An open letter:
Dear Mick Malthouse,
As I sit here scratching my head yet again after losing another very winnable game I cant help but blame YOU significantly for tonights loss. You have been an ornament to the game but tonight was surely not your finest hours. I am not calling for your head or carrying on like a mad man but I have some questions for you.

1. Why on earth did you select 3 ruckman tonight?? The selection of Hampson, Kreuzer and Warnock was beyond puzzling, in fact it was quite frankly stupid. All 3 of these ruckman cannot play up forward and will never be goal kicking options so how did you envisage we were going to use all 3. It is not like StKilda is known for their ruck prowess, McEvoy is a very good ruckman but he is supported by Hickey who is hardly a huge threat. Every single Carlton supporter scratched their head when we saw 3 talls. The saddest thing about this terrible selection error was that McEvoy was outstanding tonight and you couldnt find a tactic to try and negate him being the free man in out forward line.

2. Why did you put Hendo on Roo??? Hendo has neither the speed or the tank to compete with Roo - that being said neither does Jamo BUT he is certainly our first choice to play on Roo. I understand Jamo popped a shoulder but given he spent the entire game on the ground and did very well on Roo in the final qtr and a bit why wouldn't you have stuck with Jamo for the whole night?? Hendo was totally at sea against Roo and only had an impact when you moved him up forward.

3. Please explain to me what you see in Hampson because I truly cant see anything. He is a total liability. He may kick a goal here or there and take a couple of marks but he is S*&#house!!!!! He offers no second effort, has no impact when he doesnt have the ball, his leads and re-leads are weak and meandering, his tap work is poor and when he does have the ball his disposal is terrible. Am I missing something???? I know you have your project players but for flowers sake this guy is a dud!!!! (For that matter so is Casboult so please dont replace one for the other) - maybe give Mitchell a try??

4. Whilst we are on the topic of pet players or project players, can you shed a bit of light on Kane Lucas?? His attack at the ball is embarrassing and it does not seem to be improving. His attempt to spoil a mark by Malera in the second qtr was appalling. His attempts at tackling remind me of the Pagan era when tackling was an optional extra. Loosely throwing one arm out is not a tackle. Either teach him to get some intensity/hunger, how to tackle and how to seize the oportunity to kick to the right option or send him back to Northern Blues.

5. How are you going to punish Waite?? in the media this week you were pretty soft on him and excused his ridiculous behaviour. I hope you tear him a new A$$hole behind closed doors because the guy is just a waste. We wait so long to get back our key target and within 5 minutes he flowers it up again with a stupid cheap shot. Pathetic!

6. Why did you play Yarran???? StKilda are not an overly quick side so why would we risk a player with a tight hammy. We didnt need the electric leg speed. I thought the selection of Yarran was a joke and he would be replaced by Carrazzo but I was sadly mistaken. You are normally conservative with injuries so why select Yarran???? Terrible mistake!!

7. Does anyone actually want to give Murph or Judd a chop out? every team works its midfield to try and protect their guns. we seem reluctant to help out our guns is that a coaching directive??? i would be very surprised if it was.

8. Why are we so mentally weak??? This is not your fault as you inherited this group and i am sure u are trying to change it BUT we continue to be a club that cannot handle favouritism and cannot deal with the pressure of expectation. We played like crap last week against melbourne but they are so awful it didnt really matter. Tonight was a danger game because I knew we were going to produce the same rubbish as last week and StKilda are much better than the Dees. The danger signs from last week were evident again tonight: - Poor foot skills and sloppy handballs
- Lack of hard running to create options,
- Few options when clearing from defence.
F*#@ its frustrating!!!!

Finally can you please pass on appreciation to a few players: cacchia, Armfield, jamo, Garlett, Judd, Curnow and Walker tried hard all night.

I am not sure how much more of this I can take..........

Headcutter

very ordinary by the match committee tonight and coaches for sure...!!!

But you really cant go into games with guys like Lucas and Hampson is not a CHF.... thak god he was playing on Stanley...who is crap himself... and last week against the very highly esteemed Melbourne....

Please change this.... i think he will though


2 rucks and drop Lucas please

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

What are your thoughts on Kane Lucas Synbad?

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Congratulations CK95

Kane Lucas is everything this footy club stands for.
Great use of a draft pick.. and with that early pick coes a man with strong desire for a contest ..a strong mind set for excellence a never say die attitude to the game.....and great skill set
Kane Lucas and his recruitment sums the Carlton footy club up to a tee.
He is the human embodiment of ourselves

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

good post
sums it up
the next 3 months will be interesting
all these wankers who thought we were top 4 material have been put in their box

we need to rebuild
get rid of the softies and spuds
change our captain and leaders
we need to make drastic change and do it now
because as I have said previously we arnt good enough

we dont have the cattle

MM would know now what he has infront of him

earth to mick

last nights game wasnt a one off
this inept limp display has been going on for a long time

wholesale changes at the end of the year

get a new leadership group
have the balls to trade sum of our socalled guns and get some steel back in the squad

if you dont do this this shit will continue

Were a better version of Melbourne FC... an upgrade on them...
PS keep Cachia in the side abit longer.. rookie discard journeyman he is.. but he shows some fight

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Who's this Kane Lucas Synbad chap?

