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Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience!!!

After Monday and Tuesday, even the calendar says W T F .........
Visit http://fromthemoshpit.com/

Start of fourth quarter.

OK, so the horse bolted during the second quarter and we were well behind at half time but he did nothing?
Then when the game was well and truly lost he decided to let the boys loose and play footy something like they did the week before against Melbourne.

There were people on TC calling out for that twenty minutes into the game.

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Let slip the Blues of war (with apologies to William Shakespeare) (and Sir Francis Bacon, just in case)

Things are improving, albeit way too slow for most supporters liking, but improvement nonetheless.

The highlight for me was beating Geelong and the few games we had on the trot. Really exciting little patch, that showed we can compete.

We didn't finish last, and that in itself is an improvement, and I don't think we'll be seeing any more wooden spoons for a long time. (Hopefully never)

Really happy with Bolton and the rest of the coaching staff for a first year outfit. Its only early days yet, and I look forward to the build of our up and coming stars.

Not too phased about our win/loss ratio for this season to be honest. The energy and direction we're taking have lifted spirits and there's a good vibe around the place.

It was so damn pleasing to see Matthew Kreuzer play out the season without injury - at last! Maybe now we'll be able to get a gauge on where he's at and how he can improve.

Really interesting times at Carlton now with season 2016 behind us and 2017 fast approaching. I'm already primed for the draft and to see who's leaving, who's coming in and what changes will be made.

For me its a breath of fresh air all round. I no longer worry about where we'll be next season, or how in the world are we going to pull ourselves out of this hole. I have faith at long last we're heading in the right direction.

No quick fixes and no excuses. We'll build from the ground up by grabbing the best young talent we can find. We've already got some future champions and I'm positive we'll pick up some more and develop them.

Bring on the draft, the pre-season and 2017. I can't wait. GO BLUES!!!!

Oh no!

Bolts dared to stick with a pre-existing plan to test its legitimacy in a meaningless game one season into a rebuild!!!

When will these guys learn to take direct TC feeds into the coaches box.

Sakc!!!

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I hope Essendon* folds.

Pro: Developing a defence....add some more dash and skill and this could be a real plus

Observation: No midfield outside of 3 guns (one injured for H2) and a tryer in Curnow. Need 3-4 more youngsters coming through.

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Formerly: Ackland the Wonderkid / Army the Wonderkid / quivering mess / molsey / Tony Lynn Fan Club

Nice post Idle.

I agree with your optimistic outlook except for your thoughts on Kruezer. Sadly I think he's as good now as he's going to get - I don't think his body will allow him to reach the early potential he showed.

My highlight this year, funnily enough, was our pre-season loss to Sydney. I knew watching that, we were on the way.

I may be deluded, but I can't help but think that Cripps, Docherty, Plowman, Sumner, Weitering, Silvagni, C Curnow, McKay and Cuningham are already a highly exciting nucleus to add more talent to, including Ben Silvagni. In a few years we could be super competitive.

Im pretty happy with the year. The new crew of players are at the club. Need to keep phasing out the old and the hopeless.

I am a little worried about how easily our gameplan got picked apart by teams that showed a bit of dash. Turning our inside 50's into their goals.
Hopefully Bolton is on to it and knows exactly what is required to keep our score against down.

Next year can easily produce a lot less wins than this year. After that we should start to see improvement with results.

Add Byrne to that list, such a shame he did his knee.

Yes. Will be back in 2018 like a new recruit.

Pros

We improved as a team and as a club with Malthouse gone.
I expected 4 wins this year as other teams improved around us. We won 7.
I liked the preseason games vs Hawks and Swans and believed we could do better than I expected.
Didn't expect us to win in Perth vs Freo.
Didn't expect us to win vs Geelong
Didn't expect us to win against Collingwood
Didn't expect us to win vs Port
Weitering Silvagni and Charlie Curnow were better than expected
Cripps Docherty Murphy Gibbs E Curnow were our core mids and damn good despite lacking depth in rotations
Boekhurst preseason and early rounds showed he had great speed and potential break out year till injured
Like the speed of Cunningham
Happy we found another ruckman in Philips
Weitering Plowman Byrne great additions in backline

Simpson exceeded my expectations
Really impressed in Walkler and Jammo calling it time despite having another year on their contract (did you read that Thomas?)
I'm glad Bolton stuck with the game plan throughout the year. 2016 was about unity, new game plan, find out more about the list, endurance.
Simpson Docherty Weitering and Cripps were my standouts. Murphy great when he played.

