Carlton Supporters Club

So

There is no way this is a fail?
So when we decided to keep the list together last year, those that argued against cutting deeper argued you can't afford to continue to bottom out.
So, winning 2 less games and finishing lower on the ladder... there is NO WAY this can be considered a failure?

I disagree.

I think the coaching staff has done as well as I would expect. I don't have an issue there.
I think the club has performed at about the level I PREDICTED, as in I thought we already had the worst list and 14-16th was going to be the result, no matter how hard we traded out our top players.

So with us performing at a level that saw us bottom 3 (and make no mistake, I think we will go to that 10th area on the ladder next year), I think we missed a chance to bring in even more youth and to try and find homes for some of our elder players (who actually had good seasons in my opinion).

So I think with the playing list we performed adequately and developed players nicely, but I think the board cannot get a free pass forever. I think drafting players like Smedts was a perfect example of horrible list management.

I give our coaches a 5-7/10 this year, this list they maintained to me was still the worst (or close to worst) list in the competition.
But I give our football club, overall... about a 3/10.
And if they don't get into that top 10 next year, then there will need to be serious ramifications and it should not start with the coach.

Everyone likes to point at hawthorn regarding how quickly it can change, and that feels great, but let's re think this a little.

The Bulldogs started rebuilding their list for last year's flag about seven years ago.

Richmond have finished top 4 this year but the foundation for that started getting laid ten years ago where they cut deep and went to the draft heavily picking up blokes like Ben Nason for a late draft pick, looked impressive in his first season and then vanished.

A few years later some of these guys were delisted even though they played and looked ok early.

Rising star nominations are grand but they give one out every week.  That's 22-23 a season.  Over five years 120+ players are nominated with 5 winners and I reckon half probably don't go on with it.

That's just to temper the arguments and expectations a little.   We have a little way to go, and how we develop from here is more important than anything else.

I'm acutely aware that much of our good form this year has been on the back of seasoned veterans.

Went like I thought...., I said 3-4 wins, so 5 was a bonus , said bottom 4 finish and if Cripps got injured then we would struggle.......
I'm with MIO...list management still needs work, we have 10-12 players who need moving on but I appreciate you cant fix it all straight away.
The lack of backup for Cripps was what I pointed to at the start of the season and SOS failed to address that and it bit us on the bum...
However we were never a finals chance and it was all about developing kids and on the back of our rising star nominees its a pass for this year.

Next season though it has to be more results driven and we need to progress up the ladder....cannot be bottom 4 again...

Your seasoned veterans will carry you while young players develop but make no mistake those young players have shown alot. As for rising stars nomination, yes they do give them out every week but very few clubs receive 5 nominations in a year.

We finished exactly where I predicted in the pre season thread. There was a lot of good signs, but also a lot problems that are still a long way from being addressed. My fears about our lack of scoring power came true, and you simply don't win many games having 20 shots or less, which we do almost every week.

The reality is we are coming off such a low base over the last 4 years the only way is up. Our diabolical trading and drafting for 5 years from 2010-2014 means we still have massive holes in the list. At the end of last year we needed to urgently address our issues in big bodied midfielders and forwards - we failed on both accounts and because of this our results are what they are.

Some of the kids look really good, but we need more experienced bigger bodies around them while they develop.

We are still 5 good players [minimum] of being mid tier team - 2 strong mid fielders, 1 medium forward, 1 Key forward and 1 crumbing forward. The issue is we can probably only address 2 of those during the draft/trade for 2018. Smedts and Palmer [and to a lesser extent Kerridge] have failed to provide the stop gap we hoped for this year.

The draft/trade has to be all about forwards and strong mids IMO. If we can't move our scoring up [something we have failed to do for 4 years straight] we will continue to drag along the bottom. McKay is still 2 years away at best.

I'm liable to really build the midfield. Of the key forwards I am liking McKay, Curnow and Kerr. Kerr really looked the part in the VFL and Josh Fraser really like him.

Yep, Kerr looked competitive even when it turned out he was playing with a hip problem.

I know a lot of people doubt Kerr, but I'd like to make a comparison to put things in perspective. Kerr is every bit the same size shape, speed and kick of a young Taylor Walker. That pretty much puts Kerr in the prime category for a KPF role in years to come!