I agree entirely with the past few posts (see BV, John, Frank etc) but the point that sticks out to me the most (I think BV said it) is posters on here rejoicing when we meet the benchmarks of a Melbourne or a Richmond. Setting the bar so low leads us to finish in the lower reaches of the 8, mired in mediocrity. Some on here forget that we went 11-12 last year (winning less than 50% of our games)- in fact, the complacency of the supporter base in general (not just the general mood I'm sensing on here) often baffles me.

One thing that needs to be emphasized is it is up to us as supporters to take the challenge to the club in the areas it is severely lacking. The game is moving at 100 miles an hour and our club can ill afford to play this perpetually bullshit game of catch up- both on and off the field.

I have great respect for one or two of our Directors who understand this sense of urgency, but the great majority have been there for too long and are simply not moving fast enough to get our football club back to where it needs to be. I am hardly inspired by us dipping our hand in the gaming barrel as our largest non- football revenue stream- it just smacks of another "soft" approach from a football club all too willing to take short cuts.

Ratten is not the problem - he has shortcomings (of which should always be pointed out) but may well end up coaching masterfully all season and by hell I wish he does. He knows that a failed year means he is out of a job. The problem is our ingrained culture of knee-jerkedness and our inability, as a football club, to swim ahead of the tide. This is something that can never be measured by wins and losses.

I remember you sharing that experience ...I think it was the Yarra Glen experience IIRC.

I really appreciate you sharing that with us again BV (if I'm correct), and I am most impressed when you stated clearly that



I understand where Cazz is coming from, but if TC is to remain the bastion of the truth and deeper thoughts then perhaps a more sophisticated approach with the analysis of the club is what is required on this site, and that's what Josh, BV and John M bring to the table and they must be appreciated and admired...not belittled and poked at.

I'm sure they are not after admiration, otherwise they would be using my plastic surgeon, but I do know they all care about the club and know what is needed for the club to develop into the leader it once was; it is obviously nowhere near it needs to be imo.

Keep up the good work BV, John M and Josh. Your posts are the reason why we keep supporting TC. I agree with you....and I'm a sugar coater in public.

At the end of the day, it is about the supporters, the corporate sponsors and the image of the club all gelled into one that counts. I will purchase another 20 odd memberships on behalf of family and friends, but I want it known, that I'll do thatas a reward of appreciation for the recruitment of Richardson and Brown moreso than anything else...because the rest is pretty average imo.

Progress on the field to the 2nd round in finals is just bla bla bla AFAIC because I expect more. From what I understand Richardson and Brown know we need to inject a new level of professionalism on field..training, drills, attitiude, nuances...the stuff that will win finals and flags, and after they arrived at the club and experienced a few training sessions, they knew there was a huge gap between where we are and where we need to be to achieve to ultimate goal (especially given they talent we have).

Sure our list matures and develops naturally, but it's the recruitment from the outside which is going to make a huge difference to our on field results imo, but that will not fix up the attitude that's lacking to make us a more professional club than we are off field imo.


Perception is reality. Most Carlton supporters I speak with believe we lack everything at the pointy end (with the exception of Judd, Murphy, Gibbs and Kreuzer nd a couple of others), butthat's on field. What about off field? We are lacking imo.

We need to improve...and we should all expect improvement in 2011 onwards...no more she'll be right and the old Carlton way...that died in 2002.

The renaissance embraces change and innovation.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Excellent post Bondi Blue.

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"our electorate seeks less to be informed and more to be validated." Sad times.

bb no-one is belittling BV and John M. As always they make well thought out comments. Josh has a well documented dislike of Ratts as head coach. Josh stated Ratts interview was 'horrendous'. It was hardly anything like that. He was trying to gain some mileage out of the article and I thought he was unfair, so I bit.

Ratts may not be perfect but the Team has gone forward since he has been incharge. We have made the finals with a young team and except for 2 sad melt downs we should have gone further. There are always question marks on every AFL Coach. Is he the right man or is someone else better. Every Coach has those that love him and those that want him gone. Everyone that works at or supports an AFL club thinks they could do the job better. Everyone has a story about the Coach that suits a point of view. I could roll out plenty about the great things I have seen Ratts do and the way he has spoken to supporters in my presence.

Ratts now has some experience, the Coaching support, fitness staff, money, facilities and a pretty good list to do something with. Let him get on with it and lets stop the 2nd guessing for 5 minutes or atleast until we see where we are at 6 or so rounds into the season . No doubt that is too much to ask from some but.................

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.”

Good onya BB, a well presented post as per usual!

We are lacking I agree, and as Josh says the win/loss record will only tell half the story. I do think it is important to continue to move forward and I believe the addition of Richardson/Brown and the continued emphasis on player development are a indication of this.

I often think back to where we have come from in a relatively short time frame and (bearing in mind Collingwood took 20 years to win another flag with a lot more resources than we have seen in the last decade) we are tracking pretty well. Im sure we could be doing better, and I wont be happy til we win the flag, but progress is being made and I am excited by what may transpire in the next year or two.

Well done on your continued support BB, lets hope the club starts to listen a little harder to the supporters of this mighty footy club.

