You should be hoping its not the latter but the former...

Getting new players is harder than changing a shit gameplan... that doesnt work... unless the coach is useless.. and then u can still sack him..

_________________
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.

Pro

People like Blue Vain who assess the game objectively and provide a sensible, sound analysis.


Con

People who try to talk over everyone else in almost every thread.




Pro

Bower is growing in his role.
The kids will hopefully take something out of the game.


Con

Waite
Midfield support for Judd is non existent - where are the blocks? the shepherds?
The obvious.

_________________
"One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds." - Frank Zappa

Synners

I think we have got the players, just as Bomber Thompson had the players a couple of years ago. Bomber's problem was getting them to understand and implement his gameplan. I hope this is the same situation at Carlton. If it is not then the problem is the gameplan itself . AND if that is the case then we have a FAR more serious problem. At the moment I am giving Ratts the benefit of the doubt.

_________________
I need some new conspiracy theories; all my others have come true.

You are most welcome

Finals Football

_________________
Delulio is a member of TISM

This also pisses me off. Week after week, year after year. If we dont turn it over, we chip a liitle kick to the back pocket, wait, look up & "bingo",
there is no-one to kick it to so we bomb it up the boundary line to a contest.

Would love to know how many times we have gone coast to coast with a kick out from a behind. And I would take no notice of games against shit teams like Richmond and a filth VFL side

_________________
Cheats never prosper (except in the AFL)

Could be other reasons too CB.

Do some of the players in the Bullants deserve a go or are ahead of Wiggins and Russell?

_________________
Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

PROS

Bower: I have never doubted him. Sure the style council have been up him, but he's always been effective.

Stevens: Tried his guts out. Showed what he's capable of. Surprised by the first half clangers.

Kreuzer: The kid doesn't need a rest. He thrives on the week to week challenge.

Hammer: Got the better of the rucks. Pity the Crows had our midfielders (Judd) covered. Great defensive work.

Browne & Armfield: Sure they were the clanger kings, but what great commitment to break lines and fight for the ball. They showed The Chief what he was made of.

Austin & Yarran: Showed glimpses of their capabilities. Austin will be a good CHB imo.

Joseph: Great job on McLeod.

Simpson & Robbo: Tried their guts out. Had a dip.

Thornton: looked good as an attacking forward.

Murphy's 2nd half was all guts and determination.

In an even year, we still can make the finals even if Ratts continues to fail against the opposition coaching strategies.

Might get some class into the team next week with Scotland and Houlihan.

May finally see the back of Wiggins in the Ants. Same with Russell.

The listed Blues in the Ants have a spot or three to play for.

CONS:

From watching it on the box, I saw at least 4 times when a player chose to have a difficult shot (kicked a point) when they had a better option for the easy receive and easy kick for goal. That's 4 goals (or 24 points) which would have made a difference when we had clawed back to a 28 point deficit.

Can't believe that we allowed the deficit to again be stretched from 28 points to 44 points. Those last 3 goals were a blight on our level of commitment.

Wiggins. You all know my feelings on Ratts playing players out of form. He was really bad today. Some say he had 2 bad weeks before being dropped. IMO Wiggo has played below average since round 3 (6 games in a row) including a month he would rather forget.

Russell: The worse game I have seen from him. He is a broken footballer. I blame the MC for this having commended him for playing so negatively. When he has a chance to be proactive he isn't. Disposal and defensive effort. Another needing a spell.

Our disposal was pathetic. I counted 5 times when Hadley made position to receive the ball, after he ended his massive battles on the floor of the stoppages, only to be missed by a clanger.

Disposal forward by Stevens, Judd, Muph, Russell cost us at least another dozen goals.

Fev's 1 goal 5 behinds should have been 5 goals 1. Another 4 goals we missed.

Gibbs' game was the shocker of the century. No brains, no heart and not with the program.

Judd: Just have a look at the clangers (some from perceived pressure)...shocker.

Ratts use of Fev, Russell and Wiggo dumbfound me. Ratts was outcoached. What is he doing playing players out of position, out of form, playing through the wings, handball happy, no corridor strategy, no kick in strategy...no run?

Another CON, as I stated I would add if Wiggo played....RATTS!!!! Your love child will bring you down.

WAITE's injury devastated me. The Waite doubters probably have no idea on how bad I have felt from the moment his knee went snap. Now the doubters will know how important he is (as are A graders) now that he'll be missing.

The final CON. How I'm feeing at the moment re coach and some players and some posters

_________________
Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Pros
Thankfully missed the entire match yesterday.

Cons
Waite's ACL.
Rattens coaching from all reports.

