Iv been sitting patiently and quietly, reading all the posts over a period of time on where the blues are at with the current playing list. while I realise that there has been positives relating to the turn over of players and staff both on and Off field, (the inclusion of Swan and Judd obviously the big pluses) the reality is that we are clearly no better now than in previous seasons. the general theme is "we have a young playing list" and patience is required to implement the game plan, all easy excuses to use when assessing the current playing group. I believe weve become too predictable and stagnate within the football department. Ive come to realise the only way Carlton can change its current "losing mentality"and start being successful again is for the blues to start thinking ruthlessly & outside the square . So Ive come up with some changes of what I believe is required for things to start happening again at Carlton. I know some of you wont like some of my ideas(ie Murphy and Gibbs) and comments, but so be it.
Drop Houlihan, Carazzo and Edwards, bring in Kreuzer, Bentick and Anderson
Book Melbourne Storm for some tackling sessions
Start using interchange more, especially to rotate midfielders.
Play Fevola at half forward, Setanta at CHF and Fisher at FF. Rotate the three in these positions. They have to run, present and chase. Open up the forward line, and tell forwards that tackles/smothers will count as much as goals in best and fairest votes.
Devise different ways of delivering ball to forward line – it’s too predictable, particularly looking for Fev all the time. Study the way Geelong come up with different angles and varying lengths of kicks when they get to F50.
Stevens spends more time up forward as crumbing player. Must chase and tackle.
Hadley plays half-back flank, Jamison plays other back flank. Anderson plays back pocket. Saddington full back? Murphy and Hampson spend more time helping out in backline.
Betts plays a bit of midfield but mostly forward 50 (does not leave the 50-metre arc). Russell plays wing, with a licence to drift forward and kick goals. Gibbs on the other wing and is told to cut the short kicks. Any hint of short steps and it’s off to the Bullants. Scotland plays midfield (in at centre bounces) and forward.
Stop the chip passing out of defence – it gives the opposition too much time to drop back and too much opportunity for a turnover. Go handball and medium to long kicks to position.
Position midfielders across the middle of the ground to help stop opposition clearing too easily. Midfielders (Scotland, Stevens, Simpson, Russell, Gibbs) must develop a more defensive attitude when opposition has the ball.
At seasons end:
Delist Wiggins, Bannister, Ackland and Saddington (if he has a poor season).
Sack Wayne Hughes.
Trade Carazzo, maybe Stevens and Fevola at the end of the year. No player (other than Judd) untouchable at trade time. Offer Houlihan and Bentick as part of a package. Trade Thornton for the right player. Float Gibbs and Murphy names and see what happens…
Recruit quick and agile key position players – full back and centre half-forward a priority. Land another big-name player (ideally a defender). Sniff around St Kilda, Geelong and Hawthorn to see if there are young players not getting a game that could bolster playing list – eg, Varcoe, Prismall
Quit the Bullants and start our own ressies side. Tell Lappin and Teague to retire and give the kids a go. Appoint a reserves coach with proven record with young players.
Have a succession plan ready if Ratten doesn’t come up with noticeable improvement in first year. Be ruthless.

sheesh, bit over the top, how about we start with a game plan that suits the skill levels of the current players - you know, one they can implement, we seem to be maintaining posession well up the ground then forget how to pass the ball to leading forwards.

trade Thornton? Why?

we are using the bench more already - this is not the answer to everything, I say instead of using the bench rest good players in the forward line to create a threat.

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Between our dreams and actions lies this world

well you don't have to have a friggin clue about anything to have an opinion

I can see that you are looking for improvement in our side and have outlined a few changes that you think should take place...

Some of them I agree with, others I don't but the main thought in my head when I was reading all of this was the season is only 2 weeks old.

We are coming into Round 3, sure we have lost both matches but it's not like we are getting blown out of the water (Melbourne Demons anyone?) and to be honest I think we will be 1-2 by the time Sunday morning rolls around...

I am willing to give Brett Ratten time, if things have not improved by the end of the season then review the entire football department. I can tell you though with the 2 losses we have had this year, I have left the ground dissapointed but not shattered. Things are improving - you just need to look that little bit harder!

