The way Leigh Matthews used to get his side cheery ripe for finals and dominate despite never finishing top. 2001 - 2004 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 2nd - Flag, flag, flag, runners up.
Managed two rucks through those seasons to perfection, the media bashed Matthews for bringing Keating in(cold) late in the season, in retrospect it was a master stroke. Recall many in the media thought Keating was cooked and should have retired.
It's basically where Chris Scott learned the Dad's Army system of senior player management.
....and he has also stated that he has a soft spot for Carlton during the same time frame.
Hmm, maybe, but in particular I'm not so sure the comments in the heat of the moment aren't genuine.
As for having a "soft spot for Carlton", I'll assert it's his and the AFL's purse that has Carlton giving them a thrill, they love the crowds bringing in the dollars!
It's the very same motivation for McGuire, they want us in the race for as long as possible as long as we fall on the last hurdle, Carlton actually winning the race is their nightmare, but maybe not the AFLs!
Last week was similar until mid-way through the 3rd qtr where every changed once we were 20pts down. Pressure rating went from the 150s straight to 240 and stayed there changing the game. Maybe we thought we could get away with it again and didn't.
I followed the pressure ratings the last 2 weeks and it rose massively once we fell behind. Once we raised it both GWS and Geelong had issues with it. Yesterday, not long enough.
I hinted a week or two ago that this sort of loss was coming, we can't keep living on the edge and escaping with close wins, we have to find ways to lock down on opponents and have easier wins or we'll be cooked before the finals.
At times last year we got off to flying starts then faded, this year we are slow out of the blocks but finishing strongly, we need to find a balance. I'd say last year's late season game style was less punishing than this years game style, but we should be better at controlling the footy this year so if we get off to the better start it would be harder for opponents to close the gap.
Dunstall only gives us a raw deal when we don't try. He used to barrack for the blues and very much has a soft spot for us now. If he is critical, you can guarantee we are on here as well. He actually loves the club.
Dunstall publicly stated on one of the footy shows, just last season or the season before, that despite following the Blues as a kid he now hates Carlton.
Even so, love or hate us, his comments about the rub of the umpiring can't be challenged because it's just too obvious. It was so obvious it must be almost embarrassing to some AFL officials.
Like or loath that stuff, opposition club's can't allow it to continue, they have to find a way to bring the Handbagger tactics into focus.
Coaches votes will be interesting, outside of Cameron I suspect we had 3 of the best 5 on the ground, but I gather from his post game demeanour Voss won't see it that way!
Or be clever. Charlie calls "iso" and we kick it to Harry.
Yes, the Handbagger ball use and decision making made us look D-Grade, they picked the open target 9 out of 10 times, and we went to blokes who were outnumbered 3:1.
Having watched the replay this morning, even the commentators were astounded by how much the Handbagger Dad's Army get away with, even Dunstall who normally thinks us getting a raw deal is good was inspired to something, before trying to explain it way with an excuse of being kind to the Handbaggers.
Nothing in any proposed rule changes can stop the asymmetry, the problem is not a rule the problem, it's that some teams basically badger and batter officials until things fall their way.
A great example is happening today, rather than the AFL media focussing on Handbaggers continually infringing off the ball, the Handbagger mafia is at play beating up a storm about Williams staging for a free? The AFL media has largely ignored the act of holding 20m off the footy, it's a smokescreen by the Handbaggers, who are desperate to escape a focus on their off the ball activities.
Another great example came from yesterday, Cripps continually gets coated hangered by opponents and while he get's some frees he probably deserves twice as many. He hunts the footy, puts his head over the ball and get's grabbed over the shoulder, the blokes 195cm, most have to reach up to grab his shoulders! It's bizarre in an ear in which the head is supposed to be protected.
Fans forget, when the Handbaggers do the fast break, it leaves opponents loose all over the ground, if the opposition force a turnover they are left vulnerable, so they get away with it by nefarious off the ball tactics that stop opponents finding or closing space.
We have more AFL umpires out on the ground than every before, how can it be they don't see the illegal holds and shepherds that allow the Handbagger Dad's Army to remain competitive? Those illegal checks and grabs, basically keep opponents close enough for the Dad's Army to impose pressure and slow the transition if they lose the footy. They also stop our own defence closing space when you turn it over yourself. Some fans have bought into it, but the reality is by the time Williams extricates himself from the arm drag it's too late, he's been illegally stopped / delayed and the opposition have 10m of clear space, so he has no choice and it didn't just happen once or just to Williams.
In hindsight, we might have been better off having Charlie run with Cameron for a one on one all over the ground and force Cameron to go with him. Weiters has Hawkins covered, Charlie is a good match size and aerobically for Cameron.