Great line BB, and excellent post.

Ratts will live or die by results this year. I am not a fan and think if we had a proper selection process we would have a better coach and more successful team, but he is there now and people like Swann and Sticks should stop placing unnecessary pressure on him. At this rate if we get to the latter part of the season and are struggling we will implode under speculation. Admin should publicly support the coach appointed until he's got rid of, Swann and Sticks shouldn't be writing his epitaph now. And if Ratts goes at the end of the year then the blowtorch should be on Swann and Sticks and the woefully amateurish selection process.

I by and large agree with JK, BV, JM re Ratts, but he is coach this year and needs to be given the best chance to succeed.

PS I think the clubs improvement coincides with, and has everything to do with Juddy, not Ratts. He makes 5 goals difference every game and again it will be Juddy remaining fit that will dictate our performances, our success and the future of Ratten and others.

PPS Wayne Brittain must feel sick when he sees how unlucky he was to be chopped

PPPS Love Parko, but he never says a bad word about players he's coached, which is great, but his view of Ratts I think is partly based on PArko being a quality guy and not wanting to say anything negative

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/ ... fault.aspx

Really interesting breakdown of percentages.

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.”

spot on Caz and does also make clear as discussed previously that the modern coach has various roles/tasks that he has to balance and manage intelligently and effectively -

Excellent coverage of the today's preccy match on Seven News. Good work by the club

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Bawditawaba

Beliitle was not the right word to use; sorry about that. And sorry you may see yourself caught up in the comment.

When I read/hear/see that another team (usually Collingwood, but also Hawks, Bumbers, Cats....) showing us up I am disappointed with our off field effort.

I'm a competitive bastard, as are all th Carlton 'tragics and fanatics' who usually approach web based forums like this one, and I want our club to lead in something. At present we lead in something we proudly created backin 1995: premierships cups/flags.

Have a look at the media coverage, the division of opinions of the coach, the membership numbers, the debt...and we're not ahead of anyone over the last 8 years...we've gone backwards.

We don't need excuses. We have arguably the best list in the comp, so we either have a flag created because of the coach or we have all our off field issues sorted because of the coach. Right now we have neither. I want and expect more, and obviously most CFC supporters expect more...of the team, and that is a reflection of the coach, the MC, the assistants, the board and the president.

Let the successful 2011 season roll on, but by geez there better be improvements and ticks against all the boxes mentioned above.

Lets not sugar coat any of the off field people just yet because we still have a lot of off field issues to sort out, starting with memebership numbers and debt, and that's before we look at on field results: we're all looking at winning the 17th flag with Judd, or two, sooner than laster....then there's the signature of Murphy and others to secure too.

I appreciate everyone's input in this thread.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Carlton is no different from any other clubs with stars. Stars no doubt make Coaches look good.

Would Geelong have won without Ablett.

Swans without Goodes

Hawks without Buddy

Sheedy without Hird

Pagan without Carey.

It is all relative Gerry.

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.”

Then you get a season 2010 where Bomber bursts Abletts bubble in the media at any moment and he wonders why he leaves for better dollar North. Clever move, not by Bomber and then he leaves the club. Out of the frying pan into the fire.

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Bring the season on already. The wait is killing me.

If that were the case then he'd say something like "Ratts was a fine thinker of the game and could make a successful senior coach".

Can't remember his exact words, but he went far beyond that when asked about Ratten (maybe he even offered up his thoughts rather than being prompted for them).

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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

Interesting article revealing the Geelong criteria for appointing their coach (Chris Scott)

http://www.carltonfc.com.au/news/newsar ... fault.aspx



I think the ability to communicate and appeal to sponsors/members should be weighted higher than that.

Just to be clear Rexy, an AFL head coach would work upwards of 80 hours a week, about 3-6 of which he'd spend with the media, and an additional 4 he'd spend in the public eye.

I think 5% covers the importance of marketability. Ability to communicate is debatable, but I'd rather someone who can carry themselves through a stressful job and do it well in an over-arching sense, before I would want someone who can blitz a presentation or a 1-on-1 discussion. The percentages reflect that.

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29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.

I'm glad Geelong still rank the win/loss ratio as there number one KPI. As demonstrated last year the head coach at Geelong can through three quarters of the season without speaking to certain players.

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You heard it here first!

I believe the coaching PANEL , with the addition of Alan Richardson and Gavin Brown has been greatly strengthened. I also believe that the ''art'' of delegation is very important.

I'm not sure that Brett in the past, has had the confidence to delegate to others when he should have, taking too much on himself. (Just a perception).

While I take on board what has been said about his communication skills (or lack thereof) with members and the media, I must say I'd be more concerned with how he addresses the players.

I've heard some crackerjack orators over the journey, and I'd be interested in the opinion of any TCers who've heard him speak to the players. In this area, does he have IT ?

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The problem with Socialism is, you eventually run out of other people's money.

I am sure if a club had a coach that won every game they wouldnt care too much about the other stuff.

Praccy???????

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The problem with Socialism is, you eventually run out of other people's money.

BIFF BANG?

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