Kreuzer is just a gun
We had a very poor side in
The forward structure without Waite and Walker is not great
Levi is a rookie for a reason
Bower is a waste of a top 20 pick as he just has no awareness
Thornton is still very viable at both ends
Curnow can play
Hampson will be a player
We need clones of Simpson and Scotland as they are the best two draft/trade picks running around
The Bulldogs pose no threat to us this year

Without Jamo and Waite we're !@#$%&

Either would have resulted in a defeat for the Bulldogs tonight.

Rowe/Casboult are not the answer up forward.
Hampson might be the answer up forward.
McLean is definitely AFL quality, but his pace will keep him out of the side.
Curnow is in our best 22.
Russell is not.

_________________
"The Wigg's big in 08!" - Chris Judd

You dont really believe that shit do you?
We also went into the game without Judd, Walker, Warnock, Robinson and rested Betts, Garlett and Hampson in the second half.
So yes, without about 10 of our best 22, we lost by 4 points.

_________________
Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

I learnt that yet again the sky is falling.

Still hasn't managed to hit me though.

Weird...

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“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace turns into a circus.”
Turkish Proverb

Much better effort than last week in patches. Still some kinks in our game style and some personnel to come back. Great to see signs of promise and development in youngsters however, and we have a good core of 30 players to have a tilt at the flag with.

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

I learnt the stands were mostly empty, says it all really!

Seeing how we've given Rowe an hour of game time to figure this out, I'm glad we're not rushing to any conclusions.

Brock has actually kept pace fine, and in looks in the best shape of his time at the club; extremely impressed.

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

Jordan Russell was again very ordinary tonight. Lacks confidence and there appears to be no place for him in Carlton's best 22.

Key Fwd is the one clear deficiency on our list, along with an injury prone FB. Coach knows it that's why he went and recruited a mature age Rowe.

Needs to play HBF, played ok the last 30mins.

JR gives away too many frees coming in late to tackle and getting them above the shoulders

Love all the jumping of the gun here Rowe is no good hahaha can only laugh and to say levi was no good cause he dropped one sitter is stupidity.
Curnow is back to his best
Eddies flying
Kruze dog going to have a top year
Hampson looks the goods

Russell looks shiite
Bower will struggle

our A graders were in second gear

Much better effort and the intensity was pretty good. Still plenty to work on though. F50 entries weren't all that flash and in the first half the doggies scored way too easily.

A question for the doctors out there..... What are the odds laidlers injury isnt serious?

_________________
We are on our way back...

You overlooked your man Waite.



And Jamison.

Ratten put Hampson in cotton wool so we could give Rowe and Casboult a run up forward.

Yet our structure is being questioned.

What I liked:

Hampson dragging Lake away from the play in the forward fifty area. Had he clunked a few marks, would have made it a very intriguing match up. Good coaching.

Betts learning how to play taller defenders. Smashed Murphy tonight.

McLean might just be getting to a stage fitness-wise where he's capable of contributing to the Spread. What has impressed me in the game time he's had so far is where he's getting his touches, rather than just shadowing Judd to the contests like last year.

Kreuzer had an interesting few minutes down back on an absolutely gassed Minson late in the game. He could play down there if we needed to. Something to consider in a Break Glass In Case of Emergency situation.

Yarran getting to more and more contests, and presenting an option at stages where he would have just been gassed earlier on in his career.

Hope to see more of Dale. Looks a player.

What I didn't like:

The two rucks forward strategy as a whole, failed badly, and highlighted why we still have Waite on our list. A lead up forward was sorely lacking tonight. Hampson dropping some easy ones, and not providing as much of a contest as I'm sure the MC would have liked didn't help. Collins maybe a little undersized for this role also. Good to see we're trying new things though.

Backline was exposed a bit, with McCartney going man on man, and spreading his forwards out. Without Jamison, the backline is nowhere near as inclined to leave their man and chop out as much, whether due to a lack of a recognised leader there, or it being a weaker unit. Further compounded by so many rebounds through the corridor. Dalhaus made us look silly a few times tonight.

