You might be right but that is not what I witnessed or heard. 1st to stand up for his mates onfield p and gave it all for the jumpier and certainly nothing I heard indicated he didn’t want to play for us. Did he put his best effort in on the track, maybe not but that isn’t because he didn’t want to play for the club.

Lots of rumour and innuendo being stated as ‘fact’ about Stocker. Most of it doesn’t correlate with what we saw on game day.

In Voss we trust etc etc, but….yeah, there’s a few I would have cut before Stocker.

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To one who, journeying thru night & fog
Is mired neck-deep in an unwholesome bog
Experience, like the rising of dawn
Reveals the path he should not have gone

- Ambrose Bierce

He did have some good qualities and he was certainly courageous and tough. He didn’t quite give it his all though. There were some areas that he simply didn’t accept that he needed to constantly work on. His self assessments were held in higher regard than his coaches. That’s the word.

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The problem will be made. for the solution to be sold, to your face before your eyes, tolerance is now the new danger

That doesn’t mean he didn’t give it his all and wasn’t committed to the blues, it just means he was misguided.

Wait, what?

That's exactly what it means.

Giving something your all precludes dismissing what your coaches are telling you.

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Orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano. Fortem posce animum mortis terrore carentem, qui spatium vitae extremum inter munera ponat naturae, qui ferre queat quoscumque labores.

Anyone wanting to continue the Stocker specific discussion, please do so in here:
viewtopic.php?f=36&t=36422&start=1320

_________________
To one who, journeying thru night & fog
Is mired neck-deep in an unwholesome bog
Experience, like the rising of dawn
Reveals the path he should not have gone

- Ambrose Bierce

I don’t think people are saying that we are a lock for the finals.
Only that finals must be the benchmark for a successful season (I would say we need to at least win a final).
That is from an assessment perspective.

Where do I expect improvement?
Mindset, Game plan, Players, Injuries.
1) Mindset - we fight like every moment and every point could be the difference at the end (which it was in 2022). That means we ALWAYS show up (think v Adelaide, St.K), we NEVER give up (we were actually ok on this front), and we KEEP GOING to bury opponents when we are on top.
2) Game plan. We need to get better at playing our plan A and we need a few extra strings to our bow, plans B & C, if you will. (Chris Scott built this for 2022 and it worked well for them)
3) Individual players. Everyone can improve by 10%. Beyond that, I’m hoping TDK and Marchbank have breakout years, Fisher and Walsh (maybe not so much now) take their games up another gear, and players such as Martin lift their consistency. Harry & Charlie could improve their goal kicking by 10%. And there’s the injection of some new players or those returning… Acres, Williams, Cunningham etc. It would be a bonus if Dow could finally realise his potential but I’m not holding out for that long shot.
4) Injuries. While it is fair to assume we’ll have our share of injuries, I just hope it isn’t clustered like it was last year - we lost a bunch of backs at once, then a bunch of mids at the crunch end of the year. That really tested our depth.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

continued improvement is a must, but for me ...

be present for longer ... in every game ... and every quarter ...

we missed by the barest of margins ... save a goal here, score a goal instead of a point, we would have made it ...

every play counts.

Every second….

of every minute….

of every quarter….

of every game…!


kindest regards tommi

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that'siti'mnotchangingthistagain......!

I think it would be logical to assume this would have been drummed into every player on an individual level, and in team meetings at tyhe post season review when the pain of missing was so raw, and throughout the preseason.

I expect the players to be present longer.

Last year was the year of belief; something we didnt have for a decade. I expect that to get stronger in 2023.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Seemingly Bondy….

seemingly…!

and yet…!


kindest regards tommi

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that'siti'mnotchangingthistagain......!

It will be at least 3600 days by the time finals roll around.

I’ve been a Carlton supporter for 47 years and have never experienced a drought like this.

Other than be better than 10 other teams I have no idea what needs to happen but I sure hope it does

I reckon 15+ wins should do it!
To achieve this, we basically need to perform at our best at all times. Our best = best from all those on the park, the coaching team, and the fitness team.
I do believe we have the personnel now, including depth.
Last year, we did not play to our best in several games, notably against the Saints, Crows and earlier in the year against Port and Hawthorn. We could add in a few others as well and we rarely played 4 quarters.
We do need to manage injuries better but last year was out of the box IMO - mainly because we basically lost half our backline at once through the middle part of the season, and then lost half our midfield at once for the final stretch. That would test any team's depth. And we only just missed out.
But, in retrospect, I think the 'game of inches' lesson we have been given by just missing out will hold us in good stead for this season as we will need to draw on this when the chips are down during year.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

I believe the loss of Williams will galvanise the buys.

I expect a steely look in the boys eye every time they cross the white line.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Yes, Voss has a good steely look they could learn from.
I remember in 2001 when we smashed the Lions by 12 goals early in the season.
They responded by winning the next 16 matches to take out the flag ...and the two after that.
We need some of the look that Voss had when he left the ground that day at Princess Park! And kept it for the next few years!

Hitout differential: -12.7 (16th)

Getting a full season out of Pittonet will turn this around… and we might find out pretty early on that the #2 ruck job is just a bit much for Jack. Our clearance game is still excellent, but it could find another level with a bit of pressure on the opposition ruck.

Pressure act differential: -27.6 (17th)
Opposition metres gained: 5,875.1 (11th)
Opposition metres per disposal: 16.9 (18th)
Intercept marks: 14.6 (14th)
Defensive 1v1 loss rate: 30.7% (16th)
Marks per I50 rate: 20.2 (10th)
Shots per I50: 47.1 (10th)

We’ve just got to get something going between wing and half forward.
We’re ranked #1 for ground balls and #5 for intercepts (differentials), but we’ve got some of the most victimised defenders in the comp. If we can just force an extra handball on the rebound, we’re well positioned to turn the ball over and create the extra shots that we need.

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"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter" - Winston Churchill.

Minimal injuries and we play finals …

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"Truth, for the tyrants, is the most terrible and cruel of all bindings; it is like an incandescent iron falling across their chests. And it is even more agonizing than hot iron, for that only burns the flesh, while truth burns its way into the soul"     — Lauro Aguirre

I find it fascinating when I hear “finals”, as I expect us to play at least 2 finals this year. In their words, I don’t expect us to just make up numbers. I anticipate us pushing for a GF spot. Maybe too much, but I’m seriously excited at what this group can do and how much growth they still have as a team.

We'll have a pretty good idea after Round 1. Playing the Pies in a practice game and Richmond in Round 1 will give an indication of how we've prepared to shut down the half back/corridor surge game that clubs were implementing in the second half of the year.
Too often clubs were able to break our defensive zone and score heavily from it. Port by switching across half back and opening us up whilst the Pies and the teams ran through the corridor from half back as the year progressed and we couldn't go with them.

We had a nice element of surprise playing Walsh as a half forward/mid who got loose at the stoppages but clubs clamped down on it in the second half of the year and our midfield dominance fell away.

It will be interesting to see what the coaches have worked on with our defensive and offensive strategies and how sustainable they will be. Last season we copied a bit of Melbourne's strategies but the trouble is when clubs worked out Melbourne, they also had a strategy to limit Carlton.
The Dees wouldn't mind so much as they had a flag to show for it. It's time for a bit of creativity and authenticity from our coaches. Last year they had no time to prepare. This year, we've had a full off season.

I'm not expecting miracles. Forget expecting top 4 or top 6. I'll be happy just to make the 8.
Once you're there, you're every chance.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.