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"I had to eat"

Feel sorry for the kid. You don't get on Synbad's bad books if your a kid. Bell's comments are still ringing in my ears!!!!

bells comments???what were they exactly???
Lucas isnt a kid...hes a fourth year kind of player

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Glad we cleared that up. I was worried that in amongst the loss we'd forgotten about Kane Lucas.

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Congratulations CK95

Keogh makes some good points.
We all feared what was going to happen last night - how many times have we watched it unfold before?! Ratts' time was up but there was more than a strong suspicion the playing group was fragile.
Now they have done it under the Supercoach - several times.
Mick needs to earn his money by working through the list this year and trading out the blokes who keep letting us down. There have been more than enough chances.
Time to show some balls at the trade table - cos some of our boys won't play with any.
How many of us could have scripted last night's result?
Injuries cruelled us - but that's no excuse. Fancy letting them off the hook like that. Once again, clubs know we're not up to it. Embarrassing.
Over to you Mick. Sort them out. Fast. Earn that coin.

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I just want my old club back ... (edit) maybe I have!

As Malthouse hasn't registered for this site yet, I'll take a stab at a few.



Two reasons - Jamison's shoulder and Roo was well on top of him at the start. Jamo did well when switched back. This wasn't a game breaking move.



Lucas shouldn't be singled out. He's been good so far this year. He had a bad night. Many did. You're right about the criticisms on him for last night. Maybe he will be dropped. I somehow doubt it.


Just because he didn't smack him publicly doesn't mean he didn't privately. Apparently in the rooms last night an angry Malthouse bailed up Waite and told him all about the impact his absence had.

What more do you want? Gallows in the town square?




Whatever the reason, we may not find out. This was a mistake by someone. Malthouse? Medical staff? Yarran himself?



Were you at the game or watch on TV? At the game you could see players (Cachia, Robinson, Yarran before he went off) who got stuck into Judd's opponent. When we lost any sense of control, the basics such as this went with it.




You can't say from the Collingwood, Geelong and even Richmond games that we're mentally weak. We weren't mentally weak against West Coast, either. Last night was a dirty night. Was there a virus in the team during the week? How is it plausible that not just one or two players, but the entire team has a downer? Is lethargy contagious? Last night is not indicative of the 6 weeks before it.

What's important now, same as last year, is whether a pattern develops. The pattern before last night was that we were improving and well on the rise to play some solid 2nd half of the season football.

Two possibilities as a result of last night:

1 - It was a buck against the trend, and something which we will move on from quickly and resume with the existing trend (that is, an improving mentality).

2 - The trend has changed, and similar to this time last year, we're going to see some troubling signs.

One game can't tell you the whole story. You're grinning when you're winning, and sour when you're not. Defeats like last night are a bitter pill.

If there is not a resumption to natural order (ie. Option 1 above), then it's panic stations.

Well done. I hope for Option 1. Leadership will be critical here.

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"our electorate seeks less to be informed and more to be validated." Sad times.

I personally think Lucas is a gun player who hasn't yet shown his full package, Id be reluctant to trade him for a round 1 pick alone, is worth at least 2 x 1st rounders and an established KPP. is on par with G ablett and to loose him would be sad

No I can never forget the embodiment of the Carlton football club at the moment.

Can't kick.. No heart crap disposal.. front runner. Terrible drafting

Keep asking me I'll keep answering over and above what I'll continue to add about what I think Kane Lucas is.

He is everything bad about this footy club morphed into a player.

Terrible terrible terrible first rounder-


Now to take this a step further and not including last years draftees..... Which picks from the previous three years are going to make it?
You can include laidler if you like.

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

bargearse

Bargeass must make himself fit.

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Overrated coach ... !

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I am as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more!!!

There were question marks over Lucas before the draft but I think he was considered a player with 'upside' who's weaknesses could be ironed out.

I wish we were better at knowing when it's the right time to take a risk and when we should take it to the bank (so to speak). We are woeful at this and we make it worse when we over-rationalise what our list does and doesn't need. Add to that our wasteful trading record. We think in the short term, which is ironic given that we are always saying how long we must give the kids to develop. It all boils down to a list bred on fear rather than the will to win. A list that defeats its purpose.

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Just because I'm offended, doesn't mean I'm wrong.

Were there question marks on any of the players who were passed over and taken after Lucas?

The club wanted Butcher who didn't get through.

Your heads can't move past your agenda and rhetoric because you prefer to be miserable or gloat about your "expertise".