I know there are many that dont like him but a really good assessment of the Blues season by Greg Denham in the Australian today .

Acknowledges that Blues have re-built the forward line - losses of fev and stevens - the number of crucial injuries we had for last week -ie Kreuzer houlihan lucas mclean -acknowledges the young/inexperienced nature of our team

Dont have the ability to post link of article

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sp ... 5916104134

_________________
"I had to eat"

_________________
"I'll tell you what I didn't do;
I never injected anyone."
AD 3/3/14

We know how things turn out when puff pieces are written about us between games. Well this one is happening BETWEEN SEASONS. Just imagine the damage

_________________
WADA medical director Dr Alan Vernec describes Essendon* FC drug case as biggest scandal in team sport the world of sport has seen. #WC2WB

#GUILTY

Read it Frank.Reckon Greg Denham knows The Blues pretty well.Dont know why he is unpopular myself Frank.

_________________
All my dangerous friends

Creditable performance by Carlton this year in difficult circumstances, but the criticism of the coach and team during the season was largely warranted. To suggest Ratten was just pipped by Harvey for Coach of the year honours is a bit rich.

Two gallant losses interstate to finish off demonstrated that the team is spirited and talented, but if the club decides we're a Chris Tarrant away from contending on the back of that I'll "spew up".

Now isn't the time to panic (ie 'oh no Dees and Roos and Suns will eat our lunch unless we snatch one before Judd is too old). We might have a big chance to trade judiciously and even improve our draft position for a change (if there is the right talent in the draft).

Let's hope there is a plan to shape the list for the medium term. The challenge is to develop the club into a highly professional and cohesive operation where every element operates at its best. Then we'll see players develop, game plans clicking, and big steps taken.

Don't know if we're ready for the quick fix as a list or as a club. Sydney have had remarkable success with veteran recruits and retreads - Carlton has yet to prove that our system is good enough to work those kinds of miracles.

I guess Denham's back in TC's good books






















Still has no idea what he's talking about

_________________
"I will rejoice in their anguish, delight in their failure and revel in our success"

We are Carlton, @#$%&! the rest !!!!!!

It's funny how everybody wants things to be all glowing. A bit of criticism can mean that we may actually 'own up' and become proactive. I mean to say, who knows but I don't think an article which says we may just be Chris Tarrant away from becoming successful is an ultimately positive one when you think about it.

I don't know anything about Greg Denham but I highly doubt his reasoning is due to a wish to purvey superior knowledge for altruistic reasons. It's a summation from an impartial and contemporary standpoint rather that any prediction. We've done better than expected without our spearhead and we may need a key backman. Anyone can tell you that.

_________________
Just because I'm offended, doesn't mean I'm wrong.

and that we developed multiple forward options

and that we had injuries

and that...

oh hell lets forget all that stuff and just bag the shit out of the club and call that being proactive.


I guess some would say burning the koran is proactive and burning the flag reactive - it really does depend on where you sitting...

_________________
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!

You can come up with that long winded rant to push your case as a thinking man's Carlton supporter, yet there's a spelling mistake in your signature.

we were the youngest team (by average age) in the finals

There were some gut-wretchingly bad losses during the year.

To allow teams six or seven goal gap starts in the first quarter on more than a few occasions is something that should be aimed to be wiped out next year. It will happen every so often, but for a good team it should rarely happen.


We need someone to step up to take the heat off Judd. West Coast had Cousins, Kerr and Cox as A grade or thereabouts players during their period of success with Judd.

We need Murphy, Gibbs, Simpson, Betts...someone...to step up to make our team more rounded.



p.s I found the Swans loss in the finals pretty difficult to watch. Shattering way to end the year. Denham can look at it his way- I am still a tad disappointed.

I've never had anything against GD. Thought it was a good article but perhaps a bit ambitious!

He does point out some good positives that we as fans are quick to forget but then to say ratts for coach of the year???? Hmmm don't think so! (not having a shot at rats there, just pointing out that malthouse, Harvey, Scott, maybe even Bailey would be ahead!)

Anyway, my main concern is that we are being a bit to soft. What I mean by that is, we are all quick to say "oh well done boys, good effort anyway" but really, that Sydney game to me was no positive at all. In was, in fact, more of the same...... And that's were we are failing!

