i dont think people disagree with you i just think they think and you should also think that losing to a side that will most likely finish bottom 4 or 5 by 10 goals when you are meant to have premiership aspirations is unacceptable. now if it were a one off shit performance you might say injuries were the reason and we were due for a downer but we have been downright disgraceful since that collingwood game (save for maybe 1 qtr v freo)

I'd argue that like most people - you are still looking at things from an emotionally clouded viewpoint.

1. How would you have structured the forward/backline differently?
2. How would you have structured the mids setup/rotations differently? (murphy+carazzo injured, gibbs taken out of there due to lack of options down back - so effectively 3 of the top 5 mids out of the rotation (simpson + robinson available)

Of our 'other' mids
- lucas+russell are horribly out of form
- buckley is 3 games back from an 8 layoff (finger), okeefe coming back from 8-12 week foot injury
- dale was an emergency.

Who else do we have on our list that might come in and change up the midfield rotations?

What your saying is true, injuries, combined with players being out of form, and the combined lack of continuity has led to the whole game plan falling apart. The remaining players now have no confidence, Ratts has no idea what to do as no matter where anyone is put it still seems to go tits up.

I will criticise the coach for the side not being well drilled enough for other players to seamlessly come into the side and know what is expected.

Its been a ridiculous season to look at form though I think its almost safe to say that the bottom 4 is fairly settled (GWS,GC, melbourne, brisbane).

So is port CLEARLY the 5th worst team in the comp? - I don't think you could say that atm.

They are on equal points with north (just got smashed by 100+) and the dogs (who play swans @ SCG tomorrow). They are just 1 game behind the tigers, saints and freo. Freo has lost the past 3 games and could conceivably lose their next 3 (tigers @ G, dons @ pattersons, Pies @ G).

By years end, its not inconceivable that Port could end up finishing mid table (around 10th) given that outside of games that they'd be competitive in (i.e. chance to win), they have still have 3 gimme games (melbourne, brisbane @ AAMI, GWS)

Why wait till years end....by the time this threads over Port will be flag favourites....

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"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

Its been a ridiculous season to look at form though I think its almost safe to say that the bottom 4 is fairly settled (GWS,GC, melbourne, brisbane).

So is port CLEARLY the 5th worst team in the comp? - I don't think you could say that atm.

They are on equal points with north (just got smashed by 100+) and the dogs (who play swans @ SCG tomorrow). They are just 1 game behind the tigers, saints and freo. Freo has lost the past 3 games and could conceivably lose their next 3 (tigers @ G, dons @ pattersons, Pies @ G).

By years end, its not inconceivable that Port could end up finishing mid table (around 10th) given that outside of games that they'd be competitive in (i.e. chance to win), they have still have 3 gimme games (melbourne, brisbane @ AAMI, GWS)[/quote]

no we are!

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"Then joked and said he (Jack himself) probably wouldn't even need to play until round 2 against Collingwood."

Why does it stop at Ratten?

Does Hird need a bullet for their soft efforts against the Suns, Giants and Demons?

Some just choose to focus on one area to support their bias. That's the old Richmond bulltish of excusing the players alone and not telling them they haven't done enough. If they could play with this desire against Collingwood and Richmond, then the players and the coaches are the ones who need to turn it around. Not sure that it can be done if we can't produce a working forwardline and midfield due to our absentees. Pies have still maintained their forward structure of Cloke and Dawes with premiership mids and onballers in there. We don't have that luxury.

Resting is a cop out argument. Waite and Kreuzer clearly needed the rest, but you just want to bash Ratts to excuse the players. Like Gibbs copping it whilst others skate on free with supporters.

- Part of the issue is that we've changed how we are approaching our forward setup this season (trying to get away from 3 small targets which worked most times last year)
- Part of the issue is that players that you'd normally expect to be coming in to fulfil roles have been injured (white, davies as obvious examples) - others have had injuries (ellard)*
- another part I think, has been the lack of continuity in the seconds - a new coaching setup, the ants this year appear to have been fairly weak (non-CFC players), a few byes (at least 3), that when combined with injuries to CFC listed players would have had a huge impact on development (off the top of my head, casboult, rowe, mitchell, okeefe, kerr, bell, davies, white, buckley, lodge - have all missed significant parts of the season)#

*ellard is another who has missed a bit with injury that I overlooked from the earlier list
# - ants watchers would probably add another couple of names to the list that I've overlooked

Whilst I'm extremely unhappy with how the team is going at the moment, I'm going to sit back and wait until we get a bit more structure back (i.e. players back from injury) before casting judgement on the coaching panel.

We're about 4 mids short of a cheeseburger. We don't have the depth in their to cover the outs from our best side, and I'm not sure we have the right types to beat the game plan that has been deployed against us for the last 6 weeks.

Fortunately, that's the easiest problem in football to solve and we're heading into uncompromised drafts again.

This season is shot though.

Potentially, we've 3 of those mids - carazzo, murphy, gibbs (when the back line is settled again).

Depending on the type of cheeseburger you want, Its not beyond the realms of possibility that we might have the 4th mid on our list already - mclean as an inside mid, buckley as a runner, lucas regaining form etc

We'll stock up on mids this draft though, or look to bring one in via trades or free agency.

Season isn't over yet - so long as we get into the finals relatively injury free and I'd be confident of doing some damage.

GAGF.

COnsider THIS.

Port are sh1t.
Primus is a chimp.
They beat us by 50 points

Don't give me any other excuses.

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I hope Essendon* folds.