Cons

I expected to win 4 games against Essendon* StKilda Brisbane and only won 1 of 5 of those
I expected Kreuzer to finally come good and really went backwards imo
I expected Thomas to earn his ridiculous paypacket.
Lacked depth in midfield
Skills of Levi Kerridge Graham Rowe
Have to keep Rowe till we find a bonafide KPB who can handle the gorillas
Everitt and Jaksch disappointing
Spewing that Sheehan got cut by injury
Smith Foster DVR Dick Tutt Jones Gorringe

We will get better when we get better skills (class) into the team plus some more pace, and get rid of the players who lack skills and pace.
Need to stop carrying Thomas despite what we pay him. He was carried for most of the year. Lets embarrass him like he embarrasses us, and if he's happy to collect his pay in the twos and not call it a day, so be it

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Two, I believe.

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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.

I think a massive contributor to this was the lack of marking targets in the forward line, and small pressure forwards swarming on the loose ball. It would too often be bombed in long (in hope). Marked by an opposition defender (usually an extra defender playing deep) who then rebounds out of the defensive 50 to running players who catch our zone out of formation. They get out the back and score easily. Just guessing of course. I'm not a footy coach or anything like that.

Perhaps, with a hungry C.Curnow up and going, big Harry McKay, SoJ after another pre-season....and then throw in Levi who no longer has 3 defenders hanging off him... If I was ultimately optimistic, I'd also get excited by Sumner with a pre-season under his belt, dashing at the foot of the packs if the ball isn't marked. Having those extra 2 marking targets is going to stretch the opposition defenders, making it easier all round. Even someone like Wright will end up with more output... I'm sure we'll bring in a someone new this draft as well. At the moment, we're a one trick pony in the forward line. Bomb it long to Casboult in the square, or, in congestion, handball it out to someone free on the 50 arc who takes a long shot under pressure. Both low percentage plays with this years available players.

Ok, after reading what I just wrote, and reflecting on your comments, I guess I'm trying to say that I think the cattle we have available next year will make the forward line more effective, preventing the quick rebound out, like we saw this year. That being said, the long bomb into the forward line (every single time) is a predictable gameplan, and needs to be changed, as you said! as I'm sure it will be.

I'm definately optimistic about seeing more improvement again next year.

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I will always love this club, no matter what. But I ride the roller coaster like I'm in the front seat and the losses really hurt.

Backing up my thoughts on BB above for a team that was said pre-season to have the worst list of any we did okay if you look at things without emotion didn't we.


Murphy and Byrne will be like new recruits. Runners x 2


McKay and JGM will have had the benefits of a year of AFL development. Talls x 2


Plus draft and trading.


Look for improvement in 2017 if Simmo can hold his form. He is the only older player where age is a worry at this time.

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"Get ready, Teddy - you're on": Ron Barassi half time 1970 Grand Final

It's all about the turnovers, they kill us on the rebound. Weed out the repeat offenders and there's your answer

It's also about bombing to outnumbered players... just like last year, we're too predictable and opposition teams burn us on the rebound.

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“I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned.” ― Richard Feynman

Turnover goals killed us but i suspect there is more to it. Often we smashed teams on the inside 50's but go beat on the scoreboard.
Opposition teams set us up. They were happy for us to get a certain type of inside 50. Ones that had us over committing and mistiming the press. Opposition run and flick around two or three possessions and they were through with space everywhere.

Also, after the first Bears game teams stopped our switching of play in defense and that really stuffed us up. Watching the way StKilda played us both times was a worry. They had our measure gameplan wise and it made ordinary individual players look like guns for the Saints.

Hope we can make our gameplan more robust going forward. Tough hard running players with skill would help.

I think the season gave us some highlights and some real positives as mentioned by most, but the big thing for me was that off field we feel like a real club again and that's a credit to Bolts

Finally we seem to be on the right track and that is very good news compared to previous seasons where we were mainly disillusioned and screaming for change.

We are on our way!!

I predicted before the season started, based on the list, the new coach's statements and the overall feeling around the joint that with a good run on the injury front, we could finish as high as 10th.

Had we won the two games against 17th and 18th as we should have, we might have finished 12th, depending on percentage. I would have taken that seeing as we went without Murphy for half the season, Curnow, who looked promising and McKay for the year.