Which brings me to my next point. Our presence through the corridor is one of the least in the competition. We're loathe to play through there. Without Judd, our midfield's defensive capabilities goes down quite a few notches. With the lack of intensity in the match tonight, its hard to tell whether its the other boys not working hard enough to track back, or its simply getting accustomed to teams not matching up against the Judd factor. Either way, the output from Murphy, Gibbs and Carrots was hardly encouraging.

AJ is well short of a run. Looked cooked about 5 minutes before half time. For someone with wraps on being one of the fittest boys at the club, its a bit of a concern.

Casboult is a long way off. Still haven't written him off just yet, but miles off right now.

_________________
BLUES 2010: PAV AND JUDD = FLAGS. DOING IT FOR THE LOVE OF DICK PRATT.

HAVE YOU SIGNED UP FOR TALKINGCARLTON SUPERCOACH 2009 YET?

Explalin why Levi is way off? I thought he showed great signs??

For a pre-season game it went ok. We've been winning to the last minute of every game thus far. Casboult gets better at least and certainly worth persisting with and I liked Rowe's use of his body to take that mark in the 3rd qtr. Didn't expect much from Rowe given he's been off for a few weeks with an AC joint problem. A couple of things I saw told me he'll go ok as he adapts more through the season. The poster who said he wasn't the answer after an hour of NAB Cup footy embarrassed himself. Hampson showed he could be a most dangerous resting ruckman but put him at FF where he's the centre of the opposition attention and he'll struggle. Took a couple of nice grabs but again dropped a few he should've got. Had a decent game though while he was on.

Watching footy live on my phone was a new experience. Prefer a TV but wasn't too bad either.

Just got back from the match - for mine
- laidler, didn't look good (dislocated knee?). Hope he isn't out for too long
- curnow, does some good things but just didn't appeal to me today. Similarly, I didn't notice ellard that much (possibly b/c I'm biased towards wanting to see mclean do well)
- mclean, would have liked to see him for the whole match but appeared to do some nice things. Would like to see more though (note stated bias)
- lucas, didn't notice him that much. Not sure if thats b/c he cruises about or if it was a quiet game though. Was hoping to see more given the reports preseason.
- dale, second week that he's impressed when he's been on. Would like to see him play a flu match rather than a half but wouldn't be surprised if he plays ones this year
- scotland, gun. Possibly our best - mr consistency
- henderson, ok early but got a lot better as the match progressed.
- kreuzer, looks good and mobile. Did appear to lack a bit of agility though? (big turning circle)
- gibbs, would have liked to have seen more from him. Just didn't stand out for mine
- hampson, still dropping some easy marks on occasion but generally marking has gone up a couple notches in my book. Subbed off in second half but looks very promising for the season
- betts, livewire. I had him just behind scotland in terms of performance
- collins, not sure what to make of him. Was very impressed with him last preseason (intraclubs etc) though hasn't impressed me that much since.
- yarran, average game (one horrible turnover from the kickin but no doubting he will be very good this year. Kicked a great goal
- rowe, presented well early but faded badly and was somewhat a liability as a forward target. Didn't help that he was often outnumbered 2 or 3 on 1 and kicks weren't to his advantage but seemed to tire badly. Appears to be lacking fitness?
- casboult, surprised me (in both good and bad ways). Dropped some easy marks (supposed to be his strongest attribute) and seemed to be smashed in the ruck. Having said though, he showed a lot for mine - a lot fitter than I thought he'd be, presented well and looked very promising at times. In that regard, very similar to hampson a year and a bit ago (lots almost marks that if he starts grabbing could be quite good). Not sure if he will have enough time to get there though (rookie)
touhy, did some nice things. Looking forward to see his development by the end of 2012
murphy, simpson - good, generally dependable

- bootsma, was looking forward to seeing him but just didn't notice him? Will have to watch replay to see if he played

overall - not fussed with loss and outside of laidler's injury, was a reasonable hit out. Will be a lot stronger when the season begins (judd, waite, jamison, robinson, duigan, walker)