I went to the game yesterday and cannot speak more highly of how the boys played. They've played in front of some big crowds this year. While it would have been fantastic to win, it was still great to see them fight out another close game.
When the heat was on a few players not renowned for going at it hard, pulled their weight and kept trying. It was a great contest, although the hawks looked much physically bigger. As plenty of other have pointed out, because we are so young and still developing, their is so much room for improvement. The plan is not to win the grand final this year, it's to build so we can have a sustained run of 4 years or so challenging in the GF.
As plenty of great posts have pointed out some players will come into the side like Yarran, Robinson, Hammer, Austin and Warnock. Was it a season and a half ago this team pumped us by 100+?
Gibbs, Murph and Krueze all have brownlow potential. They are that good. While it's frustrating, after being to the tigers and bulldogs wins, a loss is easier to take by 4 points knowing we can only get better. And we're not having 6 -8 spankings a season of 80+ points.

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Chris Judd: 'I've since watched some Steven Seagal movies and realise pressure points are no laughing matter.'

I thought Carrots did a very good job yesterday.

Negated his man, as well as being a key player in some goals. Not to mention shooting straight and getting our first.

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And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

I actually liked the move of Carazzo up forward. He has the ability to win possessions and is very good with his hands in close. Could really help to reduce the oppositions drive out of defensive 50 as well as helping in setting up goals for the runners like Betts and Houlihan.

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"Truth, for the tyrants, is the most terrible and cruel of all bindings; it is like an incandescent iron falling across their chests. And it is even more agonizing than hot iron, for that only burns the flesh, while truth burns its way into the soul"     — Lauro Aguirre

I was at the G the day dixon kicked that goal at the end that i was and watched hopelessly as it sailed through - and a much harder one than fev's. I also remember that it was a bradley mistake coming out of defence that caused the turnover. But, hey, just like balme whacking southby and nicholls beinng felled in '73 GF, i am over it ........ well maybe not '73!!!

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one you knock back is one you never have

In fact there were a few shockers in the last, mostly against us - not to mention the two 50's that should have been paid when waite was legged by scumbrowne after taking a mark on the wing (umpire saw it and called out that it was ok, go figure) and no 50 against franklin when he kicked the ball away after the free to AJ (but we still got it to fev so not necessarily bad - but still showed the umps, margets especially had no guts to give 'em)

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one you knock back is one you never have

I thought it was one of the better umpired games of the season to be honest. No real complaints from me.

Same for me, with a couple of caveats.

1. The first 3 quarters were well umpired. Let the play go on, didn't over-umpire.

2. The last quarter left a bad taste in pretty much everybody's mouths, from almost moment one. They blotted their copybooks badly with the last quarter.

3. The standard of umpiring has been so poor in the last couple of years, and declining in standard, that we as footy fans, feel compelled to comment on matches which have been umpired decently. Not well, but decently.

The umpiring department is a sheltered workshop for those who wanted to play footy, but can barely hold the ball straight.

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And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

If Fev was kicking the goal to win the game from where Dixon kicked it he would have put it straight through the middle. Fev has an annoying habit of not kicking through the ball when close in, if he had of booted the crap out of it like he would from 50 it would have started to fade 20 metres behind the goal line.

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"I will rejoice in their anguish, delight in their failure and revel in our success"

We are Carlton, @#$%&! the rest !!!!!!

Very proud of the team- what struck me about yesterday was not only did we compete boldly against the reigning premiers all game; we've actually, as a maturing team, have narrowed the gap between of best and our worst, quickly. And our worst is usually credited with a lapse in intensity and/or concentration- a far cry from a couple of years ago.

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Be positive to all those @ TC- the wait is almost over!

Soz champ, have to pull you up on that one. It was Jordan Doering who marked on the members wing and took off for a run. All he had to do was kick it forward and we win. He was chased down by Daniel Chick who promptly played on and banged the ball inside 50. Dixon marked and the rest is history.

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You want the flame? Give us the marbles!!

Been holding off making a comment about the game till now - left the game feeling gutted - but after a day to thinking it over and comparing it to the tripe we have served up for the last few years I am feeling that we are nearly there - boys just let it go with a poor few minutes in the opening part of the last quarter.

Dont want to feel satisfied about losing - in a St.Kilda/charge of the light brigade glorious defeat sort of way - but satisfied that we are sorting out the last few pieces in the puzzle.

We lost 12 games last year and still had quite a few blow outs and turned a few games up last year - we are clearly better than that this year (after 6 games) and hopefully will keep improving.

We need to make a few bold selections over the next few weeks - lets give Hammer a go and rotate Kreuzer through Centre Half Forward, lets perservere with Robinson.

Go Blues.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

Absolutely true...he really needs to work on his set shots from the 15m to 30m range as it is a weakness for him..when he first marked it I thought to myself it could not be in better hands but in hindsight our best set shot is Houla...by a mile.

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"Truth, for the tyrants, is the most terrible and cruel of all bindings; it is like an incandescent iron falling across their chests. And it is even more agonizing than hot iron, for that only burns the flesh, while truth burns its way into the soul"     — Lauro Aguirre

I've only seen the replay of the last bit of the game once, but in my opinion Fev actually kicked the ball fairly well.

As far as I could see the main problem was that he was trying to improve the angle, but in doing so his runup ended up being not in line with the middle of the goals. But instead, if you look at it, his run up is actually in line with the right goalpost.

The run up is where he stuffed up, not the kick.

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His kicking from 30 m out are usually perfect as he doesn't try to send the ball out of the ground but almost toe pokes it thru the big sticks.

He didn't do that on Saturday.

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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.

Great effort by the lads, but we didn't really deserve the win IMO as we were playing catch up for most of the afternoon.

Bye bye Cloke and Bentley, and Houlihan eventually.

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It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it

This view is contrary to the views of Brad Sewell and Campbell Brown who played in the game and in their after the game interviews thought they were lucky.
I'm not sure which view has more credibility

Couldnt ask for more in effort.
The team was well prepared and well coached.
We made critical errors that were very costly.
We can't afford to carry Wiggins, Cloke and Setanta in the same side against opposition this good. On Saturday, the one that could hold his head the highest was Setanta. I'd drop Cloke as has been said before.
2 inches to the left for that kick and ther would be no dramas. Lets not read too much into it. Sewell and Mitchell won the game not Roughhead. We need more supprt for Judd in the trenches.


The Murphy snap that put us 6 points down in the last. I am sure I can see the Hawthorn player tackle him with 2 forearms to the head. Can anyone else watch it and tell me if I am right. Academic I know but I'm surprised it wasnt picked up, unless I'm seeing things

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T E A M

In the last qtr we were umpired by the 3 blind mice.

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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.

Just a special shout out to the 'Boys From Preston' who sat near me during the game. Gave just about every Blues player a spray during the game, I think you missed Judd and Simmo. Hell, you didn't even give Bentley a chance, he copped it before the bounce. I know you guys thought you were funny, but it pretty much wrecked the experience for me, thankfully I got to watch the game on pre-record later. So please, please, turn in your Carlton gear and join Richmond, you will be at home there. And wash your bloody trakkie daks before rolling up to a game.

Otherwise I was never really convinced that we would win at any point, but we hung in there and kept working hard, in 12 months we will win games like that and the one against Essendon* comfortably.

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A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty" -Winston Churchill

L.M 35-06

Thats the way i saw it. He adjusted his run up slightly to take some angle out of it which gave the kick a different shape. The fade was extreme.