I have watched this forum for 3/4 years with interest, amusement and sometimes disbelief at some of the opinions especially on the abilities of the many maligned players on our list. I am not normally a forum poster as i wonder what it can really achieve apart from letting off a bit of steam. More on the players later, but as i awoke this morning i felt i had to let off steam and join up and vent. This is my first post, maybe my one and only but hear me out.
I too have a young son and have to agree that many of the previous posts on this topic are spot on, we were at the MCG earlier this year when we gave the pies a touch up ( 8 hr return car trip just to see it ) and i clearly remember telling him that the dark days were gone, 10 years of beltings and rubbish were history, and thank god Juddy chose the blues !
Indeed his Carlton is now poles apart from the one i remember fondly which is sad, bag The Pies all you like, nobody hates them more than me, but take a closer look at them. Their facilities esp with a further 10m redevelopment of Olympic Park precinct, massive membership and a President that has ensured that they leave no stone unturned for success, we are stuck in the bicycle lane whilst others (most) including Richmond are scooting by. Mcguire has built a power that will overshadow us for the next 50 years, perhaps forever. Fact.
We do look at some /many of our players through rose colored glasses, take Paul Bower, he tries and is an honest battler but by the very fact that he is discussed so often suggest that he aint up to it, ever noticed his lack of handball skills or the rabbit in the spotlight approach when he gets the ball ? God help us if thats an AFL / Carlton footballer. Jarred Waite is probably the Barometer of where the club is at the moment, brilliant for a short period, inconsistent, injury prone and throw in the odd brain snap. Sad thing is Jarred will probably end his career as an unfulfilled talent that never influenced too many games or grabbed a season by the scruff of the neck and got the troops to follow him. Sad for such a talent.
Recruiting, well this has probably been done to death but just an observation. Right under our nose last year we had Ahmed Saad on our list and i was impressed with his stuff for the Bullants but no, he gets picked up by StKilda and impresses everyone else. I know we have small forwards but with no pressure on them they get comfortable and complacent. Do they think Jeffy/Eddie will never lose form ?? Now Bryce Squibs, what a disappointing outcome for this talented lad but gee he needs a big wake up, if you aint gunna go and get the hard ball you need to be an elite runner and user ( Craig Bradley ), sadly he is neither, anyone remember the Footy Record from Round 3 with Bryce on the cover declaring he was ready to take the next step. He needs a full prescription of HTFU pills . Test his and other players characters by dropping them, christ look at Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting the list goes on, they all got dropped and it didnt hurt them !!
In closing we all hope that we enjoy better days with our kids at the footy but not sure i will be making the 8 hr road trip in the near future, we want the players to roll up the sleeves, give us a red hot go every week and not hear the statistical dribble we hear from Brett Ratten every second week. We all know that you can do anything with stats and data. As they say the buck stops with the coach, he has a massive job in front of him now. Go Blues
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