And I'd argue that's exactly what each of those guys are: tall (192cm+). Thornton may have the flexibility of playing on a medium forward (185cm). But if the others aren't matching up on talls, I don't think they'll be playing in defence.

If you could pick three defenders from any team who would they be?
Personally, Rutten from the crows, glass from the weagles and scarlett from the cats are the first that come to mind...their heights 191cm, 192cm and 192cm respectively...so why are jamo and thornton not tall enough?

We nearly got Rutten in the PSD. He would've been almost as big a coup as Judd.

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Exactly. This seems to be one of the biggest myths on these boards. people seem to think you need to be 195cm to play KD.
Also add to that some of the other good KD around:

Adam Hunter 190cm
Luke McPharlin 193cm
Trent Croad 190cm
Mal Michael 190cm
Matt Maguire 190cm

The only thing that needs to be taken into account is that key defenders who are about to be drafted will play their careers on Hawkins, Franklin, Gumbleton, Thorp, Kennedy, Sellar, Kruezer as opposed to Lloyd and Fevola.

In other words they need to be tall, solid, fast, have big motors and not be intimidated by reputations. Good luck everybody.
Hang on, isn't that Setanta?

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

I think we're well taken care of with Carlos, Waite, Thornton and Jamison down back. It's a very athletic and for the most part extrememly skillfull defense, it just needs some time to gel.

Any updates on player numbers?

Just in case I miss the game, can someone keep an eye out for them? Cheers.

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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.

B: Michael Jamison [R], Setanta O'hAilpin, Jason Saddington

HB: Bret Thornton, Jarrad Waite, Heath Scotland

C: Marc Murphy, Andrew Carrazzo, Andrew Walker

HF: Simon Wiggins, Brad Fisher, Ryan Houlihan

F: Matthew Kreuzer, Brendan Fevola, Eddie Betts

R: Shaun Hampson, Nick Stevens, Chris Judd

IC: Cameron Cloke, Bryce Gibbs, Richard Hadley
Kade Simpson

Waite & Setants key backs. Have to build a solid foundation from the back so these 2 need to settle there. With Saddo, Jamison and Thornton also in there is plenty of height. Scotland the mop. Saddo, Irish & Waite can swing fwd also – so this is our best mix I reckon. Thornton to be dropped if he performs like last year… hopefully.

We have no CHF so we need as much marking strength right across the fwd line as possible. This is why I think Wiggins will get a game. Very unfashionable to say anything positive about him but he’s actually a very good mark... if he could only be trained to hball to Judd whenever he marks he could well be our MVP!

If Hartlett, Edwards or Pfeiffer can have a good NAB cup there is Wiggins’ HFF waiting for them… but they’re miles off forcing their way in at this stage. I like Houla fwd and Russell is ok but not sure where he fits so he’s out.

Cloke is no chance for CHF. Mobility a liability – he’d get destroyed.

Midfield: No such thing as a set midfield any more – rotate, rotate, rotate. However, Carrots will be first picked centreman – obviously Judd & Stevo to follow. This season there should be some of our elite mids spending time around the flanks pockets which is a good sign for our depth/strength. Should prove telling late in games.

Gibbla is borderline with Jackson, Banno & Russell for a game. Not bothered if he has the second year blues and plays 2s for a while. Take the pressure off him for ’09 and beyond.

Fingers crossed for the ruck with Cloke and Hampson getting first crack. Aisake needs to get fit but would love to see him out there. Ackland also needs to get fit.

I expect to see our midfield dominate games this year and while I’d love to see Waite at CHF I think its more important for the team that he fills CHB. SOS was our best FB and FF for a long time but Parkin left him back for the good of the team – similar with Waite.

You can make finals without much of a fwd line but not without a midfield or backline and with Fish & Fev we still have a better fwd line than most anyhow.

I will probably change the entire team post-NAB cup but this is it for now.

Surely playing 5 talls and one medium-paced runner in defence would create even more mobility problems.

Like others, and with Waite playing at CHB, I'm having some difficulties squeezing in the defensive talls that I'd like to see us develop over the next few years. But despite the frustration, it's almost impossible to believe that we'll be playing more than 3 tall defenders at any one time.

I feel it gives us flexibility like this.

Thornton plays better on slightly smaller guys and Waite, Irish and Saddo can all go fwd if the opposition plays a small fwd line.

If we're playing against Hawthorn's 4 talls we can cover it - if we're up against the doggies shortasses we can swap Waite to CHF.

anyone who thinks carltons defence is ok please dont kid yourself.
thornton would be lucky to get a game at any other club.
its important that we play austin and jamo along side waite and blokes like anderson.the blues dont have a scarlett or a glass but how long can blokes play and keep underperforming?
the truth!!

o'hailpin jamo anderson

austin waite walker

simpson stevens gibbs

fisher kreuzer hadley

????? fevola ewards

hampson judd murphy

carrazzo jackson bower russell grigg hartlett

there is no room for the likes of bentick, wiggins, banno, houla ,saddington or thornton sorry but you have had your turn and you did not come on.
a small quick forward is required, betts is so up and down.
i think that this team could play finals, but something tells me that thornton, houla, banno, bentick etc will as always play before the likes of the guys above.

bb23, i wasn't denying that our defence has yet to prove anything... I was simply trying to say that you don't have to be 195+ to play kp defence...another example is campbell brown from the hawks...he played on some of the bigger and better forwards last year and yet he is sub 190cm.

Back to our defenders, everyone has always said that Bret's ideal position is as a third defender where he can run and carry the ball...it was only a bit over 12 months ago that the hawks were after him

Jamo is still only young and like key forwards, key defenders take time to develop. I would be interested to know how many games players like scarlett and glass played before they began to consistently hold the top forwards

nikki
the hawks can have thornton. thornton can not carry and run, not quite that skillful. how many frees last year did he give away? too many!!!
we have to play jamo and austin to get games under there belt just like the cats and eagles did for glass and scarlett.
carlton is ranked 15th for defence in the afl thats were our problem is.
i guess iam a little hard on some boys, but we must play kids now for the future.

http://home.people.net.au/~mailjimbo/teamboard.swf

Updated in line with new info on the club website.

Again please do not link this about everywhere, or you might just miss out.

That should be pretty much finalised for the year now.

_________________
29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.

FB - Jamison S.OhAilpin Jackson

HB - Thornton Waite Scotland

C - Murphy Stevens Simpson

HF - Houlihan Walker Gibbs

FF - Fisher Fevola Betts

R - Hampson Judd Carrazzo

Int - Kreuzer Russell Bentick Hadley

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

FB- Thornton O'Halipan Pfieffer

HB- Walker Waite Scotland

C- Gibbs Stevens Simpson

HF- Houlihan Hartlett Fisher

FF- Kruezer Fevola Betts

R- Hampson Judd Murphy

Interchange: Carrazzo Hadley Jamieson Cloke

Emg: Jackson Bower Grigg


Geez this is really tough. That is the one thing i found out when trying to put a side together. I think my team will go allright. It has a good balance of talls and onballers that can run, run and run all day. I hope Hartlett steps up cause that is the one spot on the ground that can be filled by a number of candidates.

my new squad for the start of 08,

o'haiplin jamison houla

bower waite scotland

simpson stevens hadley

gibbs walker pfieffer

betts fevola kreuzer

hampson judd murphy

carrazzo cloke jackson edwards

emg; grigg anderson austin

4 key defenders and 2 key forwards?

We need at least one tall defender to be added to the squad and one strong Centre Half Forward type. They don't grow on trees...