Betts has been our CHF for years. Until another Mark Maclure arrives at the club, I guess Betts is it

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Cheats never prosper (except in the AFL)

I expected us to lose by 3-4 goals and that's what happened so I wasn't too surprised. But I am not overly concerned about the results at this time of year (though naturally would prefer to win).

Forward line is interesting. We clearly lack that second key marking forward, but then again, it's not like we ever really struggle to produce big enough scores. Even today, with only Waite providing any sort of target at all, we kicked 15.10 and had a few shots that went out of bounds or fell short. Getting Walker back will help as well (particularly with his accuracy when shooting for goal). Thornton has shown himself capable as a forward target and Hampson has shown signs here and there but was ordinary today. We don't have a Petrie to kick big bags but instead are again going to have to rely on sharing the goals around which we did well last year.

- Was really impressed with Kreuzer, he looks set for a big year
- Waite was good too but as others have said, you still feel like he could get reported or injured at any moment and he does tend to lead a bit wide
- Robinson's kamikaze approach makes us a much better side, one of our most important players
- Thought Judd got better but was a bit rusty still and is going into Round 1 looking a bit scratchy
- Davies tries hard but appears to have no confidence, the crowd gets on his back a bit and he doesn't look comfortable out there
- Does Armfield's pace and energy sufficiently compensate for his often shoddy disposal?

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Formerly Blues-Back2003.

You would have to say its probably at least partly because, as BV has mentioned many, many times, Waite insists on continually leading to the boundary rather than through CHF

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Oh but pre seasons are especially vital to footabllers today.
Without a good pre season they simply dont have the platform.

But theyre equally vital to create a sense of competitiveness for spots for game one and also work on all those things supporters get locked out of training for.

There is nothing much for a club looking at breaking into the top tier of premiership hopefulls to take out of the pre season so far.

And if you think Ratts has a magic switch and he can just flick it on to us playing good footy when we want without the organisation before hand.. you have another thing comino.
we can quite easily fall behind early and then have to play catch up football later on

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

After a very good period pre-Christmas, the last few months would have to be worrying the club. We keep hearing during the week that we'll be taking the next game seriously. And then after we lose again, apparently winning was not a priority.

Obviously winning these games isn't everything, but it certainly is something. And we haven't even got the excuse of being beaten by a good side yet. We've lost to 2 bottom 4 teams (Port, Brisbane) and 3 mid-ranked teams (Adelaide, Bulldogs and Kangaroos).

About a third of our list is on the injury list at the moment. Key players are underdone. Getting very little from our younger/fringe players. And apart from Kreuzer, Scotland, Betts and Murphy, our better players are well below their best form.

It's hard to think how our pre-season could have been any more disappointing. Maybe we'll somehow 'switch it on' once the season starts. But no real reason to expect this to happen. Poor start to the year, and we lose any chance of making top 4. And the media storm will hit pretty soon.

Marcus Davies is just no where near it. I couldn't understand why he kept getting games last year and nothings changed for me. As it stands he shouldn't play a game all year. I don't think he believes he belongs out there. Zero composure, too many fumbles.

Watson is also many worlds away from afl level. As others have said looks absolutely lost and confused out there. No presence or physicality. A very young KPP though so I will be patient.

I think Carrazzo cops a bit too much flak for butchering the ball. I don't think he's as bad as people make out. A few really nice kicks today.

Waitey looks fit and is possibly our most important player along with jamo. He's the only one in the team who can provide a genuine marking target up forward. He judges the ball well, times his leap perfectly and has clean sticky hands.

Robbo is so important and will have a great year.

We fumbled everything today. No one could take the ball cleanly. Our kicking to advantage was horrible, and this was emphasised by how easy north made it look at times by just putting it out in front of their players to run on to and not giving the defenders a chance. We seemed to take the wrong option too often and when we got a run going we seemed confused with which option to take. And lastly, we still resort to the bomb into our forward line way too often, which we all know.

