How good are these guys?
The ball seems to follow Bentick and is consistently in our top possession getters.
Caraz has to be one of the most underrated players in the game- remembering he kept Travis Johnstone to nine touches. He has shown he can play forward, back, tag successfully and even have a stint in the midfield.

While all the hype (and justifiably so) is surrounding Murph, these two have been very solid performers for the Blues and will continue to be for a number of years.

Spot on!
Just wish Caraz could kick straight when forward!

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Happy Days Are Here Again!!

Carrotts is turning into a real handy type who can play almost anywhere & contribute. A real problem solver. Needs to be more confident & natural in his kicking.
AB keeps on quietly chipping away. A no fuss quiet achiever who is better for each run.

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There's so much I could say...

Good Blue collar workers but we need another quality player like Murphy or Stevens with perhaps a bit more pace and nice finishing skills. eg Dal Santo would be nice......maybe Kade Simpson can fill the void...also a rugged onballer with some grunt and muscle...more A graders required to compete against the best.......blokes like Judd, Kerr, Cousins, Fletcher etc require more than B grade battlers to overcome....
I like AB and Carrots and they are handy players to have on your list but they need some quality around them to get the best out of their hard work....

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"When you have the attitude of a champion, you see adversity as your
training partner."
- Conor Gillen

Both very solid performers and with a lot of improvement in them, which is good for the future.

Thankfully Bentick no longer seems a peripheral/bench player and he must be happier and more confident because of it. The more experience he has in the midfield and qorking out what approaches work best in each circumstance he will be better for it.

Carrazzo is already there. Would be nice to see him get more run as a ball-gathering midfielder though.

And Elwood is right about needing another dasher. It would be interesting to see if that is the fate Pagan has planned for Andre Walker, or if he will be more tempted to keep him as a backman.

Didn't Bentick spend a lot of time tagging Johnstone in the first game? Carrots seems to have gotten all the credit, when Bentick did a good chunk of the job.

Anyway, it goes without saying now that we love the rookie list, looking forward to at least one other promotion this year.

Alot of clubs love the Rookie List. A thread on "BigFooty" had a comparison of Rookie Listed players V Draft picks. Rookie list players actually played way more games, including helluva lot of top 10 draft picks. It was very surprising to see when put in front of you. One talks about having top picks but Syndey didn't have high picks in their teams when they won the flag, and Geelong doesn't have many either. Alot of really good players come from picks well done the list. Of course there is Judd, Hodge, Ball, Deledio, Murphy, Thomas etc... but there's alot from down the list and, many from the Rookie List as well. There's alot of good players out there and many below "top ten'. That's why I'm always loathe to trade good players for high picks because there are no guarantees (eg Goddard....picks 45 & 72 were muich better for us that year).

More of "a small chunk" I'd say .... Carrots spent the majority of the game with Johnstone\Johnson\Jons...... , him!!

With a solid performing season win / lose / or draw, and th edevelopment of our kids, hopefully with Kouta's contract finished we can entice a decent mid fielder across.

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Supporting the Blues No Matter What

O'Loughlin, O'Keefe, Schneider and Buchanan were all late picks for Sydney.

We have done well with Fisher, Thornton, Bentick, Betts and Carazzo however.

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There is no footy god

While we give players like Murphy settling in, it's great to see that players like Bentick,Carrazzo and Simpson have taken the next step.
I think the players above are 75% there and I will be expecting them to be averaging ABOVE 20 plus quality possession per game.
Alot of people may disagree with what I am about to say but I believe I can see somthing in Jordon Russell. Even tho his stats were ordinary last match I did see a few good things off to ball as I was paying specific attention to the way he moves and all the 1 %'ers he was doing. I spefically remember a ferocious tackle he laid during the match against a Hawthorn player between Half forward and the wingwhen he first came onto the ground. Also he looks smart in the way he moves and positions himself.That attempted goal he kicked from 50 was also excelent as he showed accelleration. If I was Pagan I would stick and persevere with Jordon it's only a matter of time he gets comfortable out there.He could be the explosive player we will eventually need in the midfield!! Patience everyone!

here here ACHILLES!!

Unlike others on our list who've been bludging, JR's been giving it 110% from day 1. As long as he keeps working & improving I'll be happy.

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There's so much I could say...

Let them have a go is all I ask for!

It's like the holy rollers in here...

"I SAID... I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT."

"TELL ME MORE BROTHER."

"THIS LIGHT... WAS BRIGHT!"

"AMEN!"

etc

Personally, I'm going to take the wait and see approach.

Camporeale Maybe????????

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"Dont count the games, make the games count"

AB and Carrazzo, two guys who fought their way through. The Rookie list is certainly the hard way.

But most importantly, these two guys were Carlton fanatics as youngsters who play for the jumper, and love the club and do not take for granted their job as an AFL player. Theyre living out a dream and deserve it.

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Too Legit to quit.

At the risk of being accused of negativity, we have too many players in the side who can amass possessions and yet not damage the opposition. These two fall in thtat category. We need midfielders who can also slot a few goals in themselves. Ah the good old days of the mosquito fleet.

I think players like Walker, Murphy, Betts and Simpson will become that good finisher you're thinking of. And as for Carazzo, if he be a consistent good kick at goal, you could throw him in too. We're close.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

I disagree. A lot of the problem we have at the moment is that players like AB and Carrots get the ball, yet it's the players they pass to who seem to not do the damage to the opposition, even though the ball-getters have handed them the opportunity.

AB and Carrots have done it tough, and work their guts out on the field, and set a great example. More in the team could learn from their efforts.

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And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

You are kidding me, aren't you? I don't see AB in that light. His disposal by hand is fantastic - always hits the target. His decision making is also very good. Most times he makes the right choice. By foot, he is also good. Remember, that most of his kicks are from crowded situations where he is under pressure. He's not usually out on his own taking the cheap kick. I only saw him kick one clanger last week. For mine, this kid reminds me a lot of Ratten. I'm not sure what you expect?????

AB also played round two with a bad shoulder care of a hit by Neitz the previous week. He also played with a huge cloud last week over another injury - I won't say what though, suffice to say the fitness staff wanted to pull him out of the game as late as the warm up. But he played and you know why? Because he has a high pain threshold and once he's out there he makes no excuses. Can't say as much for some of our other so called 'A' graders.