After the dust settling and the frustration subsiding from this weekends loss It's a new dawn, it's a new day, and I'm feeling optimistic.........

We have some deficiencies that need to be addressed but when you look at what we had missing on saturday night i can't help feel somewhat optimistic about our future.

Add Walker, Grigg, Johnson and Warnock into our starting 22 and suddenly the team looks different and those four players alone change up the dynamics and structure how we play.

Added to that the promising talent and workman like in Armfield, Browne, Robbo (needs to work on his aerobic capacity), AJ and Yarran and this team starts to look more like a running and capable side.

Admittedly Ratten hasn't have all the cattle he'd like to work with at his disposal with and the present moment we are lacking drive off half back and pushing shit up hill hence the chip, chip static game style along the wings.

Walks, Johnson, Grigg along with Scotto will generate much needed run off half back. Jammo at full back, Bower holding down CHB and T-bird playing the 'Waitey' sweeping role will free up Waite to push forward.

Warnock rucking allows for Krooze to play forward. Fev, Waite and Krooze as our 3 talls with Yarran and Betts roaming around the 50 and Wiggo as a hit up forward.

Walker adds so much flexibility to the side. Both he and Waitey are worth there weight in gold and will cause head aches for opposition coaches as both can be so damaging, can play all over the ground and not to forget that they are naturally talented.

The biggest mistake made by the club was to take this 'stop the hemorrhaging' and instant results approach which i believe may have set us back a step or two. From the get go this team needed to be reinvigorated and backed in with confidence to take it on and 'stop the hemorrhaging' with hard work and belief.

This week against the pies is no better time to cut the deadwood from this club, kick the passengers to curb girlfriend and prove to the footy world that WE ARE COMING once and for all.

GO THE MIGHTY BLUES!

Half glass full this morning Melvey.
Football these days is so much a game of momentum. Capitlising on your opportunities when you have control of the game is the difference between winning and losing most of the times.
Hawthorn came out and kicked 8.1 against us and won by 4 points, then within the space of 6 days they kick 1.8 against the Bombers.
In all our loses we have dominated the game for periods without converting it into goals. On the flip side when our opposition has dominated in our losses they have been able to convert. Even Geelong lost a grand final last year when you look at the raw statistics suggests they should have one by 10 goals. They did not convert their dominace into goals.
Until we convert dominance into goals we will be a 50/50 proposition of winning games against 12 or so teams. The players we have put on the park this year have provided the opportunities to put us in a winning postion. Until we can confidently finish the work we are a 50/50 team against most irrespective of which players come in or out.

It's easy to say 'Until we convert dominance into goals' and 'Until we can confidently finish the work we are a 50/50 team' why not suggest how we can go about changing this and becoming a team that does. Obviously what we have now isn't happening

We could of, should of, would of but we haven't.

I don’t think it’s coincidence or bad luck that we often kick bad, and teams often kick well against us. We put ourselves in bad positions, conversely we allow opposition teams to own the corridor, setting up easy shots. A local team would have kicked the goals Freo kicked on Sat night, 30-40 out dead in front.

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"I had to eat"

People got a bit excited by our round 1 win (and why not?) they then re-evaluated what our year could be, they forgot what and who makes up this team, we are young, have a young coach, we have enormous potential, we will however be inconsistent.

We were never going to play deep into September this year, finals was a real chance and it still is. Carlton supporters are impatient because it has been so long since we have seen finals but to expect this team to make the Grand final or even top 4 was going to be optimistic in the extreme.

When we play our best football we can beat anyone, no doubt in my mind. But our worst is going to be bottom 4 material. The boys will learn every game, Ratts will learn every game, there are going to be great times in the coming years and the core group of players we have now will take us to 17 and beyond.

This year though we need to watch the boys become a team, play for each other, learn how to play against the best, develop the best midfield in the comp. Most of all we need to understand that finals are a realistic goal, slip ups will happen this year but the team is on the rise.

Be happy, remember where we were, think of where we are going.

Just love this thread already

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

I said on Friday that I'd be furious if we lost this game. Seems i grossly under-estimated the extent of my feelings.

I don't mean to pee on your happy-fest, but we were beaten by an undermanned 14th placed side on neutral territory, with a near full strength side.

Sorry melvin but adding Walker (injury prone), Johnson (Melbourne reject), Warnock (no significant history), Grigg (done very little so far) will do little. We need more hunger and cooperation from the blokes out on the park. Yolu can't go onto the field in this day and age with a poor attitude against ANY side.

Until we get tough, we'll be also-rans. Both Brisbane and Essendon* should be miles behind us atm, yet we find ourselves looking at the from below. Why? they have a beliefe and desire that goes from the coaches box all the way to the boot studder. We seem fixated with telling everyone how good we are and how we're going to smash 'em.

