Glad we are next week coming to the end of by any objective measure a pretty ordinary off season by the Blues and desperately hoping it won't be a harbinger for the season proper
Brownlow escapades the muted and slow response by the club to it the shocking grog boat tour and lack of leadership group in preventing such an escapade
Not in the same league but strange decision yesterday to postpone the intra club and apart from a report of Ratten making excuses as to why it was cancelled the papers are full of Collingwood and Richmond intra club games
Not a huge point but cancellation of intra club just underscored the ordinary nature of the pre season
I'm a supporter of Swann and Ratten but they really still have a lot of work to do
The board also need to be more decisive and pro active rather than reactive
Hopefully after this week we are talking about on field efforts by the Navy Blues and leave a very ordinary off season behind

I'm guessing our pre-season is better than Geelong and St.Kilda's, even Essendon*'s, although Hurley's indiscretion was a while ago.

Yes maybe Jim but let's face it -not a very high Benchmark is it to be better than those
Doesn't mean our preseason hasn't been ordinary just because some others have been worse

Its a bit like saying a charge of manslaughter isn't bad because you could have been charged with murder

Agree Frankie.
We've still been disgraced as a club nonetheless.

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Premierships: 1869, 1871, 1873, 1874, 1875, 1877, 1887, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1914, 1915, 1938, 1945, 1947, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1987, 1995.

"GIBBS."

Richmond too.

Off-field , things have been ordinary .

On-field though , we look OK . Training has been better than it has for a long time . Plenty of blokes showing good early form .
There will be very keen competition for spots in the team . That's good for the club .

Waite coming back pretty well , and Murphs injury not as bad as first thought . We should be pretty competitive by round 1 .

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Get the facts first.
Then you can distort them at your leisure.

And yet, we may well look back on this off season one day as one of the best we've actually had. You just never know

This has got to be one of the looooooooooooooooooongest, slowest off-seasons I have ever seen.
Seems it is a feeling amongst most footy fans aswell.

I just want the real stuff to start already

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Premierships: 1869, 1871, 1873, 1874, 1875, 1877, 1887, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1914, 1915, 1938, 1945, 1947, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1987, 1995.

"GIBBS."

In terms of fitness the boys have worked hard on the paddock.

Being a young squad it's a shame their mentality goes AWOL which in turn tarnishes their commitment.

Very slow start to year ahead. Hopefully by round 7-10 or there abouts we start stringing some wins together,

I get the feeling this Boat Cruise incedent will be a real turning point and the launch pad for a very very succesful few years for the club.

I just don't think our players are so stupid to make another costly mistake which in all honesty could well cost them their career at Carlton.

I get the feeling we are in for another season of 'development'

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"Who discovered we could get milk from cows, and what did he think he was doing at the time?" Billy Connolly

Well said frank.

Bring on the footy and let a few questions be answered!

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There's so much I could say...

Judd is our best matchwinner - and his absence will be part of the reason why the losses in the first half of the season will end up costing us a finals birth.

Nevertheless there will be a fair bit of soul searching and questioning because of these frustrating events.

As suggested - it is all a part of 'development' and should be seen in that context.

We need to understand that too much naval gazing and introspection will only serve to strain the neck and bring on a migrane.

You cant rush the development of plans and strategies - they need to be learnt over time.

When we look at the big picture - the future for Carlton is bright.

In time, our new game plan will end up looking a lot like a 21st century version of our best in the 1990's

Gibbs and Murphy and probably Kruezer will become as important matchwinners for our team as Judd is today within the next couple of seasons - but their best might be brought out by the new young coach that is to come.

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My Blue Heaven