Pros
Gibbs
Betts
Fev
Austin looked good
Very competitive with a good team
Maybe we will get a top 5 pick

Cons
WALKER
Steven & Judd (niggles or just struggled?)
Bentick was poor
Out of the finals race

pros
GIBBS!!!
walkers shoulder concern is his 'good' shoulder (ie not the one that has kept him out)

Pros

Gibbs
Simpson's courage
Loved Grigg's goal
It never was about 2008, and I think we are really going to shake things up in 2009.

Cons

Well beaten in the ruck - again.
My kingdom for a half forward line
Inability to cope with O'Keefe and Bolton
The gulf between our best 6 and worst 6 in the ability to dispose of the ball and choose the best option. Top teams don't have that.

Pros:

Gibbs
Continued improvement, even without a developed ruckman


Cons:

Cloke - I know he's fighting out of his weight, but he's stuffing up the simple things now
Carazzo - Italian for 'turnover' or 'floundering'?

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"I had to eat"

Pros:
- Jamo's game on O'Loughlin
- Gibbs' game on Goodes for the majority of the game
- We never gave up
- Fev's good game (he had his head switched on today)

Cons:
- Disposals and lack of leg speed
- Walkers injury
- Ruck - beaten for the umpteenth time (must be a priority in the trade period to get an established and effective ruck while Hammer & Kreuz develop

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For some silly reason, you people want to assassinate him, and it's just rubbish. You people. All of you, ALL of you!

I listed the following players in the match day thread as those who needed to lift.

- Stevo very poor and didn't chase hard or pay any respect to his man.
- Fisher continued to show why he needs a rest in the magoos. 1 good mark doesn't make a game.
- Cloke is drastically out of form at present. Sammy knocking on the door?
- Carrazzo flogged again by Bevan and moved out of defence.
- Russell was good for patches, but when you hear the croud go ohhhhh as a collective you know you've made a big mistake. I heard that twice in the last quarter.
- Chief was on fire early, when he went missing so did our half forward line.
- Bentick is struggling like Cloke. Blackers time has come?
- Murphy was great today, constantly found space where it wasn't and delivered by foot well.
- Waite was flogged by O'Keefe. What a waste of a 100th.
- Kreuzer was easily our best ruckman and did well in the contest and around the ground on occassions.

Pros:

- Gibbs flogged Goodes, gee he is good, seriously good.
- Jamo. See Gibbs but he flogged O'Laughlin even before he was injured.
- Simmo was magnificent with his 1%ers, how many smothers did he have. That is what wins respect by your peers.
- Walker was good until injured. We missed his versatility in the last quarter.
- Fev for kicking 5 goals on an average day.
- Betts for bagging another 3
- Aussie played great in his second game. Bright future ahead.
- We only lost by 2pts without 22 contributors again. Juddy was flogged by Kirk

Cons:

- We should never of dropped Browne, he is our best hope for the back pocket and should be playing the last 6 games there. Carrazzo was shite again in the backline.
- We can cover the tall guys now, but the small guys kick all the goals against us.
- Too many players who can't kick, the difference between our best and worst is miles apart.

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Mjonc signing off at 8888

How bloody good is Gibbs. This kid is going to be something special. Jammo to was super impressive

I don't think we played that bad. The second half the swans tightened it up and won the contested ball and we lost our run. Again it was men vs boys out there but i thought they did us proud considering we came up against a top 4 side

What killed us was the continue use of our worse users by foot off half back. Waitey, Carazzo and Walker murdered us off half back

Until we find better users of the ball who set up and open up the play off half back we will not move into top 4 territory

From Ratten's press conference

We concede on average 30 hit out per game to the opposition.

Considering we get belted each week in the ruck..a definte CON.

Do we wait and develop what we have or do we buy someone in.

Second thing....Walker taken off for precautionary reasons. Didnt want to leave him out there and inure it big time. Scans on Monday. Not serious...a definte PRO

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Go BLues

Cons:
Cloke used to look great when he first came to Carlton, but now he has gained all the weight back, he is so bloody unfit at the moment, look how sweaty he is in the last bounce.

Stevens is a big softy, he is not working hard enough

Pros:

Gibbs, Murphy, Kruezer
Eddie Betts

I'd be more concerned if he wasn't sweaty.

Baz_baz, an experienced ruckman needs to be a priority, we could be throwing away some great years waiting for the young ruckmen to develop.

