Ready for tomorrow.
150 years......of being our b!tches.
Into the top 4....and should stay there. 3 teams could knock us out of the top 4 with a win, 2 of them have a bye and the 3rd is playing against the mighty lions.
We should finish top 4 at the end of the round.
Harry made a successful return.
Cerra a bit of a disappointment, but at least we have cover there.
Onto the Tigers next week.
wins a win
We haven't got any senior players due to return from injury in the next 3 games (with apologies to Ed who isn't likely to be considered). Pittonet may return against WCE and maybe Weitering will return soon after that. But we'll have to look to the VFL team to provide replacements in the tough games against Tigers, Freo & Saints.
It'll do. Got to 38 up and took the foot off the gas, which didn't look like it made Vossy happy...lol..
We have a rough 3 weeks ahead. Then a few rough ones to finish.
Test comes in 2 weeks when I go overseas. Last two times I've been overseas we have gone 0-6. So hope I don't jinx it...lol.
Not a %booster but 4 points are in the bank. I was a bit surprised at the lenght of time we lost momentum for. Even after Vossy's 3q spray. Lots to work on.
Scrappy.
But it was pretty wet.
...and I guess any time we beat Essendon by more than 4 goals is a good win. ;)
Bombers look pretty shattered in the rooms.
I think they may have worked themselves up for a big game with the 150 celebrations.
The loss may have meant a bit more than usual.
Scrappy.
But it was pretty wet.
...and I guess any time we beat Essendon by more than 4 goals is a good win. ;)
Agree..the thought of losing to EFC would have destroyed much of our good work this season. Felt we were reduced to their level later in the game which can happen playing lowly teams...
We should win games against WCE & the Crows to take us to 11 games. That may be enough for us to make the 8. But it would be pretty unlikely that we won't be able to scrounge at least another 2 out of the other 8 games. Missing the finals would be a shock from here.
FU essendon.
They are a rabble! Heppell does all this chest beating and jumper points before the game in front of their 'legends' and he gives nothing!! 'The Package' is a sad joke and their system is non existent. I agree with others.... wet night and we were dragged down to their standard!
I thought LoB played well. Loved his i50, shepherds, and one tough tackle in particular. I think he's finding his niche and feeling the trust of the coaches 👏
F em with a capital F. Hate them with a passion. I'm OS at the moment in the glorious heat of Greece (were are you Karroto?) and watched the match from a bar with 5 euro half pints and 5 euro gaspers.
Have to say I thought it may the 1st 4 quarter game we have played all year. Challenged, responded. I hope the scum shrivel up and die from here. Time for a nap.
Got the points but thought apart from a few bursts we pretty average footy but we got the job done which ties in with what good football teams do. They beat the lower teams even when they are not playing their best and in years gone by this is exactly the sort of game we drop. With a full team reckon we are a 10 goal better team then them.
That aside Doc is an out and out star. His story borders on unbelievable and nothing except a flag would make me happier then if this guy gets AA again this year. what an inspiration he is. The bloke never stops, runs flat out for the full 120 minutes and when you consider what this poor bloke has endured it’s simply amazing.
Certain things are bigger then footy and to think he is considered as being in the best 22 players of the comp when many wondered if he would even play again is just outrageous. Don’t forget he also had a double acl injuries.
Love that this bloke is ours and reckon I’m not the only one.
It was a very poor standard game, but a win is a win is a win, especially against the Drug Cheats.
[1] We were thrashed in the ruck and at the centre clearances, which was why we didn't win by more. Even so, our mids had strong games. Where were Essendon's? Making excuses. Merrett got a bit of the ball, but he was lazy and provided zero. Only Shiel had a match worth remembering. And this with the best service a team has got this year from a ruck pairing.
[2] Our defence looked very shaky. Durdin will have to come in next week. But we got the job done, especially on the ground in the back half.
[3] Our small forwards disappeared again after a promising start. We need to work on that.
[4] Congrats to Newman, Saad and Docherty on their great games. Really did the job.
[5] Umpiring: why do I bother looking for consistency? For that matter, downfield kicks to us seem to have disappeared. Doc was taken out early by Stringer and no free was paid. It was well after he kicked the ball.
4 points is 4 points.
Could have been a 10 goal win.
Jake stringer got away with a lot of late hits and the umpires need to get serious about stamping out plain thuggery.
Can't believe they've given dissent frees all year and let hits after the ball is kicked without a down field free kick.
Aaaah, the good old late hit after its been disposed of down field (a package special), the lingering tackle, the lie over the bloke on the ground, the "awkward" 'oh sorry mate, didn't mean that' high late spoil (perfected by Fletcher)....great ongoing contributions to the game. Yet no other club squeals about umpires worse than that mob, they are truly delusional.
Doc, Saad and Young were excellent I thought. Marchy was solid in his return. Plowman seemed to do abit of run and carry and attacked the bal quite a few times which I liked. He still struggles one on one but that probably just aint his gig. Overall I thought the defence held up ok.
Small forwards were very ordinary. Owies did a bit, Martin did about there nice things, Durdin was largely unsighted by his standards.
