I think it's a two pronged thing.

1. Young team, and young kids run out of legs, it's just a fact that seasoned legs go further.

2. Some of the older players - Scotland, Stevens, Houlihan - have little to no defensive side to their game.

agree with the fitness comments.

The other aspect is decision making - I think that once the options dry up we should be prepared to bomb it long along the boundary for a punch over the line rather than continuing with the dinky short passes that inevitably get turned over (as was the case in the 3rd yesterday)

Everyone seems to be blaming (lack of) fitness for this problem, but I'll ask you this. What suddenly changes in that final 1-2 minutes fitness-wise that doesn't seem to be an issue in the previous 20-25 minutes? What changed last night for us to go from being invincible to slack in literally a matter of seconds?

Personally, I think it's mental. The players see the end in sight, think of the rest they're about to have rather than the time left to play football (especially if they have a lead), take their eyes off the ball and cough it up. It's the same with any sort of physical activity. Those last few reps at the gym always feel tougher, as well as those last few metres swimming laps of the pool. Not because you're genuinely tired, but because your brain is telling your body that rest is coming soon as long as you can make it to the end, and whether it's your body preparing for rest, or something purely psychological, you feel tired. Hell, personal trainers will deliberately tell you to do 20 reps, only to get you to do another 20 when you reach that mark, just to push you over that mental boundary. Our players need to shake this comfort mentality, and fast.

I think getting the boys to do a lot more at training than they expect would be very helpful in this regard. Just when they feel as though the session is over, and they can shower and do all that, Ratts comes out and tells them to do another 5 laps, or another tackling drill, whatever. I agree that the focus needs to be on slipping another one in before the break, not sitting on a lead. They should treat those last 2 minutes as though there's 10 minutes to go, or not look at the flowering clock at all. Just play! They need to put themselves in the mindset that when they get out on that field, it doesn't end.

_________________
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

When Eddie Betts held the ball up to indicate the 1/4 was almost over I said to NMW "They'll lose the ball now and Essendon* will kick a goal".
Holding the ball up seems to be like a trigger for the players to switch off, they seem to think "Cool, not long to go now" and relax. Kicks become lazy and leads dry up.
It's frustrating to see it at the end of almost ever 1/4 and I threw a cushion across the room.

_________________
"One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds." - Frank Zappa

That to me, when I saw it, was more of case if slow it down boys, lets run the clock down a bit.

_________________
“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.

That's what Eddie was thinking too, but we all know that they can't lock a game down like that. They don't know how, and their kicking isn't accurate enough to pull it off.

Leadbelly or Underbelly?... Same thing really.

In the end, the answer is probably going to be found in the number of rotations we have off the bench - and how the players manage their loads.... Rocket's quarter time address to the Doggies on Friday night was fairly subdued - a reminder of the game plan and a mini rev on execution. At half time, when the Dogs had started to win the contest, he labelled a few of them as kick-chasers - blokes who would stay out on the ground even when they are unable to go at 100% like they weer playing for stats.

Perhaps we have a few of the latter?... Note how Juddy works his arse off, then goes for a spell. When he's out there, he's 110% - if he can't go, then he gets the @#$%&! off the field.

_________________
"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter" - Winston Churchill.

Which is why senior players running into space [possibly near the boundary line] was so bloody important at that time.

We almost require a specific strategy for this contingency i.e. being up by 2 or 3 goals in red time as it is such an issue for us ATM.

_________________
“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.

I haven't watched the games with any great details, but would be interested in the interchanges in the last 10 of each quarter. There should be some rotations through the midfield (even on the ground perhaps) to rest some tired legs.

If this is happening then maybe our strategy is wrong and we are resting the wrong blokes or replacing them with the wrong people. I am a firm believer that in the last 10 minutes you have to be very strategic and control the stoppages, even if it does mean slowing the game down.

When I watched the Essendon* game, I was amazed late in quarters how many loose handballs to opposition players (Simpson), cough-up possession (Hadley) and failure to block the contest (whoever allowed his man to shunt T-bird off the ball) occurred.

Hopefully this will improve, but if it doesn't then we will continue to give the opp teams momentum leading into the breaks

DH

_________________
From little things big things grow....

I was sitting at the Ponsford Stand end, behind Eddie, & listening to the broadcast on the radio, who said ther was less than a minute left in the 1/4. That's when I saw Eddie hold the ball up, which i thought he must have got a msg from the bench, which wasn't too far away, to hold up the play.

Eddie's mistake was he rushed the disposal & kicked to the wrong option.

Behind him, about 30m away,was an unmarked Carlton player, who could have held up play for another 15 seconds.

Also, I'd be surprised that if in this day & age of professional footy that we don't have a set play in place for iceing the clock.

In these situations, we need our senior players, wherever they are, to run into space & demand the ball so the turnover is less likely to happen.

Looks like Ratten is trying to address it.

Good call.

_________________
"our electorate seeks less to be informed and more to be validated." Sad times.

This is where tempo football comes into it. But no, it's a really, really bad idea for the youngest side in the AFL to practice this in real games against the reigning Premiers when they're on a roll


http://talkingcarlton.com/phpBB2/viewto ... 02&start=0

Seems some habits are hard to break free of

_________________
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

Yes. When Nathan Brown marked at the end of the third quarter I almost screamed the roof off the cameldome.

mrs camel was not amused.

_________________
Click here to follow TalkingCarlton on twitter
TalkingCarlton Posting Rules

Like when we kick in from a behind. (e.g. 1st qtr. No 32. B. Thornton)

_________________
Cheats never prosper (except in the AFL)

So you're a screamer?

_________________
"I had to eat"

Yes I screamed too but only for the fact that the mark came as the end result of a Richmond player throwing the ball out of a contested situation to the hands of the player who delivered it to brown.

Ponkstar wrote



Me too. It was right in front of the umpire too!

The football gods had the last say in that...thank the footy gods.

_________________
Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

OK! Here it is. When I first saw this thread my 1st reaction was, hold on that's not right - us coughing up goals in "red" time - No, that can't be right. I do recall seeing somewhere in the last month or so, I think in Inside Football, that this season's Carlton side was one of the BEST in "red" time for scoring goals, but wasn't sure about conceding them, so I WENT LOOKING FOR ANSWERS.

Sorry, it's the Capricorn in me - I need FACTS (Some call it just being ANAL)

So I found facts via (the only place I could find them) GAME DAY on afl.com & went through all 14 games this year to see what the scoring was in each of our quarters, from the 25min mark to the end of the quarters.

VERY INTERESTING RESULT - Basically, in summary, in "red" time (from 25min mark to end of 1/4) Carlton have kicked 36 goals and had 34 kicked against us.

SO, finally, I concur. There is a problem with conceding goals in time on, but we do alright for ourselves during the same period.

If anyone would like me to post more detail on this, let me know.