I love Kruez, I really do, by by jingoes he seems to have lost any confidence he ever had in taking a mark above his shoulders. Really, really doesn't look like a fwd, and yet Ratten keeps playing him up there where he is odds on to not take a mark.

Ditto Warnock seems completely incapable too of using his height advantage to take a serious grab.

Hamspon is a hit n miss commodity.

Setanta can do it sometimes, but last night he dropped 2 marks he should have taken about 35 m from goal = Unreliable.

Where is our next Franklin/Roughead; Riewoldt/Kozi; Brown/Fevola; Lloyd/Lucas; Hall/O'loughlin; dare I say it Hurley/Gumbleton coming from?

Don't laugh folks. Hurley and Gumbleton could well tear us to absolute shreds next time we play the Scum.

Have we historically taken a risk with Fevola, blindly hoping he would be a good boy and stay a blue and help us win a Premiership? All those high draft picks, but no KPP Forwards to look fwd to, with the possible exception of Henderson.

Blues have said time and time again the emphasis is on Midfield. It's a midfielders game these days Swann has trotted out more than once. Now I'm not saying we shouldn't have Judd and Gibbs; but obviously the flipside is theoretically we could have Gumbleton and Kennedy on our list now. Our maybe I should say we could have 1 of them.

Have we perhaps not got the balance quite right? As good as Kruezer is, let's face it he is a ruckman, not a fwd. And as another poster noted last night, Parkin was right in so far as Gumbleton, if fit is a better prospect than Henderson. Carlton fans need to take their rose coloured glassses off = Gumbleton could be a superstar if he stays fit. That mark he took was exceptional.

I sat there at the G last night and me and the guy next to me (who I never met before) both agreed our talls gave us absolutely nothing last night.

Now in saying that I don't think we made an error with Lucas. I think you go a pretty god Mid at 12 instead of a so so tall like Talia.

But I just wonder, have we recruited too many rucks and not enough top quality KPP Fwds given our good position in the draft historically?

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Was my second live game for 2yrs. In both of those games I've seen very little output from Kreuzer. His kicking is terrible. Just seems to kick the ball without any plan. Second qtr he got a free kick near the centre and then kicked it as hard as he could.....it went about 35m tops.

Still my biggest concern is the whole coaching staff. When I look at the four of them there addressing the players....Riley, Lappin, Montgomery and Ratts...just does not fill me with any confidence at all.

I agree Kruezers marking has been out of form all year. He seemed to pull them down alright at training the other morning. He is just going through a rough patch that will sort itself out with practice and a bit more practice.

I think the idea of him as a forward should be judged once he gets his marking back on track.

Marking, along with kicking ,tackling and showing any intensity at all was lacking from the entire 22 last night. We deserved what we got.

His issue was his positioning. He was continually backing himself to lead his opponent just under the ball and reach back for the mark. It failed, repeatedly. He needs to present in a more conventional fashion rather than find absurd ways to take it at the highest point.

Setanta fluffed marks because the delivery was regularly shocking and very rarely to advantage. He made clear leads and they were not properly honoured. Hendo wound up with 9 marks by protecting the drop zone of the ball.

Gumbleton was doing exactly the same things as those two, but the Bombers were just kicking it better to him.

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Hendo is a work in progress (been said ad nauseum I know), and that folks is the sum of our fwd marking options. End of story. Setanta will never be a consistent contested mark, Kreuzer is just not a natural forward, and Waitey is not a KPP. I won't even discuss Hampson's marking ability

Wiggo is a certainty to return this week after his 5 in the magoos. I'd play him out of the goalsquare, and leave Santy at CHF to play the Earl Spalding role. Going forward we desperately need to fast track Donaldson and maybe Levi if he shows enough. At least they seem natural forwards, and that's something we desperately lack.

Please.

If Gumbleton was a Carlton player, you would be bagging Carlton for overlooking Gibbs and drafting another player who can't kick.

Even Rohan Connolly was bagging Gumbleton's ball drop.

Kennedy would have struggled last night.

The so called world beater we let go lost out to Hansen in a contest that he should have won.

Kennedy has the recovery of a mack truck.

I'm not saying we should have taken Gumbleton ovder Gibbs.

I'm just making the ppoint that our talls are not setting the world on fire and it appears we don't have a great young KPP Fwd despite all the high picks we have had

R.Connolly noted in The Age yesterday we are not up with the Dons in terms of KPPs. It is a noteworthy issue to discuss

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[youtube]Y_vrIip1WoM[/youtube]

You're just grasping at straws again...

IMHO:-


Henderson,
Looks like a handy pick up and a good CHF prospect, but not expecting anything from him just yet. Needs to keep his head over the football when he kicks through as i think this is the reason he sprays it occasionally (ie, he lifts he's head up before the ball meets his foot, anybody else noticed this?)
Either way, if he plays everygame and kicks 25-30 goals this year i'd be wrapped.


