Few pizza shops in Carlton. Quite right.

_________________
BLUES 2010: PAV AND JUDD = FLAGS. DOING IT FOR THE LOVE OF DICK PRATT.

HAVE YOU SIGNED UP FOR TALKINGCARLTON SUPERCOACH 2009 YET?

**********************

Liam Jones
Steamin' and rollin'
Liam Jones
You never have to guess
When you hear the tootin' of the whistle
It's Liam at the throttle of the Carlton Blues Express

_________________
THEY LIKE TO SEND UP!!!!!!!!

Until each team plays each other the same number of times, the AFL, as a fair dinkum competition, cannot be taken seriously.

He (Mr Swann) said the honour and pride associated with the club's traditional navy blue jumper was priceless.

Watch what happens if they make the finals.

_________________
29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.

the GWS game in Canberra today is a sellout

_________________
*(grow - fun - gah)

Yeah but whatabout your whataboutism.

Pffft, what would Alastair Clarkson know about the effect of inexperience?

_________________
"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

Exactly, add the fact that the club seems to have a half-baked notion of what a rebuild actually entails. It's not about where we are now, as bad as it is, it's about where we need to be.

_________________
Just because I'm offended, doesn't mean I'm wrong.

It hurts because its taken so long to come to the rebuild party. For so many years now we've been spoon fed board room bullsh*t and had little choice but to hope and believe they are right.

One of their tried and true tactics for the last 15/20 years was the deflection of the new coach merry-go-round. And they got a damn good run out of that deceptive tactic. But that all ended with the "coach of coaches" in Malthouse.

Now they've got no alternative but the embarrassment of facing the media, the members and the football public for the debacle they've collectively caused.

If we'd copped our whack even 10 years ago and started this rebuild, we'd probably be playing Hawthorn in this years Grand Final - who knows?

But to come out in 2015 and announce we're going to have to rebuild is just flat out deflating. How many supporters are just about done with this club? Its an embarrassment.

Too bad anywayz huh, now we've got to go through this rebuild (whatever that is) whether we like it or not. 15/20 years too late, but who's counting? As long as they get it right ...

Kicked in the guts by this club over & over for too many years now. Carlton pass the buck Blues is what we should be named.

I don't think a future Premiership (whenever that may be) will undo all the pain and embarrassment of the last 15/20 years. A dynasty consisting of a decade of finals appearances and a few flags along the way might do it - but seriously, I can't see that ever happening in this "modern game" we call Australian rules football.

By the time we finally get around to playing a premiership, touching another player will be illegal. Won't that make for an exciting game to see ....

Find "Malthouse" replace with "Kernahan".

I hope Sticks is enjoying his reunion drinks tonight, knowing his ineptitude as an adminstrator is inversely proportional to his fine abilities as a player.

FU Kernahan!

I should have known better than to trust a Glenelg player.

_________________
Click here to follow TalkingCarlton on twitter
TalkingCarlton Posting Rules

Was he backing Barker so that we don't pinch Bolton?

Good to see you are finally making sense of it all boss
What Synbad and I have been saying for years
If the club goes after Carlise or Aish I will barrack for Collingwood
Go for youth get a dozen or so kids over the next 4 years
Don't get recycled shit
Have those kids become the leaders because the majority of our senior players arnt
MM has set us back around 3 years
I think the club is on the right track it it mustbe prepared to go through pain to get there
Happy to share the pain but won't if we trade good like for a sook like Carlisle or an overrated player like Aishk

Yeah, go for kids. Not 19 year olds like Aish.

Saying he is over-rated is fine, not wanting to give away too much for him is fine, saying he's not a leader is fine, but getting a guy who polled high in the NAB as a bottom ager, as well as the junior career he had, is hardly going against a youth policy.

Especially if it means targetting early picked draftees and getting them for unders due to not settling in for whatever reason at their initial club. When Hawthorn did this last year with O'Rourke they were labelled geniuses.

Makes more sense them waiting for a player to make it and the offering your first and and a best 22 to get them over.

All needs to balanced in with drafting hard, but always weighing up the strength of each draft and comparing the player you trading in with might be available with the pick you are trading out.

And whilst it was a throw away line you then threaten to go to a club - who despite trading/drafting a lot better than we have - have still picked up the likes of Clinton Young, Jesse White, Tony Armstrong, Patrick Karnezis, Quinten Lynch and Levi Greenwood over the past 2 years......

_________________
"They're [REDACTED]'

Spot on list.

Also ordinary players become good players at great teams. Murph and Gibbs would be winning brownlows with Lewis, Hodge and Mitchell around them in a team that is ten goals better than the next best. And how good would yarran be if he was at the Hawks and brought into their culture (big if I know). I suspect the Hawks have a few players who are made much better by the talent skill and culture at the Hawks and would be ordinary players at Carlton. McEvoy, Litherland Hartung Shoenmakers Spangher Suckling O'Rourke and even guys like Bruesst and Isaac Smith would struggle in the current Carlton side.

