Does J.Brown make Voss look good?
Does Roo make Lyon look good?
Does Buddy or Roughy make the Mr Happy look good?

I would have thought someone had to get it to Fev but that's just me.

Regards Cazzesman

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Ricky Gervais - “Everyone has the right to hold whatever beliefs they want. And everyone else has the right to find those beliefs f***ing ridiculous.”

100% correct.

Regards Cazzesman

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Ricky Gervais - “Everyone has the right to hold whatever beliefs they want. And everyone else has the right to find those beliefs f***ing ridiculous.”

yet this is exactly what the club should have done. Stupid farts!

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This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

What Cazzesman said.

Blaming Ratts for our last two matches is just silly. The players blew it.

What Ratts needs to do though is make it clear to the players that they have to stop thinking they are 'good' and just have play ten minutes of footy to win a game.

Any player not willing to work 100% of the time, needs a spell out at Preston.

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A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty" -Winston Churchill

L.M 35-06

That's right to a point. The issue is that the players you mention are taking their sides to Grand Finals and Premierships. We are barely a top 8 side with Judd at his best. What does that say about our Gameplan, Coaching, Development and Recruiting?

As for blaming Ratts, he is the COACH! The buck stops with him. He is the main person responsible for our performances. Our performances are inconsistent and each week we do not know if our players will turn up committed or not.

Who's fault is it? Do we sack the list and start again OR do we get a better COACH who could easily get more out of our playing group. If the coach is NOT creating and environment for players to perform at their best and one in which the group is solely supportive or understanding of our direction and gameplan then we will go nowhere.

I can tell you right now and I have seen it first hand it is NOT a happy playing group at Carlton and it will only get worse until changes are made.

IMO given the list we have we ARE under performing and the man responsible MORE than anybody is the coach!

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#NewBlues beginning 25th August 2015

All players that have won or played in premierships and lead their sides to levels of success. How well have we gone?

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#NewBlues beginning 25th August 2015

That's sad to read...especially if Ratts asked for the said strategist to be welcomed aboard.

There's never an oversupply of intellectual personnel for a team looking at winning a flag sooner than later.

This group of young men need all the help they can get to expedite their development.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Doc could be right but I was told a slightly different version. I was told we approached a particular person (approached by Icke and Swann) who liked what he saw but Ratten wasn't keen for him? He is now being credited with the way a certain SA club is performing.

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#NewBlues beginning 25th August 2015

Saints still beat Pies with Roo off the ground, so clearly it's not all about Roo.

But I'm sure you will continue with your endless CFC propaganda Cazz.

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It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it

For me, this is the game that made Ratten as accountable as the players.

I don't particularly want him sacked but I want to see what he can do. Ditto 22 players each week.

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This might sound extreme in the context of alleged sexual assault, drunken violence and a drug trafficking charge...

I am not interested in taking a position in the Ratts debate because I am not privy to the goings on in the inner sanctum.

I don't know for sure if Ratten's inexperience is the problem or whether we have an issue with culture.
I read this week that some players from opposing teams think we are lost in our expectation to be top 4 when we don't know what it takes to be there anymore. Grand delusion perhaps.

BUT

I do believe the 4 to 10 to 13 wins was more to do with natural progress and development of the youngest list in the competition rather than due to the improvements Ratts has made to the team. I would expect that sort of improvement at a minimum given the quality of the list.

I have not seen Ratts' mark on our game, as I have no idea what his game plan is, but I have seen JR, Gibbs and Murphs and Kreuzer improve. I have also seen improvement in Armfield, Joseph, Yarran and Bettsy. But I would expect all these novices to improve once they become more famliar with the requirements of the game at senior level.

If the players are not putting in 100% and Ratts continues to play them, well that will be his downfall.
Actions speak louder than words. The scoreboard also tells a story, but 9 outa bounds on a full in one game....well that says something about the players or maybe it explains how difficult it is to execute a game plan which hugs the boundary line.

We have a list which should enable us to make the 4, but we are playing like an avearge team, with average effort and an unknown game plan which hasn't served us well in our last 6 encounters against the Bumbers.

Knights 6 Ratten nil. There you have it.

This plane is still flying, so we need to get the flight plan aligned between control and the pilot, and lets make sure the passengers are on the right flight too .

It's time to pull a rabbit out of the hat. The grand illusion continues.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Well said, esp the bit about playing around the boundary.

Do not agree though we have a top 4 list, the loss of Fevola hurts for sure and we are still in the top 5 least experienced sides.

But I think we should have done far, far better against Essendon* given we haven't beaten them for so long.

And I agree about lack of game plan/shoeprint on our team. I reckon the only way this team wins is through Fev kicking bags, or through the team just battling, showing guts and determination. It is not bec we have a great game plan that works. There doesn't seem to be much system. We don't seem to be 'drilled' like the better sides. Hawks move the ball so much better than us. That has nothing to do with Buddy and Roughie. They are at the end of the process. They aren't the guys moving the ball beautifully through midfield with good kicking skills. They are not the ones who win the hard ball then spread wide with pin point precision.

We haven't once looked like a well drilled side in the modern game. Ratten brought improved effort when he arrived, but we still look to scrap our way to most wins.