Setanta,
WILL make mistake and WILL look awkward at times, but i love the fact that i can rely on him to give his all each and every week. Might have had a bad night last night but still kicked two goals and gifted eddie with another. He is our best option at the moment wether you like it or not!


Kreuzer,
Not a forward (imo) and besides, he is far to valuable up the ground anyway. Is our best ruck option.


Warnock.
pfft, give me spell would you! He can barely ruck FFS!


Eddie, Yazza and Gartlett,
I think these three can fit into the same side EASILLY!




Apart from that, that's all we have for the year! So find a way to effectivly work with what we have the best we possibly can.

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"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit"
- Aristotle

No worries, we have two 190+ players sitting in the wings injured, who will change the landsape significantly once they are up and available.

Austin and Bower will allow a number of possible options to take affect.

Austin will allow Waite to play along the wing or CHF, whilst Bower will release options like Walker to play HFF and midfield.

Will also have Hampson and Jacobs available to press for selection, placing pressure on Warnock.

There a re many options, but frankly I'm not concerned with the selections or availability of players, I'm not convinced that we play a game style which allows these players to play effectively.

Your strategy with larger size bodies, must be to move the ball into the forward 50 as quick as you can to create the one on one contests. The pagan's paddock will not work, and insisting your forwards press high up the ground, also minimizes their effectiveness.

Your sole purpose with key forward posts is to hit them up as quick as you can within the goal kicking zone infront of the goal mouth.

We must use our resources effectively, then we will see some results.

Am I the only one who can see that Setanta is a 200cm SMALL forward.

He kicks goals through ground level gathers and contesting (and occasionally on a quick lead).

He is not a good contested mark.

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"You can't polish a James Hird"

Also; when he started Kruezer was a one-grabber every time he placed his hands on the ball and Saturday night he couldn't mark to save himself.

And, on the evidence so far, Warnock will not take a contested mark this season. Someone should tell him to just punch it our way.

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"You can't polish a James Hird"

Kruezer can play forward. Kruezer can take overhead Marks. Kruezer can take contested Marks.

Just recall the 4th quarter against port when he won us the game playing forward. Just because it's not happening atm, doesn't mean he can't.

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Leaders do not care what other people say about them. When people start talking crap about you, thats when you know you've made it

I agree that Santy is more dangerous when the ball is on the ground than in the air. But then again, the same could be said of Buddy Franklin. With Santy's age (and background) he's unlikely to ever excel in marking, but he's shown that he can be competitive. At least he's rarely outmarked. Despite his weaknesses, he's our most dangeroud tall forward that we currently have on our list.

I have been saying that for years and getting ridiculed for it.

He is a very poor contested mark and struggles overhead. He gets lost and always runs to the wrong position and not only confuses himself but his teammates as well.

Simply he is NOT a key fwd and will not be the future. At 27-28 why are we bothering? If Setanta was ever going to make it it was as a key defender but as usual the MC have butchered another player by playing him in the wrong position.

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#NewBlues beginning 25th August 2015

But that is one game, whereas there have prob been a dozen now where he has gone fwd and not taken a mark to save himself

Stop hanging on to 1 game as evidence he is a fwd

Even Steven Kenna kicked 1 goal... didn't he ??

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I think he is better at CHF.

And I prefer Waite at FF, or loose down back.

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

Pros:

Very happy with the way Hendo finished the game. Kept presenting and started to hold some marks. I saw him geeing up Setanta before the final qtr. Good leadership from a kid. Will be a player, don't worry about that.

Kane Lucas made a solid start. Shows poise and has marking ability. Looks like a future 200 gamer to me. When he has the freedom/confidence to run the lines we will see his full potential.

Simpson. Took the responsibility to lead from the front. When he had the ball, we looked dangerous.

Yarran. This guy is starting to blossom. Has amazing touch and like Hendo, will only improve further.

Armfield. Fearless, tough defender. Never shirks the contest-some of the A-graders take note. As the season goes on I would like to see him develop his ball winning ability, and like most of you, his disposal on the run. Had he nailed that goal on the run we may have ben singing our song at the game's end.

Cons:

Elementary fumbling and disposal errors. Placed ourselves under undue pressure, leading to rushed disposal, wrong options chosen and easy spoils from Essendon*.

Lack of appetite for the contested ball.

Lack of patience shown in delivering inside 50, and lack of aggressive leading inside 50. Very different to the Richmond game.

I expected our rucks to do better against One leg Hille and Pussy Ryder. Warnock tried hard but needs to assert himself more. Again he has alot of upside but if he isn't delivering then get Hammer or Jacobs in and let there be competition for spots.