We still have BigH, TDK and Cripps to push into F50, but stop Hawkins and Cameron and the Handbaggers look much more limited for options. I don't know how many of the Handbagger scores started with a Cameron involvement from somewhere outside the arc, but I'd assert it was plenty.
The likes of Carrol and Durdin offer no pressure which makes it harder for Acres, Cottrell and Hollands to give chase. Which makes it hard for Williams, Kemp and Cowan to defend.
I suppose injuries are forcing our hand, but I still don't understand subbing Owies and keeping Durdin, Carroll and adding Binns.
We are missing Fogarty, and probably Cunningham as well, but rather than sub Owies I'd have subbed Durdin or Carroll and sent Owies further up the field. Unless of course there are reasons, maybe Owies is not 100% fit. Early this season and last season, it was Owies you'd find on the last line body on body with an opponent.
Even so, I don't understand the change from the GWS to the Handbaggers game, maybe the GWS game took more out of our lot than we realise.
Cowan's first couple of games back weren't too bad, but he turned it into a hot potato a lot, Cincotta is a bit unlucky.
I don't understand Young.
But then again I don't understand a skied ball inside F50 and all our forwards crowding around the fall of the ball 35m out and watching it bounce.
Why can the likes of Tuohy or Guthrie take the footy run 2 or 3 steps, be tackled and then just hold onto to it unpenalised, but Hewett or Acres does that and it's holding the ball?
Watching the replay is infuriating, all those little moments go against us, we probably missed out at least 5 or 6 free kicks in and around our HFF in just a half of footy, incidents where the Handbaggers just held onto the footy after trying to break a tackle, dropped it cold, or just threw it away. Our tacklers were not rewarded at all!
Thank the gods for Crippa, Pitto, Walsh, Weiters, Acres, Chugga and H.
In hindsight the MC probably made the wrong call benching Owies and keeping Durdin on, Owies problem wasn't that he wasn't leading to the right spaces, but that we didn't kick to his advantage, much the same for Charlie and BigH.
Too many times we had smalls, mediums free inside F50, even Kennedy and Cripps, and yet we kicked it on the head of Charlie or BigH. Our blokes are 30m away in space and nobody at the crumb. That is bad decision making / bad vision by the kicker, not the fault of the forwards.
Kennedy's best game this season, gets better as each week passes, also Acres best so far this season, might get them both kick started for 2024. TDK had a good game as well.
Imagine if Dangflog wasn't permitted to dive on the pill and take out opponents legs without penalty? Go back and watch the replay, twice you'll see him grab the boots of Carlton players without getting close to the footy, he gets a free pass for flopping like a squid out of water.
Hard to believe some wanted no BigH in the 22 at seasons start, hard to imagine us being competitive without him!
We wasted opportunities, but when you get non-decisions with such a bias in the impact of umpiring decisions, it's hard to win, it's like you are battling two opponents all the time.
Dangerflog basically throws himself at opponents legs unpenalised, diving head first hitting blokes below the knees and claiming high contact. Sure he didn't get a free, but he must have tripped or grab the legs of our blokes at least 5 or 6 times, and he basically did his best to use his body to take out our midfield's legs. He ended Judd's career by tunnelling, and he's happy to take others out, opponents needs to start putting some knees in the way of his head!
The umpiring screwed us over on advantage multiple times, sure we wasted footy, but I've not seen a half of footy like the first where the game was so closely contested yet the umpiring was so influential in the outcome.
We were dominant in the midfield, then the Handbaggers were basically permitted to tackle blokes before the ball arrived. Cripps got 3 frees, he should have had 10 or more, it was bullcrap! Then after missing 2 or 3 crucial frees, they give up a nothing evener on the HBF.
While Henry gets 2 of his 3 goals through blatant non-decision push outs by himself and a team-mate.
How do Stanley and Blicavs get to wrap arms around Pitto and TDK, yet be rewarded frees kicks for our blokes holding?
There should be a bunch of blokes apologising to Cripps tonight, he led them into battle and they folded like crepe paper.
Stewart is Geelong’s most important player and they can’t cover his loss. That has repercussions for them all over the ground.
It depends on the innovation of the Handbagger MC.
It's a fatal mistake to assume a team is crippled by the absence of a single player, many of our own fans said as much about us in the early season absence of Weiters.
A forced change like Stewart going out can cause an MC to become inventive, inventive potentially means a new tactic that opponents have not seen before, and that can be deadly for the opponent if they go into a game unprepared to adapt.
Always respect opponents, and be prepared to adapt.
