Carlton Supporters Club

Out - Casboult, Plowman, Cuningham (inj)
In - De Koning, Silvagni, Durdin

Gibbons to the backline as a small defender.

Gibbons needs to exit for a while, to get himself back to the football basics, we don't need a guy staging for cheap frees inside our D50.

While I appreciate why people want Durdin or Honey, it sends to the wrong message, they have been playing some nice cameos but neither has played 4 qtrs.

I think Gibbons needs a fresh challenge. Think he has the footy nous and skillset to become a decent small defender. Throw the challenge out to him. As for Honey and Durdin, similar, throw the challenge and opportunity to them. Durdin particularly plays with the intensity most of our senior team lack.

Not enough yet, nowhere near enough for AFL, he goes missing for extended periods at VFL level, the same for Honey.

Fisher when fit is a mile ahead of them in this regard, we must not confuse injury with a lack of influence or ability.

If Fisher was fit I think Gibbons would have taken a holiday some weeks ago, I'd like to see SPS in the Gibbons role.

I don't get what is going on with SPS, one week as emergency he comes on and has significant influence, then he is made emergency again and he looks demoralised.

I'm a bit tired of the HBF stuff, like HBF is where you hide someone when you do not know where else to play them!

I agree. Gibbo needs a few VFL games under his belt, where he is getting lots of ball and remembering the intensity he brought to the game when he first started. It didn't matter that he wasn't that quick then, because he wanted the pill. Very different at the moment.

I wouldn't be bringing Durdin in until he starts kicking a few more goals. As a small forward he isn't going to get 30+ possessions very often. I love his tackling and chasing and his (relative) pace. But he isn't going to get 30+ possessions in the seniors either, so her needs goals. I don't think he is far off it. He does some nice things, but if he is going to be the small forward we need, he heeds to kick a bag in the two's first.
I feel similarly about Honey. he is doing some nice things and making people notice him, but he hasn't had a bag yet. he works far enough up-ground that he can garner more possessions that he can in starvation corner, but I would still like to see some more.
Like Durdin, I don't think he is far off getting a game or three, but I wouldn't gift him one now.

We definitely need a medium forward to come in. I'd be tempted to upgrade Crocker, but for the fact that he leads and we ignore leads.
That actually really annoys me, as bombing the ball into the forward line, especially when it is packed, is just not thinking football. Yet we do it, especially when it isn't working.
Last week Melbourne had 3 tall defenders and 3 tall forwards. We had 2 tall forwards and 2 tall defenders. It was a recipe for disaster.
Our defence managed to contain 2 of the three Melbourne forwards, but McDonald hurt us.
Our forward line didn't take many marks because their tall defence always had the extra man up. It didn't matter of we had an extra small forward, because the ball was guided or marked. Using Gibbons or Owies as a marking target against May or Lever was just silly, but that was how it worked it. They played Petty on Levi and mixed and matched to deal with H.
Had we kicked the ball short to Lever's opponent, we could have totally embarrassed Melbourne. But we didn't, which made it easy for Lever and May.
Jack Silvagni would have been a better option, because he could compete against Lever body-wise. he is someone we do sometimes kick the ball to, and his desperation would keep the ball in our forward line.

This game will be won and lost in the coaches box, make no mistake about it.

We've only beaten them once in 15 years and that was with Bolton at the helm!

Last 50 games
Dinosaursus - LLWWWLLLWLLLWWWWWWWLWWWWW - 2000 - LLLLLWWLLLLLLLLLLLLLLWLLL - 2021
We had a nice patch which ended 25 games ago.

There is a significant disconnect between team selection and gameplan.  If we are to go into a game against elite tall intercept marking defenders with a mosquito fleet, surely the forward 50 entry method has to be tweaked.  Similarly, if we have two genuine tall defenders trying to defend three genuine tall forwards, our defensive set up has to focus on providing cover for our stretched third tallish defender as well as not allowing mismatches  

Playing Gibbo as a small defender is a good idea, and it should be trialled in the VFL.

When I hear Carlton and small defender, I always think Des English!

Gibbons isnt great in the air and is used to being the hunted, dont think he would have minded a player too much in his career.
I can see him on Liam Ryan, Shai Bolton etc being used as a tiny step ladder......
As most know I am a fan of VFL players and moneyballing a few onto the list and Gibbons has more than paid us back for the opportunity to play senior AFL footy but he is a limited player. He does a capable job when resting forward and onball but his size, lack of a yard of pace and lack of depth in his kicking makes him depth only IMO.
He reminds me of Anthony Miles from Richmond who was a very handy backup player but could never bridge the gap to become a main event player. Think we need to get a real small defender, we did well with imports like Matty Hogg, Dean Rice etc and you look at the Dogs who got Taylor Duryea as a freebie and I think we need to go down that path.
They must be a good kicking player who can keep their head under pressure as well as be capable defenders.