Carlton Supporters Club

Quick question, because there seems to be some confusion.
Who did Polson play on in the first half?
Who did he play on in the second half?

I thought he played abit on Thomas and a bit on Daicos or Brown, I'd have to have a look at the game. Why do you ask Two Dogs?

Quick question, because there seems to be some confusion.
Who did Polson play on in the first half?
Who did he play on in the second half?

Lods I watched the highlight package and in the second half, he appears to be following Josh Thomas around. Now If Im not mistaken, Thomas was quiet in the 2nd half, gave us some trouble in the first though right?

there was one handball in the second quarter that absolutely killed gibbons and made him a sitting duck.  High looping and in the middle of 3 Collingwood players.

Yep
So the question is did he have Thomas all game or was he moved onto him in the second half.
There's some suggestion in other places that it was Willamson on Thomas in the first half.

Quick question, because there seems to be some confusion.
Who did Polson play on in the first half?
Who did he play on in the second half?

The small defender role is important in terms of the player having to be a very good user of the ball these days and be able to hit targets under pressure to clear the ball.
Lets give Polson a pass on defending but IMO his use of the ball, decision making wont stand up under pressure from really good teams. The player we really needed to nail as a trade was Saad...he was a bad miss for us, can defend, has pace and is a decent kick and decision maker, shame he picked EFC and I wish we had probably offered a bit more money to sway his opinion.

Out of contract and after more money than the Bombers are keen on offering.   Good footballer but I would spend my money elsewhere.    Just need a solid citizen with good foot skills.

Polson is pushing it up hill with the Carlton faithful to start with even with solid form in the scratch matches.

He has been credited with two Josh Thomas Goals.

The first is from a dump kick from Sam Walsh that Quaynor roves from the marking contest outside 50.  The ball deep inside 50 is contested by Cox and Jones.   Williamson follows Thomas who roves and goals.   Polson in not one of 7 Carlton players pictured inside 50.   Jones, Weitering, Plowman, Doc, Cripps, Setterfield and Simpson.   Hard to tell if Polson is actually on the ground at the time.

The 2nd goal Thomas loses Plowman working up the field and first gets involved at wing/half back.   Crisps miss bounces and Thomas gets the handball receive and kicks a nice goal.

While I am not suggesting Polson was great he wasn't directly responsible for the two Thomas goals.

Now as EB points out Thomas had 9 score involvements so his influence wasn't limited to his 2 goals.

I must admit I didn't mind trying Polson in the new role.     Reading the reports his disposal looks to have improved.

He did have 246 meters gained which is not huge, but when you consider he only had 8 touches at 30.75metres per touches that was the highest for any Carlton player.   Just need to get the ball a little more, which in turn might free up SPS to play a more natural role.

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2020/08/31/have-carltons-top-young-draft-picks-actually-improved/

Cornes is a flog but it's a pretty valid point. Go back as far as the draft of 2015 through to 2018 (LY too early to call yet)....and in those 4 years, who has really come on?

2015

Weitering - been a gun this year.
McKay - frustrates us with glimpses in patches but is also injured a lot.
Curno - ditto
Cunningham - ditto
Silvagni J - been a surprise packet for mine for such a late pick.

2016

SPS- again, glimpses in patches but hasn't come on.
Fisher - been good and looks like he can make it.
Macreadie - barely played with injuries and form.
Polson - been enough said already.
Williamson - finally getting some return this year.
Kerr - gone.

2017

Dow - enough said.
O'Brien - not sure he'll make it either.
TDK - after a couple of injury plagued seasons he's looking like a great pick up and a long term future for sure.
Schumacher - gone
Garlett - gone

2018

Walsh - gun
Stocker - who knows?
O'Dwyer - speculative pick unlikely to survive the cut.
Silvagni B - same as O'Dwyer?

So for 4 years worth of draft picks and plenty of really high ones, the only successes to date look to be Weitering, Curnow (?), Fisher, Williamson (maybe), Walsh, TDK....McKay into his 5th year and needs to get better pretty quickly....