Carlton Supporters Club

Honestly Paul, what would Simpson know?  He's obviously not bothered to read this thread and a couple of others 

lods mentioned that the leaders may have other ideas about our team performance, and I just remember that quote from Simmo.

It's a bit of a "by the numbers" quote, and what you'd expect him to say, but I like Simmo. I reckon he is our "spiritual leader" and I like reading what he has to say, and I like watching him play.

Paul, for me he is probably our most inspirational current player in the way he approaches the game.

Honestly Paul, what would Simpson know?  He's obviously not bothered to read this thread and a couple of others 

Almost all of our Blues members and supporters will recognise that we’re a younger list again this year. We are continuing to build strong foundations and exposing our youth at an AFL level will bring some inconsistencies at times. That’s the reality of youth. But the other reality is we are developing some real and exciting talent – so we hope that as a member you’ll enjoy seeing that development throughout the season.

Find me a player at any club who would say otherwise.

FYI, here is an a quote from Trigg that he sent out today...
How do you interpret that?

To me its a clear message saying its a long road ahead with plenty of youth and thus inconsistency. Enjoy watching the development, as you may not enjoy the scoreboard.

But what would Trigg know....

But isn't that the same type of spin you're accusing the player of.... the clear message from Trigg could also be... "We need to buy a bit of time with supporters so we'll lower expectations a bit. We hope we're on the right track but really the only certainties in life are death and taxes."

In all these discussion Kruddler, it's clear you've bought into "What they're cooking!"...and that's fine.
But at the end of the day the long slow rebuild process may yield absolutely zilch.
It's all a guess and hope situation.
Guess the best path and hope for the successful outcome.

"We don't really have a real focus on anything external, we've got a real clear understanding of where we are as a club," Bolton said.

"We've taken probably the most dramatic reset in the club's history, we've turned over around 28 players. We think what comes with that is excitement because we get to see our youngsters grow and develop over the next few years to set up some sustainable success for us in future.

"We know where we're at and we're really excited about what we're doing as a footy club."

After focusing on pressure last year, Bolton was keen to build depth in the playing list in 2017 and also employ aggressive ball movement.

"We've still got a lot of work to do in that area, we're a work in progress but we're not going to shy away from trying things," he said.

"We want to have a look at how our youngsters grow and perform and give them opportunity and we're also looking for consistency – they're the main things with our footy figures."

Carlton are the underdogs in next week's season opener against Richmond but Bolton was confident of causing an upset.

"They [Richmond] have had some good form over the pre-season, they've recruited well with [Dion] Prestia, [Josh] Caddy and [Toby] Nankervis but we'll come out firing and take it up to them and see how we go," he said.

The major challenge that BB, the other coaches and the leadership group face is that of avoiding a "loser culture" being established even though we may well be facing probably losing a significant number of games this year. Like winning, losing becomes a habit if you are not careful.

Carefully chosen, achievable targets will need to be set for the team, aside from winning x number of games, in order that the players genuinely feel that progress is being made and that they are headed in the right direction. This will require great skill and insight. No doubt it will be a tough year and not one for the faint hearted.

See Bolton's comments Cookie, particularly "We want to have a look at how our youngsters grow and perform and give them opportunity and we're also looking for consistency – they're the main things with our footy figures."

Wouldn't it be great if those "footy figures" were provided to supporters!

It would indeed be interesting. 

Anyway, at least the players are aware of them and what is expected of them. I'm really looking forward to Thurs and to see where we're at, with our intensity esp.