... is what we lack. The story of this season seems to constantly come back to one thing... our forward line only gets a real sniff at scoring when our midfield is on top... and our midfield goes missing for chunks of time that cost us down the other end. We need Gibbs playing on ball. We need to see what Brock Mclean has left in him. We need to assess whether an Andrew Carrazzo might command a decent trade.

In my opinion, we need ONE more A grader to be a finals threat. Judd and Murph are our only supreme mids at the moment. Judd has been getting raped by his opponents the last month with no support from his team mates. Gibbs has been moved around too much to place him in the echelon of 'A grader' yet.
Simpson and Carrazzo will always be extremely handy... but not A graders.
Mostly, I think every single player in the squad needs to put their hand up and help their @#$%&! mates. If there was anything Fev was the best at other than kicking goals, it was flying the flag. Waite tries, but is too reckless for it to make sense.. and when he does stand up, he's usually still the only one. Where's the mateship?

The person who can turn this team into a real finals threat in the coming years is none other than Chris Yarran. He is in the Top 5 disposers already at the club, he has pace, flair, a calm head, and a mature body... he just doesnt have the tank. He could be one of the best in the competition if he wanted it badly enough. It's one of the reasons I will never respect Leon Davis... he might kick some UNREAL, much needed goals, but he could have been so much more... but all he is is a flashy Collingwood goal sneak.

Judd, Murph, Gibbs, Yarran can be A Graders, easily.
Mclean, Simpson, Lucas, Carrazzo can be, and will be more than serviceable 2nd tier midfielders
Russell, Walker, Armfield, Bower... the formidable running defenders of our next premiership side?
Henderson has already shown fantastic signs. Last night he stood up when it mattered, and we nearly got over the line after 3 quarters of awful football.


I don't know what i'm trying to say really... just a vent, I guess. I just don't believe we are there yet. We can't go on much longer riding Juddys shoulders. We need more than one player who can break a game apart. In my opinion, I want it to be Chris Yarran...

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R A D I C A L B R O T H E R S

Inspired by the One-Minute Sculptures of Erwin Wurm

"All in all is all we are..."

yeah, fair points.

We do need another A grader.

Hawthorn have at least two in Hodge and Franklin...perhaps Rioli?

We just have Judd.

I think it has to be Gibbs or Murphy as our other A grader. Betts could be exceptional. I would love to see Eddie become an A grader.

I think you're on the right line of thinking Shag.

We need to support Judd, both by getting some more quality in the midfield and by protecting him, putting on some blocks and actually remonstrating when he's getting raped by an opponant. At the moment though we're playing without confidence and a bit selfish so more worried about what we're doing than helping out a teammate.

The forward line needs some structure. Hendo is a great target further up field, but both he and Waite are better suited to that role. We need that target closer to goal to bring the ball to ground. Too many times last night we looked up and saw no target so either held it up, which then has its flow on effects, or kicked to Betts or Garlett who were out matched and the ball was cleared easily.

Some may not like hearing this, but we missed Setanta last night.

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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

Yes agree but forget about that now for the next few yrs as GC17 and GWS have more or less wrapped up all top pics.

We traded away a first round pick for an elite midfielder but it seems instead our guys went hunting in a potato patch and found one big potato.

So I think recruiting an elite midfielder for the next 3-4 years is out of the question unless we trade one of our rucks for a top pick.

Let's go and get boak and play yaran behind the ball.

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If it was a watermelon it would've drowned him!

Let's go and get boak and play yaran behind the ball.

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If it was a watermelon it would've drowned him!

A tall forward with fantastic hands is more important I think... we need an aerialist.

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"You are being watched. The government has a secret system. A machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I know because I built it." - Finch

He is still young; will be 21 y.o in December
Big Josh turned 22 this year. <---- 5.6 marks/game
Lachlan Hansen turned 21 this year. <---- 5.5 marks/game
Scott Gumbleton turned 21 this year <---- 5.2 marks/ game

Hendo -- 4 marks/game

He is OK.... but we need something better,

It's time for Murph and Gibbs to really step up and become the A graders that other clubs and their supporters wish they had. I know Murph has been tagged to within an inch of his life this year and Gibbs has been moved around due to injuries to other players and therefore they've suffered a little because of that, but I think next year they really need to take the next step up and become superstars.

they've both gone backwards this year

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*(grow - fun - gah)

Yeah but whatabout your whataboutism.

Yeah more Elite players is what we are lacking right now...

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"Truth, for the tyrants, is the most terrible and cruel of all bindings; it is like an incandescent iron falling across their chests. And it is even more agonizing than hot iron, for that only burns the flesh, while truth burns its way into the soul"     — Lauro Aguirre

I agree. Gibbs and Murph have gone backwards-- really need them to get into that top echelon of midfielders but they are lingering in the B+ - A category.
More body strength will be crucial for both..
The one thing I've noticed about us is that we have way too many poor decision makers. Joseph, Walker, Robinson, Carazzo, Thornton, Armfield- I'd say there's even more I'm forgetting. But that is almost 1/3 of our side who have some serious deficiencies when it comes to picking apart opposition zones. That is not good enough.
Guys like Lucas and Yarran stand out like the proverbial compared to the aforementioned.

I'd also love to see our boys play some less sociable football (for want of a/any better term). We dont hit hard enough, we don;t shephard often enough etc- these are fundamentals of our game that we are very very poor at. We're not going to get into the top reaches of the ladder with such poor application of these skills.

..Murphy's doing his part, you could see how much we missed him playing last night.. ..can't agree he's gone backwards at all, and for mine, he and Judd are our genuine a-graders.. ..as for the Gibblet, hard to tell given the way he's used on-field.. ..needs to be part of the midfield group to develop..

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..if you can't be good, be good at it..

Agreed.

I dont recon we need another 'elite midfielder'...in fact when people think of carlton they think of our good midfield which has good depth. On paper our midfield stacks up pretty well against the rest of the competition and it was only recently people thought our midfield was our strength and one of the best in the comp.

Its just that at the moment they are falling apart when the pressure is really on and i agree i want our guys to play 'unsociable' football...as a few people have already mentioned.

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Carlton Premiers '10

A Barlow (imagine adding him to our mids!!) type would benefit us greatly. IMO we not only lack another elite player but one with some decent body size and kicking ability.

Judd would be ecstatic!

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#NewBlues beginning 25th August 2015

is it at all possible that we'll see an opening bounce line-up of gibbs, murph, judd??

if gibblet played a full season on the ball he would be rated as our 3rd a-grader without a doubt, so much class.

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i AM CARLTON

I think Murphy's form should be commended based on missing the entire preseason.

I'm baffled as to why Gibbs hasn't worked harder to increase his endurance. If you don't want to win the football yourself, you've got to get to a few more contests.

Ummmmmmmmmmm! Why has Gibbs endurance been questioned? He is playing the roles he has been given and doing it well.

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.”

Gibbs needs to pull his finger out..but coaches need to stop moving him all around the ground,,, just leave him in the midfield and let him build up his tank.