I have to say, I am a tad surprised (and disappointed) that the Carlton faithful in here are not more openly optimistic than I think they should be.

Sitting on my glorious balcony today, I perused our senior list and discovered that we have about 30 odd players who for all intents and purposes will/could play fine footy for the next 5-10 years.

Not only that, but we seem to be best placed in the most important area (for modern footy) - that being the midfield. Judd and Stevens are elite, with the former being the best midfielder since Greg Williams; Murphy and Gibbs are super talented no.1 draft picks; Carrazzo and Scotland are proven ball magnets; Walker and Simpson are on the verge of playing sustained great footy; Betts I reckon could explode in the next 1-2 years such is his talent and the improvements he made this year; Hadley could be very, very good; Houlihan, while being a pussy we begrudgingly acknowledge deep down can play; then there's Grigg, Russell, Jackson, Bentick, Blackwell etc.

Oh and did I mention the ruck? where Kreuzer, Aisake and Hampson are all athletic freaks of the highest order!?

West Coast managed to be the best team in the comp for 2-3 years with a star FB, a gun midfield; and bugger all up forward. And Sydney managed to set the pace with West Coast, with Hall, Goodes, O'Loughlin, and O'Keefe their only star players.

I don't think I was born in a cabbage patch garden, and I reckon our young list (which has a sizeable no. of 24-28 year olds now) bats bloody deep, and has enough elite quality in it, to be super competitive. Dare I say it, but maybe all that we need now is a bit of luck and a good game plan (both WC and Syd are well drilled in their game plan) !?!

I'm also very optimistic. Our midfield and forward line are/will be up with the best of them.

Although most great teams are built from the defense up. Until Setanta and Jameson fully develop, and we add another big key backman, we will be just short of the mark. So another year or two is required. Ruck is another position that still needs to develop somewhat. Although that can turn around alot quicker than an entire back line.

10 wins in 2008

Finals are coming in 2008, that is no throw away line if you look at our list closely.The problem i have now is which Gold Package i buy next year, the Social Club or Standard?

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Mjonc signing off at 8888

I'm with you Virgin Blue. We bat deep with good youth, which holds us in good stead moving forward.

An interesting observation I made (in TC?) was one Carlton supporter's 2010 team team. This poster had both Aisake and Setanta in the backline, with Jamison and Thornton making up the other talls. It looked good, but it was robbing Peter to pay Paul (assuming Aisake makes the grade...as I believe he will do more than that).

The first thing I thought of is that perhaps 1 of the 3 emerging (but unproven) ruckmen (including Kreuzaer) we have on our list will not make it as a ruckman; leaving us with only 2 bona fide ruckmen; maybe Jacobs will add a bit more mobility and stamina to his game, but the jury is out on him. Who knows, Aisake and Setanta in the backline do give us much needed height and pace; they may be the answer.

Persnally, I wish we had more depth to allow one or both o'hAlpins time in the middle (on the wings). That poses questions on our hyperthetical depth. Inevitable injuries will soon give us the anser to whether we have 'real depth' in our list.

I live in hope that Austin makes CHB his in the next 2-3 years (2009-10), Jamison becomes one of the best FB's in the AFL, and Bower can be the 3rd tall, whilst the more experienced Thornton could become the tall sweeper (as he likes to play) like McPhee did when he hit his peak a few years back. Then we can release Walker once and for all into the guts; adding more elite depth to our developing list of midfielders.

IMO, we need Kreuzer, a good PSD this year and a couple good first rounders in 2008 and 2009 to give us the necessary depth in class we need to win our first of many flags from 2010 on. Who knows what we might snag in future drafts, after all, we (Pratt and Swanny) got Judd this year.

At least at the end of 2007, our future is so much brighter than it was at the end of the 2006 season.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

...............!


kindest regards tommi

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that'siti'mnotchangingthistagain......!

GReat post - but in future please refrain from using the word "Blimey". It has associations with the Collingwood theme song and thus could cause a mass outbreak of nausea and vomiting.


(Having to get my monitor disinfected as I type....)

Ha Ha Ha too true !! that and Cake walk have me running to the toilet everytime , although our musical intro to our theme song gives me thoughts of constipation where u are holding on to both walls straining to push ....

Next year it looks like we will have a very good midfield, good forwardline, however poor defence and ruck division.

IF the likes of Hampson, Setanta and Jamison can improve significantly next season we should make the finals providing we have a good run with injuries.

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In the Truth there is no news, and in the News there is no truth.

If Carlton can win the ball in the middle and have a strong defence in the forward line i.e. Fevola doesn't give up and let the ball be taken out with no pressure, then it won't expose our weak backline.

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Delulio is a member of TISM

pretty much on the mark there i reckon, when we were being raped in the ruck/clearances our defenders were looking pretty bad; if we get first use of the pill in the centre, the pressure on the backmen will be nowhere near as much

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In america, first you get zee shugar, the you get zee power, then you get ze wemen!!!

Do we think Zakky and Tank and Judd and Stephens (this is Nick's new name, now) will play the Box Seaters on the Thursday night?

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[Sam Jacobs] looks like a 7' Lance Whitnall, and [Mitch Robinson] looks like a 4' Lance Whitnall
(The SEN team during the Carlton v Cats 2009 pre-season match)

Yes, we are on a good wicket.

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