Pros:
Simmo
simmo
simmO
fisher-what a great set of hands!!!
kids getting another game under their belt
senior players starting to show more leadership
3rd quarter!!!!!!!!!!!
ratts teaching/educating rather than spraying at quarter time breaks(according to tv coverage)
Ackland standing still at centre bounces and getting free kicks

cons:
Ackland standing still at centre bounces
first 1/2 skills/demeanour/attitude
chad cornes= wa#$er

as an aside, i actually think saddington played a reasonable game, as did bannister - i think there are more worthy players on the list to be flicked off at the end of the year, we need to remember that it is great to give the kids a go but a season can be quite long for undersized bodies and we need some of these guys as bit players in the short term

Pros

Thoroughly outplayed for three quarters yet lost by a respectable scoreline. The Scoreboard flattered us. The anti tankers are deluded if they think a new Coach alone will turn it around for us
Simpson.- Tried his guts out
Fevola - A flawed genius he may be but he is the only A grader on our books.
Fisher. He has increased his work rate this year
Still have a slim chance of a PP.
Supporters will start getting off Bowers back. The guy can play.
Umpires protecting Murphy from unfair holding

Cons

Our disposal is not AFL standard. Recruiters take note. No more poor kicks. Don't care about what other value they bring.I t became contagious and our good kickers stuffed them.
Russell. Is not a forward. Does not have natural instincts. Caught flat footed. He is a Half Backer.
Got smashed in the centre clearances. It was our 3rd worst performance out of the middle this yea, our games against Hawthorn and Geelong excepted. Ackland improved his work around the ground but until he starts following the flight of the ball when rucking he will remain uncompetitive.
Our defence lacks, intensity, inimidation etc etc. Way too loose. What is our rookie dong on their premier forward.
Thornton playing like a millionnaire
Our missed tackles
Can't blame Pagan any more
Playing an unfit Walker for no apparent reason. Felt sorry for him.
Waite in defence. Too loose. Could have been tried in the middle/wing to stop their run
Watching Boak play with envy. Took on three Carlton defenders and was the only player to stay on his feet before been tackled beautifully by Bower.
Gibbs not given enough time to play in the middle
The thought that Saddington might get another contract with us
Setanta playing up forward. Needs to be in the thick of the action. He might get beaten in the ruck contests but his mobility makes him an extra midfielder

Well, here's my evaluation of everyone's points. I saw the first quarter and a half, just so you know.

Many think ackland was horrendous as usual, but still some say he was good...or at least ok. So, perhaps hate for him is warping your vision? Maybe he did do ok. I saw two nice marks as a loose man in defense, and I also saw that he is a hopeless ruckman that has not been taught how to tap.

A few talking about Russell's poor game. He may well have looked out of sorts, but to say he is not a forward and should be a half-back player keeping in mind last week's effort I think is a bit narrow minded. No offense meant, I just think it'sa bit premature.

As for our pace...
Russell is supposedly very fast.
Walker is supposedly very fast.
Bannister is supposedly very fast.
Simpson IS quite fast.
Jacko has a tank.
Grigg is supposedly fast in short bursts.
Jamison is relatively fast for a tall.
As is Waite.
+ a few others are athletic.

We do lack a bit of pace, don't we. We need our fast players to use it more, and our not-as-quick players to get really fit. + our semi-fast talls like Waite, Bower, Jamison, Setanta etc. to exploit their opponents. It's a lot to ask of young guys, but oh well...we're playing them, after all.

Pros; Blackwell - amazing what a bit of faith from the coach can do for a young bloke.
Carlos - not perfect, but will kick the goal of the year one day!
Grigg - should have given Pagan the arse sooner.
Fev - work rate has improved dramatically. tackling is first rate.
Simmo - sensational. That chase and tackle in the 3rd was a true classic. There are more talented guys at the club, but not many have his determination.

cons; Walker - didn't look fit
Scotland - ggod game possession wise, but made some critical turn-overs.

THAT RUCKMAN THAT WE GOT IN LAST YEAR'S PSD!

Ackland's ruck work:

1. Ball watcher.
2. Jumps but not putting his arm up to have a contest, just bloody jump!
3. taps to opposition's rover.

pro & con

Ackland may be a hack but he is very skilled at suckering the umpires into paying him free kicks at centre bounces. I pissed myself laughing at Lade jumpiong up and down like a 3 year old screaming at the umpire at one stage.

Pros
- The third quarter
- Saddo was still up to it

Cons
- Delist Thornton Now
- The first, second, and fourth quarters

_________________
[Sam Jacobs] looks like a 7' Lance Whitnall, and [Mitch Robinson] looks like a 4' Lance Whitnall
(The SEN team during the Carlton v Cats 2009 pre-season match)

Can I curse?

De-buger!

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

Some seriously idiotic comments on here about Thornton. These are the same sort of comments that were being written about Waite after the Brisbane game early in the year. Quit looking for a scape goat. Players aren't robots, they can have a bad game or two. Last week he destroyed Didak, this week he was off. He is still a fantastic player that has held up the Blues backline for 100+ games. Next year when we are playing more cohessive football Thornton will be leading the way.

we need a coupe fo sppedsters in this team.
we are too slow to make it top four next year.

top 8 is a given.. top four if we get leg speed...

judd, griffen, foley i dont really care... get all three....

