Phillips has had no game time in almost a year. Graham or Kerridge for Polson is moot. There is no way this changes would’ve had any impact on today’s result. If anything we may have lost by more.

Phillips played VFL last week and would have allowed Casboult to play forward. Big difference to our setup. Small forward lines don’t work with what and how we deliver forward!!!
Another bigger bodied midfileder would have been in measurable today. Liked what Polson and Cunningham did today, both busted a gut, unlike some others, but they don’t have the bodies to compete on the inside.

Ps. With Kruezer out, it was also not the time to drop SOJ. Btw - will we now drop Weitering or Dow?

Where we are with this list and the lack of quality players I find it astonishing that Bolton would switch to a offensive style of play so early on in our development..... Has he done this to please media scribes who call us boring? because it’s not working and it won’t. I don’t see any benefit what so ever.

The make up of our list isn’t ready for this ‘offensive’ stage of our development. I feel We need at least 2 more drafts before this list resembles anything that can take this club forward.

If Bolts wants us to be more attacking then he needs to Identify the players in our list that will lend themselves to this style of play. If it’s Mckay and Curnow then bloody play McKay and Curnow week I week out no matter the results.

Bolts speaks of synergy and the side improving playing more and more games together but we are two games In And McKay hasn’t played. Cunningham didn’t play round 1 but we persist with Daisy

What I witnessed today and through out the JLT series is amateur hour.

We’ve gone from looking like a well structured side defensively to now a bunch of amateurs running around with NFI and our best player old enough to be my grand dad.

And Im starting to question SOS’s ability to identify good talent. Other than Curnow, none of the players he recruited have me confident they will be great footballers for our club.

Almost half of our list is made up of recycled players.
Almost half of our list are players 190cm +

The need for dash of half back has not been addressed by SOS.

Please SOS no more inbetween height defenders. We have enough. So much so I think one may need to be moved on as there’s to many same same down back.

Is this a joke? Poulson and Cunningham both had shockers.

I’m starting to question Bolts for the firsts time.

It’s the mixed messages spewing from his mouth.

He said he sees Weitering as a backman and have decided to play him down back..... one week in and he’s already been thrown forward.

He spaks of This team needing more time playing together to build synergy. Cunningham was left out round 1 and was pissed. Jack has been dropped 1 week in. McKay has been played yet. We persist with Daisy Thomas and play to rejects in Mullet and O’shea when all three will not be in our best 22 in a year time.

Then there’s the ‘we are adding more layers’ but it won’t come at the cost of our defensive mindset that we have built our foundation on..... well it has.

Our current list doesn’t not the talent to go to this next phase of our development. I don’t understand why he succumbed to pressure and add this ‘attacking layer’ when we don’t have the players to do this yet.

It’s all just confusing.

If Neil Craig was still around would have we taken this new approach?

So what that Polson and Cunningham had shockers?

Weitering has done nothing for 24 games. Dow needs a rest soon.

Polson and Cunningham NEED exposure before we can assess. Cunningham is the whipping boy and Polson was dropped after his first game.
SOJ hardly set the world on fire last year save for a few games. He wasn't dropped

The most kneejerk thing we can do this week is to drop either or both of those two. It destroys their confidence even more. It will happen. At least one will be dropped.

The biggest illusion that football clubs create is the one about form being the driver of selection. It is total bullshit because it should work the other way round as well. For every game that a reserves player plays that doesn't warrant selection, there is a seniors player whose form is as consistently poor who doesn't get dropped.

Why you might ask???

Because suddenly, everyone is telling you they did their job, they did team things that others didn't see, they played their role, the 1%s etc etc. This is just spin in many cases
Have a listen to what Bolton said about O'Shea...he gave his all etc. Yet we as supporters saw a player who probably coughed up 2 goals and whose didposal was VAFA standard

So McKay, Kerr, Polson and Cunningham won't give their all or play a role.