Interesting to see R.Connollys article on the weekend, where he hinted that in some quarters in the AFL there is confusion about what Rattan's game plan is. He has been there long enough now to have created his own shoe print on this team.

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It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it

I think Cazz made it clear straight after the game that he was most disappointed in the effort by the players on Saturday night.

I wouldn't think it be wise for Cazz to be commenting on Ratts, especially if he doesn't know what exactly is going on in the coaches box and amongst the MC, but anyone can see the players were a bit 'off' against the Bumbers.

Personally, I don't see 'catastophe' after that performance. I thought the Bumbers played OK at times and earned the win against a hapless team who were not concentrating on the jb they are paid to do for the whole 100 minutes.

The players have to step up a few grades to perform as they are expected week in week out.

As for Ratts....The Psych suggests he's lost the players. That's a first. How can that happpen under our noses and that of the Admin and Footy Dept? I doubt it is true or across the whole board, but if true for a couple of individuals then that needs to be sorted out NOW.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

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"I had to eat"

I agree. My biggest fear is turning into a Terry Wallace style Richmond.
I don't want a reactive administration to go with a reactive coach.

We need to be actively interviewing and recruiting new people.
So Laids or whoever is not an option? Fine, keep looking.
We need new blood - either they enhance the current panel, or they show them up and put pressure on them. I think it's time for patience and nurturing at our club need to be infused with more accountability and fire.

We are still on track, but we need to start firing our team into a well drilled unit who are fiercely competitive each week. Not saying it will happen in the next week, but it needs to happen within the next year and a half. I don't care if we lose to Essendon* 3 or 4 times in a row, as long as we turn up to play. If we do that them the wins will come and we will break the hoodoo. At the moment that is not happening. It's not acceptable to say "we can lose to bombers and Adelaide every game as long as we make the 8" - to win a premiership you need to put aside the excuses and be ready to battle it out every week and win ugly or pretty or however.

We should treat the next 6 weeks as a test. Rather than whine about a hard draw, we need to treat it as a baptism of fire. If Ratts is able to mould these boys into a team with a competitive spirit, then this could be the makings of a top 4 team.

If he can't inspire them to play hard footy then maybe he needs to go.
Swann can get him tactical support, but if he's not the right type of motivator in his coaching style, then we will turn into a Terry Wallace Richmond, a graveyard for talent.

That's why I don't think it's acceptable to sit on our laurels and give Ratten and Lappin and Reilly two years of grace. They've had those two years. Now they need to compete and perform for their jobs like any other player.

nothing good will come from this ........... thread

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NG
S M C , S F L

Im not a sack the coach guy either but after Saturday night and the deplorable approach /performance of the team -it gets hard to keep the faith -6 losses against a side that objectively isnt any better than us - senior players who are so lacking in desire for the contest in almost the most important game of the season given our draw -panic stricken when they get the ball -simply cant hit a target -cant ever put scoreboard pressure on the opposition -young players coming into the team not knowing their role but expected to win us the game

Reminded me of Fremantle game at Gold Coast last year but was worse

I will give him another chance BUT he needs to lift and he needs to ensure his team lifts

He should feel embarrassed by Saturday night both personally and collectively -AFL is a tough business and if he isnt tough enough then get someone who is

Having said that every senior player should hang their head after the insipid performance all let their coach down badly - dont understand after the dark years and the smashings we took these senior players arent ready to murder a team like Essendon* and inflict pain themselves on a wounded adversary - get the killer instinct or get out

All this absolving Ratts of any responsibility is absurd. If everytime we lose it is totally the players fault, why waste money on a coach? Isn't his responsibility to ensure he has an effective game plan and ensure the players carry it out. I have a game plan, - get the ball, kick it to other guys in navy blue jumpers and then kick it through the goals and stop opposition doing same. If the players can't or won't carry that out does it mean that I am a genius coach being let down by the players?

The coach is responsible for the way we play - the game plan, the way we carry out the game plan, the way we approach each game. He needs to ensure we have skills coaches that can improve players skills, he needs to ensure that we recruit players that have kicking skills that can stand up or can develop those skills.

Coaches have always been got rid of because they can't get the best out of their players. It is a key skill that distinguishes good coaches.

The best coaches create a team that is better than the sum of its parts.

Losing a gun player like Fev makes it harder for Ratts. But Lyon went within a goal or two of a flag with a side containing about ten rejects and sundry other ordinary players. He has some stars, but so do we.

I think a good yard stick are the Dons and Dockers. All three clubs have rebuilt their lists recently. We have had the best picks. We have the best player in the league. Dockers have Pav, Dons have no superstars. At the end of the season we will have a better idea of where we stand. If sides behind us start getting ahead of us then something is clearly wrong and the footy dept can't keep dodging responsibility.

I hope Ratts enjoyed that Tuppeware party Caz told us about. Let's hope he hasn't got another one to go to this weekend.

We are looking at 1-8 ... bye ratts.

I still go back to the Pratt ethos of getting "the best person for the job".

What actually happened to that theory? No one has been able to answer it for me.

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#NewBlues beginning 25th August 2015