Woe is Carlton.

That hurt – but really, it was groundhog day. How we have failed to learn from past encounters against them is infuriating.

Here’s a few tips Ratts – They switch into the corridor, they always peel one bloke off a stoppage to run forward, they like to kick long from kickouts, they like to block our switch.

THESE ARE KNOWN FACTS – and we did NOTHING to counter it.

I’m so angry

Pros:

1. Hammer gets a lot of taps

2. Eddie is freak

3. Santy took a few good marks

I want a 4th or 5th but it would really be piffle

Cons

1. Lack of clearance wins despite good tapouts

2. Fev was disgraceful

3. Nick Stevens will maybe retire at the end of the year.

4. The coaching is a disgrace – I don’t care what anyone says – Ratten has NO PLAN! He is reactive! Just reacts to his mistakes (except for those he makes against Essendon*)

5. There’s so many more I can’t list them

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

PROS : nearly every player on the field tonight has improvement in them. The long term future is still bright and one loss does not impact that.

CONS : Stevens has no improvement. FINISHED as as AFL footballer.
Season is OVER.

Pros
AJ did a great job on Lovett until 3/4 time
Ditto for Carazzo on Stanton
Setanta started well
Gibbs and Murphy kept working hard
Fish presented well
Eddie with limited opportunities

Cons
AJ and Carazzo were moved off their opponents who starred in the last quarter
The effort and chases (and lack thereof)
Stevens decision making is slow and costly in traffic
Too many passengers on the night - Bannister, Armfield, Houla, Stevens (no defensive pressure)
Fish can't kick
Inefficiency in the middle and failure to have a defensive set up to counter an opposition
Losing to the side that should be known as the dogs....
Monfries still getting frees for staging after 5 years in the system

Pros

The only thing I can think of is Setanta. At least he took some marks .... perhaps should have kicked a few more goals.

Cons

Everything and anything. That was pathetic
Stevo
Fev ..... kick the goal then rub it in. Don't show him the ball then fail to kick the distance. Your opponent ran off you like you didn't give a s#1T
Houla .... out on the full from 30 metres ..... FFS

_________________
"IF YOU FAIL TO PREPARE, YOU'RE PREPARED TO FAIL" - Mark Spitz

PROS

1. Kade Simpson gets his name on the locker.

2. All the bulls*** hype we have got all year is OVAH.

3. More motivation for next time.

4. Talking Players is closed, so I can't write how crap they all played tonight.

CONS

1. We are the stupidest football team in the universe. We waste so much of the ball its ridiculous, lets ignore the unmarked forward and kick it to Fev who has the free forward's opponent on him. Lets let our opponents run through the corridor unchecked and deliver it to their forward on a silver platter.

2. We are mentally soft. After a few dodgy frees and fifties went against us in the second quarter, you could almost see the Carlton player's deflate, and our opponents' rise.

3. We do not learn from our mistakes.

Pros

Simmos 100th

Cons

We're crap.

We've got crap players.

We've got crap coaches.

We've got a crap board.

We're gonna merge with Melbourne and form an almighty crap side.

_________________
Lawrence Lawrence, The man who knows all the rackets and all the racketeers!

Pro

If we keep playing like that we will get an early draft pick

Con

We'll probably use it on another no impact player like Yarran.

_________________
Get comfortable being uncomfortable

Cons - Today

Pros - Tomorrow.... and Nick Stevens is 1 game closer to retiring.

_________________
Patrick Smith - Just another reason to HATE Essendon*!

PROS:
-murph and betts

CONS:
-delivery to fev
-just let Essendon* move the ball down the ground way to easily. they had the numbers around the ball at just about every contest. it seemed like they always had a player free on the wing.
-stevens..just terrible
-bannister houlihan and armfield all no good.
-again letting angus monfries kick 5 goals

umpiring in the first half was obviously below average..the one that really pissed me off was that 50 against jamison, were he clearly punched the ball from lloyd..not a mark. and the out on the full was also ridiculous

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

PRO



that statement got me my first giggle for the night....

nice work

_________________
my last one was rubbish

CON: BRETT RATTEN and the MATCH COMMITTEE

CON: Not offering Allan Richardson an assistants position

CON: BRETT RATTEN. He is a hack. The players know he has no idea. The players are playing like they are being instructed by someone who has no idea

Pros:

Setanta ... took marks in a variety of ways and also got cleaned up by Fev when Setanta had his name written all over it
Kruezer ... his endeavours are fantastic and he will take us to many victories in the years to come


Cons:

Lack of players that have speed with the ball ... mind speed and hand speed (we have far too many sloppy players)
We got sucked in again with the Davey "fall over trick" after a push ... HE DOES IT EVERY TIME ... FFS "WAKE UP"
Fevola ... actually it is Ratten that is showing he insipid by not removing him from the field
Stevens ... and this bloke wanted to be a leader ... HOW !!!
Too top heavy in our forward line ... we basically play "kick and mark" players in our forward line

Pros

Setantas contested marking and leaping...I owe the big man an apology.