Bolton has yet to drop his 1st round selections in his 3 years. Let's see if anything changes in the next few weeks with Weitering (Dow needs a rest) and SPS slowly getting better although went missing for at least 6 weeks last year after his RS nomination

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

i would in a heart beat

I'm sure bolton is a great communicator and a confidence builder but if he wants to be a good coach he also needs to be strong.
We are now made up of rejects from other clubs (exctuding Marchbank, Plowman, Jones and maybe one or two others who are contributors and in our best 22 that i'm forgetting) which is stagnating our growth again and even forcing this pathetic hybrid footy we are playing.
We need to play players that want to play and as coach Bolton a needs make them aware of it. Today was a pathetic effort all round. Unfortunately every player from senior to recycled and young (apart from a hand full) just ran on the field for some rays.
Bolton needs to make an immediate statement and drop weitering and dow and drop mullet, byrne, lamb and O'shea.
i know Mullet got the ball but his disposal is atrocious i really don't know why he has a rep for having a great left leg.
Finally the F!@# back men need to wear their opponents like a second skin they and when we have possession and only when we have full control of the pill should they run off and make position,
Sorry i forgot NO MORE DINKY KICKS BY SIMPSON

Hey Trublu. I know you're looking for reasons for yesterdays result, as we all are. I'm spewing on the performance by the individual players who didnt get up and produce with their "GOD GIVEN" tools.

No point looking for scape goats. I disagree with many of your assertians:

We have plenty of quality players. There's a difference between young and undeveloped and quality. They are quality. For eg, is Murphy a quality player? If so, because he has shown he has elite skills, won an MVP, chosen as captain, then why isnt he running hard enough, chasing harrassing ala Cotchin. Why did he mishandle the ball so much yesterday? Why did he have so many clangers? Like all the others who fumbled for 4 quarters it is the individuals who turned up on the day who should be held to account imo.

Bolton made decisions to appease the media scribes? FMD. Do you really think the media are one step ahead of us on the Footy Forums? That's where they get their info: the supporters. Dont worry, Bolts and co heard from them before they read in the media. Do you think they know Carlton and its workings better than those within. Answer is NO. They just dig and dig and dig as much muck for Carlton, you seem to forget they are just parroting what we all think. Its obvious when form is lost, but yesterday wasnt a form issue alone, or a coaching issue imo, it was a cancer that spread throughout the team from the outset, led by a half hearted captain who came and led with the wrong attitude and we capitulated thereafter from perceived pressure and lack of concentration. He lost concentration when he was stopped after the toss to discuss his milestone. FMD never let that happen again!!!! Getting ahead of ourselves before we secured the nut. Umps dont help us. Media dont help us, so we rely on the players to turn up and be turned on every week.

We showed plenty of ability to play offensively in the JLT and against Richmond in round 1 that first 15 minutes till the umps and a few lucky goals and again in the 3rd quarter against really mature bodies. Geez, at times, yesterday, when we didnt fumble we slammed on the goals. We got plenty of forward entries, more than GCS despite the ridiculous fumbling and turnovers. We have shown we are ready to be applying the offensive layer and we will make mistakes with those with decision making as we evolve, but FFS the fumbling is what handed the ball to the opposition on a silver platter. Imagine if we didn't fumble and cut the clangers back by even 20%. Nothing to do with quality of players either. Ive never seen them fumble like yesterday since Bolts took over. We are ready with the personnel we have ammassed to go offensive, but the players have to be switched on. The players on the day.They were the issue yesterday.

I dont want Daisy in the team,, nor Mullett, nor OShea, nor Lamb, noe Simmo, nor Wright, but I can see why he's in and some of them too. We need leadership, and despite his body not being able to do what his mind wants he attacked the ball and the man with gusto, and was one grab apart from a dropped chess mark...which I don't accept and forms part of my argument. It was fumbles that cost us all day. I am expecting Daisy to be buying time till he is passed in the 2nd half of 2018. He's not the problem for yesterday's fumbling.

SOS has put together a great list in little time. You have to consider what he has achieved after turning over 40 players on a list in 3 drafts. Never been done before. Its a clean out. We dont have more picks than anyone else, and as for the recycled players, have a look at what they cost. Cheap. Bonus. Perhaps great for helping support in the VFL plus depth. Kids of lesser quality from the draft couldnt give us depth we need. I dont think those choices are the problem. It was their fumbling (Mullett in particular), Lamb's miss in front when we had momentum. They didnt cost us quality players.

SOS couldve selected Fogarty instead of LOB, but he went for speed and run. Fisher has speed. Garlett has speed. Pickett has speed. Willo has speed. Lang has speed. Dow has speed and Cuningham has speed. They are all new recruits to our list. There it is. We need to add more speed, that's all.

