long time reader infrequent poster.

The selection policy continues to baffle me. When Murphy was a late withdrawal surely we should have seriously looked at either bringing in Grigg or pay a fine and bring in McLean. When a midfielder is a late withdrawal surely common sense says we replace him another.
The Kreuzer injury was massive but even before that we should have seriously looked at either selecting Warnock or Hampson for this game. Both have had solid form in the vfl and given Sandilands was a key factor in this game wouldn't you load up with two blokes 200cm plus who would both be keen to impress. Kreuzer could've been used forward tonight. Watching Thornton being thrusted into the ruck tonight was a sad state of affairs. Why didn't we just use Jacobs at the centre bounce and perhaps use Waite as the ruck around the ground?
Why do we pick blokes who are out of form. How many credits does a Joseph or a Houlihan have in the bank? Yarran from reports wasn't that flash last week in the vfl so why the urge to recall him when others are obviously performing better?
I thought Henderson showed a lot tonight. The marks he was spilling earlier in the season are starting to stick.
We are 7-6 - last season we were 6-7 having just been towelled up by Essendon* in a humiliating manner. Can we turn it around? The Brisbane game is massive. Apparently Fevola played the worst game some people in the media have witnessed so who knows what to expect when he comes to town. Surely the Elim Final should still be hurting this group. We can effectively kill them off for 2010 is we just pick a side capable of executing a game plan. The turnovers is killing us. Carrazzo maybe a great clubman but sorry it won't win us big games. Hadley was supposed to be a player willing to protect Judd.Again I saw none of that. In a word use the break to devise something to allow this group to move forward not sideways or backwards.

Waite continually leading to the boundary line drives me
Why doesn't he put himself in dangerous spots? Create a contest in the hotspot, give our small fwds a chance to crumb the ball as in the last quarter.
Playing around the boundary all night was like watching Collingwood....pathetic.

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I see you watching me watching you.

Pretty sure that's a coaching directive. You know, so the ball goes out for a throw in and we start again rather than it coming sailing back over our heads for a goal.

Conservative football

bullshit - that's waite - 3rd tall genius but not your main forward - ever!

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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!

Because it took until 10 minutes in to the last qtr to take the risk and get Gibbs and Walker forward of centre kicking it to the hotspot.

God i wish Waite had Whitnalls intelligence

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I see you watching me watching you.

I'll probably get shot down for this but I think McLean would have been a good selection this and last week.

We refused to put them under the pump by placing Waite & Henderson deep and kicking the ball to the top of the square when they were one out. (ie: Waite in St Kilda game)

Henderson went deep in the last and he looked dangerous.

The plan to continuosly kick to Betts, Yarran and Garlett is mindless.

I agree we don't have a Sewell, Osbourne, Chapman type to give us the grunt in the midfield so why drop the only one who comes close to providing some mongrel (Robbo).

BTW, surely Grigg is in line for a game now !!

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Life is made up of 3 things: Pre-Season, Post Season & Footy Season.

Hard to say much positive tonight....Hendo was good, people need to get off his back and let him develop. Eddie kicked 4, Jeffy was good.

Am I the only one that thinks Gibbs lacks the physical side to his game that would allow him to play in the middle? Time and again I think he'd about to step up and he lets me down.

How bad is Krooz? I'm actually hoping for tibia fracture and not a knee.

Why do we wait until the game is beyond repair before we fire up? We did it last week, against Hawthorn, Collingwood?

Carrots disposal was as bad as I've seen, his disposal hid how bad Walker and Houla's was.

The plan of Henderson leading up the ground is fine IMO. As far as I'm concerned, he's a natural CHF. The problem is our mids and half backs dont run forward hard enough into space to be the next linking option. They'd rather chase the easy ball out wide.Look at Freo, they had half forwards leading up to half back, only to have running options through the corridor to give it to. Apart from Judd and Simmo, none of our mids worked hard enough to create options.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

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

We are a soft team . No doubt. Freo beat us at the contsted possession particularly early


Ratten must make the call on some players who arnt in the future plans
Houlihan
Carrazzo
Thornton
Hadley
have too many deficincies to be seen as future prospects and there is their age as well

In the long term what purpose do they serve.

I think Hendo has a future. Why he or Waite(who should be in defence) did not play deep in the forward line is beyond me
With Kreuzer likely to be out as well as O Keefe the club can promote White and

if they dont promote Ellard then Ratten is clueness.

