ahh so its not that he has no ticker - its that he's playing with a broken ticker - now I just want to give him a hug.

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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!

I think Sticks is a face, not an administrator. But my point is I think we have a better admin than a decade ago.

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I hope Essendon* folds.

So your preseident is a face not an administrator and he was the face a decade ago too.. but you didnt like that face... In fact not ony was he a cafe for collo and Smorgo but he was also used as the face by elliot..... and still the face ...

but were better.....

If Pratt had not poured in his money with Matheson .. the face would be different but still the same.

Dont kid yourself....

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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.

I will know the club has changed for the better when we get out of this mindset where we think we can progress to a premiership just by acquiring other club's champions. Getting Judd in many ways made this mindset worse. "we got our man ... we can get any man".

I believe we were the last of all AFL club's to really come to grips with the draft and trade. We under valued it's importance. This was most evident around the mid 90's when we went on a trading frenzy by giving up good draft picks for the likes of Davenport, McGuane, Mansfield and O'Reilly. Just when we realised it's importance we lost our top draft picks.

Fast forward to 2009 and we played the same card and got the same resullt ... Brock McLean. What was significant to me about this trade was the timing of it all ... we only recently heavily traded draft picks and a player for Judd ... we knew we were about to enter a period where the Gold Coast and GWS were going to get the cream ... so at this point in time (2009 draft) it was very very important to stock up on the young talent.

I would love to know how our recruiting department stacks up in number of personnel and $ spent in comparison to other clubs. For some reason I still get the feeling we are lagging behind the other clubs and will continue to so whilst our method of having top talent on our list is to acquire other club's champions.

Recruiting is certainly better than it was in the 90s (wouldn't be hard) but the development is what I would question. Players with obvious talent just pleateau when we expect to see them go to the next level.

I agree we haven't developed our own well enough, and its been too focused on individuals rather than getting a cohesive team playing well to a system. Basically all of our improvement from 08 I would just track to natural player improvement, not development or coaching. Unfortunately that can only take you so far, as we are finding out now.

Recruiting has been better, but it's still reactive. You can't develop players that lack the scope to improve. Apart from that it has been all about the first rounders and that's more like an intravenous drip than anything else.

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

Why weren't people calling for a new president or board after the Collingwood win earlier in the year? I don't see the correlation between 2 poor on field performances and the president being inadequate. Most people believed Ratts met the expectations of the board last year and therefore got another contract. I don't personally see that as a mistake. Having set the expectations of top 4 for this year, if we miss out then the board will take appropriate action at that time. Threads about sacking the board or sacking the coach after 2 poor performances are just over-reactionary. Threads suggesting to replace the coach with the very same assistants that have been questioned in other threads are just mind boggling.

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@cecil_anderson

Perspective from the poster above.. Thank you.

I think we are all over reacting through disappointment that OUR expectations aren't being met.

Sack everybody? We'll have the same players, no time to implement a new game plan and a disruptive environment for the players and board to try and work through at a time when we are least able to deal with it.

The reality is we have to run with what we have in the short term, get the existing coaching panel to tweak the game plan or at least select players who can take a mark inside 50 and kick straight, put people with heart in the midfield to try and get the hard footy, (I'm talking about some or all of Walker, Robbo, Armfield, Ellard, McLean, Scotto and Touhy), stabilize the back six with a plan to either run it or kick it long but not both at the same time, move Gibbs upfield, put Eddie and Garlett in the middle for stints, get the rucks to actually put the ball to OUR advantage, get Warnock in and put either Keruzer or Warnock in the square and tell them to stay there, get Simmo away from the contest into space (somehow). Try someone new. We may have a talent. Dale. Bootsma. Buckley. Watson up front. Defend the corridor. Don't let opposition coaches just dominate the HF line with a floater. We come unstuck there most weeks. Even I can see it. And FFS go one on one when the game needs to be controlled for a while. Our zone is too big. Too many holes.

The team is essentially the same as that which beat Collingwood. The game plan has been cracked so that is now the issue. Not the players. Time for Ratts and his outfit to come up with a lineup that will surprise opposition coaches. That's what they get paid for.

We are Carlton. We are predictable. Change that or watch 2102 disappear int a puff of smoke within weeks. If it already hasn't.

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Let slip the Blues of war (with apologies to William Shakespeare) (and Sir Francis Bacon, just in case)

Ouch.

But Rattens game plan doesnt have plan b or c or d...........
And why
because the game plan is about as solid as a house of cards

Ours is based on a non contested out in the open game
Since the Essendon* game we havent addressed the problem because Ratten is simply out of his depth.
He was almost given the job and now we are paying for it.
This problem starts from within the club. A club that still is in the dark ages with a president whose only credentials are that he was a great player. McKay gets the player development job.
Jobs for the boys. Now we are paying big time for it.

Look things can be turned around but we need a new coach.
Reckon Sticks will shaft his mate?
We need the best people for the best job.
Sanderson has had the correct amount of experience
So has McCartney
So has Neeld who unfortunately has inherited a pathetic club
All have contested footy as the number one priority.
Sanderson goes out and gets Milburn because Milburn in his eyes would make a good defensive coach.
Things fall into place when the right people are employed .
Not because they were great players for Carlton.

To put it bluntly this club sux and hasnt learnt from their mistakes.
Its time someone stepped in and turn things around before any further damage is done.

Its not even about sacking Ratten.
Its about our planning .. planning into the future.
We have not been meticulous in planning forward and have been hoping short cuts get us there
Coaching process- Ratts third or fourh most experienced coach cant get off his one trick pony
Recruiting - straight out fail!!.. no midfielders???? no flower midfielders in this day and age??
Memberships - jingoistic
Debt- Pratt and Matheson
Initiative and Inovation - A great big ZERO!

Everything about the club isnt number 1.
Cos the people around the clubs arent number 1

It's so simple if you care to think about it and understand this is 2012 not 1980

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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.