I'm not a very astute football watcher - especially when Carlton's playing - I get a little too excited (drunk) to actually analyse anything.

But I have a question regarding our game plan. I know many on here have bemoaned the game plan (or lack thereof) under Pagan, and I was wondering if any of our 'better' football watchers on here have noticed a change in our game plan?

Is it much the same, only now we've got better players/execution?

Or have the new assistants had some significant input into changing our style of play? (Regular training watchers may have more insight into this.)

A couple of things I have noticed - we seem to be prepared (allowed?) to handball more in order to help create the spare man - especially coming out of the backline.

We also seem to almost have set plays going into the forward line - against the roos we often straightened up from the wings and went thru marks to leading forwards like Betts and Fisher just forward of the centre.

Can any of you smart sober people help answer a drunk's question? (guess that rules dannyboy out)...

I'm holding off on judging our game plan till the real season starts.

The footy we played back in the 05' Wizard Cup Pre-Season (all 4 games, not just the grand final) was some of the most entertaining football i'd seen in a long time.

The Fev and Lance show was BRILLIANT!

But then the real season started and everything changed. It was no longer attacking & energetic Confident football.................it was now boring and WAY-TO-DEFENSIVE uninspiring crap-ola that left very little to the imagination.

And i haven't seen that kind of play since!

In my opinion........................
(and before anybody out there attacks me for this i'll put a warning on it!.............IT'S MY OPINION ONLY and it is NO WAY a suggestion or me stating a fact!)
.................... The coaching staff last year was up in the air, inside-out & all about. Nobody had the faith or confidence in anybody around them and that in-turn affected the players and we played like crap.

I made a mere observation last year regarding the body launguage between Pagan & Mitchell might have suggested that all is not well between them..................i got shut down for this.

History will tell that perhaps i was right and i think that played a bit part in just why we were not connecting as a team last year.

Ratt's is gonna be great for us as he loves the fast attacking style and seems to enjoy 'creating' the play and, dare i say it, perhpas the pre-season form, if nothing else helps Pagan to realise that the ofensive style we carried last year does not work.

So whilst our pre-season form has been good and more importantly ENJOYABLE to watch..........................i'm taking it at face value and see how much it's worth come the real season.

But i gotta admit, i'm a little bit more positive & hopefull with the emergence of Simpson & Murphy in the midfield taking a load of Stevens and Setanta & Waite fitting in nicley down back freeing up Whitnall to move forward.

Things seem like there gonna change!

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"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit"
- Aristotle

It's more about quicker ball movement and more direct corridor football than all the chipping sideways, holding it up and searching for options of last year.

kick a bigger score....thats a good plan

don't start handballing heaps like roos and hawks...that is shit...

kick it long....we saw last week...kick it long to fev and the game turned around....

Very true...the theory is to kick it long and fast over the top of the flood before players can run back and form the blockage.

I'm happy with that on paper - whether we can do this week in week out during the big boys season is another matter...

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"...that's the thing about opinion - you don't have to know anything to have one..." Andre Agassi commenting on Pat Cash 2004
"...the less you know - the more you believe..." - Bono 2006

Isnt it amazing how everyone sees it differently.
In my opinion, there is more run, carry and handball.
More scope for the players to use their initiative and creativity.
On Saturday we had less kicks than we averaged last year yet we had a 20% increase in handballs.





A 180 degree flip from what the players were pumped with for 3 years.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

That was my impression too BV. Will be interesting to see how it plays out into the real stuff.



I reckon even Denis might've had trouble curbing the initiative and creativity of guys like Murphy and Gibbs...

..a definate change and improvement in the game plan.. ..ratts and braddles expertise is showing.. ..lets not forget the change ratts gave the dee's in their midfield, and even though ratts is our forward coach i reckon he's still got some input if even indirectly to our forward line and also backline, which is where he started as a player. ...dare i say it but i reckon ratts will coach after pags.. ..seems like ratts is giving himself a thorough training as a specialist and overall coach, and timing his return to carlton to perfection..

.. ..our backline supports eachother, they handball and carry the ball versus bombing it panic stricken as they did last year.. ..our midfield handballs and chip kicks back into the corridor vs going wide as they used to last year.. ..and our midfield sets up our forwards better as well.. ..they don't just pump it long to position and hope for the best.. ..as for our forwards, their pressure on opposition backmen is even more fierce, though they're still a little guilty of slacking off at times..

..but over the whole ground our pressure and supoort has increased, and most importantly bodies are being put on the line and that's what's most pleasing.. ..only the strong physical sides succeed..

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..if you can't be good, be good at it..