

Cons:
Our much vaunted midfield has been pretty underwhelming so far. The depth guys haven't really impressed all that much. Curnow and McLean have been okay. I'm a fan of Ellard, but he hasn't got near it. Gibbs has been invisible the last 2 weeks. It'll be interesting to see how long they'll persist with Gibbs in this new role. He's fantastic in space and in one-on-one contests, but is just getting lost in the midfield scrums at the moment. I don't mind them persisting with it for long term reasons. But I'll be very interested to see if the MC have the patience to do so. Especially since we're not managing to win games at the moment.
Lucas was pertty unsighted this week.
Hendo didn't have the greatest game either.
Russell just looks miles off it at the moment.
And I'd love to see Bower win more one-on-one contests. Especially some of the aerial contests.

In regards to his physique, his shoulders are quite broad and his legs look strong. This kid has the foundations of a good build for footy. Definitely one to watch isn't he!

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We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion.

Been saying to my mates for quite some time that while Carrazzo is good enough to be in our best 22 that we will not be good enough to win the flag.

I just can't see where someone else on our list edges him out.

Joseph: Slightly has it over him for the run with roles in the midfield, Joseph maybe slightly better minding small forwards. Worlds ahead as a defensive forward option.

Armfield: Armfield possibly could become better as a defensive forward option, but nowhere near the other two options.

Curnow hasn't really shown a lot when assigned specific run with roles, and doesn't offer the same versatility. Then you're left with youngsters like Dale and Buckley who aren't anywhere near ready yet.

Russell has some form down back, hasn't shown it as a defensive forward for a while, and still questions present over fitness to play in the midfield full time. We've also seen the benefits of Walker being given one set role, so moving him around, and giving Collins the lead up mid sized forward role probably won't cut it.

I'd like to see Davies given some similar roles with a view to adding him to the midfield rotations. The most feasible option is to switch Gibbs to Carrots' responsibilities, and give Lucas Gibbs' role.

Most likely outcome is the outcry about how we're wasting a #1 draft pick....

_________________
BLUES 2010: PAV AND JUDD = FLAGS. DOING IT FOR THE LOVE OF DICK PRATT.

HAVE YOU SIGNED UP FOR TALKINGCARLTON SUPERCOACH 2009 YET?

Crap time slot. The first of my post midnight matches. Got to bed after 3:00 a.m.

OK.

Kreuzer played well even though his tapwork isn't his forte. His second and third efforts are great and he looks confident.
Eddie is now a mature player and his defensive work is great and the goals he steals and the way he presents are a big plus.
Hendo started off getting beaten for position a couple of times but was still running at the death and finished OK.
Yarran will have a stellar career and his couple of chases on Delhaus were special as was his goal.
Garlett is a top small forward but I am seriously concerned at his set shots. He needs to be coached by someone on his routine so he doesn't just trot in and have a ping. He misses far too many easy set shots and the miracle goals he gets should be bonuses, not to make up for the one he just missed. His defensive work for one so slight is great. I am a big fan.
Hampson will be able to play forward. His marking has improved and will improve more. His presentation and ability to get to the fall of the footy are there. It's just a bit of timing or his hard hands or something he needs to adjust slightly.
Scotland and Simmo will be very hard to replace. Scotland wanted this game. It's all very well for posters here to say it's only pre-season but he was gutted after the loss. That's why he's so good. he plays every game like it's the GF. Simmo is a machine and IMO the best gut runner in the comp.
Dale will play a lot of footy. He had a nice cameo. His strides are enormous. His confidence is there. His time will come and we have a player there.
Murphy is elite and showed it again last night. I don't like the way he ducks into the contest to get frees, though.
I agree with those above who thought Casboult is ahead of Rowe. Regardless of the reasons, Rowe didn't have the presence of Casboult last night and it appears Casboult has more flexibility. Whether or not either plays a lot of footy this year will depend on injuries and if we can afford to keep Waite up front (a must IMO)
Gibbs racked up a lot of possies but I was surprised to see that. He didn't stand out.
Bower did a few good things. He has his detractors but at least he is prepared to back himself and one clearance in particular where he backd himself in and ran with the footy was very positive. He may not be in the best 22 but he may well be in the top 5 tall backs atm so if one or two go down, he is in the mix.
I thought McLean went OK with the time he had. Got some good clearances and did a few hard things. i am not sure whom he will displace to get a game but if he plays like he did last night he won't be disgraced.
of the rest, Curnow did OK, Davies plays with confidence and is hard at the contest and I can see why Ratts likes him. So do I. (Tassie bias?), AJ goes OK, Russell has a problem if he wants to play senior footy. He didn't seem to do much last night. Touhy gets better and loves the contest and backs his pace. Carrazo gets lots of it and even if his kicking isn't all that flash (according to some here), he is a serious ball magnet and will stay in our best 22 until someone kicks him out.

The game highlight for me was Yarran's burst through two defenders, the bounce just out of their reach and a super finish.

I was a bit disappointed with the loss but not shattered. We went into the game with a young team and then gutted it in the second half. If the Bullies are a top 8 team this year as they think they are, we will finish above them on last night's form.

It was great to sit and watch the game live after six months off. Those of you living away from Oz know what it's like and how important it is as a link to 'home'.

Bring on the season proper. We should go OK.

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