In the first half of the year we beat Essendon* and Brisbane. In the last three weeks they beat us easily. In other words, either we went downhill against them as yardsticks or they improved more than we did over the course of the year.

The season to me was a season in two halves. In the first half we played with verve, derring-do and ran the football until it all clicked and we won those games we won with run and carry and pressure on the ball and the man. I think that surprised everybody, perhaps including the match committee because for some reason, unexplained by all and a mystery, therefore to most, we changed our way of playing to the old style of chippy chippy turnover and maintained it for the rest of the season with just one notable exception, against a team we had beaten during the year. So for me the first half of the season was a step forward and the second part a step backwards.
I have been critical of Bolton's game plan in the second half to the point where people have told me they are sick of reading about it so I won't go on about it here BUT.....

There have been some really good outcomes for the year, notwithstanding the poor win/loss ration of the second half of the season. 1-11 is not good. Had we started 1-10 and then finished 6-11 people would have been screaming for someone's head in June and calling for a canonization in September, I suppose.

The emergence of Weitering, Docherty, Byrne, Silvagni and cameos by Curnow and Cunningham is what we were all looking for. Whilst I think it is too early to be hailing McKay as the future savior of the forward line, he may turn out OK.

Elite players we have but few. Cripps may well turn out to be the best player ever to play for Carlton.
Gibbs had a good year but I wish he would vomit after every game.
Murphy had a horror year but will be like a new recruit next year.


The second tier players were generally more consistent. Simpson elevated himself to perhaps the best player in the team after Cripps and Docherty. He will be almost impossible to replace, not just for his stats but the way he gets them.
Touhy had a good year.
Armfield is a burst player and played like one. Great soldier but his time is coming.
Ed Curnow may be the most underrated player on the list. He does a great job week after week shutting down the opposition's best midfielder.
The recruits from GWS had a mixed bag but Plowman and Phillips are probably the best of them.
Buckley finished off well and if he takes that form into the preseason and beyond he will be a good player but he has to back himself and the coach has to release him.
Boekhurst is an enigma. He can play, is quick and a great user of the ball but he can't get hold of it! I think he is on thin ice.
Wright was a good pick up. Sumner will make it but he needs to take a hit when his turn comes. I think Kerridge was a good get as well, despite his sometime wayward kicking.
Kreuzer was Kreuzer. You get what you get. He is not the answer in the ruck, though. Tall midfielder maybe.

The rest you can throw a blanket over in terms of whether they stay or go.

The season as a whole was an advance on last year and that is what we are looking for. It's up to SOS now to play the hand he has as best as he can.

I am an advocate for trading Gibbs. I know I am in the minority but if we want to trade into the first round we have to provide something worth a first round pick and Gibbs is about it. Maybe Touhy but I think Touhy will stay. And Gibbs for that matter.

I may have come across as very negative over the past month or so since I got back from Australia. I was hit for six by the crap performance I saw against Collingwood and the crap way they were playing since then. I have been watching footy now for 55 years, since I was ten years old. I played for twenty years and I have coached a bit. Not footy but other sport at high level and I think I am a hard marker. You have to put up with that mindset if you read my posts. Also you young whippersnappers might have ten years to wait for the next coming but not all of us are as young. The advantage of old age, though is that I have seen the shit days before 1968 and I have seen the glory days and now the shit again. It irritates me to see a club like Hawthorn usurp our mantle when they were a rabble fifteen years ago.

Next year we have to jump again. We will have four new recruits in Murphy, Curnow, Cunningham and McKay. We will get pick 5 whom I hope is a super quick, tall, outside midfielder who kicks goals. I would also like to see us pick up a gun forward. Someone like Patton or Lynch, Moore or Daniher who can grab a game by the throat and turn it. There must be one out there. Maybe it's McKay but his NB form doesn't suggest it, even on the back of a year off with injury. Not Vickery. Reiwoldt I could cope with but.

We simply can NOT allow Brisbane, Essendon* and Freo to overtake us or we will end up 15-18 again.

Thanks to everybody on TC for making the distance between Mexico and Carlton seem so much less than it is. I have enjoyed reading your stuff, I have enjoyed sparring with some of you and I don't mean anything personally, nor do I take it personally. At the end of the day we all see the club through different eyes but we all love the club and we all want success.

Here's to a great off season and improvement in 2017.

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Let slip the Blues of war (with apologies to William Shakespeare) (and Sir Francis Bacon, just in case)

You're correct

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue