Our critics would say that we have been just plain lucky how events have fallen into place for us at PP over the past 5 years or so.
I had a surprise Birthday party over the weekend where a bunch of relatives and mates gathered together at my place and spent almost the entire time bagging the Blues and offering reasons why we are the LUCKY Club. Aside from the usual: You pinched Barassi, you had the best recruiting zone, that ball was out in 79, you dudded Sydney with the Rhys- Jones deal, you stole Bradley off Essendon*, Elliott pulled strings to get Kernahan, you stole Diesel from the poor Swans, etc, etc , etc, the main focus was on the Pagan era and events that have seen us as the whipping boys. Now they realise we are coming out of the worst period in our lifetimes and are gunna be huge threats again. Believe me they are all shitting themselves. Opposition supporters have come to the realisation that we are almost back in town. Let me tell ya, how sweet it is!
Some of the crap that is being said by the slime which makes up the general AFL supporting populace includes our supposed luck:
Lucky that with the retirements/injuries we suffered after the Parkin/Brittain era, we still had a good solid core of senior players!
Lucky that Big Jack was able to entice Dual North Melbourne Premiership Coach Denis Pagan to take on the wooden spooners!
Lucky that Wayne Brittain never survived because he was determined to trade Brendon Fevola. Pago Pago fell in love with him!
Lucky that the AFL didn’t penalise us even more severely after the Salary Cap/TPP fiasco was uncovered!
Lucky that we didn’t fold up the tent, hand back the keys or worse still that we weren’t forced to Relocate or Merge!
Lucky that we had our history to save us and sympathetic opposition clubs/supporters who chipped in when times were tough!
Lucky that we were able to secure a quality Father/Son selection in Jarrad Waite at Pick 46 in the 2001 Draft!
Lucky that the AFL allowed the Barnaby French trade for pick 16 to stand in the 2002 Trading Period!
Lucky that Kade Simpson who was rated as a potential top 20 pick fell through to us at pick 45 in the 2002 Draft!
Lucky that Brad Fisher who was rated at about 40 fell through to us at pick 72 in that Draft!
Lucky that we were able to elevate youngster Bret Thornton off the 2002 Rookie List!
Lucky that the AFL overlooked penalising our priority pick as well in 2003 and we secured Andrew Walker at pick 2!
Lucky that the Pies thought that Heath Scotland had no future as a bench player and traded him to us for pick 35!
Lucky that the GAA don’t pay their players and Setanta O’hAilpin left a promising Hurling career to become an International Rookie!
Lucky that the Rookie Draft continues to be kind to us as the Calder Captain, Adam Bentick was upgraded to our main list in 2004!
Lucky that the Cats decided that Andrew Carrazzo couldn’t play so we rookied him and then later upgraded him!
Lucky that we had all those late picks in that draft to secure other clubs players who formed the core of our ten wins in 2004!
Lucky that we were back in the 2004 Draft and got Jordan Russell at 9, Adam Hartlett at 25, a F/S in Luke Blackwell at 41, Chris Bryan at 73 & Anthony Raso at 77!
Lucky that the Bulldogs were committed to Jade Rawlings leaving Nick Stevens to us at pick 2 in the 2004 PSD!
Lucky that the Tiggys snapped up Trent Knobel in the PSD, leaving us to choose the overlooked, short, fat & lazy Eddie Betts!
Lucky that those players: Mott, Bowyer, Bannister, Deluca, Kenna etc. were on our list and we won the 2005 Wizard Cup!
Lucky that John Murphy didn’t regard the Lions as Fitzroy and Marc Murphy wanted to stay in Melbourne. We get the best mid in the 2005 Draft at pick1!
Lucky that the Pies and Dawks go for mids too, so we get the best KPP in that Draft in emerging giant Josh Kennedy at pick 4!
Lucky that the depth of mids and runners in that Draft saw Paul Bower who was named as AA Defender, fall top us at pick 20!
Lucky that the Bulldogs thought that Jake Edwards would take years to come on and didn’t take him F/S. He falls to us at pick 36!
Lucky that the Swans thought that Jason Saddington’s knee was inoperable and traded him to us for pick 50 and pay half his salary!
Lucky that the Lions couldn’t squeeze their best clubman into their salary cap so we got Dylan McLaren in the PSD!
Lucky that the AFL rules Ross Gibbs hadn’t played enough games for Glenelg in the correct timeframe, so son Bryce goes pick 1 to us in the 2006 Draft!
Lucky that other clubs took mainly KPP & mids with their first picks, leaving the athletic tall ruckman Shaun Hampson to fall to us at pick 17!
Lucky that the Bumbers went for the Jockey with pick 18 so we got the tall runner Shaun Grigg with pick 19!
Lucky that the athletic talls Mark Austin, Clinton Benjamin and Joe Anderson were available at our picks too!
Lucky that Cain Ackland was looking for an opportunity to play 22 games so we snapped him up in the PSD!
Lucky that the Filth delisted that fat useless turd Cameron Cloke, so we pounced in the PSD and will turn him into a solid player!
Lucky that the rookie list keeps producing solid players for us as Craig Flint was upgraded to the main list at the end of last season!
Lucky that Ford, Crossisca, Bradley & Ratten were available to join the Support act for 2007!
Lucky that Smorgon and cronies were removed and a new vibrant Board was voted in!
Lucky that Richard Pratt had played Under 19’s for Carlton and had a heap of time up his sleeve!
Lucky that Rod Ashman had worked for a Visy company and was actually downgraded to come to PP!
Lucky that Tony DeBolfo wasn’t a current journalist due to being sacked and chased RP to get a cushy job!
Lucky that Steven Icke was sick of West Australia and wanted to come back to Victoria. Only took on Blue job for security!
Lucky that Greg Swann had run his race at Pieland and was being squeezed out. Left reluctantly they say!
If any of you guys reckon we have been blessed with all the luck as described above, then you are as deluded as some of my rellies/mates who wouldn’t know shyte from clay!
I prefer to think of the above situations as astute planning, calculated gambles, clever selections, taking advantage of circumstances, fortuitous availabilities and last but not least getting the best possible people onboard the Navy Blue Express.
I smell resurgence, just around the corner. The good news is that so does everybody else. That’s why they are talking about us once again!
I reckon Sticks was right when he said: “We are Carlton, @#$%&! the restâ€