Anywho, this pre season crap is over and if we come out and belt Richmond and Brisbane all will be forgotten. So let's just sit tight and judge us when the real stuff starts. I really do expect us to turn up fired up for round one and win comfortably

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Just to rub some salt in that wound: Adelaide were also bottom four.

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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 left Curnow off my list before. He was a pro and a con.

Pro - excellent work in tight he has vision and quick hands to match.

Con - any time he has the ball in space. His use today when outside a stoppage was diabolical. I think Brock ends up ahead of him for Richmond on that alone. Brock made far fewer errors than Ed today.

Kreuzer was impressive, took some nice marks & cleared it himself from a centre ball up late in the 3rd with a thumping kick. Scotland did some nice things.

Kicking to the fwd line was where we fell down all day I thought. As another poster mentioned, Carazz Davies Joseph Armfield Curnow Lucas are all iffy by foot. That's a fair chunk of our mids...although I'm probably being harsh on Lucas there, didn't seem too bad a couple of years ago. But these are the guys we need improvement from to properly challenge.

Saw Justin Leppitsch having a look at us from the Pratt Stand. Still think we will beat them rd 1, won't be a walk in the park though.

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#DonTheStash

Hardwick, Ross Smith, Lade were all up there sitting 5m from Hird, Wellman, Crameri.

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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

They even had Jason Johnson spying from the hot dog stand.

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#DonTheStash

CK, you're not being harsh on Lucas by saying his kicking yesterday was sub par. You are being accurate.

Doesn't seem to have a lot of penetration on it either. He gave away one goal in the last by floating a kick up towards Scotland (I think) - the ball took so long to get there it gave the North opponent time to close, spoil, give off to a teammate and kick a goal.

He has the ability to find it, which is a real positive. I'm not sure if it's laziness, skill, whatever. But it needs to be addressed.

I went to the game and it was ok. We all love to see our team win which is only natural.
I think if you look at the blokes that can improve our chances this year to last year they would be; Kruezer, Bower, Russell, McLean, Lucas.
I think they have shown that they will have better years, hopefully the rest don't go backwards.

Agree. He should at least try it.

He has in previous seasons.

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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.

The post match interview with Waite puts all this into perspective.

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I hope Essendon* folds.

OK ... I was at the match and have the following observations to make:

Kruezer, Waite, Robinson, Yarran and Murphy were all positives for the Blues.

Judd is out of form and seems to be playing at the level he finished with in 2011.

The impact of Robinson is so important to the team ... when he went off at half time ... it took 20 mins for the team to cover his loss.

Not sure why ... but compared to North we looked slow ... it seems like the team is under done and it will take several games before we hit our straps. If we struggle for fitness, speed etc on Visy Park how will we go on the MCG ... yikes!

Our midfield played badly with a couple of notable exceptions ... not a good sign ... in my opinion Richmond have a much better midfield than North ... so all does not bode well.

When I see a 7 goal run against us I get very nervous ... it reminds me of past years before Ratten.

Needless to say ... our back line was brittle ... and thats an understatement.

Phew ... ok ... in the old days (25 years ago) Carlton were known for their poor preseason ... it did not effect the way they performed when it really counted. I can only hope that this is the situation today.

I was extremely disappointed with what I saw and I would not be at all surprised if Richmond takes us to the cleaners. However I will be there on the 29th and I live in hope.





Hey jimmae ... I did not even mention the B word ... how is that for being positive.

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

Spot on - he has worn gloves in the past.

Keep in mind he's still adjusting since his eye surgery.

I for one have often lamented Shaun's slippery hands in the past, but I'm quietly optimistic that since his eye surgery he will slowly get his marking right.

Hammer was better in other pre-season games. It's not like he's been rubbish the whole time.

Hampson used the glove when he had problems with a broken hand.

I am tipping a slow start to the season for the Blue boys but then things will click and we will fight back to be contenders by seasons end.