Staggered to read on here today that Waite was played after not training all week with groin soreness, and Walker played after a bout of food poisoning. Richmond-esque after they played Foley against us after he had gastro all week. Also some mail that many players are sore and in desperate need of a rest, with the bye still weeks away.

Was interested to hear Monga (yes him) say the other night that Malthouse has a theory whereby he hates leaving an AFL player in the VFL for more than 4 weeks, as it makes it even more difficult for them to acclimatise to the pressure and intensity of AFL.

It’s no coincidence that the two top teams have the most depth, and can exploit that at will. Our circumstances probably not helped by having a coach who is coaching this year to keep his job, so needs wins no matter how he can get them. Must be awfully tempting to play a Waite or Walker, even when they’re not right.

Makes you wonder why one or two of our players didn’t get a rest against Richmond. If ever there was a game where we could rest some decent players and grab some blokes out of the VFL and give them a crack, that was the one, and perhaps should have been recognised as such.

Not sure if this is a depth issue or a player management issue, or a combination of both. But right now, I reckon it’s clearly the difference between the top two, and the rest. We may have used a lot of players, but it’s been revolving doors for a few of them – the likes of Armfield, Tuohy, etc.

_________________
"I had to eat"

The other interesting thing to note as well is that Collingwood and Geelong have their own VFL side running around. They are not affiliated with any other club unlike ourselves (Northern Bullants).

I remember someone on radio raised this point on the way home from the WCE game - even though Collingwood and Geelong are not near the top of the ladder in the VFL, I am sure they probably employ a similar gameplan to the AFL side and therefore any players that slot into the AFL side know exactly what their role should be.

_________________
37°47'1.59"S - 144°57'43.30"E - Home

The other way to look at it though is that a game like Richmond (or any other cellar dweller) is an ideal one to bring players back after injury though cos they can ease back into it. Laidler was fine. In hindsight you would have probably played Bower or Austin instead of White.
Players like Murph, Gibbs, Judd, Scotland definitely could have had a week off last week though.

The club mightn't rate Aussie, but with the W's under a fitness cloud, selecting Austin who can play at both ends may have been a wiser choice than Bower.

Exactly.

To me this is one of the most burning issues at our club now that the facilities are up to date.

Has Swann or Sticks come out and made a statement about this any time recently?
I would love to know the clubs position on this.

I think a VFL team based at Princes Park would go a long way to rebuilding the clubs character, and setting us on the road to becoming a 'powerhouse' club like Geelong & Collingwood.

I wouldn't mind betting that the Dons & Hawks are looking at this closely.

Don`t think it will happen while our debt is so large.

Nonsense, it's the unwillingness to shift Thornton or Henderson that was terrible. No one was winning their match-ups in defence all game, so there was nothing to lose by doing it.

_________________
29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.

..agree with this.. ..especially once Waite went down, either Hendo or Thornton fwd was required, and instead Bower [who i haven't seen ever really show a knack for fwd play or contested marking] was used.. ..Thornton as soon as he went fwd had some marking presence about him.. ..and is a strong overhead mark.. ..Betts and Garlett especially were well down, and the MC learnt nothing from last year's defeat where our smalls were well held.. ..Walker unwell and Waite sore were too much the risky mc decisions..

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

HOORAY JIMMAE!!!!!!!
BANG

Unfortunately, Darren Harris has fallen into the same trap as David Teague did - and that's believing that winning is of utmost importance at VFL level. I know some of you are Bullants members and admirably attend their games in the hope, like Carlton, that they will win week in, week out. But understand that while it's nice to implement a winning culture into any club environment, the Carlton Football Club remains compromised for as long as the affiliation with the Bullants remains.

It ain't about winning. It's about fast-tracking development and implementing structures that mirrors the senior team. It's not an easy task and a very fine line in implementing it across two organisations. I don't profess to be an expert in how to manage it - but the obvious is to break away from Preston and follow the Collingwood/Geelong model.

..100% agree with all of this.. ..seriously, who gives two shites about the bullants.. ..they can lose every game for all i care.. ..reserves is a bullshit comp. in regards to our AFL season, the only importance it has is develpoment of our players.. ..obviously instilling a winning culture is important as well but secondary to overall development.. ..need a stand alone ressies team out of PP asap..!!.. ..and have it coached by a pure development coach.. ..this vfl/development coach position has a serious conflict of interest..

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

Who cares about them? Probably just a few Bullants staff, players, members, etc. That’s the trouble. You can’t blame them for caring, they aren’t Carlton people. That’s exactly why we need our own team.

_________________
"I had to eat"

very good sherrin, no coincidence in the fact coll/geel are the only two and look at the results, been saying the same thing for years, the fact that half the blokes on the field in the bullants every week have no absolutely no affinity to CFC whatsoever is another negative. I'd even go as far as bringing back the under 19's aswell.

SIGN SAAD!

The thing is we could have rested a player or two each week without any major effect.
There are a lot of able replacements that could have done a role for a week or two.
Its wrong to overreact to a loss but looking at the evidence for this one, doesnt reflect well on the coaching/selection panel.

_________________
T E A M

Agree - sooner the better
I wish we could sign Saad but I believe we have to get in the Que

_________________
Cheats never prosper (except in the AFL)

scak Jdud

_________________
NG
S M C , S F L

Our player management seems to be very poor, especially when it comes to our big guys. I know this isn't uncommon with bigger players, but our inconsistency in keeping our talls on the field has been one of the more frustrating facets of our team for a few years now. What makes it worse is when losing a player for a few weeks or months, hearing afterwards that there were concerns beforehand, or that the guy didn't train all week.

Cordy clearly knows what he's doing, but our talls always seem weak and susceptible to heavy hits and long-term injuries. Especially given the high rate of shoulder and knee injuries we seem to cop, it seems pretty unusual. Is there anything that can be done about this, or is it just luck of the draw?

And just on Collingwood and their VFL side, don't they have a rotational system for a lot of their players to keep them at their peak for the season?

_________________
WADA medical director Dr Alan Vernec describes Essendon* FC drug case as biggest scandal in team sport the world of sport has seen. #WC2WB

#GUILTY

..all well and good, and fully understandable.. ..hence my earlier mention of a serious conflict of interest..

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

This lack of a dedicated VFL side baffles me. What..to save half a mill a year.

_________________
If I want your opinion, I'll give it to you!

I have been banging on about this for 12 months now.

We should bit the bullet and either take over the Preston Football Club or form our own "Northern Blues".

This is for 2 reasons:

Firstly and the most important as Dr. Sherrin says above - to ensure that ALL our players are playing from the same songbook - this cant be stressed to highly, and a Carlton owned and sponsored team in a Navy Blue Strip playing at Princes Park in the VFL will enable us to do this.

Secondly to confirm and grow our geographic/demographic support base in the Northern Suburbs of Melbourne - this is critical and we need to do it now - as I have said elsewhere Hawthorn have stamped their turf in the Eastern Suburbs, St. Kilda in the South Eastern and Mornington Peninsula, Western Bulldogs in the West and Essendon* in the North West. We need to stamp our own in the North of Melbourne and need to do it now.

Collingwood has abandoned its traditional Northern Suburb heartland to embrace a national and international focus - whilst I firmly agree that our Carlton AFL side should continue along this path a Northern Blues VFL side should target and focus on the Northern Suburbs to ensure a strong foothold for membership growth in the future and to ensure we remain a relevant force when the call goes out as it will in the future for the reduction of AFL clubs - North Melbourne are finished as far as a demographic relevant Melbourne Club are concerned and another few years of shite at Richmond they will go the same way.

Carlton Board please make it so.

_________________
"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill