cloke?

Pro:

At 8:00am this morning i went for a Run around Princess Park and who do you think i saw there? Chris bloody Judd.............. doing laps and looking like he was gliding!

_________________
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit"
- Aristotle

yeah its a tough call. I actually like him, has some mongrel about him but his ability is limited now with Kruez and Hammo coming on. Hartlett is more mobile and can play either end. I don't see room for Cloke in our side.

Tackling is a major issue. Was interested to hear the bulldogs had a tackling coach from the NFL spend time with them. Get this bloke down, in fact fly plenty of them over.

wow !



con - the rest of the team weren't there

_________________
*(grow - fun - gah)

Yeah but whatabout your whataboutism.

con: we were only andrew walker massacring the ball by foot off a half back flank away from our best team.

Carlton has the worst backline of all time

big call. its not our backline, when the opposition have the ball we are defending, and our midfield are more to blame here. The entire team as a defensive unit need to work on that side of our game. So don't blame our back line blame our lack of defensive and accountability skill.

PRO

- The Big K on the ball, will be a superstar
- Fev
- Judd, Stevens and Murph all having great games
- Hadley on Watson, nullifying his clearance abilities whilst winning 6 of his own
- Betts
- Bannister basically shutting down Stanton
- I thought Jamison's job on Lloyd was quite a credible performance
- Cameron Cloke gives 300% every time he runs out for the club
- The third quarter showed what we are going to see going forward as a club

CON

- Russell is no where near up to it IMO
- Simpson & Carazzo were quite poor
- DEFENSIVE PRESSURE is horrible, we allow sides to stroll through the middle, with the ball carrier having absolutely no pressure on him at all
- Fitness, that first 10 minutes of the final term we looked a spent force

_________________
SMFC 1959 : ONE LIFE, ONE LOVE, ONE CLUB

I disagree. We're not the only team with a midfield with no defensive pressure. Essendon* hardly put much pressure on going the other way. Our backline is atrocious. Couldn't even catch a cold. 25 games with 100+ scores... Thornton, Waite, Scotland, Houlihan, Sentanta. its dud central.

Neale Danniher said exactly this on AW post game yesterday, defence is not just the back six it is the mentality of the whole team starting with the defensive pressure of our forwards (IMO only betts exerts this)

I'm impartial to Houlihan, im not gonna bag the flower out of him - i just dont think he is a defensive player why cant we play him as a foward flanker or even a pocket?? he can kick a goal or two (anyone remember that game against the bummers at the g on a friday night when it was pissing down??) and might improve our forward structure??

Melvey was bagging cloke but i really dont see too many more busting a gut with effort? he is a workhorse/journeyman but a lot on the team could learn from him

waite needs to play CHF and only CHB when there is a clear matchup (like sooky boy) imagine the potency of our forward line with fev,fish,waite.edwards,betts,houlihan?

scotland worries me, however i reckon he would be a better "point guard" like player rebounding from defence than thornton is/would be

it just surprises me that sooooooooooo many people are quick to bag ratten and game style after only 3 games for gods sakehow much insipidness did we put up with with pagan, yet he still has sympathisers? what is the average number of games into our players??

as much as i hate losing anything ( i crack the sads when we lose the toss!!) i reckon we all need to take a chill pill, enjoy the improvements (as subtle as they may be), enjoy the injection of kids (what we all wanted) balanced witht the right retention of stronger bodied work horses to protect them and not judge our performances on wins/losses

we are REBUILDING, imagine if this was done 5 years ago where would be now!!!!!
my humble opinion

_________________
In america, first you get zee shugar, the you get zee power, then you get ze wemen!!!

Love how people are listing Grigg as a "Con" stating how he won't make it even though he has played what? 6 games and didn't even play last night!

Criticisms of experienced players in Scotland and Houla for lack of intensity etc are warranted but Gibbs? I suppose it was his turn as the Worriers were after Murph in the preseason..how long till MK gets it??

