MY CARLTON TEAM FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR

- I'd leave Thornton and O'Hailpin out for the rest of the year.
- Move Walks on ball.
- Play Davies and Lucas rebounding off half back. (Melbourne have Morton and Grimes doing this, why can't we)
- Settle Waite and Henderson as our two forwards with Hammo resting up there.
- Carrazzo and Joseph (armfield if needed) play purely stopping roles.
- Rotate Scottland, Yarran, Murph and Simpson through the middle and leave Gibbs, Judd and Walks as our on ballers.

FB: ARMFIELD JAMMO RUSSEL
CHB: LUCAS BOWER SCOTTLAND
C: WALKER JUDD SIMPSON
CHF: YARRAN HENDERSON MURPHY
FF: BETTS WAITE GARTLETT
FOL: JACOBS GIBBS CARRAZZO

INT: HAMPSON - DAVIES - HOULIHAN - JOSEPH

IMO this predicament we are now in was going to happen eventually. Make no mistake I think we did the right thing by moving on Fev - regrettably it had to be done!

However we really are lacking a true forwardline structure.

Setanta started well enough but was he really going to be able to keep up the pace required?

Hendo is a good get and will get better in time but is he really ready right now?

Betts, Garlett and Yarran have been great in patches but can the CFC rely on the 3 smalls to consistently win us matches?

Is Waite really a forward? In 2010 he will have to be but moving forward is his best footy played elsewhere?

Our list still has a fair way to go. Not sure if placing blame onto Ratts and co. is fair taking all of this into consideration but unfortunately as the coach the buck tends to stop with him. He needs to show that he is willing to change, make proactive rather then reactive moves and get the boys playing a distinct style of game.

We can handle one disastrous effort during the season but I think its fair to say we have had 4 now. Against Essendon*, Hawthorn, Fremantle and now Bulldogs we have been completely second rate. The guys looked uninterested, without passion or direction and completely out of their depth.

Changes MUST be made now. At what level I'm unsure. It's either at the top (ie. President, Coach, Coaching staff) or we bite the bullet and play the kids.

We are in danger of missing the top 8 now so something has to give

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

we have a bloke who leads forward, leads forward then turns back to lead again, takes marks and we move him down back!!!!!!!!!
i was watching henderson all day and i still don't understand why he went back, when he was the only one leading!!
HENDERSON is READY NOW people.
o'hailpin gone.
carrazzo, scotland, thornton and jacobs to have a spell with the ants for a few weeks!!!!!
in comes waite, austin, lucas {all year}, white, davies, warnock and anyone who has a F@#$@#$G heart!!!

Finals exposure last year doesn't seem to have helped many on our list - inc Hampson. Our senior guys that are supposed to be in their prime aren't delivering, so IMHO there's nothing wrong with blooding some kids. Sure they're not 100% ready, but getting a run with Juddy isn't going to hurt them, finals or no finals.

Not much point in having a tall marking forward ... or even a leading forward if the ball is delivered as it was yesterday. I don't judge Setanta as badly as most of you do, even tho he played poorly yesterday. Neither Hall, nor Fevola, nor Riewoldt would have kicked any goals playing for us yesterday.

We may have a problem in the forward line .... but we have a bigger one in the midfield. Our delivery is shocking and decision making is the worst in the AFL.

_________________
I am as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more!!!

This weeks AFL Record included an interview with James Kelly. He mentioned a game in 2002 when the Cats played the Lions who were at their very best. He made his debut in that game along with Stevie J. Rooke was playing his 5th game, Bartel & Ablett their 6th, Hunt - 9th, Joel Corey - 25th and Ling - 29th. They were thumped by 57 points (it was Bomber's 3rd season). He said "You have to learn on your feet and physically you are getting beaten from pillar to post....But the good thing for players like myself, Gazza, Jimmy and Steve back then was that we learned by playing games. You'd have to accept the occassional game back in the VFL but the club was on a clear path that they were going to develop youth. I guess looking at how the club is positioned today, what happened back then was the right way to go."