I think Pagan hit the nail on the head in the paper today.
We have let too many good players slip through our fingers.
Kennedy, Betts, Garlett, Waite, Jacobs, Laidler, Grigg and Robinson, most of these for no or very little return.
It is so frustrating and heartbreaking watching Carlton now.
I wonder some times if we are watching the demise of our once powerful club.

Kennedy - Part of Judd trade. One of the great what if's is where we'd be if we didn't do this trade, as much as I love Juddy.
Betts - Effectively traded for Daisy. I cringe every time I think about it
Garlett - Was keeping him worse for the culture of the place or was he a product of the culture?
Waite - Would they have let him go if they'd known they'd get @#$%&! ed by the AFL? Did they mis-read it, or were they genuinely screwed? The AFL should be upfront with clubs about compo picks or just get rid of them altogether
Jacobs - poor trading. pure and simple
Laidler - MM forced him out of the club. Ridiculous.
Grigg - straight swap for Andrew Collins. No world beater, but Collins was a complete spud.
Robinson - See Garlett. Whilst I understand letting him go, it is a failure of culture.

Makes for sad reading.

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

Trade ALL of our senior players within the next 2 years, they are the cancer of our list. Bunch of overpaid hacks. Some of them had 3-4 coaches now. We've made so many changes within the club in the last decade (coaches, the board, recruitment, fitness personnel) but they are still here. Time for them to go.

Remember a month ago when we were playing some good footy? It wasn't them that were playing good, it was the kids like Bell and Cripps that carried them, making them look good.

Couldn't agree more Camelboy. I remember at the AGM at the end of 2013 there was an opportunity for members to take the microphone and ask questions of the administration/board. About 3/4 of the way through, Sticks got up and says "OK folks, we're cutting into valuable bar time here... let's continue this informally".

Everyone giggled and laughed, and bar time it was

_________________
O say does that star spangled banner yet wave.

Agree.

I don't want Carlisle anywhere near the club and I believe it's not a consideration anyway.

As for Aish I would be happy to get him but it depends upon what we have to give up. Pick 20? Possibly but nothing earlier.

_________________
#NewBlues beginning 25th August 2015

Pretty much. The terrible decisions we've made have all had a common theme.

Say what you want about the Pratt's influence now, but the club was given a 2nd chance through Dick's intervention (imagine had Smorgon and Malouf stayed) and under Sticks' leadership we managed to @#$%&! things up again. We had one get out of jail card and wasted it.

_________________
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

Some of the responses to Fridays loss are ridiculously over the top. What did everyone expect? Hawthorn dismantled the ladder leading Fremantle 2 weeks ago and had 30 scoring shots to 10!
A week later they decimate the best defensive side of the past decade in Sydney by 90 points! When they are on, they are an irresistible force. Yes we suffered our biggest loss but I have no doubt we put out on the ground the most inexperienced team in our history. After totally smashing the 2 best defensive sides in the past 2 weeks, what chance did we have? What did people expect? The result was almost inevitable.

Our biggest problem was our inability to defend inside our defensive 25. Hawthorn took too many marks within 25 metres which allowed them to convert well. They dragged Jamison up the ground and our lack of strength and experience inside defensive 25 was exposed. Good coaching by Clarkson.
But lets not cut our wrists just yet. FFS, it was one heavy loss. Several posters who have been praising Barker for 6 weeks are suddenly talking doomsday after 1 game! You can't judge a coach, a team, a club on one game. A number of positive initiatives have been put in place over the past month or so and that isn't eradicated because Hawthorn flogged us.
Look back over their season. They had 38 scoring shots against us but they also had 38 against Geelong. They had 32 against the Bulldogs, 35 against North and 34 against Essendon*, 35 against Melbourne etc etc etc. The killer from us was their conversion because their shots were so close to goal.

I like the fact Barker played kids. I like the fact he hasn't played older players who are injured to protect his own reputation. I like the fact we had 12 players with 50 or less games exposed to Hawthorn. What a lesson they learnt on how to execute a game plan under immense pressure. They saw what's required to be the very best and I have no doubt it will drive them to be better in the pre-season.

So to all those people who are cutting their wrists over one game, giving up on the club and whinging, i say good riddance and @#$%&! off. We have too many supporters who change the strength of their allegiances from week to week anyway. Yes it was incredibly disappointing. Yes it was tough to watch but it was one game. I Liked Kruezer playing as a ruck rover. It wasn't a great success but they tried it. I liked Holmans mongrel. I liked the fact Barker put the clubs interests before his own. We were decimated with injuries to key players and we got flogged. It was always going to happen but have some perspective, it was one game.

_________________
Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.