With Harry and Charlie our key forwards, Cottrell and Martin our medium forwards and Motlop and Owies our small forwards, l think the seventh position will be between, Fogarty, E. Hollands, Cuningham, Fantasia, Durdin and Binns. Jack Carroll is going to find a position. Moir and Lemmey will be development projects. Players like TDK, Kennedy and O. Hollands will spend time going through the forward line as well.
I would think Boyd will play as well as Pittonett and while Weitering, Silvagni and Hollands the older won't be available to play, this means someone additionally will miss selection but I am unsure as to who that will be. I also think Cuningham and Cincotta will also be unlucky to miss out.
The AFL is all about marketing and not about the fans, it is not about the football and certainly not about the players. The Club's attitude of just turning up and playing whoever and wherever is the right one because there is no point complaining. The AFL doesn't care.
My view is that we will win the Premiership unless we don't. Carlton has a recent past history of smugness and self satisfaction and accepting mediocrity as to our start to last season demonstrated. I think we have all the pieces but it is what goes on inside the minds of the players, the coaches and the administration that will determine our success. Let's not get ahead of ourselves and let's just enjoy the journey. But it would be good.
We get to play the bottom side which we should win and we need to win one of the other three against teams that are in the middle like us. Good chance to play finals if we are good enough. Playing good running footy and with Good in the ruck our forward line functions better. The defence will get better once Kerrigan gets on the park. After a couple of seasons in the wilderness we seem to be on the right path now.
Count the seats, that tells you how much he won by. People who hate Andrews have wanted him to resign. Now that he has resigned they claim he is running away. A lot of people spend their lives bitching about life and pontificating on what should happen, others actuality get out and do something about it. Get the mirror out and see what sort of people you are. By the way, enjoy the public holiday this Friday.
Clearly most Victorians don't agree with you. Won an election no one thought he would win and then two landslides. Leaving on his own terms. Haters will hate. The most successful Premier since Sir Henry Bolte. Sometimes you're on the wrong side in a contest. Get over yourselves.
I wanted us to turn up ready to play, have a red hot go and not give up. I am happy with the effort. I think we lack a bit of leg speed, our two midfielders with a bit of pace, Dow and Fisher are out of favour and probably leaving the Club, our small forwards need to be more dangerous and both kick more goals and set up more goals, and our disposal and decision-making coming out of defence needs to improve. We have finished third which is a remarkable effort considering where we were mid season but we really should have finished top four so we don't have to play interstate finals. We have never won an interstate final so we should do everything we can to avoid them. Brisbane's midfield got on top, Lachie Neal was sensational, their defence rebounded brilliantly and their forwards were always dangerous. We are now a side you can follow and it is good we are disappointed with finishing third. Improve our list, improve our skills and improve our team's connectivity. That's the challenge for 2024.
I find some of the analysis in the MSM a bit bewildering. There was a comparison of midfields where Carlton was fourth. The Carlton midfield they put up for comparison was Pittonett, Cripps, Docherty and Hewitt. I would have thought our midfield would be TDK, Cripps, Cerra and Walsh. Brisbane is likely to win because they have been the second best team over the season and equal second I the last half of the season. They are a seriously good side, playing well and playing at home. They have had a break and they will be determined to win after the failures over the past couple of years. Carlton will win because they have been the best team in the second half of the season, they are a seriously good team with room for improvement. They are matched hardened, they don't give up and they will turn up to play. Brisbane's midfield is good but can be fragile and is not as deep as Carlton's especially without Ashcroft playing. The Big O can be dominated and pushed around. Their forward line has threats everywhere but while their defence has improved they can be scored against. Our backline is better but we don't have as many threats up forward and I think we put more emphasis on defence in our forward line while Brisbane are focused on scoring. I think the game will turn on our ball movement. We were appalling earlier in the year against Brisbane and last week the only time we strung consecutive passes together was in the last minute. I think if we kick it to our team mates and not turn the ball over and kick the goals we should we will win.
This week's game against Brisbane is the opposite to the Melbourne game. While Melbourne have a great midfield and Brisbane a very good midfield, Brisbane's strength is their forward line while Melbourne's strength is their defence. Brisbane will score but can be scored against. Harry and Martin will strengthen our team and we need to get on top of their midfield. It is going to be a big week for the selection committee. A lot of good players are going to miss out. I had a rant against the team selection against Fremantle earlier in the year and I was wrong so I will trust their judgement this week. This is going to be a tough game, aren't they all, we need to turn up to play, never stop trying, back ourselves and take our chances.