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I don't mean to pee on your happy-fest, but we were beaten by an undermanned 14th placed side on neutral territory, with a near full strength side.
I don't mean to pee on your happy-fest, but we were beaten by an undermanned 14th placed side on neutral territory, with a near full strength side.
I don't mean to pee on your happy-fest, but we were beaten by an undermanned 14th placed side on neutral territory, with a near full strength side.
I don't mean to pee on your happy-fest, but we were beaten by an undermanned 14th placed side on neutral territory, with a near full strength side.


***written and authorised by "Duke" for the "Whymostofusaregutted Party"

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“Every single element of the Club has to be the best in the league, meticulously and methodically, and only by doing this will we be elite and challenge for number 17.”
Greg Lee

You got to be kidding. How can you possibly say those players wouldn't add anything to this team. They will be available in the near future and im sure Ratts has them well and truly in his plans.

Melbourne are playing with heart and vigor and are they're not winning games?

We have no run off half back. So we have to move the ball through wings, look sideways, chip it around with slow ball movement. Basically we're pushing pushing shit up a hill until this drive and rebound is found

None of those players are "A" grade. If we had Judd, Gibbs and Murphy to come back in I'd agree we've got something to look forward to. The problem is, we cannot rely on this to lift us. The players available on our list right now MUST be capable of beating Freo. If not, we've got serious problems.

I was almost physically ill when Soloman snapped a goal with little to no pressure . How the @#$%&! can THAT happen?

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My only reaction to this whole thread =

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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

Nice post Melvey but i would only go for two talls on the forward line.

Enjoy your day.

Maybe it is a sense of blind optimism, but apart from the immediate frustration of the losses suffered this year, when you take a step back and view the season as a whole the signs are still good.

We’ve lost four games that we could have won. Indeed, we should have won the Essendon* and Hawthorn games at the very least. But we weren’t good enough. Yet.

We are still a young side and we’re still a bit rough around the edges. We’ve a lot to learn.

Our aim at the start of this season was to make the 8. Talk of top 4 is just meedyah fodder. If all the planets align for the rest of the year, then yeah, top 4 might be possible. But making the 8 should be our top priority.

I think we’ve seen enough to suggest our side is good enough to make the 8, the trick now is to make good on that promise.

It is very good that in all our games this year that we have created enough opportunities to win them. It’s not so good that we have wasted so many of those opportunities.

With more experience on the field and in the coaches box we should become better at taking full benefit of the chances we create.

If you concentrate on the week by week proposition then a 3-4 win/loss ratio is not great. If you look at the bigger picture and consider the development of our team and structure as a whole, then the signs are overwhelmingly positive.

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This is true, and the result and our polish was pretty shizen.

But there's a bigger picture to consider as well.

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Hmmmm, while I admire your optimism, I can't help but think of the team that smacked Hawthorn last Friday. We constantly make excuses while they get the @#$%&! job done. Neither Brisbane or Essendon* should be above our development at this point.

http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/ft_match_statistics?mid=4151

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Yeah, I agree with you.

That's why, at the moment, the bigger picture looks nicer than the smaller one.

At the moment we're like a Monet. With a passing glance we look pretty good. Nice splashes of colour and all, but up close it's a bit blurry and there's no fine detail. When we have the detail, colour and control of a Jeffrey Smart we'll be flogging teams for fun.

Trust me.

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You've got 1 more week.

Otherwise the girl gets it!

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I too am optomistic about the 8, but I want the team to experience 2 finals games and hence my desire to finish top 4.

We can do it.

We were good enough to win all games we've lost by an aggregate of 16 points. In fact we should have done better against Swannies but didn't bring our A game.

I think Warnock, Walker, Carrazzo and Grigg's inclusion would be a huge support to the A graders who carry us week in week out (Judd, Fev, Murphy, Gibbs & Kreuzer).

I think we are better off playing a fast style game, and with Walker and Grigg's pace that can only help.

We need to be fast and we need a better forward set up.

Hopefully we get Cloke to join the other slow tall marking option (Fisher) in the Ants and then we have some space to add talent in the forwardline.

Oh yeah, and if we continue to play out of form players we will not have the cattle to get us over the line. Wiggo has been out of sorts since round 3, and he aint taking the lead up marks anymore as he did in the first 2 rounds. He and Cloke have been our non existent forwards.

Players have to earn their spot, so get rid of the passengers Melvey and I'll be happy about that.

But yeah, it's blue skies otherwise.

We must beat the Filth....MUST...and we must start running the ball through the corridor a bit more than we are...lets take the game on like we did in the preseason.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

You can't be too optimistic if you think the only way to experience 2 finals games is if we finish in the top 4. The last time I checked we could finish 8th and still play two finals games.
In fact I would prefer that we finished 8th and won a final rather than finish 4th and lose two.

THEY KNOW WE'RE COMING

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Richard Pratt - A Carlton legend.