It stops at Ratten because in my opinion he was the instigator of the malaise that I am talking about. I watched the man actually openly talk about resting players and how well Geelong did it last year and that we were going to be heading down the same path. If the coach is that far ahead of himself, then how do you expect the players to remain grounded. He not only allowed it to happen, he introduced it into the psyche of his playing group. Ever since it was first mooted and talked about, the competitive nature of the whole squad has vanished. That is why the buck stops at Ratten.

The playing group are mentally weak for allowing itself fall away so badly. So no, they should not be getting off scott free. Plenty of blokes are showing themselves up to be the pretenders that they are.

There is a saying in football that has been around for a long long time... Don't flirt with your form. Ratten flirted with it, flouted it and has now blown a season where a flag was there for the taking.

Bash Ratts to excuse the players??? Give me a spell. The whole @#$%&! club needs bashing. From the President keeping his mates in employment, to Ratten and his pissweak structures and lack of ability to inspire his troops, to a playing group that is as mentally fragile and weak as you could come across. The club as a whole has failed miserably and it took 4 weeks.

Our next 4 games will dictate our season. Lose them all and it is curtains. And the way they are playing at the moment, they do not stand a chance. It's hard to be positive

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Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.

didnt heed the warning after pre season
Didnt heed it after Essendon*
Didnt heed it after Freo kicking shyt...GWS /StKilda.. and everyone else.

Continue to delude yourself and continue getting smashed around the head.

At some point you will be beaten....!!!.. into a pulp;
Delusion is tempting
Reality is harsh!!!

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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.

In a way you can blame injuries for the lack of effort from the rest of the team, but only because of their weak mindset. They've seen what happened to both Carrots and Murph, as well as the countless times we've lost players due to lack of strength, and particularly teams like hawthorn smashing us. Thus, they're scared to go in out of fear that they're on hard tackle or bump away from the same. This is an indictment on all, players, coaches and fitness staff.

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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

They dont look gutless or not trying.
They look like they dont have answers.
And there is none forthcoming.

Injuries
Soft

Not factors.

Look at Adelaide.

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Lets not forget that this is an injury toll that is unlike anything ive seen at Carlton in 36 years - yes we get injuries, but to 2 first choice KPP (waitem, henderson), a first choice ruck (kreuzer), 2 first choice mids (murphy, carazzo) and 3 first choice defenders (henderson, duigan and laidler) - AND their backups (thornton, white, davies) is unheard of. hell the club would have expected Rowe to play this year, and Im expecting people to blame ratten for him getting cancer ffs.

Then remember that the offseason would have been spent following on from the successful gameplan that took us to the finals last year, you can see it in the players bodies, its all about run and not muscle. You can see it in the way we've generally run out matches (see GWS and Melbourne) even when we've had bad games. What we werent prepared for was the Essendon* gameplan which EVERYONE then adopted. You cant change body mass and development over night, particularly when most of your bigger bodied players are injured.

Theres nothing wrong with coming out and saying we were going to be top 4. At the time we had the personnel and were in reasonable form. Resting players makes sense according to EVERY commentator. And then the injuries set in. And with the ins being guys like Watson and Bootsma, and whole bunch of little midfielder, running types to replace half a dozen big bodies of course we're going to suffer.

Ratten is responsible for the team, but God himself couldnt help the injury toll that will have stuffed the season for the first half. Now the good news is these guys are all going to come back for the second half of the year. You can judge Ratts now all you like, there are some concerns sure, but its not head hunting time yet.

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http://www.youtube.com/user/Navyblue95 -
my youtube channel tracking carlton news on television and paytv

Injuries injuries excuses puke excuses.

Clubs get injuries.

Who are our injuries ???

Wanna name them???

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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.

Read my post again. Or go find the injury list yourself. If you dont think injuries are part of this issue your mistaken. Sure clubs get injured, but theres only so much depth you can carry - and our depth is as injured as our main list. God doesnt like our talls it seems. Few clubs will have this kind of toll on KPP and midfield/flankers alike.

Henderson - out injured - Centre Half Back
Waite - out injured - Centre Half Forward
Kreuzer - out injured - Ruck/Forward
Thornton - out injured - Backup KPF/KPD
Laidler - out injured - Defender
Duigan - out injured - Defender
Murphy - out injured - Midfield
Carazzo - out injured - MIdfield

Returning from Injury

Jamison
Warnock
Yarran

Backup KPP
Mitchell - just returning from Injury - KPF
Rowe - cancer - KPF
Casbault - out injured - KPF/Ruck

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http://www.youtube.com/user/Navyblue95 -
my youtube channel tracking carlton news on television and paytv

Never seen such a bunch of rubbish in my life Wookie.

LOL

So noone can play the game and the guys in the side are all headless chooks even though most have played as regulars???

Henderson. Covered by Bower(See the Duigan Laidler note_
Waite has not contributed in FOUR Years
Kreuzer play 3 rucks again??? in the flower wet???
Thornton the man that keeps gettng dropped???

Laidler and Duigan are defenders. You wanted to hold the opposition to under 50 points?


Murphy was in the side when the rot started.
Carrazzo.. the Carrazzo myth of the man going down is growing... im sure people will be asking each other.. "Where were you when Carrazzo went down against the dirty cheating Essendon* and robbed us of 3 premiersips in 2 years as told in Sticks' blue print ???

Carrazzo is an average footballer

Now check out Collingwoods teams lately.

They havent lost the respect of the footy world including the umpires.(One of which is a former player)

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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.

Wookie i love your work on here but Iirc Waite, Hendo, Kruezer, Duigan murphy, all played against the saints.
The problem is above the shoulders in both game plan attitude and execution.
Forget Rowe, Thornton, Boulta types just numbers. carrazzo and Laider only real outs that night.

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Green Shooter