ask yourself where is the midfield ?
why were we not recruting proper midfielders for years?

that is the question....... rockliff and redden killed us

until we rebuild our midfield you can forget it....

a forward would catch cold down there with no proper mid


but seriously...... 2 players in the first 3 rounds of drafts over the last 5 years just doesnt cut it...(can u count buckley as father son in that?)... even if u did thats 3

no other team is that horrible

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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.

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http://www.youtube.com/user/Navyblue95 -
my youtube channel tracking carlton news on television and paytv

For those who are questioning the cost of Arizona. The trip is funded by offering 6 or 7 corporates the privilege to travel with the team at cost of about $25k. You can argue the merits of what benefited the trip may give the players, but with this lot I think there are far more issues involved. More frightening foe me is who would want to fork the best part of $25k to spend time with the current crop of players.

If we all chip in one of us could go along...

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#DonTheStash

While we are discussing the merits of football spend, what of the
World class best practice training facilities? $15m-$18m outlay for
what benefit?

I say put them in a boxing ring and learn how to fight.

Take some pride in every little contest that occurs in a
match.

Wasn't it Parko who focused on the individual contests that occur
throught a match?

Forgetting the result etc what stood out for me was the young potential talent the Lions had compared to us.

O'Brien, Mayes, Papparone, Clarke, Aish, Beams, Robertson, Cutler, Gardiner, Taylor, Close etc. That is some potential and gives them hope.

What do we have? Menzel, Docherty, Cripps, Buckley maybe Graham? Personally, I would rather be losing and have hope for the future than be finishing mid table with an average and ageing list.

Look at the bottom sides. Brisbane, St Kilda, GWS (of course), Melbourne all have a lot more "potential" young talent coming through.

This is our biggest issue, where is the hope?? Last night although not good doesn't mean a lot in the scheme of things. Why does our pressure drop off in some games? Maybe because our players know they will get a game the next week. Who's going to push them out?

Until we realise how best to work within the system and trade hard, improve our recruiting and list management and embrace the draft we will get worse not better. This has been going on for too long and I truly believe unless we do we will sink lower before climbing the ladder. Tough decisions need to be made, NOW!

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#NewBlues beginning 25th August 2015

Interesting that so many posters want to blame the umps. Brisbane are a bottom side that lost their best 5 young players over summer, have their two best players leuey and rich out for the year, had no rucks and came from behind to beat us. How were they even close. Also Abbott should get MM to try and sell the budget so good is he at avoiding any responsibility. How is it that the $1m coach doesn't appear to have any responsibility fir the bad performance of the team. No matter how bad we go it is always the list, the players the umps, but never MM.

I had the misfortune to fly to Qld and drive to the Gabba. After being ripped off for parking admission food and drink the team effort was pathetic.
I sat directly behind the interchange bench and saw the players and their body language. In the first quarter the interchanging players constantly appeared to blame someone for the goals the opposition kicked. For the rest of the game the only one that showed leadership on and off the field was the Captain. He was getting smashed on and off the ball and was always the first to assist his team mates. He truly showed heart.
As for the others, they are a team of triers not showing any guts passion or mental toughness to capitalise on the oppositions weakness. The opposition didnot have a ruck an or a tall to compete with warnook. How did we capitalise on this?
As for Waite and Yaran brain fades.........well this is all about mental toughness to do what has to be done and win tight games.
For me the season was already gone before the Brisbane loss, play the Graham's etc and see what they have to offer over a number of games, so we can judge their true ability at the AFL level and then decide on trade and clean outs.
MM must start taking responsibility for a game plan that doesnot suit the players that he has available and adapt it as required.

I reckon we had a golden opportunity of being a real club when we threw Elliott out. We made the right noises but just couldn't break our old Carlton culture. We blew it.

Agree that good sides put it beyond the reach of bad umpring decisions.

Plus when umpires have a "terrible" game they still get 90% of their decisions in the right. If all our players had 90% disposal efficiency they'd be elite.

The only thing that annoys me about the umpiring is the rules committee butchering holding the ball / illegal disposal rule. If it spill out in the tackle they always say play on (unless its carlton ;-P ). Methinks this is Kevin Bartlett influence on the committee (till he was moved on this year).

I blame myself for cheering the return of the messiah Pratt.

I was stupid and naive.

The oligarchy severely limited this club's potential.

That is it in a nutshell. Who in their right mind would trade with us? We have minimal quality. Given our history , we will baulk on the tough decisions. Maybe without the contract restrictions, MM will cut deep. We will see. Recruiters, get on your bike and get us some decent talent.

