John Nicholls.........Carlton Premierships.

Mike Fitzpatrick......Carlton Premierships.

Justin Madden........Carlton Premierships.

Rest my case.

"WOW JONES" and "PERCY JONES" too my old mate.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

In combination; we're unbeatable !

Don't forget Matty Allan, just missed out playing in 95 and being beaten in 99.

Definitely noticing a trend here...

He was a fair way off in 95 - but in 99 he carried the rucks for us all year as Porter was injured for most of the year - unfortunately he ran out of petrol tickets during the 99 Grand Final.

But in retrospect 99 was really his only great year for us - after that he was either injured or in contract dispute because of his putrescent manager Allison.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

So True. And when you add to that ,dominant defenders such as Wes Lofts/Geoff Southby/Bruce Doull/Peter Dean/Steve Silvagni that were so vital in those premierships it really highlights the two major deficiencies that we currently have.

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Hooked on The Blues

It goes to highlight what a successful club we were in the days when you could go out and RECRUIT players - we successioned planned it properly.

When the rules changed and the only way was via the DRAFT we have clearly flowered it up badly.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

It goes to highlight what a successful club we were in the days when you could go out and RECRUIT players - we successioned planned it properly.

When the rules changed and the only way was via the DRAFT we have clearly flowered it up badly.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

Hey AG.....I reckon that was worth saying twice !

Its either my computer, the internet or somebody's elses fault - because its certainly not mine.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

I've asked chucky about it; and he said it should improve after they update the server.

It is just staggering that the ruck problem has not been addressed over the last 5 years. Absolutely unbelievable. A bottom 4 club in that time and yet we could not entice anyone to come across. Yet Sydney is able to snare Jolly even though they had played in a Grand Final. They play in another Grand Final and then get Everitt. Even at 32 yrs of age I would rather him for two years rather than Ackland for 3 years. At least it would give our young ruckmen time to develop while we are competitive at stoppages and centre bounces.

Since our great recruiters have stuffed up this situation I think it's time that they threw the likes of Hampson and Aisake or even Jacobs into the fire and let them just compete and enjoy themselves. At least these guys would provide some sort of contest unlike the cowardly perfomances of Cain Ackland.

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WE ARE CARLTON, WE ARE ARROGANT AND WE LOVE IT!

IMO, that plus our financial situation, is why we couldn't get anyone across

Yes....looking back; it's almost inconceivable that we could pick up a Ruckman of the size and ability of Justin Madden when we did.

The Dawkers were able to bring their young rucks along slowly while they had a bloke called Everitt just doing it nicely. Unfortunately we ain't got that option. Throw Aisake and Hampson in before the end of the year to get some experience I say.

Sugar is by far the worst excuse for an AFL player let alone a ruckman I've ever seen. If Pagan doesn't drop him immediately, its just one more reason why he (Pagan) should go.

And really hope we give Hartlett a game or two (and not just 20 mins game time !) now that Lance will be "rested".

Some time during the 2004 season Pagan declared we were rebuilding.

As ruckmen take longer than others to develop I assumed that our first pick in the 2004 draft was going to be a ruckmen ... failing that it would be a larger bodied midfielder that couldn't be moved off the ball (successor to Kouta) ... we took neither. The result being we left that draft without any direction.

We have addressed the ruck situation with the drafting of Hampson, Jacobs and the rookie O'Hailpin.

We need to address the large bodied midfielder ... anyone notice we had trouble pushing some Hawthorn blokes off the ball.

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"can't kick ... don't pick"

Aisake O'hAilpin was never (I believe) rookie listed with the intention of him becoming a ruckman - this is merely being a happy accident and the fact that he is 202cm tall. Its probably more an indictment on our match committee that we have had to throw him in the ruck and he has been reasonably successful at VFL level - although the games I have seen on TV at least Aisake has been better (due to his mobility) at key position or mid-field roles.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill