In the first 15 minutes I thought it was going to be an avalanche.
In the last 15 minutes I knew the boys were caving in.
The Buddy show was taking centre stage.
The middle part (about 2 quarters worth) before the 22 minute mark of the 3rd and after the 15 minute mark of the 1st was very good.
We had control of the ball, and were winning the 50/50's against the form team of the comp on their home ground.
Impressive in that period.
Boys came off the ground exhausted at half time. They had given it their all.
That tells us they need to do a big preseason and build their stamina. Maybe 2 more preseasons to catch up to benchmark of comp.
I'm sure they realised that after this match.
I like what we achieved this year. Not because I'm satisfied with missing finals. But, we are coming from a long way back.
The kids dropped a quarter here and then which cost us games, sometimes it was just a couple of turnovers which cost us games. Last night was 2 full quarters we went missing.
Maybe it the last game of the year and the players lost desire. Nevertless got a lot of work to do for us to run our games with the best/ finalists.
Probably could have been a better forwardline with Waite, Garlett and Betts but Malthouse didn't rate them.
We've moved on since then, and can't get that trio back.
McKay and SOS2 will be better next year.
Jones didn't have Plowman to work in tandem as the 3rd man up, and imo team defense was amiss last night.
Jones played 10-15 metres off Buddy to cut off his leads but that left him in a very vulnerable position.
ACOS/Rowe, Marchbank, Plowman missing from our backline made a huge difference.
The big boys were missed as Swans had Tippett 200cm Reid 200cm Buddy 196cm and Sinclair 200cm stretching our defence.
Jones did well considering the powerhouse freak superstar athlete was on fire from the start, hence 10 goals, and the Swans looked for him.
It was a tsunami of supply.
What happened in the midfield was wher our glaring glaring problem was.
Kreuzer aside, I think Gibbs was tagged out beautifully by Swans, which left Murphy, Fish and SPS to fight above their weight.
I think I saw Graham do a couple of good things, but saw huge deficiencies in his game, I've known for a long time.
Sorry, but I expected more from the captain. 32 touches. Not bad for an outside player, not for a captain leading the midfield.
Once the Swans got it in the midfield they sent it out with quick hands and cut us up from there.
Swans were quite impressive TBH, so its not a huge fail for our kids, but there were a lot of question marks about our midfield.
Cripps and Curnow are sooooo important for us in the midfield, and badly missed their big bodies.
We need mids, good sized strong mids as the outside speed with Boekhurst and Pickett is a great find.
Casboult was lost....I don't think his mind was on footy. Moreso daddyhood.
Charlie will put on a bit of muscle over summer. It will do him a world of good. Lone hand at times.
Bottom 4 team this year. In fact 16th. It showed, but we are playing kids and rebuilding.
The foundations are there for everyone to see. Future stars on every line, but we need a few more.
Daisy, Smedts, Graham, Kerridge, need to be replaced by better midfielders. Add another for Simmo too.
Murphy is better off focussing on his game as an outside wingman who links up. Hard ball gets are not his place.
Change the captain over summer would be good for Carlton IMO.
Carlton Draft was flat at the SCG, I tied 3 different shops, and $2 pies were offered only at selected outlets. Many like me couldn't find them. Isn't there a law against that?
Can't wait for the era we dominate the Swans in Melbourne and Sydney.
I like Buddy. He's amazing to watch.But they are a smug lot with Buddy up here.
