Back for another year of pros and cons.

i thought we'd lose this game. We talked the talk pre-season, but couldn't walk the walk. Small, small steps forward. Small steps

PROS

1. Edwards - presented well

2. Simpson - I was very wrong about this guy. Good player, faded late.

3. Houlihan - I reckon that his precision kicking adds something we lack

4. Bower - showed a lot 1st half

5. First 15mins 2nd quarter - good footy. hopefully an indication of things to come


CONS

1. Thornton - You wouldn't have a quarterback in the NFL that can't throw, so why have a QB in the AFL that can't kick - give the role to someone that can kick. Turnover city

2. Carraz - just misses too many targets. 2 goals game from his turnovers at the end of Q2

3. We're SLOW! (or unfit) - we played well for 10-15min at the start of every quarter then fell away. We weren;t as well prepared for this game as Richmond were - I don't know who takes the rap for that

4. Judd's groin - he's a marvel, and he was great, but I was surprised at how little he could run. He was walking around a lot. Put it this way - if he stayed like tonight forever I'd be devastated.

5. Forward options - Fev against 8 doesn;t win you flags


Special mentions - (6). Tackling - Atrocious! (7) Jamo - just a player. Maybe a good 2nd or 3rd defender. We wanna win a flag we're gonna have to find a better key back.

Bottom line -

we need to get the ball in the hands of guys that can KICK (murph, gibbs, scot, steve, houla) and away from guys that can't (32, 44).

We need to get faster and fitter.

We need to win more clearances.

We played great footy at times - couldn't sustain it. Will be the story of the year.

I look at the draw and I don;t see too many wins on the near horizon. It's a learning year.

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They will know that they've been playing against the famous old dark blues

Pros
We looked alright in patches and it's still early days.
Edwards' handpass to Fev in the first to set up Murph was class.
Having Judd and Stevens in the side gives our younger mids more freedom to develop.

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Cons:
Have only seen about 10 minutes of the game. But forward entries need some work. Still going to an outnumbered Fev too often.
Goalkicking. Frustrating to yet again see us with a scorecard where we have close to as many scoring shots as the opposition, but still lose comfortably. Would love us to develop/recruit some more forward options over the next few years, who can really hurt teams on the scoreboard with limited possessions.

Pros:
- Very good opening 40 minutes. Had them by the balls.
- Murphy very good on the HFF in the first half
- JUDD
- Houlihan's disposal was very good
- Thornton was our rock in defence, obviously loved not having to pair up with Richo
- Jamison, Grigg, Bower, Jackson, Hartlett and Edwards all learned very valuable lessons

Cons:
- We lost to @#$%&! Richmond!
- Tackling, weak as piss. We let them run around all night with impunity. If they weren't so crap it would've been 10+ goals
- Letting them get away with having four guys surrounding Fev at all times
- No communication. Twice we had players taking each other out, and costing us goals
- We lost to @#$%&! Richmond!

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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

Pros Now that the season has started they could pull back the publicity machine - get Judd and others out of the head lines and concentrate on playing football.

The whole carlton community got ahead of itself

Cons - we need a ruckman and another avenue forward

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
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Pros:

- We are a better team than 2007
- Defense is much improved, until we run out of legs and were out numbered.
- Forward triangle of Jake, Harts and Fev worked well, until we run out of legs.

Cons:

- Alot of our players are under done.
- Our forward pressure was pathetic in the second half.
- Our tackling was pathetic in the second half.

Blame it all on lack of match practice for too many players.

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Mjonc signing off at 8888

PROS:

All those posters who described any Carlton supporter who had the audacity to predict pre-game exactly what happened as 'nervous nellies' got the reality check they deserved.

Judd, Stevens, Hadley & Carlos will be better for the run.

Jake's debut was generally encouraging.

We should get Hammer, Freddie & Fish back next week.

Another game under the belt for our young, developing team.

CONS:

Confirmed my fears about Hartlett.

We stopped running half way through the 3rd quarter.

Carrots' kicking was as bad as I've ever seen it.

We lost.

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It's never as good as it looks and it's never as bad as it seems.

Cons: We are very underdone: Judd, Stevens, O'halpin, Hadley, Cloke

You can't win a game of footy without a ruckman.

Pros: Judd & Edwards & its a long season

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Cheats never prosper (except in the AFL)

Pros - We're one step closer to our 4th consecutive number 1 pick

My player rankings/observations:

Jamison...tried hard, great future, needs to bulk up. 6/10

Thornton...one off the best for 3 qts, bit loose. 6.5/10

Scotland...courageous, seems a bit one paced, serviceable. 6/10

Waite...showed flashes of brilliance...still inconsistent. 5/10

Grigg...read play well, kicking seems to lack depth, will improve. 4/10

Houlihan...thought he was good tonight, his skill/ decision making stood out. 7/10

Gibbs...showed poise/class, consistency will come, reminds me of (dare i say it ) James Hird. Give him time 5.5/10

Simpson...started brilliantly...never gives up, a leader of the club. 7/10

Murphy... as for Simmo, but fades out of game,lacking fitness?, obvious class. 6/10

Stevens... good all night, will be better for run, lacking match fitness, class evident. 6.5/10

Judd...this bloke will be worth every cent. Class above everyone else, obviously lacking match fitness. 7.5/10

Hadley... got into it as game went on, will be a good addition to the team, his talent is evident. 5/10

Carrazzo...love this bloke, mister consistent, kicking seems to have improved. 7/10

