In the wake of Black Friday, Carlton reported a massive (in a bad way) yearly loss of $7.5 million. Much of this related to the writing off of the Legends Stand, a dysfunctional social club and bad money management thanks to the recently departed John Elliott.

To further compound this, the evil entity otherwise known as the AFL required the initial fine in relation to the salary cap breaches - $57,576 - to be payable by December 31, 2002.

So why should I bring this back into the memories of Carlton fans?

If there was ever a year that a Carlton supporter would lose all hope for their club, 2002 was that year. The team that once stood as the benchmark team that every other team strived to be suddenly looked like a team in tatters, with a very uncertain future.



Snapshot of 2002:

Began with the retirements of Dean Rice and Steven Silvagni - and finished with the retirement of Craig Bradley.

Due to trades that saw us gain Corey McKernan and Justin Murphy, and saw us lose Mark Porter, and our first 3 draft picks - Carlton's first active draft pick in the ND was Pick 39 (we chose Justin Davies)

Due to the knee injury sustained in 2001, Koutafides only managed 3 games in 2002.

The season ended with the demises of Wayne Brittain and John Elliott.

Pagan was chosen as coach of Carlton for Season 2003.

Salary Cap breaches incurred a fine of $930,000, the loss of 6 early draft picks over 2 years and being denied to opportunity to participate in the 2002 PSD.

The aforementioned $7.5 million loss.



Snapshot of 20th December 2007.

Pratt.

Ratten.

$2.94 million profit!

Icke, Malouf, Swan.

Judd.

Kreuzer.

Nick Stevens returning from injury.

2 mature gun midfielders in Murphy and Gibbs.

On track for a second consecutive record-breaking membership tally.

A young, capable, hungry side that once again seeks to be the benchmark team of the AFL.



How I felt this time in 2002, was dejected, shattered, and fearing for my beloved clubs existance. Now - 5 years later - I am feeling excited, assured and hungry for success. It may not come immediately but I - like every other Carlton supporter have done 5 years hard time - and finally I can feel a change coming.


**Thanks to blueseum.org for (some) of the above facts that I shamelessly ripped off from their terrific site**

Put this in the thank Richard Pratt thread.

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

Winston Churchill

Apart from this comment I agree wholehartedly. I am sure they will be guns in 2 years when they are mature. At the moment they are both young kids with plenty of talent and upside. Not Mature Yet

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Ecclesiastes 1:4, "One generation passes away, and another generation comes: but The Blues abide forever."

Links are all we ask for!

I was actually more referring to Murphy, in as far as the boy spending the past year getting the oppositions best tagger every game he has had to mature a lot more quicker than he should have - and I guess that at least Gibbs is more mature than most players his age.

Still I was trying to keep with the whole few words/one line summaries and that is what I came up with... maybe not the best word to use, but I'll try to make sure my posts are flawless next time.



Oh well, I guess you'll have to settle for props in my post - and a link to your teriffic site at the top of EVERY TalkingCarlton page.

I think that Murph and GIBBS are very mature for their ages as they are both level-headed and very articulate for ones so young.

Definitely agree that they are maturing guns.

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“It is a state of mind, a system of belief, a way of seeing the world, a deep faith that, because you are Carlton, you belong to something great.” - Mike Fitzpatrick articulating what Out of the Blue means.

If you speak with a lot of 18-10 yr olds, they're actually not that out of the ordinary. For footballers perhaps, but in terms of the average 18-20 year old they're not too far above average.

That said, I do see Gibbs as a future captain. I think he's a bit brighter than Murph. Hmmm. The only reason I say this is from what I've heard both of them say on CFCTV and the radio, so it's not particularly well informed, I humbly admit.

%$#@ i love our Jumper..........!


kindest regards tommi

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that'siti'mnotchangingthistagain......!

Whoever turnes out more to be captaincy material, Murph or Bryce, you can bet your bottom dollar that the two of them will definitely be an ornament to the league as a captain/vice captain duo. Much like Sticks and Braddles for oh so long.

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WADA medical director Dr Alan Vernec describes Essendon* FC drug case as biggest scandal in team sport the world of sport has seen. #WC2WB

#GUILTY

we're back
we're back
as a matter of fact
we're back
did they miss us while we were away
did they tear our picture down off the wall
we know they really did miss us after all
hello
hello
it's good to be back
it's good to be back !

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NG
S M C , S F L

Heheh .. that was the year that I first signed up as a member .. there was only ever one way to go from there!

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[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)

That's support!

Yeh .. nah - support is staying with them since then! I had no idea what was happening at the time ...

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[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)

I wrote to all my mates who were supporters but not members and told them to put their money where their hearts were. I got four of them to sign up and I am sure I wasn't Robinson Crusoe there. It was a terrible time for the club and I am sure the AFL would never go down that track again so as to almost lose one of their marquee clubs. It showed the other clubs that we Carlton supporters jump on the bandwagon when the club needs us and not just when we are on top. It speaks volumes for us all that we have broken the club membership record about three times in those five years and now we can reap the benefits, some of which have been pointed out above.
I am sure we will break the record again this coming year and the AFL will breathe a sigh of relief that we are back because after Collingwood, we are their biggest money earner, I suspect.

5 years is a long time in football......

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

and I'd do it all again in a heartbeat

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[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)

We deserve a premiership if for nothing more than to reward supporters like yourself that haven't seen the good times.

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Richard Pratt - A Carlton legend.