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"I had to eat"

The most well-drilled and hardened team in the league came to Melbourne today to play our side composed of highly talented kids and some stragglers leftover from the dark age. We were valiant, and showed a lot, but lacked enough contributors to win.

PROS

1. Gibbs - oh my god. freak

2. Jammo - developing well, beat o'loughlin

3. Simpson - our most consistent, and our hardest runner. Well done.

4. Betts - is valuable and our only real 2nd forward

5. Murph - keeps doing the job.

CONS

1. Same old problems - the ruck is the catalyst for our loss every week. Cloke has had a couple of dirty games. Kreuzer shows so much but is very young. Hampson really should play instead of wasting time at the cyclonic, pot-holed box hill oval.

2. Half forward line - Fisher, Wiggins, Russel. That's the worst half-forward line in the league people, by a mile. None look like they are long term players, maybe Fisher, but his kicking has gone backwards again after improvement last year.

3. Stevens - a lamentable effort. He hasn't been able to back up his Richmond effort - not through lack of ability, but lack of will.

4. Hartlett - had a shocker and didn;t give any signs that he'll make it. Where is our forward line going to build from?!

5. Red time goals - again.


Sydney just do the little things too well. Cloke booting it on the full, Fev's silly pass, Hartlett's ridiculous short pass and all these errors - You don't see Sydney players doing that crap, and that's the difference.

GIBBS!

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

I believe Brogan is out of contract this year and I did hear a couple of others also. Im sure the recruitment team would have it covered

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Go BLues

So does that mean in your opinion bye-bye Cloke?

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Go BLues

Fingers crossed, but I am glad they kept Tex off the ground rather then risk a bigger injury.

Pro's

Gibbsy gave Goodes an absolute bath today!!! Well done Bryce.

Simmo his 1% were fantastic.

Fev tried all day, kicked 5 and gave away 2 givemes. But Fev when you are within 55 metres have a shot mate dont try to pass it.

I thought Russell did a few good things, that shepard on the boundary line to protect Murph was really good. I thought he broke even with Kennelly.

Cons'

Waites defensive pressure on O'Keefe

Umpiring, we got a nice run in the first half (20/8) however different story in the second half (6/14).

Pros

Gibbs - great game
Fev
Walker - great attack on the ball
Murph - played well with a tagger on him

Cons

Stevens - B GRADER
Walks - injury
Juddy - Rest
Rucks - Cloke is not the answer
Fish - Needs a few games in the VFL
Hartlett - I don't think he's up to it but give him the next 5 to see if he is.

Pros:
Gibbs
Eddie
Jamo
Simmo (just keeps on running).
Using other options than just kick to Fev and hope for the best.


Cons:
Russell: Just not effective or dangerous enough to play in the forward line.
Stevens: Clearly something is not right. Disappointing and frustrating to as he isnt playing to full potential (not sure if its cause of last year but something is off).
Kicking over the top of our heads and not to the chest.

Im sick of getting recycled ruckmen. Look where it has gotten us! Cloke, Ackland and McLaren. Pathetic. If we do get a ruckman in a trade, it needs to be an established on with a bit of future. No Laycocks or Seaby's please.

Geez our good players are as good as any in the comp. Too bad the middle tier is not very big, and the bad are terrible.

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Blue is the Colour, Football is the game...

Good post. Our ball use as against theirs was the difference. And the lack of a ruckman.

Would like to see Jacobs get a run instead of Cloke. We need to make a call on Jacobs soon and whilst Cloke has tried hard, he will not play in a premiership.

Blackwell deserves a chance for Bentick as well, even though AB has been pretty good this year, LB deserves a chance to show whether he is gone or deserving of another chance. He picked a bad year to get injured, although Ratts chose to play him last year.

Pros

Gibbs, Jamo, Fev's efforts, Murphy, Austin will be a good player.

Rapt that Hartlett got a game. He didn't do much, but we need to play him and the players need to get used to a second lead up forward.

Special mention to the continued efforts of the team to at least be competitive in every game this year. It's been WORTH going to the footy

Cons

Carrazzo is not a defender, Waite too loose, Kicking, Ruck/centre square work, Walker injury.

the bigger problem is we dont have a half forward line to hit up. The pllayers you mentioned need lead up targets ot targets that run to space. Im not worried about the players you mentioned

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Go BLues

Agreed

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Go BLues