Cons

The midfield let me down tonight...flat.
Honestly, I'm slightly embarrased that Stevens is our VC. I appreciate what the man has gone through but tonight I counted 4 careless handballs in close resulting in turnovers. I expect a VC and a player of his age and experience to be able to cope with pressure better than what he does I expect to count on him when he has the ball....I'm dissapointed tonight. I'd even suggest to move him on and if we can get a trade done then I'd be happy.

Where the flower was our attack from the backline? Where was Bower taking the corridor on??? We were so bold and impressive last week why so sheepish, dull and stagnant this week?

My other half rates Jamison and thought he did a super job, he feels for him and the stupid frees payed tonight.

_________________
The problem will be made. for the solution to be sold, to your face before your eyes, tolerance is now the new danger

One of the major problems tonight were our turnovers: Bower, Brown, Armfield, Stevens and the rest. It was shocking and we paid for it dearly.

_________________
Silvagni

Pro: Murph and Setanta
Simmo getting 100

Cons: We lost
We lost to Essendon*
We lost to Essendon* by 69 points
Weve now lost to Essendon* 4 times in the last 2 years
Our percentage is now shot
Fevola conscious even when we have other men there
When CLEARLy it was setantas mark in the 1st quarter and Fev comes over the top, both players spoil each other - Essendon* ball
bloody STEVENS - i do not think i saw him handball to one of our players at all tonight
Bower injured
RUN AT THE MEN TACKLE TACKLE TACKLE
HOw we seemed to lose the ball and Essendon* would make us pay, Essendon* lose the ball they tried their guts out to get it back AND DID
we expect judd to carry the team every single week - we have to have 22 contributers
we didnt have 22 contributers

Pros:
Setanta showed he can mark the footy. All we have to do is convince someone to kick it to him.
Eddie.

Cons:
Shit gameplan to start with and then no changes to it.
We have three #1 and Judd in the midfield and still get beaten for clearance
Every time we have more handballs than kicks (7 times this year) we lose. Somebody take note.
Murphy gets the footy but can't kick.
Stevens gets the footy but can't kick or handball.
We haven't realized that a kick to position followed by a mark releases the pressure.
We have no kickout plan after a point. Fortunately this wasn't such a problem tonight as Essendon* kicked mostly goals.
Fev has the yips and isn't worth kicking to any more.
Houla's skills have deserted him so he is now no good to us.
We lack raw pace and have nobody in the Ants who can resolve that problem.
Our coach hates to make positional changes or consider that his plan is lacking.
Judd should be played at HFF unless we can protect him better. He was tagged out of the game tonight and his opponent had more touches to boot. Just the same, he is a genius.
Fisher isn't the one.
Banno isn't up to it.
Browne isn't up to it.
Stevens should be dropped on tonight's performance as was Lucas but Ratts hasn't got the same level of commitment as Knights.
Kreuzer isn't the answer in the ruck but if Fev continues to hit players like he has done to Fisher and Setanta (X2) he will get badly injured at CHF.
I have to put up with this mood for the rest of the week.

_________________
Let slip the Blues of war (with apologies to William Shakespeare) (and Sir Francis Bacon, just in case)

Pros
AJ kept Lovett under control for most of the game
Murphy and Gibbs didnt stop trying
Kruezer, wish we had more of him
We dont have to play Essendon* again

Cons
Outcoached
Bannister, Armfield not up to it.
Fev
Bower injury
Stupid umpires
Feel sorry for Simmo
Too slow
Poor decision making
Stevens

Pros:
- Kreuzer & Hampson battled hard all night
- Eddie did his bit
- Setanta looked like he belonged
- Gibbs & Murphy kept trying

Cons:
- Mentally weak and soft players - too many to mention
- Stevens had a shocker and is making more and more mistakes in games now, not just tonight (writing's on the wall, me thinks)
- Fev's body language and lack of chasing in the second half was woeful
- Ump's in the last 5 mins of the second qtr got the scum back in the game
- You can almost forget finals from here - we don't deserve to be there this year
- Bower's injury
- game plan is very suspect against fast and hard working sides

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

Pros

Now we know for sure that Ratts can't coach, we can join the race for Bucks before its too late.

Cons

Where to start.

Pro: i can spend a lot more time with my family for the rest of the year , this team/club doesn't deserve the passion and effort i put in if they cant do the same AGAINST Essendon* FFS

Con: I feel like i have been stabbed in the heart

_________________
*(grow - fun - gah)

Yeah but whatabout your whataboutism.