Not if Neil Craig does another job on us on the weekend Rocco.

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

I was very disappointed that the genuine rivalry which exists between the Clubs was not taken into the game and down played during the week ... ... the respective club members/supporters really feel it ... I know I'm feeling it ...

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NG
S M C , S F L

Having not seen the game all I can go on is the press coverage and the general comments I have read in the forums.

Pros
I didn't get to watch the game (Syd - Rich)
I didn't read my brothers text message until the next day (Bombers supporter)
Judd comes back
Richmond in Round 20 is looking good

Cons
Three games in and we don't know if the Coach has a strategy apart from go wide and slow the game up.
Poor skills leading to high turnovers
Poorer skills when under pressure
We are getting no decent draft picks for the next two years
Don't want to attend Round 19 with my brother


We will finish between 10-12th this year and will be pressing for the eight at the most for the next three to four years.

At which stage, Judd will be gone or on the wane and we will need to start a new cycle to have a shot at the title with at this stage, no standout KP prospects (not a go at Lachie, but we need more than 1 forward KP)

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C'mon Blueboys!

Yeah this is one of my big concerns as well., I thought we may have attempted to recruit Russell Robertson in the draft to dampen the KP issue (and reduce supporters pain of more rebuilding) even if it was only a short term fix.

Also why would Gibbs want stay at Carlton were we will struggle for the next few years or go to GC where I think the concessions will allow to press for finals football very quickly "IF" they recruit well (yes we are the best club in the world but .......)

Cheers

Pros:

Very happy with the way Hendo finished the game. Kept presenting and started to hold some marks. I saw him geeing up Setanta before the final qtr. Good leadership from a kid. Will be a player, don't worry about that.

Kane Lucas made a solid start. Shows poise and has marking ability. Looks like a future 200 gamer to me. When he has the freedom/confidence to run the lines we will see his full potential.

Simpson. Took the responsibility to lead from the front. When he had the ball, we looked dangerous.

Yarran. This guy is starting to blossom. Has amazing touch and like Hendo, will only improve further.

Armfield. Fearless, tough defender. Never shirks the contest-some of the A-graders take note. As the season goes on I would like to see him develop his ball winning ability, and like most of you, his disposal on the run. Had he nailed that goal on the run we may have ben singing our song at the game's end.

Cons:

Elementary fumbling and disposal errors. Placed ourselves under undue pressure, leading to rushed disposal, wrong options chosen and easy spoils from Essendon*.

Lack of appetite for the contested ball.

Lack of patience shown in delivering inside 50, and lack of aggressive leading inside 50. Very different to the Richmond game.

I expected our rucks to do better against One leg Hille and Pussy Ryder. Warnock tried hard but needs to assert himself more. Again he has alot of upside but if he isn't delivering then get Hammer or Jacobs in and let there be competition for spots.

I'm getting pretty excited about Yarran. I might be in a minority here, but at this point in time I'm happy with our decision to take him over Rich.

One thing I notice is that he'd not a great bouncer of the ball. He will often bounce the ball too high and almost lose it.

This has been going on for a while and it certainly is tradition, whether you like it or not. My opinion comes from my belief that he would have gotten chaired off had we won the game. Nathan-Lovett was chaired off and Carrazzo too a couple of games back, but it shouldn't matter if you win or lose, someone had to rise above the embarrassment and show a bit of leadership and demand respect for one of the few Indigenous Carlton players to reach to 100 games. He had the press conference, his name is on the locker, he had his banner. Is it really that hard to put someone on your shoulders and walk a few metres.

That would've required effort.
the boys decided they'd stand back and see if the Scum guys would do it after they'd got Lovett Murray over the line.

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

As soon as Yarran gets the required fitness base I'd have him in a playmaking role working from defence through the corridor. Great skill, movement and vision.
Betts and Garlett as forward options.

Pros:
Kane Lucas looks to be a beauty. Fitness permitting, I want to see him and Yarran play a lot of senior footy this year. Both look to be absolute class.
Simmo was outstanding.
Russell continues to be our best (all round) defender.
I love Robbo's intensity. If only more played as he did.
Carrazzo did a reasonable job on Watson after quarter time.
Henderson kept working hard.
Houlihan won some good contested ball.
Santy had a good last quarter, after a horrible first 3 quarters.
Despite playing horrible footy and being clearly outplayed, it was still a game we could of/should of won ... but for some horrible defensive turnovers, some horrible umpiring decisions, and some horrible forward line botch ups of goals.

Cons:
Klye Reimers. Up there as one of the most aggravating players in the competition.
Ray Chamberlain. Surely the worst umpire in the competition.
Carlton's lack of intensity. So often outnumbered. And on some of the occasions when we had the numbers advantage, we still managed to be beaten.
Surely Eddie Betts can't continue to miss as many goals as he has so far this year.
It'd be nice to have a game (particularly against Essendon*) where we actually kicked straighter than the opposition.
Match committee planning for this game: Can we please use our best players, like Gibbs, in offensive roles (even if that means loose of the halfback line)? And as much as I love Joseph, can we please play him as a lock-down player on someone genuinely dangerous? I simply don't see the point of having him in the team, if he's going to play on someone like Sam Lonergan. He simply doesn't win enough ball or create enough rebound to be on a fringe player. If he couldn't match up with Stanton or Watson, he probably shouldn't have been in the team that week.

just joined this group and wondering if all these people bagging ratts were bagging him after we made the finals last year!!?? let's be honest with ourselves. will we make the finals this year? i think there's a big chance we'll be missing out on september action again.

we're rebuilding our forward structure with the fev gone. setanta has a long way to go, can he kick 50 goals this year? a big ask! waite, after a year off will take a while to find his rhythm. eddie improves every year, but can he increase his output of goals to the 50 mark, he dropped off in the second half of 2009. henderson and yarran look good but we can't expect them to be major goal kickers this year, 30 odd goals (each) would be a good year. robinson's buzz around the ground is fantastic but his disposal can be lacking.

they will get enough supply from our greatest strength, the mids. hopefully judd, murph, gibbs, simmo, kruze can kick 20-30 each this year.

our back line is the biggest headache. too many panic and turnover the ball. don't get me wrong i love their work ethic eg arnfield's tackle on lonergan in the goal square. the t-bird is better as a loose defender. we need bower back badly. jamison is a beauty. russell needs to back up his 2009 form. i think walker needs some confidence, i thought he was ok on gumbleton, he's got pace which he needs to use more often to break the lines and take them on. the common thread with our back line is disposal under pressure. they need to give the ball off to scotland, gibbs and hoops when we're coming out of defence. maybe we should have picked up maguire but it's too late.

we now come up against the crows (away), geelong, collingwood, saints, port (away), hawks. conceivably we could lose all these games and therefore the finals will be impossible for 2010. but where there's a will there's a way. let's not lose hope. back the boys, back the coach.

devonblue