our overall structure and spacing across the ground was much better, but the biggest difference i noticed last night was the players were a helluva lot more relaxed.

maybe, possibly they're no longer scared of getting the hairdryer treatment from dick, i mean mick, if they make a mistake??

they used the corridor a few times, they only kicked backwards after the swans had turned it over and we had no spread. but in general play our set up was good and our play mostly positive.

i also noticed a distinct lack of our players with eyes-only for their man. that was pissing me off the most under dick, i mean mick. players abandoning all footy instinct and forgetting about the guy with the ball, while they mindlessly tracked their man mark. at stoppages our players were too busy trying to body up their man, rather than look for their own space and hunt the ball.


all in all ... after 2 days of having the team, Barker delivered on his word. more competitive and more focussed.

take any team's best defender (jamo) and best first bounce midfield (Kruezer, judd, murphy & gibbs) and then take a sprinkling of other handy players out on top of that (the irish lads) and put them against sydney ... and the reality is most will get done by 10 plus goals.

barker has the inside track to the coaching job. looking at the list of potential coaches being bandied around, Barker's resume reads as good as anyones. he's done an apprenticeship and woulda learned lots under clarkson, lyon and even malthouse. but with malthouse, he woulda been learning more about what not to do, and how not to coach a football team.

i'm opitimistic for the future under barker and after our bye round, i reckon we'll see steady improvement under him.

Terrible act.

Have no problem with him doing any dance he wants but to aim a war dance focused on opposition fans is highly provocative and did in fact lead to unrest.

Then his little innocent act after the game.

If we had a fair dinkum competiton, he'd get reported. Whether he gets a fine, suspension or warning I don't care.
In the EPL or NFL he'd get a 3 week holiday.

Tell Goodes that

Tell Goodes that ( to rexy- that its not a theatre of war)

I just didn't see it like a nazi salute or anything like that.

I don't get the outrage. :shrugs:

Contrived bullshit.

I think our flag chances are gone!

Definitely a better effort last night, the players did seem a little more relaxed last night and played with a little more freedom, they hung in against a much better drilled side, with heaps more talent, a couple of times it looked like it was going to blow out to 80+, but they kept working hard and held.
60 points is still a belting, but all things considered I don't think any of us thought we would get that close, skills are still terrible, Menzel is soft and Jones is a massive mistake and should play bullant reserves until he works out wether he actually wants to play footy or not.

But according to Richo, he liked Goode's honesty.

Tadhg Kennelly ‏@TadhgKennelly 12h12 hours ago
Proud of my heritage just like my brother @adamroy37

If you can't see the difference between the 2, there's no point discussing things with you.

We have an absolute beauty in Cripps. It wasn't just what he did in regards to the footy but more importantly for a team like us was that he stood up in the physical encounters. Even instigated a couple of confrontations. Loved it. Been a long, long time since I've seen that at Carlton. Future leader/Captain a given. Should have his papers stamped never to be released.