No Fev. No Judd for rounds 1, 2 and 3. Fev could very well kick 10 on us in round two.
We will win some, sure... but we will lose plenty. I can't help this plaguing feeling that we might be in for a 'nothing year'.. a 2004, where we finish too low for finals, and too high for a decent draft pick.

Someone, please do something to convince me otherwise... I need it.

_________________
R A D I C A L B R O T H E R S

Inspired by the One-Minute Sculptures of Erwin Wurm

"All in all is all we are..."

I doubt we will reach those 2004 depths again with the current crop of players available. Having said that so-called experts are starting to predict their top 8 for 2010 and the general concenses seems to be that Carlton will slip out of the 8 and the Hawks will make it. I personally would like to think that we could retain our spot and instead see Essendon* slipping out of the 8 for Hawthorn. Carlton will then most likely battle for 8th spot against sides like Essendon*, Swans, West Coast etc.

With everything thats been said about the Fev situation, I actually dont think his loss will effect us too greatly. Sure his talent and goal kicking ability will be missed but I have a feeling that not having Fev in the side will change the whole dynamic of the side. Hopefully our forward line structure is less predictible and works more efficiently. I also have no doubt that some players will be putting in an extra 5-10% because Fev isnt there.

Losing Judd for the first 3 weeks wont help but Brock seems a pretty good short term replacement. If we have 1 or 2 forwards step up and the back 6 stays healthy I think we still have the midfield that can take us into the finals....

Like most sides in the comp, if we stay healthy we'll win more games than we lose and we'll make the top 8.

GO BLUES

_________________
HENDERSONALENKO......YOU BEAUTY!!!!!

Shag, I hear your pain but consider the 2004 list:

http://www.blueseum.org/tiki-index.php? ... aying+List

Its an odd mix of some very good Carlton players at the end of their career, retreads on their second and last chance, and a fair few rookies and late picks looking set to have a crack at it.

Look at 2010. The list quality is far better but with far fewer retreads and late picks. The quality is on a different dimension to 2004. We have a small handful of 25 year olds + and a young burgeoning list of guns.

We might still have a frustrating year as we try to work out a forward line that can function, but at the end of the year we cant be anywhere near as 'empty' as after 2004.

There will be silver lining here even if we miss the finals.

Shag you do realise that we had 3 players finish top 10 in the Brownlow and two of those are still getting better


We will have a better year this year than last - Bank on it

_________________
If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

Pencil me in for 13W 9L.

The list from 04 is the stuff good horror movies are made of. Scary $h1T.

A slow start with the baby blues storming home to an electrifying finish of the season proper and playing one maybe two games in the finals.

The ball got down there fine last year its just sharing the load a bit and being unpredictable.

The goals will come.............

Is it feb 20 yet?

Go blueboys!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOO!

_________________
When you're a Jet you're a Jet all the way!

..2004 list some games it had no right winning.. ..some players played well above their ability that year.. ..2010, while we may finish on around 10 wins again [never know], we'll be far better skills wise and hopefully gameplan wise too.. ..either way, there's nothing wrong with a little setback in 2010, cos there's no way 2011 will follow up like 2005 did..

_________________
..if you can't be good, be good at it..

We will make finals this year.

yes we lost fev, but we also have three number 1 picks ready to star/already starring.

we also have judd, and in round 1 play richmond who are hopeless and should win in round 3 (though brissy will be tough).

there's no excuse, and if we don't make finals, a certain Wayne Hughes will have a lot of explaining to do.

Only WH has a lot of explaining to do?

_________________
“It is a state of mind, a system of belief, a way of seeing the world, a deep faith that, because you are Carlton, you belong to something great.” - Mike Fitzpatrick articulating what Out of the Blue means.

Ratten will as well obviously
But Hughes has been at the club since 2004, Ratten since 2007.
I assume if we miss finals changes will have to be made as it would be pretty unnacceptable.
My view is Hughes would have the biggest case to answer.
A coach can only do so much.
See Malcolm Blight at St Kilda at the turn of the milenium.

And a recruiting manager can only do so much.

Your bias is showing again.

_________________
“It is a state of mind, a system of belief, a way of seeing the world, a deep faith that, because you are Carlton, you belong to something great.” - Mike Fitzpatrick articulating what Out of the Blue means.

Not biased at all.

Both will have to explain themselves.

O'sullivan couldn't circa 2003-2004 and was moved on.

Pagan couldn't in 2007 and was moved on.

Finals are a minimum this year.

If we don't make finals we're going backwards.

And yes maybe I am biased.

So are a lot of posters on here about a lot of things.

Some are very biased towards Ratten, and think he should not be coaching.

I personally prefer to give a club legend, best and fairest winner, premiership player the benefit of the doubt.

Now, you've turned one off hand remark into a whole debate.

Let's leave it now.

Let's hope it's not another 2004.

Let's hope for finals at least ,and ideally push the top four to signal improvement.

I actually thought 2004 was a pretty good year in the overall scheme of things in that woeful period.

2005... now that stung!!!!

If we dont salvage a draw in the cricket, W. Hughes will have some explaining to do..

_________________

Look no further than Man United...with Cris Ronaldo they were kings of the world but also ridiculously reliant on him to win games for them. Now he's left and...OMG they are still very much on track to stay as kings of the soccer world.

Other people have simply stepped up to fill the breach and Manu are now a far less predictable side with more goalscorers. I would be surprised if we slipped much this year and would be more surprised if we became less potent offensively.

We have enough good players that will kick goals to keep us being competitive until the likes of Henderson and Kreuzer hopefully become forward stars.

_________________
I wasn't going to go there, but I'm so glad I did

Are you trying to be funny?

I can see us around mid table in no mans land

We have oodles of promising talent on the list though which we didn't have in '04 but I'm not sold on a fluent game style eventuating this year. We'll see...

_________________
There's so much I could say...

Who have we lost for this year. Cloke sacked, Stevens who was on his last legs, and Fev.

Who have we gained. McLean and Henderson. And after injury Waite, Jamison, and Warnock (hopefully).

Who do we look for improvement from. Murphy, Gibbs, Kreuzer, Hampson, O'Hailpin, Yarren, Garlett, Robinson etc. etc. etc.

If we do not improve over last year it is the players as well as the coaching staff who will be at fault.

I reckon its almost a good thing that Judd is not around for the first few games. We all forget that he is actually human and the rest of the players need to run onto the field without him occasionally. Physically they are good enough. But they need to get it into their head they are.

_________________
"Get ready, Teddy - you're on": Ron Barassi half time 1970 Grand Final

I have put money on us finishing top 4.........

_________________
TC suffers from the social media illness - the death of respect and constructive discourse by keyboard.

Better than the sharemarket.

_________________
"Get ready, Teddy - you're on": Ron Barassi half time 1970 Grand Final