The protection Judd gets is a joke at the stoppages

Lastly I know Gibbs has just signed a 2 year contract. If he is playing the same footy in 2012 I would trade him.
Melbourne Supporters have regrets that their club didnt trade Johnstone earlier when he was worth more.

Some of Gibbs efforts tonight were ordinary. It goes undetected but there are times he simply doesnt go hard enough at 50 50 contests.

A Double change is needed


OUT: Kreuzer & Jacobs

IN: Hampson & Warnock

I am waiting for Sydney Blue to come on and confirm that no Setanta, no Carlton! We have problems up forward particularly if our midfield doesn't dominate. Sandilands is a gun (much more agile than I had thought). But how do we let McPhee tag Judd unfettered. I thought Hadley was poor but let's face it, he is only getting a game because McLean hasn't been able to deliver anything like we expected. Hopefully Grigg will get an opportunity soon and make the most of it. Terrible injury for Big K, It does give Hammo an opportunity to really show what he is made of. Our leadership beyond Judd is very questionable, I can't think of any sides in the top half of the ladder that have as few genuine leaders as us. We seem to lack cohesion and real spirit. Losing Big K was a massive blow tonight, but I really thought the final score flattered us. The Dockers played Pav mainly in the middle and their forward line was even more make shift than ours. They had mainly a defenisve forward line to stop our run. I'd like to see Waite go back to loose man in defence, use Setanta and Hendo as key forwards. TBird could go back to the Ants. For a guy who is our second or third longest serving player his leadership and onfield demeanor is terrible. I'd almost give Wiggler a go just for his spirit and leadership. I think we played a few underdone players which may mean we haven't got a lot in reserve . Need to be much more direct and daring. We need to be tougher and far less selfish. Too many guys playing for themselves and not the team

And some of them were fantastic and showed his class. Yes he needs to apply it more often, but I'm sure it will come. No way do I want him playing for another team.

And why would we care what Melbourne supporters think of their trades?

We're in a flat spot at the moment and have been for at least a month or so. Cheap and unconvincing win over West Coast and we while we played well against Melbourne in patches Judd had to lift us to get there.

The problem at the moment is a lot of players are down on confidence and when that happens they tend to retreat into their shells a little bit so they stick to their man and don't take the game on, they look to give it off to someone else rather than taking on the responsibility themselves.

BV touched on it with Carrazzo. He got touched up a little last week by Harvey and rather than responding and being the leader he's meant to be, he's gone back to old habits and is chasing kicks so he can say 'hey I had my 30 touches, I've done my job'.

One exception was Bower. He hasn't been there for a month so he's business as usual and provided some run and carry and link through half-back.

We looked ok in patches moving the ball from half-back to half-forward and then we fell down from there. A lack of movement, lack of run to provide an option because players have retreated and aren't taking risks anymore. This has a carry on effect and its almost chicken-egg stuff. There's no movement in the forwardline so we hold the ball up in the midfield (and start getting tackled with the ball and turning it over), the forwards see the ball being held up so they stop moving and suddenly we're playing stagnant football.

The simpletons start blaming Ratts for all this.

The best thing the coaching staff could do over the break is play some scratch matches and get the boys playing positive, attacking football again. Lets get some confidence back, get the boys running again.

Once that happens the rest will take care of itself.

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"The ability to speak doesn't make you intelligent." Qui-Gon Jinn 15-05-2005

"there’s more chance of me becoming the full forward for the [Western Bulldogs] than there is of any change in the Labor Party." Julia Gillard 18-05-2010

trade gibbs.... GREAT POST!
we aint melbourne, and more importantly comparing gibbs to johnstone is chalk and cheese champ, chalk and cheese.
a couple of losses and you blokes thrive

Give it a rest champ, wake up to yourself

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i AM CARLTON

i am shocked and dismayed that Ratts coaching caused us to kick so poorly in the first half.

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i don't wanna spend my life explaining myself. Either you get it, or you don't- Frank Zappa

Couldn't make it to the game ....... not watching any replay ....... after reading all these comments it sounds like a horror movie ........ what the

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"IF YOU FAIL TO PREPARE, YOU'RE PREPARED TO FAIL" - Mark Spitz

Bit like the World Cup