_________________
“I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned.” ― Richard Feynman

Pros:

Austin
Browne
Kreuzer - ABC Adelaide commenters more positive about Special K than posters

Don't have a Foxtel subscription

_________________
Bawditawaba

Yarran wasn't a total pro. He had a couple of nice possessions but was overall pretty innefective. We can't call for this player or that player to be dropped because they have a bad game and then say Yarran is a pro with worse stats.
We should play our best available 22 every week. If that includes Bannister or Houlihan or Edwards or Wiggo, it doesn't matter. Kids have to earn their spot and then keep it on form, just like everybody else. How Yarran gets a game in front of Houlihan or maybe Anderson, for example is beyond me. We won't play finals if we experiment with kids just for the sake of it and finish out of the eight. I am sure he will be a good player but not just yet.

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

PROS:
I didn't make the trip over there like I do most years.

CONS:
My neighbour now thinks I have the worst case of tourettes ever diagnosed..

_________________
"Know no fear,
You will see Heaven from here....."

I'll see your tourettes and raise it to the local divisional van came by to see what the disturbance was about.

_________________
"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

"they know we're coming" created with the cops in mind.

_________________
"Know no fear,
You will see Heaven from here....."

One more Con

Ratten's jibe after the game that he was hoping that McLeod would miss a game a few weeks ago, so that this wouldn't be his milestone game

Perhaps that feeble mental attitude rubbed off on the team ?? Why the flower weren't our boys fired up ?

Because from the get go all the planning was around them not getting the jump on us and us not getting it on them. We had the wind and a monster forward.

Basically i think it was the boys pretty much saying this is shit and we been coached better during our TAC cup days

From my spot in the outer...

PROS:
Fantastic turnout of the Navy Blue Brigade as usual. Always great support for the Blues over here.
Kruez, pleasure to see him in action again.
Bower, best player for us by a mile IMO.
Seeing Gibbsy & Aussie in action. Not that Gibbsy did much. Aussie showed a bit.
Not much more I can think of unfortuantely

CONS:
5 points to half time.
Fev is a FULL Forward not a HBF'er.
Dropping of the heads so early.
Lack of movement through the corridor. Lack of willingness to work hard and make Adelaide earn it.
Judd. Not Judd himself, but just the fact that he bust's his boiler, and not one bloke that I saw had the
nous to go and give Doughty a fair hit. Please, please, instruct one bloke per week be it Hadley or
Scotland or hell even Wiggins, to run through the bloke who's scragging Judd. I don't give a shit if you
give away a free or a 50. Just let them know that you care about the Captain, and support him.
The way it seemed as if the players just didn't care, bar a couple.
Waitey's knee

_________________
Go to http://www.snoutslouts.org/ for a look at the mighty GFC...

Haven't seen the game until now. Makes it easier, when you know the result, and your expectations are lower.

Pros:
Simmo, Stevens and Murphy. They all just kept working. Loved Simmo's intensity and willingness to initiate contact with opposition players. Loved how Stevo was hitting the clearances on the move.
Fev. Played well, worked hard. But his kicking for goal at the moment is diabolical.
Kreuzer and Hampson. Another win to our young ruckmen.
Bower again.
Yarran showed a fair bit I thought. Really lifted his intensity and showed a willingness to run and chase and lay some tackles. Shows lots of class when he has it.
Joseph again.
Browne showed a bit, although he was a bit wasteful.
Armfield. Just love his run and effort. But fumbled early and consistently turned it over.
Willingness to fight the game out after a pathetic first half.
I thought Wiggo finally started to show some form in the second half.

Cons:
Again we showed our vulnerability against tough, well-drilled teams. Too often we're getting physically intimidated, and tactically exploited. Our solution to the midfield and defensive flooders appears to be to try and take them on with run and carry. But we don't have enough skilful runners to do it successfully. Also if the early season gamestyle is anything to go by, there doesn't appear to have been much preseason 'practice' or 'training' in this gamestyle. If this is our new long-term strategy, we're going to struggle against decent sides over the next 18 months.
Those big fat goal posts. We must have had half a dozen posters.
Waite's injury. Any slight remaining chance of making the finals must surely have gone now.
Russell had a shocker. For a guy with good handballing technique, I've never seen a player consistently miss easy handballing targets. I think Russell has a future, but just can't understand how players at this level can struggle with one of the easier footy skills.
Hadley had another very poor game. For a guy of his experience, there's far too big a gap in what he's producing at the moment. His best is very good. His worst is very poor.
Kick in strategies. Adelaide wanted us to go short and to the pocket. So what did we do, we went short and to the pocket (apart from the time when Gibbs kicked it to the man on the mark!). We need to be more creative and offensive with our strategies. Especially when we have the advantage of a strong wind, which should make clearances much easier. We need players who will occasionally play on, and gain some metres from the kick in. We need other players who can easily clear 50 from the kick ins. That way when we go short, there's much more space to play on and get the ball outside 50 with greater ease.
3 horrible turnover goals from Gibbs, Thornton and Bower. Adelaide don't score all that easily. Worst thing you could do, is give away cheap goals. (Especially 2 in the first quarter!)