Cloke...imo was our best. Battled against the odds all night, great effort, adds some hardness. 7.5/10

Harlett...struggled, presented but couldn't get into it.Looks like a long holiday coming up, stupid play. 3/10

Edwards... has talent but got in Fevs way and kicking was inconsistent. Shows how good the Fish really is. Give him another chance. 3/10

Betts...EDDIE,EDDIE,EDDIE....needs to do more than kick the occasional crumbing goal. My kids love him, but he needs to offer more. 3.5/10

Setanta...love his passion, lacking fitness due to illness, will improve, we must perservere. 4/10

Fev...started well, tried hard all night but our fwd structure seems non-existent. Seems to love having Hoops nearby, we can't rely on him to win all our games. 5.5/10

Bannister...gives 100% but is he really up to this level.When i think of good stoppers i see, Ling, K.Cornes etc they hurt you both ways. Bannister is purely negative, no attacking flair. 3/10

Jackson...like him, but disposal lets him down. Lacking penetration. 4/10

Bower...hard at it, decision making lets him down. Juries out. 3.5/10



Summing up....i watched the game on tv which gives a different perspective.

We seemed to lack match fitness, only Cloke, Simmo, Murphy, Carrots, Judd, Stevo, Jamo, Thornton, Fev, Scotland, Gibbs and Houlihan received pass marks in my book, with Waite and Hadley borderline. 12 out off 22 , we need a more even contribution.

PS...WTF is up with Wallsy..his negative comments are starting to grate. We all know Fev has flowered up, but he seems to have a personal vendetta against him. He also said that Stevo was lazy for not chasing...well Wallsy, he had a broken neck, he's lacking match fitness, he runs more in a quarter than you ran in your whole career, build a bridge

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I see you watching me watching you.

Rich!

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Cons:

We lost to RICHMOND in ROUND ONE.

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Karma

Loyal & Proud

I thought Carrazzo's kicking was woefull at times. His second quarter was majic though.

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Mjonc signing off at 8888

Would you prefer to lose to them in round 2?

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Lawrence Lawrence, The man who knows all the rackets and all the racketeers!

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It's never as good as it looks and it's never as bad as it seems.

I am not sure which game you were watching but Carrazzo was a 2 at best and his kicking was terrible. He could not hit a target and caused turn over after turn over which resulted in goals.


A few guys were underdone.

We have to learn how to hold a tackle, they danced around us.

What was the crowd number????

What was the crowd number????[/quote]

72,000 approx

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Cheats never prosper (except in the AFL)

Pros:
Edwards showed glimpses however leads to the wrong spot.
Cloke tried hard but is not a ruckman
Murphy was v.good
Gibbs showed something
72,000 at a carlton home game $$$$$$


Cons:
***Hartlett, Bower, Grigg and jamo all look second rate and lack poise and I also have to question their hardness at times

***Terrible effort in the box, lacked inginuity and ideas.

***Kicking: Carrazzo, Thornton, Edwards, Hadley

****Forward line structure, or lack there of

**** Hartlett to get 3 weeks (perhaps thats a positive??)

Edwards presenting and marking - kicking style is crap just like Carrazo. Flower sake why does Edwards and Carrazo drop the ball with two hands from so high up.. and we haven't even seen Benjamin as yet.

Carrazo turnovers - broken record

Judd got through the game and showed some magic.

Thornton was one of our better players.

Simpson and Murphy attack on the ball and player was excellent.

Cloke tried hard.

Reality check for some spruiking that we were top 8. Rome wasn't built in one day, have a look at the Hawks and Cats and other sides and see how they have made the challenge to being good sides.

Actually I felt during the week that we would lose this game. Main reason for that is I knew Stevens and Judd are going to need a handful of games to be match fit. And lets face it without these two at their best we will struggle to be competitve in most games. Add to that the ommission of Hampson and no real ruck stocks we probably did reasonably well tonight. Could've been a lot closer if not for bad kicking.

Pros:

-First game of the year and there will be another 7 teams who will lose this week, so it's too early to get on the teams case.

-Judd and Stevens getting through the game.

-Reality check for the boys. i am sure they will come out firing next week.

-Much room for improvement and its obvious where this will come from: Mids,rucks (when we have some in the team), match fitness, learning curve and change of personnel down back as the season goes on.

-I think Ratts also needs a few games to work out which players will be committed to the task and which won't. The ones that aren't will evaporate very quickly. Ratts will not put up wth anything less than 100% committment.


Cons:

-The backline. We will not even come close to climbing back up the ladder until we have a settled and reliable back six. I am sure we all agree that this year will see us weed out those that are ineligible to be a part of this six and the off-season will see us target the balance of what is required via recruitment.

-I wouldn't rate Richmond too highly so where does that leave us as of now...?

-Where does Carlos fit in? Definitely not a ruckman. I doubt whether he could fill a role in defence as he doesn't have the smarts to play down back. This only leaves up forward. I would play him in a roaming role across HF and under instruction to keep the ball in our forward 50 for as long as possible. He needs to be played in one position for a lengthy period of time if we are to get anything of value from him.

-Fade outs: could be a fitness issue or lack of confidence or both. Whatever the case we need to work this one out. I'm leaning to fitness as it's round one and confidence you would think should be sky high so early in the season.

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"Truth, for the tyrants, is the most terrible and cruel of all bindings; it is like an incandescent iron falling across their chests. And it is even more agonizing than hot iron, for that only burns the flesh, while truth burns its way into the soul"     — Lauro Aguirre