Pros:

- We didn't lose by 50pts +
- We kicked straight.

Cons:

Against top opposition the same old weeknesses show out. Now for the list:

- Inability to run both ways.
- Inability to hit a target by foot
- Inability to sum up a situation and make the right decision
- Inability to keep our feet.
- Inability to keep our mouth shut
- Inability to man up inside defensive 50
- Inability to compete against resting ruckman
- Inability to provide anything across half forward with Fisher, Wiggins and Russell

As for players a few boys had there papers stamped today, another few will be trade bait. We had 7-9 changes from this game last year, I'd expect the same by Round 20 2009.

_________________
Mjonc signing off at 8888

When the hell did we last beat these schnozwozzles?

Positives
Waite - should be close to all australian
games of murphy, judd
hampson did some good things
kreuzer continuing to impress.

not much else unfortunately

Outcoached, outrun, outclassed, and outplayed in our most disappointing game for the year. Some pretty poor efforts and intensity from some players today.

PROS

1. Grigg beat wells

2. Kreuzer is an absolute gun - his 2nd efforts are unreal

3. Judd was sublime but can't do it all himself unfortunately

4. We got exposed in some key deficiencies that our coaches continue to ignore - hopefully this will wake them up.

5. Dunno

CONS

1. Our midfield copped a shellacking for the first time this year. Every clearance seemed to go the other way and we looked slow.

2. A few issues with Ratten

. (a) Kick outs - we had 9 today and not one, not one, cleared half way. No plan, shit coaching. OUr defense after behinds was poor too.

. (b) Forward line set-up - this is the pain that won't go away and our coaching panel by now obviously have no solution. 110% of inside 50's to Fev i think.

. (c) Playing Cloke, Hammo and Kreuz the way we did made us look slow. They've got these selections wrong all year

. (d) Playing Saddo ahead of Bower (who was deemed fit enough to play in the mud) and Aussie was short-sighted.

. (e) not manning up their bursting back flankers at every centre clearance who chopped us up.

. (f) He still doesn't know Carrazo or Waite's best position

I have little faith in Ratts - He's had a year to correct these and we've made no inroads - same stuff every week.

3. Some poor efforts - players running over the ball and not putting their body in

4. The adjudication of contests involving Fev - He gets held EVERY TIME for no penalty, but when he so much as looks at the umpire the wrong way he gets pinged. I know he may bring it on himself but its UNFAIR to have different rules for different blokes.

5. No run off half back - we couldn;t break their wall and turned over too much because of this.


This was a real wake up call. The same things get exposed every week and our coach has no answers.

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

I agree with SV in terms of where we got beaten today but I have faith in Ratten to turn it around. You can't change it all in one year. Part of it (the forward structure) is to do with personnel. Kickouts is something which takes time. When Ratten came in his first priority wouldn't have been the kickouts.

It all started in the middle and many of our mids appeared tired and were easily pushed off the ball due to a lack of size.

Agree on the half back flankers - whenever they won the ball in the middle Harding, Urquhart and co were storming off half back ready to receive and our forwards weren't staying with them.

North's zone on our kickouts forced us to bomb it long to Petrie and Hale. Whenever we bombed it and Petrie/Hale didn't mark it North had so many more numbers at the fall so that they won all of those 50/50s and the ball came straight back in. Their pressure through the midfield forced us to bomb the ball to Fev even with Petrie, Pratt etc in front of him.

If we win the ball in the middle and get it cleanly to a runner more often than not find a target inside 50 as North didn't have time to flood. If got the ball in defence from a kickout or from a North turnover we were not able to move the ball due to the North zone and lack of big bodied CHF. Not having Eddie there also cost us - when the ball inevitably hit the deck at HF it was swept away by North players with little to no forward pressure applied.

Pro
Waite never stops giving 100%
Kroooze the same

Cons
Ratten not seeing early enough that Fev was not going to get the service he did in the first quarter. It was clear as day that we needed more options down there.

Fev bad attitude.

Midfield going to Fev who was swamped. Midfielders have to have the presence of mind to look elsewhere or hold the 50 entrance up if there is not a better option than Fev Vs 2 or 3. Murp was guilty several times. I think Ratts should bring Fev out when he is swamnped up to a wing for a few minutes. This would force midfielders to try other options. It is becoming a bad habit that needs to be broken and egtting Fev out woudl force that.

Poor execution of handball

No half forward line

Cant tap a it out to advantage

_________________
It will be all that much sweeter when it comes.....

CON - Saddington, that guy should never represent the carlton football club again, he was useless, un-accountable, made poor choices, he certainly has helped his chances of being de-listed at seasons end, and the day will finally arrive when Carlton start getting rid of the "hanger-on" type players who would not get a game in another teams starting 22

Agreed on all points. I think it's unfair to write Ratts off just yet, but the same are going wrong every week, whether we win or not. Fair enough the midfield had a bad day, and fev got on the wrong side of the umps, but the skills were embarassing, and saddington shouldn't have been out there, although the uncoordinated rucking from Hampson made his job a lot harder.

Also I think Armfield has lost his way a little in some areas and probably needs a chillout in the Ants to regain his composure.

Bring back Betts and Bower, maybe Austin, and think about giving either Aisake or Jacobs a run.

Pros
Fev tried hard being triple teamed but really needs to keep his mouth shut.
Waitey played really well but found the going tough doing his usual rebound.
My Smurph - kept trying and can't fault his intent [like I would]
Krooz - a great kid that is going to be an absolute gun in years to come.