We need to get games into our younger players so they learn what is required of them to play at the highest level. Senior players should be selected on merit and if they lead by example. We need to lay the foundations for long term, sustainable success and that begins with playing those who are prepared to do whatever is required (on and off the field) for the success of the team. Players will come and go with some serving a purpose only in the short term as we move toward our ultimate goal - Premiership No. 17 and continued success at the highest level thereafter. Geelong's success didn't happen overnight and neither will ours.

You can't tell me that Levi Casboult or Warnock wouldn't have given as much as an injured setanta or that Kerr and Lucas wouldn't have played better than our worst two yesterday and as for Richard Hadley as limited as he is, he puts his head over the ball and lays tackles and for crying out loud if Laidley isn't worth a spot in our box at whatever the cost I will go he. He would have at least made some moves

When you don't really have confidence in yourself (Ratts ticks box) , you don't really have confidence in your game plan (Ratts ticks box) and so you don't really have confidence in the team you select (ratts ticks box).

_________________
I hope Essendon* folds.

Hard calls = trade Walker for a gun forward.

Armield-Russell-Joseph-etc....can play his spot.

All we need is to leave Waite in the backline - move Yarran in the middle and get an aerialist gun forward and a midsized forward.

Walker does make mistakes, but at least he has a go. I would not be trading a guy who has overcome more adversity in his quest to play for our club than just about anyone in the comp. We need more of this commitment. People keep throwing up Pavs name, which is great. Pav should have been one of the all time greats and may still possibly be, but this season has been his best by a MILE. Having watched a lot of Dockers footy for 10 years, Pav could coast with the best of them.

Waite has shown himself to be unreliable at best and at worst unable to follow the simplest instructions.

Yarran, at this stage of his development, is a inconsistent, half hearted frontrunner.

If we are going to get better these guys need to become much more mentally disciplined.

_________________
I hope Essendon* folds.

All 4 names mentioned have one thing in common - are all poor by foot and there lies the problem

our forwards do not commit to hard leads when they see the likes of Russel, Armfield or Walker streaming out of defence and towards them they need to be able to suddenly change direction as the ball could go any where or ever there heads

watching the doggies last night i could not get over how well they kick the ball, hard penetrating kicks that split zones apart. WE HAVE NO ONE ON OUR LIST CAPABLE OF THAT

Richard would never have allowed Fev to leave. We dont have any tall forwards. O'halpin was worst on the ground for the 3rd time in 4 weeks.

Personally I'd stick with Ratts for awhile yet, but ... if we must change coaches lets have a
"no d*ckhead" rule. That would rule out Choco, Malthouse and Clarkson.

Big opportunity for the match committee at the selection table this thursday to make a stance on whether the rubbish too many of our older players continue to spit out is acceptable or not. Ratten & Co should drop Houlihan, O'Hailpin, Carrazzo & Thornton outright, don't name them on an extended interchange bench. And bring Waite back through the bullants. And leave all 5 of them down there for a month. I don't care if Carrazzo gets 50 poessions a game, leave him down there until he starts kicking & creating goals like a seasoned midfielder should do. He blew out 25 possies on sunday, yet still it was a rubbish game. Gave us stuffall.........

I agree that O'halpin has been terrible and must be dropped. But Hendo and Lucas for Fev I will take any day of the week. I don't think there would be too many people that think we got the raw end of that trade.

Much like St Kilda made a statement by dropping Dal Santo, a caller to SEN suggested we do the same by dropping Murphy, given his consistent lack of defensive effort. I thought it was an interesting proposal.

_________________
"I had to eat"

Still trying to decipher Sticks maybe...

_________________
"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

It would be safe to assume if the players were all in sync (i.e. knew what they were doing...what their roles were) then decision making would be a whole lot better...I disagree re Carlos though....he just doesn't have enough footy smarts...it seems...maybe a Malthouse type coach could get more out of him but that's debatable..

_________________
"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