Carlton Supporters Club

Losing (well,  greatly reduced effectiveness)  Astbury destroyed their defensive structure so prance couldn't play purely as a loose intercept tall.

Their midfield was swamped,  a fit Dusty wouldn't have made any difference and Cotchin didn't pick up the slack.

Comprehensively beaten IMO.

a fit Dusty wouldn't have made any difference ......

Collingwood could have done with one vs WC..once Kennedy and Darling exerted their influence it was game over....
Melbourne have recognized their weakness having skinny kids down back and recruited May...

Its not about winning premierships at the minute either...we need to win games, having a undersized defense wont help....

Yet, I don't think that's what cost them.

Their mids stopped getting first use, and once Grundy was negated, they were out of the game.

So where does that leave the one ruckmen strategy?

The Drafts have been run and won. Our list is more or less fixed until this time next year. So, how did we go?

Update #10   24/11/2018 Last Update for 2018
Senior List:
SOS continues to demonstrate just how much better he is at this caper than our previous List Managers/ Recruiters. His bold machinations earned up an extra pick in the strongest draft for years.

2018 List:   40 players Present AFL Maximum

Confirmed Delistings:
[1]   Aaron Mullett – contract not renewed
[2]   Cam O’Shea – contract not renewed.
[3]    Matthew Wright - he retired and is now heading to Adelaide as an assistant coach.
[4]   Ciaran Byrne – our biggest loss, in my humble opinion. Nichevo.   
[5]   Sam Kerridge – Captain Coach of White Hills.
[6]   Nick Graham – Delisted
[7]   Jed Lamb –Didn't make the rookie list
[8]   Sam Rowe – delisted after 99 games. The biggest surprise.

8 changes to the senior list.



Confirmed Additions:
4 deals finalized, in one of the busiest trade periods ever.
[1]   Alex Fasolo:   Confirmed FA
[2]   Mitch McGovern:   Confirmed trade with Adelaide
[3]   Will Setterfield:   Confirmed trade with GWS.
[4]   Nic Newman:   Trade confirmed just yesterday, near 2000 hours.

National Draft Selections:
[1]   Sam Walsh – pick #1 and deserved to be so. had statistically the best U18 year in history.
[2]   Liam Stocker – Pick #19. The winner of the Morrish medal.
[3]   Finbar O'Dwyer – The roughy of the draft. Pick #66 and a school mate of Ben Silvagni.
[4]   Ben Silvagni – pick #70. F/S Big weight on his shoulders.

With 8 guys gone from the senior list, we picked up 8 players, 6 of whom will probably play early in 2019.

Rookie List:
Rookie players are able to play senior footy pretty much straight away, and conditions continue to change. However, the rookie list will remain in 2019.

Confirmed Departures:
[1]   Matt Shaw – not offered a new contract
[2]   Jesse Glass-McCasker – not offered a new contract
[3]   Alex Silvagni – Retired. I haven't heard anything of his intentions for 2019 yet.

Confirmed Additions:
[1]   Hugh Goddard – In to replace Rowe. Something of a surprise.
[2]   Tom Bugg – Defensive forward?

We have 1 rookie space left if we decide to recruit someone mid-season.

How Le Bois survived is something I do not comprehend. But that is another tale.

Cat B Rookies:
Confirmed Departures:
[1]   Cillian McDaid Retired and will not be returning from Ireland.

Confirmed Additions:
[1]   Matthew Owies – 21 year old former basketballer with excellent pace.

Collingwood signed 2 Cat B rookies, both from Ireland. I didn't think this was allowed. As such I don't like it at all. We can sign more players as Cat B rookies, especially as we have no Irishman at the moment in that spot.
I do know that we were looking at some of the Irish guys, but I have no idea how we went. I am assuming no more Cat B rookies unless some good news appears soon.

Conclusions:
We have made 12 list changes again this year. That is quite amazing. However, many other clubs have done the same or more this year. We have 11 inclusions at this point, with 1 rookie spot available for the mid-year draft.

Its amazing.  I seem to recall sos stating that we'd make less changes this year yet somehow we went just as hard as before.

Indeed. And a number of other clubs mocking us for making that many changes. However, we are not the most changes at all!
Maybe this is the changing face of footy, or merely the reaction to a strong draft cohort ...

@ Crash
Re 12 list changes, I would think 3 (Silvagni retirement, Byrne and McDaid going home) were very unexpected. Bolts I think mentioned during the year, I think, that they were looking at single digit list changes, these 3 forced a few extras.

Wright took the Crows deal to coach as there was nothing on offer from us...he was looking after his young family and needed the security....