mr. rhetorical question

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Koperek.

I'm not fussed about how Ratts speaks and gets his point across. He may not be the greatest talker going around but since when did we need a coach to be an 'oxford scholar'? Plenty of coaches have been successful and won flags and been bad speakers. As long as Ratts can come up with a game plan and execute it effectively then I'm happy.

His comments regarding our rucks i found most interesting. There were many posters pre-season predicting that we may even go with all 4 rucks (Krueze, Hampson, Warnock, Jacobs) and use them in varying roles. Ratts has al but confirmed that he will go with 2 rucks and therefore the competition for spots amongst those guys will be intense. If all goes to plan then it looks like it will be Krueze and Warnock.

I cant help but wonder if that situation plays out and Hampson and Jacobs both see very limited game time in the seniors will that lead to one or both of those guys looking elsewhere for opportunities??

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HENDERSONALENKO......YOU BEAUTY!!!!!

While generally a positive interview, so good one Ratts one major horror point. "Maybe we'll be a bit more stop start in our flow." I thought that was our problem. Ratts thinks not doing it enough is our problem. He's going to be more defensive this year by slowing the game down and that is his idea of balance? Oh, oh.

Anyway, if Ratts is going to be interviewed, why ask him questions we all know the answers to and ask something relevant like why our forwards and mids can't mount a proper zone to stop the opposition taking the ball the length of the field.

Let's hope Ratts has the answers as the season progresses.

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"Get ready, Teddy - you're on": Ron Barassi half time 1970 Grand Final

If we play stop start foooty we will get murdered. Not only do we lack the skill across the board to hold posession it will make kicking goals 20 times harder for the restructured forward line. If we are goin to kick winning scores it needs to be free flowing and kicking into space. I hate watchin Sydney as they are similar in the way they constantly use the boundry and ball ups to slow the game, i hope we dont appear the same.

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The climbing has alread began

Good interview but couple of concerning comments.

Even from Riley during the pre-season where we'll be going wide and slowing up play so we don't get rebounded against too easily to now Ratts saying we'll be playing start-stop football; way too defensive for mine. You have to be at a St Kilda or Sydney level defensive side to be successful at that.

And he thought we were too attacking last year

I hope he knows what he's doing.

Have to admit the last 3 posts highlighted what I was thinking as well after reading this article.

I think he was just tryong to explain that last year we did not have the balance between when to go for it and when to slow things down. He believed we didn't have enough defensive areas to our game and now wants to increase that part but that doesn't mean that we will always play a defensive style. We just need to learn when is the right time for both.

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Koperek.

Good interview. Ratts has his view on which direction he thinks the game is heading and has a plan to make sure we are prepared.
There is nothing wrong with the style of play he wants us to play. Just it wont be pretty but footy is going that way. Its not like the Cats last year were as good to watch as they were in 07'. TLast year they played a lot more stop start footy and used the wings to pretect themselves and spread the defence of the opposition.

We are going to find out soon enough about Ratts gameplan. Come on the real thing!

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"Get ready, Teddy - you're on": Ron Barassi half time 1970 Grand Final

I think if you want any evidence of this you only need to go back to the Round 22 match against Adelaide. The first quarter was a shoot out and we had our noses in front and then we ran out of bullets. Footy is a game of momentum shifts and your success or failure is dependant on how you cope with shifts in momentum during the game.

I don't think we'll get murdered in any games this year. Being in a more defensive mind set will probably mean a lot of low scoring scraps where we'll either have our nose in front at the siren or fall short by a few goals.
I'm just not sure that having a more defensive style is the most effective and visually appealing way of getting positive results. We'll soon see.

What was interesting about the interview was that he stated that he expected to make the finals---That is the pass mark.
I also didn't think he sounded too confident about Mclean

There's only so many times I can point to the same game - but for anyone who doesn't understand what Ratts is trying to say about controlling the tempo of the game then they need look no further than the first quarter against Adelaide in round 22. We struck up the attacking and breathtaking football that many on here have been calling for, but when we lost the ball then we got completely opened up going the other way. Players weren't able to really grasp that balance between attack and defence and we were left to pay a very heavy price.

I'm not saying we'll get the balance right this year. But I am particularly encouraged that Ratts is talking about it and making attempts to address it. I have a feeling that our footy won't be pretty - but I haven't seen a team win a flag that doesn't set exceptional defensive capabilities as a benchmark.

Plenty of other games where it happened too - Essendon* both times.

Funny thing is that he's showing that he's going to have multiple different gameplans within the gameplan but people still whinge

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"I will rejoice in their anguish, delight in their failure and revel in our success"

We are Carlton, @#$%&! the rest !!!!!!

Taxi doors???

great post molly.....i'm with you.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Another Ratten interview from today's Age:

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/f ... -qfn2.html

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#DonTheStash

It's about when we have possession and when we don't have possession.

When it's suggested we get 'opened up' when we turn possession over perhaps our players haven't been drilled or they haven't been willing to work and run to position in case of a turnover.

When we have the ball players upfield need to work to create space and options and those players who aren't brought into the immediate play need to work to positions and cover opposition players that might be used to rebound if we turn it over.

I just don't see the point in slowing down the play when we have possession in defence.

Rexy - Ratts is basically saying that he is working on all that you mention above. Zoning structures and balance between attack and defence are precisely what he is alluding to.