Carlton Supporters Club

Now we are trying to play an outdated Hawks gameplan which relies on keeping possession and uncontested marks.  They key now is to score through the corridor.

Some people have been bagging Graham....

The mid field, Kreuzer included, was collectively terrible after quarter time. Kreuzer simply stopped playing the ball and was too focused on big Sandi.... the set ups were terrible given Sandi was having a party in there.

Next time we play Freo, I'd play Korchek if we can....Kreuzer gets overwhelmed by the size disparity.

I thought Gibbs again was putrid. Shocking, lazy disposal and he squibbed on one marking contest which would have seen a shot on goal 40 out.

Would trade him in a heart beat for a good deal.

Plenty of numbers but as s senior, highly skilled player....very, very lazy.

Graham, other than yesterday, has been entirely serviceable.

Our game plan is simply too, too slow. Gives us big stats but stops us scoring. Bolts needs to dish up better.... but that said if you can't win or even touch the ball in the centre no chance in a game....

SPS has gone missing since his break out game. Need to find a role for him in which he can get him involved or put him in the 2s to get some hand on leather time....

I thought our intensity was  way off after quarter time - it reminded me of days gone by when we would play 20 minutes of good footy then think the job was done.....

That said, injuries didn't help but at least Jones will now get a well deserved run.

Time to bring back Smedts and Palmer imo. Rest a few of the kids on a rotation.

Any wtf is happening with SoJ's kicking - looks more spooked than Levi did at his worst!

Reading that question marks around some of our kids is laughable - spuds was even used for Charlie Curnow, Fisher and Cuningham. Haha...what a joke!

These kids ARE the future. They need the AFL body, maturity and development so give them some time and space for crying out loud!

We have plenty of spuds on our list, and these boys mentioned among other good kids, are not them!

Once Lyon woke up and figured out he needed to stop our "everything old is new again" short kicking style, the tide was always going to turn. Obviously other factors (e.g injury) were at play.

I'll be curious to see what happens in coming weeks when opposition teams adopt the same tactics. That style of play requires almost innate understanding between team mates, very precise skills, and good speed over the first 10-20 m to get some separation from your opponent. Once the other team figures out we play this way, they will always go man on man.

Umpiring cost us.  They were cheating.  We still have some spuds:

Nick graham.  Awful.
Charlie Curnow- Big question mark
Cunningham- no.
Not sure about zac fisher either.

Gibbs. 34 touches, 6 tackles, had no effect on game.

Stupid game plan of keepings off.  Yes it limits thrashings but we can't score.

Disappointing effort.

Too add to that, it also appears that it works quite well when moving the ball from defence thru to the centre of the ground, but we really struggled after quarter time to move the ball forward of centre. Opposition sides have plenty of time to man up and flood back, so finding a target is almost impossible. So we bomb it in, and the opposition [Johnson yesterday] just take intercept marks.

You still need fast link players who can carry the ball through the midfield to put the backmen out of position and make this plan work, otherwise we will continue to score 10 goals at best per week like we have for 3 years and we will win 5-6 games at best. We are struggling to fill these roles at the moment, as the kids don't have the tank to play that role consistently.

I am optimistic about the ability of the last 2 draft crops, but until we can turn at least one into a genuine, consistent goal kicking forward threat, and we trade in at least 1 established forward, we will keep bouncing along the bottom like we have for 3.5 years.

Yes, Nick Riewoldt was a guest commentator on one of the televised games this weekend, and mentioned that all teams these days are spending lots of time at training practicing the fast break, chain-of-handballs from a stoppage / congested area. I would assume because players are so fit and well drilled these days that catching them off guard or on the fast break gives the best chance of scoring.

Every game plan / style has its strengths and weaknesses, and with the right players and right coaching, they can all be made to work and be successful. Every team needs to be able to play a few different ways, and needs to be able to change things up to suit the circumstances.

Whatever "educational" motivation might be behind Bolton's ideas, my concern is that he coaches this way because that's what he feels comfortable with and that's what he learned from Clarko, and that it's not the best way going forward. I hope I'm wrong, but I do get worried sometimes that we will be left behind.

It's really hard to make too many judgements on individuals in that game.
The TV filters out the actual extreme nature of the weather and what looks like a  lot of rain can be torrential. Add to that the wind which seemed to be all over the place. (Someone who was at the  game could give us a better idea)
Sure both sides had to cope with it... but mature bodies probably can cope a bit better, especially when we were down two men in the rotations and others coming off at regular intervals with niggles.

We dominated them early and were still a chance well into the last quarter...although it was kind of obvious we were just hanging on.
The effort seemed to still be there. It just became too much to resist

It was an Odd day indeed. It started sunny then at various times it Bucketed down, seriously heavy, before stopping again and the wind drying the conditions out quickly. This cycle happened 3-4 times throughout the day and by the end, early in the last term, there was actual thunder and lightning.

I was undercover, but the flags at the ground, were flying opposite to the End we were kicking to in the first term. We were essentially into the wind. Bascially Daisy's goal, it was blowing directly into his face.
You could see at ground level, the ball would hold up in the air, and the shots at goal we took on 50 never looked like making the distance. You could also tell, McCarthy and Walters kicked long goals from the other side of the ground, outside 50 easily.

It was very odd the end into the wind was the scoring end for the majority of the day, except in the third where Dockers took control. They certainly read the ball better off the boot, and Johnson had a filed day, reading the drop of the ball. Levi doesnt work hard enough and our forward setup is awful. Charlie, Levi, Jack all standing in the square waiting for a long bomb... dumb.

It may be what he's used to Paul but I don't think we need worry.

I reckon that long term we will be a kicking and carrying side and we're just waiting for some better ball users .

Right now it's a brand that helps us get used to our long term plan and reduces the possibility of smashings.

Honestly, I reckon we'd have gone close to winning without the rain coming so heavily.

There's still enormous amounts of work to do, and lots of decisions that need we need to get right. And some luck, and the umps, and.............