I don't understand why AJ has been dropped.

I have no confidence in AJ winning the ball in a contested situation or, if he has it in his possession, either keeping it or disposing of it to our advantage. Whilst I appreciate his courage and strong work ethic I'm happier if he's not in the play.

I don't understand why he was selected last week. I assume he had a role to play that did not involve the ball. Now that he has been dropped I assume that either a) he failed in this role or b) this role is not required in this match.

Can anyone enlighten me? How did he fail against Richmond? What was he supposed to do that he didn't do?

Robbo inarticulate and basic has not revealed any great insight on the game in my view - quality of football journalism leaves a lot to be desired - coverage by newspaper of cricket is vastly superior -haigh conn roebuck(previously) all much better than football counterparts - international journalists barnes atherton also put our footy journalists in the shade

Reckon Walker has been told that he will be playing a lot of half back this year.

Great reward for Rowe - pleased to see him in.

Would like to see Bell Bucks and Laids in but looks as though Mick prefers Duigan before Laids for some reason.

Not for too long, I'd imagine.
That's not to have a shot at Duigan but Laidler is clearly the better player and arguably the better leader irrespective of what the current issue is.
Whichever way, I'd sooner we now invested the time in Bootsma. He'll make mistakes but we won't regret getting games into the kid.

Great for Rowe and I have a feeling we'll be using him for ruck duties also. In fact we haven't got a choice really.

Hope we don't gamble the house and expose Buckley in this match.
Would prefer to see Laidler, Lucas, Bootsma and White included, omitting Duigan, Davies and Buckley from the squad.

We really should have wheeled out Warnock for Sunday.

Better half back than Maxwell.

Am I barking up the wrong tree, or is fair to suggest that Duigan might have a place being a clearance player rather than back line fodder? He's a reasonable sized unit, and he can obviously play. A big body in the guts to help with the clearance and to put tackles on might be the type of role he's good at.

I just think he's a bit of a liability down back particularly when isolated.

Happy for Bell to be in the team, very very happy. A correction to an obvious blunder last week

Dare I express that view, not being on the match committee and all?? Could the criticism of the Rd 1 selection now be warranted, perhaps? No of course not, I wasn't on the Match committee this week either so I have no idea or right to comment. Sorry, how silly of me.

And I bloody hope to god that Laidler is in this week. Big forwards have had their way with us all preseason, we desperately need Laidler's ability to intercept and be 3rd man up as much as possible. I have real fear of what Cloke might do to Jamo one on one. I don't mind whether it's Duigan or Bootsma who gets left out, but they won't be big enough, quick enough or smart enough to help out Jamo and Hendo. It's going to be fine and sunny and the big men will have perfect conditions to dominate.

I must have been watching a different game last week, I thought Bootsma was very weak in marking and one on one contests all game. Gave up on a couple of marking contests when he was behind his man far too easily for my liking. If it's he and Duigan again this week with Laidler missing out I think that would be a huge mistake. or at least I would if I had a right to express a view on it.

Last week we were just wondering why you were so worried about finding a tall player for "Titch" Edwards.

I hope Laidler is 100% going into this game if he plays. From the training reports it sounded like he wasn't faring so well in the 1 on 1 contests when he was up against our Henderson.

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Winston Churchill

I just hope we play Laidler on someone shorter than 195cm just for a change.
Always seems to get the resting ruckman or tall third forward.

For whatever went wrong for Laidler last week, I hope he has put that behind him and gets on with what he does best.

BigKev

AJ didn’t do a lot wrong last match but then again didn't impress when he had the chance. IMO he was selected with the purpose of playing a particular role against the Tigers which I believe was to run with or tag Nahas and play back pocket whe Nahas went deep forward. Anyway with Robinson knocked out and Nahas starting as the sub for the Tigers there was no match up for Joseph when he took the field. Without any small forward to match up on or run with AJ was asked to play more as a half forward, or wing and he really isn’t suited to either of these roles.

Now normally the sub is either a versatile tall who can pinch hit as a back up ruck or key position player ie. Henerson/Rowe or a midfielder who can play forward or back ie. Walker/Yarran depending upon the make up of the opposing side. Not AJ's fault but his main role at this stage of his career has been as a close checking tagger or back pocket. Like Carrazzo he may be able to develop further however after 70 games he has yet to demonstrate that he will continually gather possessions or that he can be damaging on the rebound.

Fair call!

But he would need to clear it for us, not the opposition.

Yeah, Lynch is too big for Laidler. If Hendo goes forward, I think Plan B is Rowe onto Lynch. If Laidler plays, he should take Duigan's role. I'm a bit worried about Laidler's form/fitness though....

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It's never as good as it looks and it's never as bad as it seems.

Agree re Warnock, I think he should have been selected this week.

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Punter did see bootsma get outmarked by mcguane badly but think generally he is a good punch of ball and strong for a wiry frame- needs to bulk up - I think we are transitioning and it would be great to see a Carlton side with bootsma lucas and buckley and bell - the usual suspects have failed us over the last few years when it really mattered so I hope Mick will continue to bring in youth to seek to rectify deficiencies and put his stamp on these players - similarly casboult had a shocker last week but deserves another chance and with waite never on the park needs to be nurtured

Prefer all these guys to joseph davies okeefe perhaps collins etc

Casboult and Rowe will have their work cut out for them with Brown and Reid. Trick is to keep Shaw accountable and limit Maxwell's ability to kill contests. He'll have a field day if we bomb on top of the tall forwards' heads time and time again.

Rowe playing most likely means Hendo stays back, and with Lynch and Cloke floating about he's needed in defence.

Bugger all run on that extended bench.

Carlton 22; Int; Bootsma, Davies, Laidler, Lucas.

Em; Buckley, White, Duigan.

Rowe, Laidler, Davies, Bell 4 Betts, Duigan, Joseph, Hampson.

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Coll Final Team; Int; Clarke, Johnson, Macaffer, Russell. Em; Frost, Kennedy, J Thomas. Shaw, Seedsman in for J Thomas, Frost.

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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