Dunno if it's just me, but I am a tad less excited this time of year, compared to recent years.

Maybe it's the fact we have no Fevola and will probably need time to settle a new fwd structure; maybe it's because of the off-field shenanigans and the resultant likelihood 1AW, Betts & Houla won't play Round 1; maybe it's bec the Skip will be out R1-3. In other words, do we fear 2010 might not be such a successful year? (one step back for two steps fwd sorta thing)

Countering that though, I think much of the list is young, and so many of these players should have x% of natural improvement in them, which means y% natural improvement in the team as a whole??

Anyhow, point of this thread was to ask TCers - are we gettin seriously excited yet? or is it still a few weeks off? (ie: is it the Family Day/NAB Cup/post-Cricket period when the excitement really starts to build?).

I have a small circle of CFC mates and we CC each other into CFC related emails, and the emails have been pretty dry of late. But I might be heading to training this weekend (if it's on), so that might get me excited about the year ahead and the Mighty Blue Baggers !!!!

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It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it

I must be excited, I just got an email from Paul Roos asking me to go to the NAB Cup game. Makes me less inclined to go now.

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Yes.....The Swans are saying they've never been so confident about an upcoming game as in the match against us .....Feb 20.

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No ones listening till you make a mistake.

I'm completely the opposite to you VB. I don't think I've ever been this excited for a season, and losing Fevola contributes to that, I can't wait to see how we will operate in 2010.

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Premierships: 1869, 1871, 1873, 1874, 1875, 1877, 1887, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1914, 1915, 1938, 1945, 1947, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1987, 1995.

"GIBBS."

I'm excited on the inside

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NG
S M C , S F L

Between now and then I'll be moving house, going on a holiday and a couple of exams and playing soccer.

When the Footy bible comes out I'll start to get excited.

I'm just so disillusioned with how our club is operating at the minute it is very hard to get excited.
And besides- the superbowl is coming up.

I'm looking forward to the season, but the excitement hasn't hit yet

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And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

What is it JK that is bothering you?

Communication via website? Pretty amateurish and thin. There is so much which can be done.

Communication re Training? That would create a great vibe at training for the players. More would attend.

The lack of sponsorship annoncements?

The HUN attacks whilst we seem to sit on our hands and take it?

Lack of good news stories for the media to focus on?

I'm really excited with the list. Despite...

* Judd out 3 weeks: so be it. Gives another a chance. I believe in our midfield depth. Players will step up.

The 3 players suspended following the Cruise. Maybe could have been better handled and not have to wait till the 4th. Walker suspension seems unfair. Ditto Judd points above. Opportunity. They'll be back bigger than ever.

* Murphs OP/ hip? Henderson's knee? Warnock's recovery? See points above.

* Loss of Fev and Stevens. They have been replaced with Henderson, Lucas and McLean. We move forward. We try new tricks and give others opportunity to shine.We have added class to replace them.

The list is what you should look at. See the many alternatives we can come up with forward and defense, plus those moves Ratts and Co make which we all will be surprised with.

Nothing to be down about as far as the playing list is concerned imo.

Bloody hell, we have 4 bonafide ruckmen.
We have a group of 14 midfielders.
We have plenty of tall options forward and back.
We have young kids doing another preseason. All of them.
Waite, Walker, Jamison, Austin, Hadley, Bower and Robinson return from injury and will be fit and firing in 2010.
New elite training facilities.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Yep, no excuses for Ratts this year.

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There's so much I could say...

Interesting the other day to hear Ross Lyon say that "You can never have too many midfielders".........

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No ones listening till you make a mistake.

That's right budzy.

22 games 30 very good players and a game plan; that's plenty of time.

There's a lot riding on the decisions Ratts makes in the next 4-8 weeks.

Then next 22 games will judge him as a success or failure. I hope it turns out as it should the latter.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

i am excited and looking forward to round 1.

if we can take this young list and sneak into finals then i think we would have done well.

we have a super young list with many fantastic players.

many top 8 team are aging (saints, cats, crows & lions) and only have a small window left.

when they start dropping out of the 8 we will step in and dominate for the next 10 years if we can keep the curent list together.

i have faith all round and am looking forward to seeing some plan b,c & d as i was sick of seeing the ball being kicked to fev 9/10 times even when we had other forward options lose.

also one more thing i wont miss is fev getting a bad run by the umpires.

he would get held, pushed and everything under the sun and no be awarded a free kick.

that used to frustrate me big time.

no more.

i wish i could go to sleep and wake up on the 26th March.


BRING IT ON

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Special K = Contraband

since 3/4 time against Brisbane I've been getting less and less excited about our prospects for 2010... I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised. pessimist I know

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Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.

Excited but unsure of whats ahead.

Tough draw with the loss of Judd for three weeks plus the injury to Murphy is a worry and Waite will take time to get back to his best.

Also, big pressure on Ratten this year. Has the side he wants and has tried to instill discipline. The question for me is is he able to get the best out of the kids and have the structure and game plan to be a top 4 side?

The key for us will be the development of players such as Gibbs, Kruezer, Hampson, Warnock, Yarran, Garlett, Robinson, Jamison, Bower, Austin, Henderson, AJ etc.

Lots of talent but as individuals they need to keep improving for us to reach the top.

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#NewBlues beginning 25th August 2015

I wish i felt excited as i normally do every year around this time, but i just don't feel it yet. I think we will struggle to make the 8 this year and that we will fall back a few spots but hopefully we will be back on track in a few years. The loss of Fevola will be huge and people are underestimating this and what effect this will have on our team.

Hope i'm wrong though !

CAn't wait.

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“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.

+1

Too much amateurish, badly handled stuff and TBH I can't see that changing in a hurry.
Really disappointing.

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Gaga and The Hoff party hard in London

I feel very frustrated and disappointed to be honest.

The handling of the Fevola debacle was very unprofessional IMO. It became a media circus and was the start of a smear campaign that only grew even bigger thanks to childish acts from so called professional footballers.

Then Trade week comes along and whilst the club had to make a stand on Fev, Brisbane at this stage "owned" us with the deal they got. I know its early and perhaps we won't really know the value Henderson and Lucas will bring for a few years, but on face value we were short changed.

To ad insult to injury, the draft whilst being a supposedly weak one saw some reaching from our recruiter. Lucas aside the other players chosen at this stage seem projects at best. I hope I am proved wrong though...

Then the club comes out with the new slogan, something about cooking. I know they wanted to be bold and different, but geez, it added more fuel to an already overwhelming media fire.

Then after supposedly showing the strength to set up a "strong" culture, with the trading of Fev, a handful or so of players decide to slap the club and its path of change in the face with childish acts. Not that the media needed anymore reason to continue their slamming of the club, this provided bonus material to report on during a generally slow AFL news period. The Club also, shows minimal professionalism to act appropriately and with conviction, deciding that they could wait a few days before working out a punishment.

So given what has happened in the lead up to this season, I am struggling to get excited at this point. Maybe after I go and watch the boys play in the NAB cup at Blacktown my demeanor will improve, but for now I feel like the club is treading water a bit....

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Cripps is the man