Carlton Supporters Club

Footy smarts beat leg 'speed' every day of the week.

Blokes like Betts, Martin, Doc and SPS have that in spades.

Doc isnt a glass man.  He has had all of 2 knee reconstructions in 2 years and before that was in the team pretty much every week.

I rate most of these guys.  Its really hard to put them in our best 22 when the caveat states "when fit".  Someone like Kreuzer is 30 years old and has stayed fit for about half a year every year since he first started breaking down.  That means that he is only best 22 when fit, and most of the time isnt in our best 22.

I don't think its just me that prefers plow. As mentioned, he came 3rd in the B+F. Coaches love him too.

I already said Marchbank will need to earn his stripes, so take out Marchy and put in Plowman.

Back 6...
Plowman Weitering Docherty
Simpson Jones Newman

With other options....
Newnes, Martin, SPS taking the wings and a bench spot, but all capable of playing half back if required

In one on one I agree, but collectively you have to get the ball first and hit clean targets with it.

If we took that slow team into a game against Nthmond or the Filth we'd barely touch the pill for four quarters! They only need to remain disciplined to create an overlap and make use of one weak link. The script would be pretty simple;

 - No center clearance opposition score.

 - Carlton center clearance, miss target, no defensive pressure/run, opposition score.

 - Opposition clear, opposition score.

The balance of power is not a 50/50 split.

The problem becomes critical when you are both slowish and not efficient by hand and foot, it's the difference between Sam Mitchell and Tom Mitchell, and why many think Tom is way over-rated.

Winning the ball and dishing it of are more about speed of mind than speed of foot.

So, i disagree again. 

Kreuzer averages just under 17 games per season, and that’s skewed by his one game in 2014. I’d say he is remarkably durable for his role, workload and injury history.  Remember that he missed only one game in 2016 and 2017.

Doc had a history of hip and knee issues before he joined us; one of the reasons he missed a lot of footy early in his career.

Pressure acts are far more important than fans appreciate, errors come from applied(forced rushed disposals) and inferred pressure(the fear of causing a turnover).

If a team is physically slow;

 - It lacks ability to apply pressure, ultimately leading to it's opponent having improved efficiency.

 - Additional pressure is present during disposal.

 - Recovering from mistakes is harder relative to the opposition.

AFL clubs have to get the balance right or the game is lost at the selection table, a bias is created.

I generally agree. Too many folks use Diesel and Sam Mitchell as examples, but they are once in a generation players. The average tortoise doesn't have the ability / skill / footy brain to get away with lack of pace like those blokes.

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Fans expecting to rest of our plodders to make up for their lack of pure speed by playing like Lethal seems a tad unreasonable! I think this aspect of making us competitive is Teague's biggest test.

Yes there is good.

Then there are blokes like Leigh Matthews, Gary Ablett Snr, Greg Williams and Sam Mitchell, a different ruler is needed to measure their performance!

Can Cripps get there, it doesn't seem impossible?

Fans expecting to rest of our plodders to make up for their lack of pure speed by playing like Lethal seems a tad unreasonable! I think this aspect of making us competitive is Teague's biggest test.

No use being quick if you cant get the ball, Tom Mitchell isnt overated at all IMO, he won a brownlow and dumb coaches like Bolton let him run around on his own and get 45 possies a game and 3 brownlow votes. No 1 skill in football is to be able to win the ball, you need to be able to win contested footy on a consistent basis, if you dont have enough of those contested players you can have all the pace you like but you wont win games.

eg Essendon are quick and play pretty outside running football and have played that style for years but are carp.....we saw the Bulldogs come from nowhere to win a flag by forcing contests/gang tackling and making the game ugly.