Listening to Brian Waldron on SEN this morning and hearing his thoughts on Carlton's efforts in trade week just reinforeced my opinion that we have a completely reactive football department when it comes to matters such as trading/drafting.

It just feels that Carlton are so far behind other clubs such as St Kilda, etc when it comes to being proactive and leveraging their position. Waldron couldn't believe that we couldn't have used the pressure of the #1 PSD to get at least 1 advantageous trade, and said he understands why Carlton supporters would be frustrated. We gained no more picks, we re-signed the big names (or will be apart from 1), and just seemed to be sitting there waiting for things to happen around us. You need to get in a solid number of youngsters to grow together as a group. Bringing 1 or 2 quality ones in just isn't enough. He'd be a great figure to have down there when he leaves his position at the Storm and I feel he'd work a lot harder behind the scenes then Molouf or the like are currently.

We are treading water. We are going nowhere. We need change at the top, and we need it now!!!

It's a reasonable gripe to have but unlike St Kilda, we didn't have enough space in the cap to go after a really big fish and shake the tree at many of the clubs. Until Kouta's contract ends in 2006, we just can't seem to free up any money, regardless of how bad our list is.

The Saints were also fortunate to have capitalised on the prevailing mood of the time where there were some players actively looking to return from interstate (ie Gehrig) and many others willing to leave for money (ie Hammill). The last couple of years has seen unprecedented loyalty, especially from the likes of Luke Power, Robert Copeland and chris Judd who could have returned to Melbourne for many more $$$ than they're on now.

_________________
In WADA we trust

Waldron's a flower!! Easy for him to sit there sprouting crap out of his cake hole.

What's his, and your alternatives?? Trade a great FF for pick 8 and Tivendale?

How about a genuine KPP for pick 22 in a weak draft.

Trading good/great players for crap would've been reactive - we've got a plan to recruit from the bottom using the draft and youngsters while maintaining some form of leadership.

You forgot to mention they also praised Dean Laidley for his great vision

Remember, it's not our top 6 that are the problem, it's our bottom 6. Once we have genuine footballers, not pretenders like Clarke, Bowyer, diggers we'll be a lot better, and guess what? It takes time with the current system.

Did Waldron build his team from 2000 in 1 or 2 years?? BIG NO, in fact they still haven't hit the mark 5 years later. Maybe he should be asking why his Saints haven't done A LOT better than they have.

_________________
end of message

Couldn't agree more gentleman, very disappointing and as for "salary cap pressure" BULLSHIT. We have plenty of room, we just CAN'T CONVINCE ANYONE TO PLAY FOR US.

That is the simple, bitter truth.

When Gehrig went to the Saints, he was in the top 10 paid players in the AFL. He went for a huge swathe of cash, but the beauty of St Kilda is that they didnt need to put it in brown paper bags. They had cap free, and could throw it around - take Hamill as a point as well.

Our problem is cap space and it should have started to go our way. But it hasnt, as we've paid out crap contracts for too long. Kouta will be the last final step but I can't help but feel Whitnall, Stevens, Fevola are still on too much for their output.

Hamill 's don't come off the trees every day.
Collingwood tried hard to snare Luke Power and likely effect may be we get Selwood.
It's so easy to have a crack at us, who is the player we were going to snag anyway!!!
I don't recall any club presidents abusing stars causing them to leave, like that moron Elliot did.
Name one player we could have got to walk, who fitted the age bracket we actually wanted......Selwood or Selwood and we might still get him.
It's so easy from the sidelines, which big name did Richmond snag last year, or the Dogs before that....

_________________
Green Shooter

We did exactly what I though we would do during trade week. Not a lot.

Players would have only been traded if the 'deal' was particluarly good.

It is pointless trading 'like for like' during trade week when you do not have to or 'sell' senior players for less than what they are worth.

The club has been clear in that we will take full advantage of our position in the draft and PSD ie recruit some good quality kids that can be added to the current developing youngsters. It is a position I am very comfortable with.

_________________
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty" -Winston Churchill

L.M 35-06

.............and why didn't Waldron have a crack at Collingwood as well?

They have pick 2 which also has significant leverage when it comes to trade. THEY did squat, yet with all their mighty money and incredible corporate structure, still couldn't land a big name - but because Balmey was sitting next to him, he crapped himself and said nothing.

People, don't kid yourselves, we weren't the only ones paying over the cap in the 2000 era. Even the Saints would've been close - it's just we were miles over and did it poorly.

I heard an interview with a former Fitzroy official who said even THEY were paying in paper bags in the 90's.

Since black Friday, players and managers have become a lot more realistic and players moving clubs for money just doesn't happen anymore.

Also, there are 15 other clubs in the comp, you don't go holding them to ransom because, as they say, what goes around comes around.

