I accept the club quite obviously felt differently, but to me, that means that the club does get to be beaten around this year and there are absolutely no excuses for the club to not be taking definable steps forward from 2016. Rebuilding your list from the ground and getting beaten up is acceptable. Trying to be a competitive AFL team and getting beaten up is not.
You may remember that i was in favour of your 'radical plan'.
However, because the club failed to follow said plan, doesn't automatically mean that you can assume it was their own doing. It takes 2 to tango. You may also remember that despite being in favour of your 'radical plan', i suggested that it was unlikely to happen.....at least to that extent. Reason being - It takes 2 to tango.
Simply, nobody was really buying what we were selling. We did well to cash in with what we had.
So for that reason, i don't think the club deserves to be blasted if we don't rise up the ladder as your suggested expectations predict.
I'll ask the question - if Weitering plays forward this year (and beyond) what happens to Charlie Curnow?
Can we have a forward line of Casboult, Weitering and Curnow in 2017 and expect results? Big ask of a couple of 19-20 olds but I guess pressure makes diamonds.
Easy fixed.
Get rid of casboult.
He is not the future. Weitering and Curnowfides are.
I think most folk are very aware of the poor finish to last year when they speak of improvement this year. But we look back to some of the early games and see the effort was there. Is it not reasonable to expect that rather than dropping off this season that effort can be sustained a little longer. Is it not reasonable to believe that our forward line will improve on last year's dismal efforts. Is it not reasonable to believe that our players further down the field can provide our forwards with more scoring opportunities.
The big barrier to our ladder and win/loss improvement will be if the teams below us improve at a faster rate and not enough sides drop off.
Possible? Yes. Reasonable? Maybe.
You can look back to early games whenever we've had a coaching change in the past and seen the effort was there. Then there is always/eventually a drop off in effort and then the coach is sacked. Now i'm not expected our coach to be sacked. But it doesn't necessarily follow that we will automatically get better this year.
Of course from our JLT matches, others around us are clearly ahead of us in the early stages.
Dude, everybody thinks they see it for what it is, not just you.
Cmon man, focus.
I'm saying you interpreting MY posts is based on your views. I know the intention behind them because they are MY posts. If you misunderstand them then that is on you. Ala your Ratten comments before.
The confusion arises because you've been far too strident and vehement in your pro Mick comments - you need to be more balanced, like me.
Last time.
'Pro mick' or 'anti-others'?
Your take on that depends on your point of view. MBB understands a lot of what i say because he sees it for what it is. Not so much pro-mick, but a lot of $h!t everywhere else.
Tend to agree and sarcasm made me say ex Blue Josh Kennedy previously but of our listed players I'd say Jack Silvagni is our best bet as he can kick straight......
For the same logic and something left field. Sam Rowe.
Well, thank you for clarifying that. I can honestly say I never would have got that impression from reading your posts.
The impression that you get is often based on your own opinions and expectations.
Ask anyone who has been around this site long enough and they will know my distaste for Pagan. Doubt anyone would say the same about Ratten. Most people opinions are incorrect when it comes to my feelings on Malthouse too.
Point is. Don't assume. Ask.
FWIW, Bolton has been nothing but encouraging so far. I'm backing him in for the long haul. I am not surprised by the (lack of) performance of the team thus far in the JLT series and am in no way calling for his head. I am slightly disappointed with the (lack of) effort that has been put in thus far, but in all honesty, it isn't all that different from the tail end of last season. The same part of the season that most people seem to ignore when talking about expectations for this year.
Having said that, Bolton still has a few hoops to jump through and is still largely unproven.
We'll see how different the regular season is compared to practice matches and it'll give a bit of an insight into what to expect.
We still have much work to do on our list IMO before we see significant ladder position improvement, although our performance in R1 may be cause to change that assessment (hopefully). Looking at our current "senior" players, I would think most of those will have gone and new stars will need to emerge, by whatever means, before we become a really competitive force.
Hopefully I'm proved wrong.
Whatever happens in Richmond in R1 we not be a good yard stick. They are as up and down as us. R2 maybe.
Although very disappointed in the last 3 results, it is a point to consider that we are thinking the practise games this year had the same value as previous pre seasons games when there actually was some thing to win? And that this year the club has actually treated them as practise games ?
Whichever way you slice it, nobody goes out to lose these games.
We've lost games against 9th, 10th and 16th from last season (we were 14th) and all of those sides are expected to improve....as is Bombers with their new players back who finished 18th.
OK, so one round to go and it seems there is an ever so slight hope that we can still make the finals.
Courtesy of the Dees beating the crows yesterday.
We currently sit 4th @ 3-3. Crows+Dees are 2nd+3rd @4-2
We need to beat the lions and we need the crows to lose against colingwood we need the dees to lose against freo.
Then it will be a 3-way tie on 4-3, which will come down to %.
We are already ahead of Dees, so we just need to focus on the crows. We basically need a 10 goal difference between us to make up the %. They lose by 1 point, we win by 10 goals they lose by 5 goals, we win by 5 goals. They lose by 10 goals, we win by a point. etc
So...if Adelaide win, they are in. If Adelaide lose, and melbourne win, melbourne are in. If Adelaide lose and melbourne lose and carlton win....and (Adelaides losing margin + Carltons winning margin) > 10 goals, Carlton are in.
Clear as mud?
IF we do get through, we would be forced to go back to back games against the team we just beat to make the finals, Brisbane Lions, except the final would be at their ground (i believe).
In any event, lets just win and finish with a winning record for the year.
The club has a number of issues - this much we can agree on. Malthouse was, IMO, absolutely was one of those issues. I don't believe Ratts was.
My impression, reading your posts over many years, is that you held Ratts directly accountable for the bad culture that you keep referring to, and that you believed Mick would be instrumental in fixing this "bad" culture. This is what my memory remembers - if that's not right, well then I apologize.
The bold part is right.
I wanted Mick to fix the culture and thought he had enough 'c*nt' about him to force change up and down the hierarchy at the club and enough runs on the board to have the respect required. This was on the back of the rookie coach favourite son who simply didn't have the experience. We were still in "we are carlton f*ck the rest" mode and we needed a culture shock.
I never blamed ratten for the culture. Denis Pagan however......
As i said, i was a fan of Ratten. He did wonders from where he got the club. His only issue was inexperience in both coaching/tactics and inexperience in setting up a club for long term success (partially not his problem, but could have helped).
Ratten as our coach now would be better than Ratten as our coach back then.
The messenger in this instance was more than happy to see the back of Ratts, because the messenger believed that the decision made by those in charge was correct.
It wasn't.
According to who?
I doubt you were even around on the site at the time. Even if you were, your memory is failing you.
I'll have you know i was backing Ratten in up until the week he got sacked. The only reason i believed he would/should get sacked at that time was because the external pressure on him was so great that the club could not afford NOT to sack him.
Funnily enough, it was the same with Mick. External pressure got to explosive stage where the club didn't have a choice. It was untenable in both instances.
I've gone in to bat for Mick on many occasion as you'd know. Is that because i'm 'pro Mick' or is that because i'm anti-everyone else? The club has failed us on numerous occasions in numerous departments, both off-field and on. As you might recall my recent Membership stuff-up rant.
I've had issues with the membership department. I've had issues with the development of players. I've had issues with the recruiting of the club (however, i've defended it to point out other areas of the club that are lacking - eg development) I've had issues with club culture. I've had issues with the board and overall direction of the club.
So yes, i've defended Mick as not being that bad to highlight issues throughout the club. That does not mean i was pro-sacking of ratten in order to get mick.