Are you actually reading what I wrote??????????????

You must've been furious watching Stevens play so well last night.

It must suck to be you.

pro: eddie betts proving me wrong and playing outstandingly.

con: where the flower was Gibbs? the kid needs to wake up a little. im not saying in any way shape or form that he is a dud, but he needs to start playing like a flower #1 pick with about 30 games under his belt.

Class!

Pros:

Chris Judd!: Warms the heart His performance was exceptional, and put everything into the contest last night until he was spent! A real inspiration for our playing group, and under him we have much better leadership! 32P, 2 goals and a 3rd quarter which takes us back to his brownlow days with West Coast! Hopefully we'll be seeing much of that from him in the coming weeks!!

Fev: 8 goals, great leading and marking, and stiff with three posters! The guy was on fire last night, and just goes to show what he can do when he gets some proper delivery going to him! A 5 goal 3rd quarter, he's a star!

Matty Kreuzer: Woo, im lickin my lips over this guy! Covers the ground beautifully for a big boy! Athletic, can kick a goal and held his own reasonably well when in the ruck.. Lets remember he's just 18!
16P, 2 goals, 12HO.. More than happy with his game, really shows a presense already!! Could be the most important of our next generation players! An amazing talent!

Eddie Betts: Been pretty consistent so far in his first 3 weeks, and were better for it, because his skills are quite good! Looks like he's putting his head down, and working harder in the fitness stakes, we all know the boy has some talent, and can do some exciting things on the football field.. Hopefully he can keep his form and consistency up..

Nick Stevens: Terrific first half, and is a real key for us.. Needs to keep working on his fitness so he can run out the games better..

Jamison: Admirable effort on a very good forward.. Lloyd finishing with 4 but two junk time goals in the end. Fair effort.

Note: Murphy, Carazzo, did their bit also..

Cons: Our defensive game: Was just about non existent, too often the bombers quick players were left on their own, and it cost us! Our backline needs some extra help, but mainly our defensive game from a lot of our players needs to improve if we are to turn things around!!

Russell: I'll back up what a couple other people have said, this guy has played about 50 games now, and i havent seen 1 piece of impressive play, courtesy of this guy! I'd rather give a game to Joey Anderson, Ryan Jackson, even we could do with the midfield grunt of a Bentick, who's defensive skills at least can't be questioned!

Jordan Russell hasnt and won't make it as a player for the Carlton football club! Period!

Paul Bower: I get nervous whenever this guy gets the ball, provides some good dash from the backline, but when i see the ball in his hands i just wish it was Juddy or Stevens or Murphy or even Betts! His offensive game is OK, but he, like a lot of the team needs to brushen up on his defensive skills!

We could also do with a bit more input from Ryan Houlihan and Heath Scotland etc.. However i believe Scotland has been unfairly made to be the scapegoat recently.. He has been a good player for us for a few years, im tipping the guy will bounce back..

One last CON.. Giving away easy goals in time on! This is really hurting us, and we must rectify this as its a problem!

All in all, we played much better than last week, I'm hoping that means that better days arent too far away.. We have some talent in the side and a couple of matchwinners in the Great Juddy and Fev, and a good midfield. We need to start getting some reward for effort and 4pts! Last night seemed the night this was to happen, unfortunately again, it ended in an honorable loss!

_________________
Corinthians 9:6- 8

hampson doesnt get enough game time. i'd like to see him played in the ruck (rotations with kreuzer and cloke every now and then) but mainly have cloke at CHF (if they're not playing waite there) to give support to our struggling forward line!

i totally agree with you 110%

He's only played about ten games, and this is the first time he's been given a proper go. I think he's doing really well and will only get better and better.

I agree totally Verbs - the confident Bower willing to give it a go now is so different to the guy of the first couple of games, who I always thought looked afraid to do anything in case it went wrong..... To me, he's a case in point for not making knee jerk axings from a team......