Carlton Supporters Club

To digress a tad, walked into a cafe in inner Melbourne early this morning with my 5 yo lad who was staunchly carrying his recently acquired 2018 AFL footy cards album....

The barrista, a nice young guy, asked the kid which team he followed.

Not realising how shy my kid is (who had not answered due to shyness and turned away), the bloke said oh no, it's not that bad is it?

Then as he finished making the coffee seconds later, followed up with "it's Carlton".

Not even a question, but a statement of fact.

I'm getting really sick of that.

And I have started to question Bolton quite frankly, not the process - the journey - or even Bolton's ability or willingness to "educate",

Granted injuries don't help, but some selections and match days moves (or lack of) this season don't sit well with me.

In my eyes, he has till this stage next season to be fully judged.

Ex teacher? So f',n what really, can he Coach?! The jury is very much out on that score....

This is where the media bias against CFC comes in and like I said in another thread, people that don’t really follow footy gear the media bs and it’s just their go to, saying crap about Carlton.

I’m onboard the Bolton train - I did falter and maybe he does need some match day help BUT he is not arrogant like MM was and I think takes onboard abt and all advice given.  We have lost two of our best in Doch and Gibbs when we couldn’t afford to lose abt Be mid tier let alone top tier.

I can personally see the future in a lot of our players so to people like the barista I would just say don’t worry about Carlton, we’ll be right!

Agree Micky, obviously frustrating our distinct lack of success and bottoming out. Was saying to a few mates yesterday we just have to keep going a no turning back now.

On Bolton’s lack of game day moves, is it possible he wants a player to learn his role and from time to time that means they will get beaten on the day? I.e his lack of moves on game day are pre meditated

Bolton is unproven as a tactical coach especially in the heat of the game, while I agree there is the issue of development vs winning I think he struggles to pick up the flow of games and has trouble working our matchups and what other teams are doing. We have had some very odd selections v some teams and he seems thrown when another coach pulls a shock move like a midfielder to full forward. I know he has limited resources to work with but when you see key opposition players  unmanned  and allowed to run around freely you have to wonder what he is doing. I'm waiting for the Brisbane game where there are some obvious players that need manning up tightly, its a game we can win but not if the likes of Zorko and Beams are allowed to run around on their own which is what usually happens....

And what would a coffee maker know about footy?

A question, we are on the bottom of the ladder, with little to gain from playing injured players.

Yet we sent Cripps out there not fully fit!

WTF is our club thinking, it says it plans and is implementing long term strategies yet that is clearly a short term decision! No wonder our fans are confused and disgruntled!

Sames goes for Kreuzer, I watched him last night and he clearly isn't fully fit but he's a warrior.

Anyway, they have a couple of weeks off now, so they have time to get sorted, but they could also have had three weeks off and hit the last part of the season in fine fettle!

The Gold Coast game flies in the face of that somewhat.

His tactics can be unusual, but I actually think its a matter of trying something that isn't working, rather than not doing something to counter it, as he does make in game changes which seem to be ineffective because of various factors, which usually have to do with robbing peter to pay paul.

The absence of Docherty and Marchbank i think are weighing heavily on our ability to make bonafide changes to how we play, as is the absence of Matt Kennedy.

The reinvention of Jones as a key defender, and JSOS to the midfield have worked well, and Ive seen Matt Wright pushing into midfield more of late through a lack of other options.

I think his lack of matchup in your instances of Beams and Zorko has more to do with him stating that we want to win rather than not get smashed.

At the moment we are choosing between those two options.

Friday night showed that no Cripps at full flight is no great drama which is a big tick to Bolton.

That’s pretty much how I see it Paul.

Of course, Bolts showed his hand as a tactician and match day coach when he had good sides in Hawthorn and Box Hill.

Wrong fella David.

Absolutely.

If you want to teach someone how to do something the best way is via repetition.


Do it again and again and again until they know it and learn it.

So if true, all Bolton is teaching blokes is how to lose.....and i think we're getting pretty darn good at it!