Cons
No midfield pressure
No forward line set up - they had so many players behind the ball, it was embarrassing that none of players were within cooee of them.
Backline with Saddington and minus Setanta looked bloody tiny and Saddo has clearly played his last game for the Blues.

We seemed to go on the offensive too easily from second qtr onwards. Frustrating to watch and disappointed that we capitulated so easily.

_________________
“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.

Fair call on most, but can't agree with who you point the finger at. I know that it hurts after any loss and this one more than most considering that it has ended the fairytale of finals, but the players failed to execute some of the most basic skills like hitting a player with a handball and don't even mention the kicking.

On the forward setup, there were many times that a player was free and yet they bombed it to fev every time. I honestly think that the Roos applied so much pressure that the team collectively went into their shells and forgot everything the Ratts has taught them this year. After quarter time when the pressure was on, I could have sworn Pagan was coaching.

Maybe it take more than a year to erase whats been programed, but today our structure completely fell apart. I think that it's time to direct some of that blame to where it belongs - with the players

Pros
Waite, Kreuzer et al.
We can still move the ball quickly and effectively...

Cons
...but we still lack polish to make that quick ball movement effective on the scoreboard.
Forward setup. We just have to get better and function as a team.

_________________
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Pros
Waite played fairly well
Grigg just keeps getting better
Kreuzer - see Grigg
Great first quater

Cons
We lost
No finals
Saddington - drop him for Austin next week
Basic skill errors


I dont think we should start writing Ratten off yet, he's been here for only a year and you cant expect all problems to simply disapear in such a short space of time. I also noticed that we have no plan B but that also comes with time. I have faith in Ratts. Next year we might make finals, by 2010 anything is possible.

We were very flat after quarter time today....pure and simple.
It doesn't matter who was coaching us or what the game plan was...you can't be competitive playing with that level of intensity.

Pros
- a good reality check, particularly for our 7 first or second year players out there (Gibbs, Armfield, Kreuzer, Jamison, Grigg, Hampson and Browne).
- we are a good chance to snag pick #6 in the draft.

Cons
- poor kick ins / forward line structure. I think this is largely due to North's dominance in the midfield however. Needless to say we badly need a tall forward option which I hope Kreuzer can fill in years to come.
- Saddington playing ahead of Bower....this should not have happened.
- Fisher is not a viable goalkicking option - the 2 junk time goals in the last don't count for much.
- A few of our "senior" players were poor in particular Stevens, Scotland and Thornton.

_________________
There is no footy god

Pros:

- Fevola had a great game, very efficient, needs 5 a game for 100. Dunno if those 50 m penalties were against him, disgraceful decision anyway.
- Kicked straight this week
- Still havent lost by 10 goals or more this season. Kangas are a great side IMO and fly under the radar.
- Judd and Murhpy tried hard, as did Waite
- Still think we are heading in the right direction, I expected this to happen today.

Cons:

- Killed through the midfield
- Killed in the stoppages, clearances
- Match committee decisions - why play Saddington?
- Backline destoryed, Jamo was down, probably his least effective game for us, but hell learn from that. Thornton again very mediocre.
- Fisher again very ordinary, he keeps this up and hell be gone very quickly
- Stevens and Gibbs down, we will compete with and beat a lot of teams if all four of our guns can fire up at the same time, right now we are too inconsitent
- Over reliance on Fevola again, need another key forward, ill say it again, Tim Boyle > Brad Fisher, Id take him for nothing if we can.
- We missed Eddie Betts today, could have done well around stoppages.
- Lack of defensive pressure across the park.

Today was a bad loss, but put it into perspective, we are still doing OK and next year well win those games we should have won this year and make the 8 (I hope)

PROS:
Murph, waite, walker.
kreuzers kept his goal record good...like his efforts and intensity.
still haven't lost by 10 goals this season.

CONS:
wiggins report...pure BS.
saddington was terrible on hale. probs played his last game in the afl.
out-numbered in just about every contest.

_________________
"You don’t get much more Navy Blue than Stephen Kernahan" - Marc Murphy

CONS:
watching fevola and judd being held back by their opponents and the umpires doing nothing about it

_________________
"You don’t get much more Navy Blue than Stephen Kernahan" - Marc Murphy

Already been mentioned in this thread but the stats showed North's dominance.

Inside 50s were 62 to 42 and contested possessions were 116 to 86

Pro: Filth further away from the top 4

Cons
Most disappointing game of the year bar perhaps first against Tigers or games against Bombers
Killed around clearances -how much fumbling in centre on the very rare occasions we got our hands on the ball first
Inability ever in the last 5 years to quell Harvey
Kick outs shocking
Over playing Fev option when others are free - most do something to get another forward who will command ball particularly when 2 or 3 on Fev
Coughed up ball on forward line before getting into 50 meter mark
Decision making handball to worse position numerous times
Leaving Saddington on Hale in second quarter
Pros
Another game Kreuz jamison armfield browne grigg hampson
Grigg beat wells
Judd
Fevola kicking for goal
Cloke one of our best today
Murph -at least got it
Waite

How about you people lay off Saddo and instead point the finger at those who selected him and hung him out to dry!

CONS: Murphys haricut

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"You don’t get much more Navy Blue than Stephen Kernahan" - Marc Murphy