Blue Sombrero wrote:
Hay, Bondi, I like your post BUT unless we radically change the way we play the game, we will never kick enough goals to win games, whilst leaking goals at the other end.
We had 8 defenders in the defensive fifty tonight but they still managed to kick 165 points against them. That should be impossible BUT we had 2 vs six in our F50, which let them run four players down the ground to upset the defensive setup and kick about 8 goals from inside the square.
The good teams of the current and near future era have a run and stun game plan that is high risk unless you can execute your passes by hand and foot. We don't let our players run, which is against the trend of the game and suicidal in my opinion. On top of that, we insist on the chippy chippy turnover game in our defensive half followed by a kick down the line to a contest. MM invented that in the nineties and we are well past it or should be.
Week after week we watch teams run through the middle of the ground unimpeded. We don't defend the corridor, which in this climate is just plain stupid. Then tonight we saw Adelaide use the boundary as well and we let them do it all the way to the goal line on eight occasions or more.
Who do we pick that will take us up the ladder using the current game style? Another Cripps-type who revels in the contested game footy that is being phased out at the top of the ladder? Or do we look for a high possession ball winner with more outside skills and likes to carry the footy. Someone like SPS used to be as a junior but who now gets the ball and looks to dish it off as fast as possible laterally or backwards perhaps? Maybe we should ditch Pickett and Garlett while we're at it. They love to run and carry and play footy with flair but they don't fit the BB 1990's game style of contested footy and defensive acts. Put Pickett in the Richmond team and see how he goes.
I suggested we get Saad wen he was available and was laughed off the page because he is a spud. Well he seems to go OK at Essendon** because Essendon** has discovered (too late for this year) that running payers off the back line down the middle is the way to beat teams who set up a deep zone or flood. Teams like Carlton, for example.
BB plays such a structured game that there is no room in it for Garlett, Pickett, Saad or anybody who wants to run and carry because when they look up, there is never anybody in front of them to kick it to.
So who do we draft at #1? Walsh? Rankine? Smith? Lukosis? Someone else?
Who do we trade for? McGovern? A stoic mark and kick defender? Yep he fits the 90's style of footy we are playing. Get him. Stuff Hunt from Mebourne who just loves to be a 100 metre possession player.
Which FA do we want? Dahlhaus? He likes to run and carry so he's out.
It all comes down to the game plan. Unless we have one that will stack up against Richmond, Collingwood, Melbourne, GWS, Essendon** and Hawthorn, we might as well consign ourselves to the bottom of the ladder for the next five years. It all comes down to the coach. Unless he can jump us up to about tenth next year on the back of your argument, he's gawn and we have to start another rebuild based on the list he put together to play his style of game.
I find that frightening.
I'm hearing you, just as I heard King question the coaching strategy you describe.
King's comments made me think about my doubts on Bolton as a tactician, but I still don't think that's the problem we need to focus on right now.
I strongly believe Carlton will be a stronger team with a stronger list in 2019 regardless of coach and game plan.
Regardless who is coach I believe next year will see us climb the ladder but not make the Final 8 based on our current list.
I believe that the kids development has been expedited this year with their exposure to AFL footy week in week out.
IMO, no game plan can be executed properly if the players are not fit enough or strong enough to showcase their skills for 4 quarters of AFL.
They are kids. We have 18yo, 19yo, 20yo and 21yo out there. Many of them carrying niggles. They are not ready for AFL but you are suggesting they are and its the game plan which is the problem.
Get the list right, then we will see what we need to do with the coach.
I've heard it a lot that Bolton needs a good tactician by his side, and an old head ala Neil Craig.
I think Bolton knows what foundations he needs to lay and the club has supported him.
The first 15 minutes of the year against the reigning Premiers saw us go up 5 goals to zip, then he had Kennedy do his ankle and Kreuzer go down with injuries....it was down hill or rollercoaster ride (whatever) that followed.
Lets get another preseason into all the kids.
Lets get the the likes of Pickett, Garlett, Cunngham fit for outside speed. Key word being fully fit, not just available.
Lets add Docherty, Williamson, Plowman/Macreadie in the backline
Lets add Kreuzer, Fisher, Dow in the midfield
Lets add Walsh Shiel and Setterfield in our midfield
Lets get a McGovern into the forwardline
and a couple more likely additions for 2019.
Have all the ducks lined up and its a different team.
A team up to AFL standard and something for a coach to work with.
Lets see what Bolton can do with that, then judge who the most suitable coach is for 2020.
Bolton may have done what he needed to do,and we get a new senior coach in for 2020, or the club fills the gaps in the Match Committee.
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