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Rob's Rant.............
I swore I wasn't going to write a Rob's Rant today but it would be remiss of me to let a display like tonight's go unmentioned. HOWEVER I refuse to put significantly more effort into my rant tonight than the players put in on the field tonight.
I usually find a few positives but tonight it was very hard although the real positive is that this game brings us one step closer to rock bottom and hence hopefully a rebuild.
Tonight was abysmal in every way. There are losses that hurt and then there are losses that are so painful and insipid that they actually don't hurt instead you take some kind of perverse pleasure in watching your team get dismantled with the faintest hope that it will bring about a change for the better. Tonight we are looking for rock bottom, and I am hoping we have found it.
For too long Carlton FC has been like a bad drug addict that has been facilitated and enabled by those around them (the benefactors, the board and the fans). We have always been looking for "one more hit" that would fix everything - if we can just get the "super coach" (Pagan, Malthouse) that will fix everything. If we can just add player X (e.g. Daisy) to our list that will solve all our problems. If player Y (eg Watson) can develop into what we hope (no matter how unrealistic that expectation is) then we can be a finals contender etc.... Yet throughout the last decade (really 2 decades) or more we have never addressed the problems - We have never reallisticly assessed our playing list, our recruiting policy, our player development, our game plan, our match day selection, our on field and off field leadership, our lack of mental strength and resilience.
I don't want to forensically examine tonights game because it will take me too long but I just want to make a few dot points.
**** Match committee: seriously only 2 changes after last weeks rubbish?? (including dropping the sub). Here's a tip for free - Robbo, Curnow, Carrazzo, Bell, Ellard will never make it in the same side they are just not good enough. Dont even get me started on Rowe!!!!!! (or Garlett and Yarran)
***** Our players can't kick - You have all heard my mantra "IF YOU CANT KICK F*&K OFF" and if ever you wanted a clear example look no further than the number of 20m passes we manned to botch tonight. It was beyond a joke that professional athletes cannot master this simple skill.
**** Our players can't handball - The very point of the handball is to enable rapid transition of the ball however this benefit is lost if you handball to a team mate's toes/over his head/ or miss him all together...... For F*#K Sake it is not such a hard skill!!!!. Furthermore there is no benefit in handballing to a guy standing still 2m behind you who is under pressure.
**** Gameplan - Blaming a game plan is always the easy way out when you have a loss. The truth is unless you are in the coaches box us fans don't really know what the gameplan is. Furthermore you can have the world's greatest gameplan but if the players lack the ability or desire to implement it then it is useless.
In my eyes it looks like our gameplan is based on a possession game yet we completely lack the required skills and hence it is fatally flawed. The gameplan requires hard running and fast ball movement which we do not seem capable of.
Our forward line structure is embarrassing, but the forwards can't be blamed when we only manage 29 Inside 50s in the game. (That must be some kind of all time low). The reason we only managed 29 inside 50s is because our mids, half forwards and half backs do NOT run hard enough to create opportunities and set up the overlap player - The exact thing that Essendon* did so brilliantly tonight and last week against Hawks.
The other problem is when we try to do a "switch" instead of moving the ball across from one half back flank to the other side with one precise 40m pass (as hawthorn does so brilliantly) we instead rely on 3 passes which are slow and generally cost us ground position - This defeats the entire purpose of the switch!!!!!!!!!
**** The refusal to man up and chase this is not directly a game plan issue this reflects a lack of desire and spirit on behalf of the players. How much bloody time and money have we wasted on trips to Arizona, recruiting Buttifant etc...??? It is not possible that our fitness level is that far behind the top teams so don't give me excuses that we are not fit enough!!! The inability to play accountable man on man football comes back to lack of desire, poor work ethic and the fact out players are exhausted from continually having to scramble for possession whilst other teams effectively utilise the "easy ball".
**** Decision making - Some of the decision making tonight was comical. Take a bow Jamo, Walker, Gibbs, Murphy, Robbo, Rowe, Yarran, actually stuff it.... the entire team can take a bow!
So where to from here??????????????
No rash decisions- Don't sack the coach or the board tonight. Dont burn your membership etc.. Start of a very comprehensive and transparent review of all aspects of the club and make it known to all members much like Geelong did when Bomber was coach.
The board must come out and say publicly that we are embarking on a major rebuild and we should expect some pain in the next 2-4 years.
Given that we are looking at a rebuild a review must be undertaken on Malthouse and whether he is the man to oversee the rebuild given he is in his 60s, does he have the desire to coach for another 5 years and if so does he have a succession plan in mind.
Malthouse (and board ) must explain how they could have got it so wrong to claim we are in the "premiership window" or "at 11 o'clock on the premiership clock". If you dont know where your team is on the premiership window then there is no chance of developing the list properly and will waste time and money on recruits like Daisy who will be long gone before we next threaten for a flag.
Whilst I'm talking about Dale Thomas There must be a review of the decision to recruit him - clearly he cant kick over 30m and if that is the case put him in the Northern Blues until he can kick, if it is just an issue of match practice after missing 2 years then he can gain form and confidence in the 2s. NO PLAYER GETS A GAME BASED PURLEY ON REPUTATION.
A review of all assitant coaches especially Barker, Capuano, Brad Green and Wiley who have failed thus far.
A review of our recruiting and list management. How it is possible that we manage to have so many of the same type of player on our list:
# Ellard, Curnow, Cacchia, Mclean, Robbo, Armfield, Bell, Carrazzo = All nuggety mids/stoppers with poor disposal (Keep 2 or 3 at the most).
# White, Bootsma, McInnes, Watson, Everitt = All undersized defenders
# Yarran, Lucas, Garlett = Outside players with poor disposal.
Bring in the broom!!!! Play kids - Cripps, Graham, Docherty, Giles, Temay?, Menzel, Buckley, Holman, Casboult??. There is no point playing "list cloggers" - if a player is unlikely to be there in 3 seasons then move them on sooner rather than later. (I will provide a list of delistings/trade players soon)
A tough call on Bryce Gibbs - Offer him $500K and tell him to take it or leave it. A clear message must be sent out to all players that we will not be held over a barrel and we will NOT pay over the odds for any player, we have made that mistake too often
Be aggressive at the trade table. Trading for draft picks not topping up on 25-27 year olds. I want to see us build a list watching young kids develop rather than looking for the next quick fix. Lets start with 3 picks in the top 25 and this means some serious trading at years end. Tough calls need to made.
It's going to be a long road ahead but I am here for the journey!
GO BLUES!!!!!!
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