I demand the Coach, MC, Football Manager, or Football Director to come out and tell Carlton fans what is wrong with Cripps
Is Williams still playing with the same leg injury since round 2 Since GWS? Playing with any injury

We shouldn't be playing injured players. It is unethical and they can't play 120 minutes of intense footy.

The club is not doing its fans, nor players Cripps and Williams any favours by avoiding the obvious question.
The elephant in the room.

Saying nothing about an obvious problem, leaves players to be belittled by fans, media and opposition, let alone all the rumours.
say nothing and think it will go away. Ignorance only brings more attention to the players and the club.

Teague mumbled his way through Crippa's form and stated his last quarter against Effendrug was "really really good".
Crippas last quarter last week was good because it was compared to the previous 3 quarters which were crap. He wasn't amazing in the last.

If Cripps isn't playing for the coach he wanted as Senior Coach, then in that case, both have their papers stamped.

"our two first-round picks from the past two years are injured (in Will Day and Denver Grainger-Barras) and we had James Sicily, Jaeger O’Meara and Jack Gunston out of the team. The weekend wasn’t where we see our team being and Clarko and the team will review it today and pull it apart.

Justin Leppitsch remains confident about Carlton’s direction, despite their 3-5 record and their late collapse against the Western Bulldogs on Sunday.
They conceded six last-quarter goals to give up a 27-point lead against one of the competition’s top teams in the loss.
The former premiership Lion sees a few tweaks that can be made to solidify the Blues behind the ball.
“I think they’re playing really good footy, they’re competing hard, their effort is there. If you’re a fan of Carlton, you’d be really rapt with the way they soldier on and turn up every week,” Leppitsch told SEN’s Whateley.
“The margins aren’t big. It’s the high scores against, particularly from turnover. They’re ranked fifth in the AFL for back-half points from turnover. So when they win the ball back, they’re good at getting it down the other end.

“I think if they set up with an extra number behind the footy, the challenge with team defence is you usually do it over a summer for three months so it’s very hard to incorporate a grid. That takes a pre-season to get together and get that understanding.
“The only thing you can really do in a week is use spares behind the footy. It’s a bit easier to communicate. Pick one particular player to play as a spare to start that potential ground-level win.
“As I said, they’re really competitive in the air, but if Weitering or Liam Jones don’t mark it and hits the deck, they’re not winning that ground level ball in their back half.
“All in all, I think they’re going okay and are relatively competitive.”

Hawthorn Chief Justin Reeves communicates the facts and common sense to his Members and supporters, as well as, even if unintentionally, the wider football community whilst our leaders leave our club out to the constant media attacks and degrading of our Brand.

reeves said



https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/hawthorn-v-west-coast-eagles-claim-38point-win-at-mcg-in-round-8/news-story/e6ddb6bf79f82223275236c4b8c7a913

Our chief could have come out and set the record straight, otherwise we hear Teague's broken record and not laying blame. He could say something along the lines:

* we are not where we expected to be at this stage this year. We expected to take a couple scalps of last years and this year's top teams
* our 2 big recruits Saad and Williams have been playing under duress of injury, and its no secret Cripps and Casboult have played with injuries every game
* with injuries to C.Curnow, Gov, Silvagni, Fisher and Martin, 5 of our best forwards has been injured, key back, Marchbank, Newman and ruckman DeKoning have also ben out injured along with McDonald
*we had to play what we have, underdone, players carrying niggles, and we've had to blood young raw players like Stocker, Parks, Cottrell, and Owies who have impressed.

*we have been competitive against last years Premiers (Tigers), ladder leader (port) and finalist (Pies), and top 4 team (Lions) for 3 quarters, but that doesn't suit media's dialogue
* we have beaten sides we were expected to perform well against and won against up and coming teams like us, Freo GCS and Effendruggies
* we have lost our games by between 16 and 28 points; less than 3 goals to less that 5 goals, where turnovers have cost us between 6 and 8 goals in those games.
* the media haven't been too kind on carlton, nor have they highlighted the injuries to a third of our team this year, which have curtailed our season thus far,

* but we expect with the return of DeKoning, Silvagni, Martin and Newman in the next fortnight, followed by Fisher and Charlie in the next or so 6 weeks we should get our season back on track
*and who knows what impact the return of our first round players Kemp and Philp will bring.
* internally, we are aware of the bad luck this year, but we are excited with the list and what it will bring as they get to play together.

Then tell conclude and tell the public we have decided to rest Cripps and Levi to help them recover over the next 3 weeks (ie 2 games)

And I tend to agree with Leppa on this - I'd make sure that each of Docherty, Saad, Stocker and Williams are ready to play the loose man in defense, depending on how the opposition are matching up.
And yes, I would start to give Stocker time in the middle. I'd tell Williams that he is going back until he gets his fitness and form to a level worthy of full time mid. In the meantime, Stocker plays mid and every now and then rotates with Williams.

Oh, wouldn't it be great to be the first team to knock off the Demons!

Am I allowed to dream?

Go our Blues!!!

The young and inexperienced Swans gave the Dee's a run for there money.If they can,we can...................i think the Dogs have more talent than the Dees and we gave the Dogs a fright...............Yep,we can definitely beat this mob.

Honey for SOJ, Murphy for Gibbons, Newman for Cottrell, Dow for Williams.

Kennedy or Setterfield in if Cripps needs a week off.

It’s tempting to bring in TDK for either Pitto or Levi, but I have a feeling they will want another VFL game or two in him first. It’s a shame the VFL has a bye this week because it probably means we won’t see TDK until at least round 11.

I’m assuming Newman pulled up OK after last week’s VFL match. He injured his elbow but returned to the ground and finished the game. If Newman isn’t right, SPS probably comes into the 22 although I would consider LOB who didn’t have his best VFL game last week but his overall VFL form has been pretty good this season.

It has little to do with defence. 23 centre clearances to 7? Our backline did well to keep us competitive.
Get the midfield sorted out and we'll get the wins.

Don't understand some suggesting Owies as an out. I reckon he's taken his chances when presented and deserves to stay.

Or did I miss an injury?