Football is played over 4 qtrs yet we seem to think 3 is ok! It's not!

- Geelong. 3qtr was what lost us the game.
- freo. Great fightback, but we should never have let them get ahead in the 2nd.
- Sydney. Sure, great fightback again but like the previous 3 weeks, we are forced to play catch up!

The same thing happend last year too.....just look at the Brisbane final, ours at 3qtr time......... The rest is history.


I'm going off track here a bit, but while I like GDs article, I'm looking at this season as less as a positive than most in the media are.

_________________
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit"
- Aristotle

all games ebb and flow when the teams are fairly evenly matched, now I know, no one is evenly matched with Carlton, we are the greatest club and really have only ourselves to blame for every loss ever lost by the losers we've fielded as teams in the lost parts of our history but

Its not as if we gave Sydney a 7 goal start and then chased all day - yes they got the first 4 - 2 very quickly and mainly because we didn't touch the ball - 1 from a soft free. This happens in lots and lots and lots of finals - even those where Carlton are not playing - its called finals football!

But then we did get our hands on the ball and we did kick the next 3 and really from there on it was a very tight contest except those last 2 goals at around the 32 minute mark of the second - they hurt.

After the 3rd then Roos should be sacked because he let us kick 6 unanswered goals - Swans are always doing that - sack him, his 3rd quarters are the weakest in the league!!!!

In the last we held sway and could not put them away and then they kicked that goal and the whole momentum shifted - again - and then again as it swung back to us.

Be disappointed - I was, feel sick to the guts - I was - but then wipe the tears of your eyes and have a clear look.

The real problem I think is that far too many on this site have no respect, understanding for/of other sides and so when we lose an interstate final (in a state we're we barely won even when we were great) against a side that won 2 more games than us after our side traveled to WA and back (and playing a tough game there, losing by a kick against another side in the we lost a tough, hard fought game that we could have and might have - but should never think we should have as if we are great and the Swans are shit - and yet still we want to pick at the threads.

You learn from your failures.

Let us see next year just what we learned from the last 2 weeks of this year. I personally think they will learn a heap and it may/should drive us up towards the top 4.

_________________
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!

+1 dannyboy

haven't been able to muster a comment after the game but you sum it up for me. They will learn heaps from it. They showed guts two last two weeks and I was so proud of them.

My Pies mate reckons the article was written by the president of the Carlton supporters club

Article must be spot on then

_________________
We are on our way back...

+2

Great post DB, I was actually thinking the same after the game.

GO BLUES!!!

_________________
- I work hard, because millions on welfare depend on me -

Yep two years in a row of hurt and devastation in finals... this is the sort of hurt that usually spurs a team onto greater heights.... if they have any sort of character.

And I believe we do!!

If I was a young player in our side, I'd be looking at how much that loss hurt someone like Juddy and it would inspire me to make amends and give it my all for next year!!

_________________
When Dick became President, it was as if everyone at Carlton came out of the hailstorm and into the sunshine - Stephen Kernahan

YARRAN!!





.

IMO, the article was pretty spot on although perhaps he heaped the sugar a bit too high on Ratts.
However, my biggest concern with Ratts this year was the way we played against Essendon* Rd3 & then the lack of spirit in our down patch post break. BUT, I have to admit that our last 5 weeks were very good in terms of spirit and competitiveness. We lacked the polish to win against Freo & Swans and that's one of the things we need to work on.
And yes, we need better distribution out of defense which will probably be addressed in the draft/trade.
(I am 95% AGAINST picking up Tarrant don't think he will be any better than what we have and most likely worse plus we may have to give up something of value to get him plus he will only be there (at top level) for another year or two. doesn't strike me as the sort of guy who is going to commit himself mind & body until he can give no more...

I think we will take a big leap next year and reckon we'll be competing with Freo for 4th spot. (May be also the Hawks, if they can get their sh*t together).

Oh well, I can easily change it. The important thing is, it's not what you have been given, it's how you use it.

It's easy to read an article like that which says 'Carlton will be alright' and then think "look at what the nice man wrote". However, he's not really giving us anything of substance.

_________________
Just because I'm offended, doesn't mean I'm wrong.