Con

Thrashed for 3/4s
Walker...not up to it atr the moment...should not be playing
over 100 points kicked against us again\
Ackland.....Mclaren musrt be a better option???
Fev is a keeper

Pros
The best quarter of football we have played this year...interstate and they kicked one goal in the first few minutes

Jackson is class, Jamison is a solid defender (we need them), Blackwell helped spark the 3/4 comeback, Eddie Betts in the middle, simpson should be considered as permanent captain- his game is at another level now

We lost and picks 1 and 3 will be heading nour way

Pro's
Watching all the young guys starting to mesh and watching the young leaders make a statement in the 3rd qtr.

Jamo - reminds me of Secco & Tbird in their early years.

I remember Hawthorn a couple of years ago and how they'd perform really poorly in patches. For us it will be the same for a while yet but now that the young guys are getting time to learn to play together in real match conditions they'll mesh together and their confidence in each other will grow and performance will swiftly improve.

Can't wait for next year ..GO BLUES!!!!!!!


Cons
The continuing tanking debate.

_________________
There's so much I could say...

Pro:
The players are showing recovery from Pagonitis. It may still take a while but it will happen

Pros:

1 more pre-season and we will be knocking on the door of the top 8. Gibbs, Grigg, Murphy, Stevens, Betts, Simmo, Walker, Jackson, Russell, Anderson, Scotland and Carrazzo are a very exciting prospect.

Jamo will assume full back next year with a bit more beef on him. The Michael Sexton comparison is spot on. I haven't seen a more accomlished defender come into Carlton for a long, long time. Amazing what happens when you draft a defender to play in defence.

Grigg showed plenty in the thid quarter to be excited about.

Murphy was good afer quarter time.

Simmo was magnificent.

Ackland actually played well around the ground and positioned himself in front of the Port forwards to take a few marks.

Cons:

Disposal is an area that Ratts will drastically improve over the pre-season. Anyone who can't kick we will start to clear out.

Some of our defenders appear not to do homework on there opponent for the game. Too many times us arm chair experts could tell you a player will fake one way and then swing onto there other foot to either shoot or pass off. Ebert did this 3 times for 1 goal himself and the other 2 dished off to a player inside 50. Ebert does not have a right foot!!

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Mjonc signing off at 8888

jeez, this thornton stuff is a little odd. yeah, he turned the ball over critically at one stage...but one guy earlier blaming him for players being unmarked in the corridor is really, really absurd. especially considering his man had the ball right up against the boundary line.

a pretty encouraging effort after half time im sure we can all agree. great to see some of the guys who deserved to have a crack have been given it and are showing they can play at this level beyond this year (jamo, bower, jackson, et al) and give us something. ratts is probably the man...i think chris bond would be a good choice, but im still pleased to have ratts at the helm.

pick 1 and 3!!! btw, i hate losing. i hate watching our boys battle so hard for no reward. but given what we've stomached over the past few years im sure i can handle 3 more.

_________________
"In fairness it did seem in the early days of the draft teams would just pick a name totally at random out of a hat. I'm pretty sure we picked James Cook at #2 one year. The mediocre forward, not the explorer" - Me, 12/9/2011

Carlton 2012: Lets remind them why they once feared the Dark.

Pros

We got close-ish when probably only half the side played ok
Jamison is a great player... I have confidence in the kid
Bower did alright. The best quote on him this year came from Cazz when he said after a Bullants game that he will have your heart in your moth more often than not... and that's the way I feel when he gets the ball. But yesterday he did pretty well
Gibbs was pretty good
Eddie was excellent
Ackland was at least serviceable
Keep Fev
Bannister was great on wanker Cornes
Saddo did ok - remember he is a third tall at best. Unfortunately we have two 'third-talls' down there because Thornton is another one
Simpson... take the pressure off Stevo's return from injury and give the captaincy to Simmo
Ratten... sounded very relaxed in the press conference. I suspect he has the job. Now to make sure it is all offficial before he goes to interview with Melbourne this week.

Cons

Walker looks shot... must be the injuries
Thornton... if you can't be a footballer then at least try and look like one. I have a feeling that his show pony git hairdo makes me more critical of his efforts (same goes for Scotland who was not too bad yesterday). T-Bird, go to the hairdresser, get yourself a normal haircut, and then concentrate on being a footballer instead of a millionaire. That way when you make schoolboy errors in defence, I might start to have some time for you.

Exactly. I nearly threw someting at the TV when Ebert got that last mark in the pocket. I knew he was going to do it & he did. Result= goal

_________________
Cheats never prosper (except in the AFL)

The Sunday AGE had Thornton as one of the best, apart from one stuff-up he was good. How many goals did Ebert get?.

Thornton is one of the most unassuming, anti-ego kids going around. He is not playing like a millionaire, but like he is hurting.

I didn't know hair style or colour affected how someone plays the game.

What I am suggesting Springsteen is that from the outer it gives him the appearance of playing like a millionaire. The hairstyle 'debate' was all about saying that if he wasn't trying to look flash, then I might be a bit more forgiving on him than I am now. I've been brought up in the old school that if you don't look like a footballer then you won't play like a footballer.

So yeah... the only reason I am saying for T-Bird to tone it down is for my own selfish reasons in that I want to be able to accurately judge his performance rather than viewing him through glasses where I have him put down as a namby-pamby show pony more interested in his own wallet than his own footy team. What it means is that when he turns the ball over, I am harsher on him than I would be say Gibbs, Bentick, Jamison, Grigg, etc.

Of course it doesn't affect his footy, just my own perceptions.