The problem was in between the ears of the players imo. The stuff they can control, not the coach, is what they didnt do. Not the recruiter. Not the supporters. They fumbled and got ahead of themselves and the Captain has to take the fall given his lack of polish and effort on the day. He picks and chooses, and that is unacceptable because a captain leads by example. Cheap stats dont cut it for me. He knows this is his last year as captai, got his 100 games up as captain and checked out. I do expect him to lift and he will....but only when he chooses to. Remember his body after 2 full preseasons is in a good place.

Couldnt be bothered reading above..sorry about spelling grammar in advance.

I still believe in this list, not necassrily in the depth, yet, but like cheating, there's certain things players need to bring to every game. Basic 101 effort and skills they already had when they were recruited.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Marchbank was fantastic.

Good hands. One dropped mark on his finger tips. Plays with confidence. Takes the game on. Got caught once but who doesnt? He will be an A grader.

Im a Plowman fan, but yesterday he was not tight enough. Surely players know when to be tight and what their own closing speed is.

I get your poin to.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

I agree whole heartily except for this statement
It's the coach's job to assess and act on the players mindset (individually and as a whole) week in week out. During the week, pre-game, quarter time and so on this is the time for the coach to earn his money not just planing and selecting a team.
Some players and groups (mostly mature) have the ability and presence to build and maintain the status quo and this is where the coach and senior players need to have an impact on the whole playing group. Our senior players have been mentally fragile for years now and this is a broken mindset that needs to be addressed if we have any hope of going forward. Since our seniors lack the mental strength it needs to come for the coach and be built in to the junior players for a successful future, or one again we will revisit this frustration time and time again.

relax folks, we're on a journey remember

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"I had to eat"

Are we there yet?

Perfectly summed up. This is not a doomsday scenario but 22 players who thought they just needed to turn up. Our leadership however is poor and gave the other players no reason other than continue to play poorly. No role modelling!!
Simmo keeps escaping the scrutiny but his decision making and skill execution part of our problem
Murphy...enough said

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

We need Simmo and Murph this year, especially with all our injuries.

I'm hoping next year is a different story.

Simmo to retire and Murph not captain and given a one year contract.

I would like to see how Murph goes without the captaincy.

Won't be a serious proposition until at least Murphy, Thomas and a few others are gone.

Love your work, Bondi.

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Let slip the Blues of war (with apologies to William Shakespeare) (and Sir Francis Bacon, just in case)

I have said it before
We won't be a serious proposition until everyone involved at the club who precideđ over the tanking years are gone.
The moment we decided it was ok to lose the rot set in.


Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

The pressure was internal, nothing to do with media.

internally the focus was on playing a faster, more direct brand of footy, bcos the thought was, with two years under Bolton's reign with the focus on defence, that the defence would hold up to the extra vulnerability of playing faster.

losing docherty, should have forced a total rethink into this idea, i woulda though. but apparently not.


we're also not clean enough with our disposal or fit enough to run out a game with that expansive, hard-spread, more direct footy. there's also the large issue of not having a bonafide forward as a focal point.

Charlie as unreal as he is, needs a focal marking forward (casboult or mckay?) to create his space. if the opposition double him, our other marking forward hits them, if they wrap up the marking forward (like rance did to casboult) it leaves Charlie on their number two - and increases his chances of kicking 5.

I dont think we're playing an offensive style.
In Round 1 and the pre-season games, people were bemoaning our lack of forward entries.
The main difference IMO is we're playing on more instead of the slow ball movement. That is a natural progression for our players and should be encouraged.
IMHO, we went in with a plan Saturday and it didn't work. I would encourage the coaches to implement new strategies and to progress our development. They tried and it didn't work. We can bookmark that idea and shelve it until another day.
My only criticism is we didn't recognise the method wasn't working early enough during the game and put measures in place to rectify it. In saying that, in the second and third quarters we had periods where we totally dominated the game but skill errors or poor decisions cost us badly. The players had a very poor day and I think the coaches did as well. It happens.
But let's not think going backwards to a defensive style will solve our problems. We have to progress. We have to continue to develop the players or we will go backwards. The return of key players and extra game time into the youngsters will make a significant difference.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.