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37°47'1.59"S - 144°57'43.30"E - Home

One statement "trade Gibbs & Murphy" suggests there is no way in hell you are a Carlton supporter but A TROLL.

paragraphs would be a good start

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*(grow - fun - gah)

Yeah but whatabout your whataboutism.

to SurreyBlue. Paid up Blues member. How about You?.

my eyes hurt

hey its mishgee !!!!!!!!

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*(grow - fun - gah)

Yeah but whatabout your whataboutism.

I agree the Gibbs/Murphy suggestion was a bit over the top... I repeat a bit over the top.


The rest of it wasnt that bad!

we need a ruckman
we need two runners that can carry and kick straight

i like pettifer alot and reckon he will play 15+ games this year
stevo needs to lose the fat
judd is one month away from peak fitness IMO.

disposal in the fwd 50 is attrocious atm..

good thing is...it is blatantly obvious knowing where the game plan is falling down.

we are two quality players short of being a top side...

gibbs is at least another 12 months away from contributing solidly every week
kreuzer could be three years away

murphy is getting it together now

so its just one messy jigsaw puzzle atm

yes we should be patient - but i want no excuses if this unit does not improve this year

spacing between paragraphs, please!

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"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.

Trade everyone!

That'll get em playin for each other

whilst i agree the "young team" thing is wearing a bit thing, especially when you see teams like collingwood, geelong & brisbane developing their lesser known kids better, let's not panic after 2 rounds!

we are building a super team, like brisbane lions & stk have done in the past (a bit different to geelong).
however, i don't think it will happen overnight. having said that, i would be hoping we can win 2 out of the next 3 & possibly all 3, if we get our confidence up before we play the pies. but let's remember this is not exactly rocketing up the pop charts - Essendon* & melbourne are both crap teams and, for now, we are just trying to scrape our way above "crap", heading towards ordinary. but i expect that by the end of the year we are showing that we can push towards the 8 in 2009. we should be competing strongly within the 8 in 2010 and contending for premiership 2011.

that progression, for me, is "par". faster, like hawthorn now, is better than par. slower, is worse than par.

during that time, we need to:
- develop a stronger spine
- develop our rucks (Hampson, aisake, kruezer)
- build a strong, reliable defense
- develop a better forward structure
- develop a solid, effective game plan & learn to play it
- and our potentially brilliant midfield needs to actually become that.

off the field, we need to:
- improve our recruiting
- build world's best practise in developing our kids (currently, collingwood, brisbane, geelong seem to be leading the way)
- build state of the art training facility
- we also need to keep the $$ flowing in through membership, sponsorship, merchandise & business investments
- further refine our board for the future, currently too big and held together by the strength of dick pratt & the dick pratt "brand". this is not going to be an easy task b/c we are talking about politics, big personalities, big egos and varying interests.

none of this gets fixed by next week and it doesn't have to. we just need to see steady improvement.

ps. ease off on murphy & gibbs. they are absolute guns in the making. they are v young. their best will become more common, their worst less common. and their best is right up there. if only they had the absolute best to lead them...

A little birdie at work told me that this is very much a possibility... Word has it that Thornton is very much focussed on life after football and is very much aware that football has an end date. So football to him is a job, and like most of us whether we like or dislike our jobs money talks.

So when is Thornton out of contract and what would be his market price?? Anyone ??

I'll go out on a limb and even suggest that this wouldn't be such a bad trade decision. He has currency and if we need to continue to develop one must give up something to get something.
But i'd be equally happy to retain him at the right price. Wouldn't be paying overs for a Rookie who's made good by grabbing some spotlight in a weak team over the years.

Anyone in the know have any idea how he interacts with the leadership group ??

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I know a little secret. And i'm not sharing.

at times i really wonder about Pettifer. Round one he was terrible..... almost like he was playing for the other team. I couldn't even see him last week. I swear if he goes missing like that again this week I reckon we should trade him to Richmond.

I thought he was suggesting we trade for Pettifer as one of the runners we need

I believe you.

BO - is that you? Are you back already?!



Nice post, agree with 47.9% of it.

After cleaning up your post frank, I agree with 4.3% of what you posted.

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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.