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"our electorate seeks less to be informed and more to be validated." Sad times.

Buckley shouldn't have played, clearly injured
But I suppose we had SFA to come in
Graham is seriously on the outer to not get a proper look in
Slow, lacks a tank, and small, not a good combo and we already have Ellard

Yeah, we should have won the match - especially considering the Lions are so awful - but those offering a defence for the shambolic umpiring in the closing stages of the match, I get it, you revel in taking shots at the team. And this loss is yet another that proves whatever point you're trying to make.

The fifty metre penalty against Waite was soft. No two ways about it. Rockcliff spends each and every minute of every game antagonising, pushing and shoving. If I know that the umpire should. Again the official gets sucked in and the boy who cried wolf is rewarded. That decision turned what was going to be a kick into a massive contest into a certain goal and the lead.

Yarran flies in the goal square, marks and/or is legged in mid air. Play on, Lions kick the goal to extend the lead to 2 kicks. One of the very worst decisions you'll see all year. Seriously. I doubt there has been or will be a worse call made in any match this season. How that has been interpreted by three umpires as play on still baffles me.

That's not counting the free kick Brown received mid way through the last for Rowe grazing his shoulder. Which, you guessed it, resulted in a goal.

Or the 'mark' Brown took off Merrett's hands that, you guessed it, resulted in a goal.

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Whatever happened to this club
I wish I understood
We used to be so strong
We used to be so good

Agree. Graham has been a passenger in his AFL time. Not for lack of want like some (lucas), but lack of footspeed, tank and footy iq to get to the contest.

I don't blame Yazz for the hit
He played the lights out
His desperate mark in goal square was superb and the umpires killed him
If anything I am wrapped to see Yazz want it so bad
And the hit wasn't to the head anyway

You forgot to add the goal to Brions that was clearly touched on the line and no score review. And the free not paid to Hendo 20m out that was ten times worse than Brown's. I watched the game with a Bulldogs mate and he was rolling around in tears, just could not believe the crucifixion we got in that last Q. The umps had a touch of the crowd syndrome and really just wanted to play a big part in the game

Ablett whinged to the AFL and got the first five frees of the game the next week. We should make a similar submission.

We were putrid though, and should still have won, as Brions are barely a senior AFL team at the moment.

..........don't forget the two hands in the back non decisions. One on White and one on Rowe when we had a spare and would have been away.

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I hope Essendon* folds.

I can't stress enough how disappointing the result was and how unforgivable the loss is... but please, the umpires were awful.

If you can see the indiscipline acts and missed opportunities surely you could see the rough end of the pineapple being pushed up our sphincter by the umpires.

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Whatever happened to this club
I wish I understood
We used to be so strong
We used to be so good

When 2 teams go to war its a 50-50 contest.
If one team is a bit off the other will usually win.
If one team has a better bunch of players playing to win, they usually win.
If they are similar in strength then the difference can be luck or the umpiring, and it was in this match.
Umpires influenced the final result. Period.

OK that's the result sorted.
What about the game plan?

Fair dinkum, this long kicking along the boundary just ruins any chance we have of keeping possession and running forward in 2's and 3's. Making ground and put us within striking distance with the ball in our hands.

In the last Qtr our blokes had short options in the corridor to keep running the ball forward and they were ignored.
Half a dozen times.
That is the game plan. It is not just dumb footballers. They follow the coaches instructions.

Sorry, but MM has to take responsibility for this effort.It is his game plan.

Why werent the players breathing fire before the game?
The coach cant move hearts and minds in this club.
Ok patly because of the calibre of hearts and minds amongst the list, but there is no sense of motivation from what I saw in the first.

The coach and the match committee can take part of the blame.
It aint all the players fault...they the result of shit recruitment.

I said before the game in the match thread we need Garlett playing on the ground for speed and defensive pressure, plus goals. Oh yeah and it is indegenous round too, so its his day to shine if he wants it. Yes I remember him @#$%&! up his 100th, but....give him a chance.

My family and friends will not be buying memberships next year...unless something amazing happens to give me hope of a brighter future for Carlton. I think it would take a big recruitment coup like a CHF from GWS AND a CHB from GCS AND 2 new qualtiy mids. Can't see it happening. Why would they want to come? $$$$. Well then make room and piss off Judd especially if he's asking $1M (FMD), Waite, and Carrots. There's nearly $2M to play with.

The club is an embarrassment.

What a wasted decade, what a waste of money on coaching and end of season trips...that's all Arizona seems to be IMO.
MM is not a motivator. That is obvious.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue