...if only someone could tame him...

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STURDYISM!!

I know Ive told this story but some may have heard it before-you may recall that before Andrew went to Geelong as a rookie he trained during that pre-season before the rookie draft trained with Carlton.

As you may recall at that time went to most if not all training sessions - I happened to be talking to the guy next to me at training one day whilst watching training and quickly realised it was Andrews dad.I commented on this little blioke who kept getting the ball .He said Andrew was bitterly disappointed that he hadnt been drafted - missed half U18 SEASON because of injured shoulder.

Andrew loved Carlton and contacted them and asked to train with them.

Andrews dad said that Andrew would do anything to play AFL football and work hard until he got there.His dream was to play with the Blues .

I was not surprised Bomber Thompson recommended him to Carlton after he came off the rookie list - knocked up getting possessions in geelong reserves but couldnt get an opportunity

I have followed his career ever since that day at PP and have marvelled at his work ethic


Im not at all surprised by his success and drive to be the best he can be

Well done Andrew not surprised you are a leader and whilst I love our young guns I have a soft spot for a true blue collar worker who loves his club and gives his all

Look forward to your 100 games Andrew and like thorton waite etc -thrilled you have an opportunity to play finals

Nice, Frank.

thankyou for that frank. . . Never knew he even played ressies for the cats. . Thought he was simply on their list!

Carrots has gotten better ever since he cut the long-ish curly hair. . everyone is doing it! What price for a skinhead kreuzer?

P.s. Woo 1000posts!

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Cuck Follingwood

Thanks Frank. Knowing stuff like that, you can't help but see players in a different light.

Pretty disappointed in Andrews game yesterday.
Like Frank, I've been a huge fan of his since he carved us up at Princes Park one day. Running around in the centre with blonde tipped hair, he must have had 40 possessions with a truckload of contested ball that day.

What disappoints me is he propensity to chase the easy ball at times instead of getting his hands dirty. It's been a hobby horse of mine for a long time but he needs to stay true to what makes him a successful part of our side. In fact, he's a bit of a barometer in some ways. Once he starts looking for the cheap ball and running around for "one, twos", it becomes infectious.

Yesterday was a perfect example. With Hadley going down early, we needed someone to stand up and place another big body around the contests. Instead, Carrots was running past accomplished disposers, calling for the handball or easy kick.
His 9 inside 50s for the match were mostly ineffective and his 57% disposal efficiency actually hurt us.
For a bloke to end up with 27 uncontested possessions, I'd be expecting a lot higher than 57% efficiency. When you consider Carlton as a team had a disposal efficiency of 80%, the opposition are going to give Andrew the ball everytime.

From my perspective, Ratts needs to drag him in and tell him some hard truths. Carrots is easily a top 10 player for us but he needs to play the role that adds value to the team. 27 uncontested possessions, 3 clearances and zero 1%ers isn't going to cut it.
He is a grunt player. we need him creating play, not creating meaningless possessions. He needs to get his kness dirty and protect Judd and Murphy or win some hard earned first possessions. It's what we're crying out for, not outside front runners who cant use the ball.

As I stated above, actions of this nature become contagious. Once someone does it, others start taking the easy option as well. Andrew needs to understand he is a leader of this team and should play accordingly.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

I agree he was a little wasteful yesterday but it's a bit hard to win in and under contested footy when the team's running the ball up the ground. When there were contested situations he was doing his best to win the ball. Harsh post IMO.

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You want the flame? Give us the marbles!!

No,i think BV is spot on. Carazzo needs to model his game on Sam Mitchell and just become an extractor who dishes off straight away especially in view of Hadleys` injury.

No you missed my point. Are you saying, if we're running the ball up the ground Carrazzo shouldn't run hard to provide an option? Because IMO the more players running to create, the better chance we have of getting the ball inside 50.

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You want the flame? Give us the marbles!!

We did very well on the rebound against Melbourne.
Only won a handful of centre clearances. Carazzo was ok. I like the fact he is pushing forward to kick a goal each week.

A great habbit and makes the taggers work harder.

All the onballers including Judd needed to work harder and getting to the contest, taking the ball and winning the first disposal out of the centre.

Some thaught should be given to actually kicking the ball. We set a new record for handball. So all onballers were at fault.

We need to get it out and kick it. It is vital for Half forward line to be ready for the ball. If O'Halpin can't get Fev to come up to CHF for the bounce and then drop back to full forward.

Finals will be all about speed and pressure. It always is.

Recognising his different roles for the team over the years, Carrazzo has managed to hit double figure goals in a season for the first time in almost 100 games:

http://www.blueseum.org/tiki-index.php? ... A+Carrazzo

From the Blueseum

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Check out www.blueseum.org for all of your Carlton information needs.

You need defence as well as offence. If everyone runs upfield there's no defence.

Good observations by BV I think, but Carrotts was not the only culprit, the team as a whole was rather unaccountable and lots of wasteful disposal.

..specialist kicking sessions..?.. ..Walks has improved quite a bit too i reckon, now that he's back up at afl pace i thought most of his kicks were spot on vs dees..

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