Its like Carlton supporters actually thought we were a good team after we won 4 in a row.

Teams were always going to start putting more time into us and working us out. We're not finding it as easy to trap the ball inside 50 and get repeat entries. We lack midfield depth and Murphy being out is really hurting that. There are too many players who don't go through the midfield. That's our biggest issue at the moment and robbing our backline of Simpson or Docherty isn't the answer.

It's still going to be a long process. The holes we thought our list had at the start of the season are still there. It'll take years to fix that. Weitering and Curnow look good, Silvagni has a lot of improvement to come so hopefully McKay and Cunningham also turn out and we able to draft for early picks again this year. I'd be prioritising midfield depth, speed, running, decision making and above average disposal.

We need to be patient rather than getting our knickers twisted over performances like today.

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"The ability to speak doesn't make you intelligent." Qui-Gon Jinn 15-05-2005

"there’s more chance of me becoming the full forward for the [Western Bulldogs] than there is of any change in the Labor Party." Julia Gillard 18-05-2010

We did show in that 6 win period that we could play and have something we can build on but, yes, we are re-building and have a while to go yet. You don't do that unless you have the ability to do it. Outside of Geelong though it was against sides of our own standard or worse but at out stage of rebuilding that's good enough. Midfielders are next if we are to take the next step.

It was nice to talk finals for a week though after round 11....lol. Much better to talk about it once than not at all.

It is not that we thought we were good it is we thought we were better.
Results are showing we are not.

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

The drug cheats are better than us.

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*(grow - fun - gah)

Yeah but whatabout your whataboutism.

Last year we won 4 games, this year we've won 6 so far.
Our percentage is significantly better, we're much better defensively, our structure and pressure are significantly better.
Last year we lost several games by 70+ points including a 138 point loss. This year our worst loss is 65 points.
I understand people are disappointed but lets not be ridiculous.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

Great post Chook.A superb effort from Gibbs.Polish and class in abundance.................Gibbs aint the problem.The bottom half of our list is a million miles off it.Come years end there are at least 8 need to go.Dont waste time,they aint gonna make it.

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All my dangerous friends

im hearing 13 are gone

This year we have the bombers and lions that are terrible, Freo stinking the place up as well.
And last year we had the worst game plan going .
We are in very real danger of showing no significant improvement if results like today keep coming.
If we finish the year with 8 wins and 4 of them are against the lions and bombers it will be nothing to write home about

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

8 or 13,whatever.I just dont our club to waste time on blokes that clearly dont have enough talent like we have in the past.When the obvious is obvious,ya just gotta cut and run.

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All my dangerous friends

agree

This is the best thing that could've happened to us.
Makes the hard but right decisions so much easier, separates the men from the boys, and doesn't tempt us to overestimate our list ala 2004 after an unexpected 10 win season.

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James Hird and Essendon* FC - #FOREVERDRUGCHEATS

Totally Agree BV
FWIW, my disappointments are

Jacksh obviously being kept out of the side as part of a greater good
Curnow's illness
Injuries to McKay, Boek, Cunningham, Byrne and Murphy
Buckley/DVR/Graham not stepping up
Walker/Everitt/Thomas below-par performance
Our obsession with SOJ so early (smart footballer but still looks like a boy playing with men)

We are on the right track...absolutely no doubt about it.
June/July was always going to be tough. Think we have 2 more wins in us
There would not be a Carlton supporter who would'nt have take 8 wins (really 9 because we gift wrapped that first one against Rich)

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If I want your opinion, I'll give it to you!

We'll get 8 or 9 wins but this really hard 6 week stretch will show up our weaknesses so we don't get carried away.

Luckily for me I didn't get to watch the second half.

As I posted at half time in the game day thread, our diabolical skills undid all our hard work in the first half. Some horrible errors even under little to no pressure. Last few minutes of the second killed us.

Sounds like the second half was pretty poor.

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We are on our way back...

the aggravation isn't with team expectation or results but with the individual pretenders that are the major contributors to those results by how they go about prancing around while others consistently bust their body and soul to improve our standards for future success

Adelaide are a very good football side

They held us to 1 goal for the second half

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Cheats never prosper (except in the AFL)

Buckley and Graham not being able to find form and slot into a role is a definite bummer. I thought these two would improve this year. Probably wouldn't change our win/loss but I was hoping these two would have good years.

Add in Boek and Murphy injuries and we are missing grunt (graham) zip (Boek and Bucks) and class (Murph).

Possibly the silliest post I've seen in a while. The improvement this year and more importantly the structure and spirit in place to continue improving over the next few years is clear. Maybe it's just the frustration of a really poor second half yesterday that has you seeing the glass half empty. Chin up.

Oops. Sorry. I stand corrected. THATS the silliest post I've seen in a while. Results (not that results are the best way to judge improvement by the way) actually do show we have improved. You could have reasonably argued probably anything else except results. Haha.

Seriously though. Stay calm and judge the boys mid next season when the game plan is embedded in their heads after two pres seasons and this years draft class have a few games under their belt. We will be ok. It's a steady climb not a spike.

That's what we are doing and ha e done.