'That is the simple, bitter truth'

truth now, so its a fact, all players do not want to play for carlton.

so everything sheeds says we take as gospel now.

_________________
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!

It shouldn't take a whole lot of CONVINCING. Players should be rapt at the chance to come and play for Carlton!

Didnt do ourselves any favours...if you were going to sell off Fev, why market him in such a poor way...we bagged him for 3 months and then put him up for sale..he wasnt gun FF for sale we branded him a problem child and then wanted top dollar...how clever was that?
We could have traded Lance...Melbourne would deal reasonably for him but we didnt have the gonads to go through with it because we were wanting the Fev deal to happen....
I would luv to know Wayne Hughes thoughts....maybe he could have done deals but was ordered not to.....the club is a mess...

_________________
"When you have the attitude of a champion, you see adversity as your
training partner."
- Conor Gillen

Have to agree with this. The whole Fevola situation was handled badly. It was a PR disaster. I just think back to Sheedy managing to secure pick no. 6 for Danny Jacobs and here we were struggling to have Richmond offer us pick 8 for someone that will kick you 60-70 goals. Not sure where our club is headed....

I don't listen to cocks from other clubs when they're rubbishing Carlton.

_________________
"One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds." - Frank Zappa

FFS Guys,

We did as well if not better than we are given credit for. Sure we could have snagged another player during the trade week, but at what cost? Would you have traded Fevola for pick 8 and a turd like Ray Hall? All that would have got us is an untried kid who would take up to 3 years to develop and a player on the scrapheap. Get real.

The Filth hardly even participated except offloading one of their duds to the Scum and their list is as bad as ours. Its about time we stopped reading the crap that journalists report and accept as gospel. As they say "Why let the facts get in the way of a good story"

I am often accused of being too optimistic particularly when it comes to matters Blue, but I am very positive about the refreshing of our list and am eager to see who we are gunna pickup in the forthcoming drafts.

It would be nice to see who else on this board shares these views and stops canning every friggin thing the club does.

_________________
2002:> "In their Masters Chambers
They Gathered for their Feast
They Stabbed us with their Steely Knives
But They Just Can't Kill The Beast!" <2016

THE BLUEBAGGER BEAST IS BAACKK!!

I wasn't aware Carro Wilson worked for the club

Who from the club actually came out and heaped shit on fev? apart from some straghtening out by Big Nick?

We'd want more than pick 8. Fev was never seriously going to be traded anyway. And really,what was there during the trade period to pick up?No real big names in there. You don't trade for the sake of trading. If there was a big name then we could use the pressure of PSD #1 to get a good trade.

He should probably worry about his own backyard.

Yeah Right we were going to trade heavily were we ?? Wake up people in order to be able trade for players( good picks ) you need to be able to offer something, and at the very least gets value back.

So, sure tell me about our great trade bait.... Norman, Clarke , Digby, Bannister, Wiggins, Sporn, Johnson, McGrath, Prenda, Houlihan,Davies , Livo, Scotland etc etc.

Seriously what would we be looking at getting. If a bloke like Lance and Fev couldn't command 2 first rounders , I can see it now Sporn for pick 17.. Haha.. was never goinf to happen.

Wake Up people the Club isn't going to be dictated to by other clubs. I can not believe some of the rubbish i've been reading about our trade period. What did you expect, we just trade and get a miracle. Other clubs are not stupid, nor are we . We however have a weak list and we need to develop it. Trading for rejects doesn't pay off. And trading quality for hopefuls who are not proven but are 18 year olds who show potential doesn't guarantee success also. Let alone what needs to be given up to get into this position.

I'm sure if the club was prepared to trade names such as Thorton, Waite, Fisher, Simpson,BentickCarrazzo, Stevens and Walker etc etc, we would or could of traded. Hey we might have snagged a top 20 pick ( in a weak draft )

But then guess what .... The same people i'm assuming would be cracking the sads that we traded away our young talent.

The Club just can't win , not the way these Richmond supporters ooops Carlton people are thinking.

Wake up please, get with reality..... It will take time . we might not be great let alone good at the moment, but lets keep something in perspective , we are not going to be bent over .

We did the right thing.... Thats my opinion.... And i've already read yours.

bag me if you like but at least i have some consistency. Some here are never happy... Watch how we trade seasons end 2006 , then lets revisit this topic. For now i say well done , and for Waldron and the likes of .... You idiot did you want us to give you players ? Did you want us to play into your hands and ruin our future altogether.



Oh Well

_________________
I know a little secret. And i'm not sharing.

Agreed. Trading is dead, DRAFTING AND AXEING is the only way up...

Laidley is about to learn this...

_________________
"Some people take delight in Carlton. " - Verbs