TDK battled manfully against two brutes, well done son, you did your utmost best given the circumstances. SOS gave a contest as usual but was on a hiding to nothing.
The midfield did the job but Vossy was clearly not happy with the engine room at 3/4 time. I thought at times they struggled to adapt to the wet and windy conditions.
Not our most polished performance but enough to get the 4 pts and rain on their parade...again. As others have said, a couple more wins and we will play finals. If we can get back the likes of Gov, Pitto and Weiters at the right time, who knows.
I rarely comment on the opposite but they are a rudderless rabble, their captain can stand in a huddle and tug at this jumper all he likes, his message ain't getting through. As for the stickers on his legs, grow up Dyson.
We should win games against WCE & the Crows to take us to 11 games. That may be enough for us to make the 8. But it would be pretty unlikely that we won't be able to scrounge at least another 2 out of the other 8 games. Missing the finals would be a shock from here.
Early indicators are 11 won't be enough, might need 13.
Early indicators are 11 won't be enough, might need 13.
Agree, 11 wins and the worst % of all the teams in the 8 won't cut it.
In 2012 North finished 8th with 14 wins.
In a game where our smalls should have done well, we fell a little short. But thanks to our persistence, we ruined the scum's night. Thanks for Saad by the way ... losers
Small forwards are underwhelming they are doing the bare minimum. Wonder if Izaak Rankine would want to play with this group. He is coming out of contract and we should have capital to snare him if he wants to join.
Crippa said after match that sometimes you have to win ugly. We did and it was, especially the 2nd half. But the 4 points went to PP, not Fart Hill.
Still plenty to work on and clean up on. Losing Cerra early was a blow but Cotters applied himself well. Will Hayes could get his first game next Thursday evening as Cerra's replacement.
At the risk of seeming shallow and petty (aren't they the legal advisers to the EFC - Shallow & Petty Lawyers?), one of the most pleasing aspects of the game and the win was the look on Sheedy's face. Especially after his efforts in the media during the week and all the pre game palava. Hird emerging a la Arnie from the smoky dugout like a Terminator hero was ...hilarious. All he needed was a cape, with an image of a giant syringe embroidered on it.
Got the points but thought apart from a few bursts we pretty average footy but we got the job done which ties in with what good football teams do. They beat the lower teams even when they are not playing their best and in years gone by this is exactly the sort of game we drop. With a full team reckon we are a 10 goal better team then them.
That aside Doc is an out and out star. His story borders on unbelievable and nothing except a flag would make me happier then if this guy gets AA again this year. what an inspiration he is. The bloke never stops, runs flat out for the full 120 minutes and when you consider what this poor bloke has endured it’s simply amazing.
Certain things are bigger then footy and to think he is considered as being in the best 22 players of the comp when many wondered if he would even play again is just outrageous. Don’t forget he also had a double acl injuries.
Love that this bloke is ours and reckon I’m not the only one.
Thought I saw Draper try and clean up Doc in a head on, just another neanderthal Bomber thug straight off the old production line is that kid.
Doc is a champ and very inspiring, he should be AA or very close...
Small forwards are underwhelming they are doing the bare minimum. Wonder if Izaak Rankine would want to play with this group. He is coming out of contract and we should have capital to snare him if he wants to join.
Thought the same thing re our small forwards. Good that Owies hit the scoreboard twice and continued his pressure stuff well, but small Durds, though he worked hard, needed more reward for effort and hurt on the defenders/scoreboard. Owies, small Durds, Fisher and Martin will need to be at their best against the Tiggers.
Whipping boy Boyd, did his job but still needs to do more. Though his delivery by foot last night was elite and very effective in piercing the opposition and setting up opportunities down field. We'll need to improve in the backline against the Tiggers, considerably... the cheats.com.au forward line is a rabble. As an aside, and right in front of the umpire, that hit on Doc by Stringer after he'd disposed of the aggot was a free down field every day of the week. Cheap stuff from Stringer, but we'd expect little else.
Small forwards are underwhelming they are doing the bare minimum. Wonder if Izaak Rankine would want to play with this group. He is coming out of contract and we should have capital to snare him if he wants to join.
Rankine will want back home to SA.....Martin started well but didn't do enough and is going to have run harder this week with Richmond having their own Saad's in Short and Baker who we can't let run free...Need more goals from Martin and creative stuff to help Owies, Durdin, Fisher...
Hird emerging a la Arnie from the smoky dugout like a Terminator hero was ...hilarious. All he needed was a cape, with an image of a giant syringe embroidered on it.
They just don’t get it. The guy did not leave the game better - to get absolution he needs to be honest and tell Everyone what happened! Until then I can’t respect him! I felt sorry for others like Rama, Scott, Lloyd to have to play second fiddle to Hird last night! Maybe a champion player but most definitely not a champion bloke! If he would just tell the truth in its entirety it would go a long way, no matter what his involvement was. But this pretend nothing happened and you’re still the best ever produced? No.
Firstly, loved it coming down the stairs at the end of the game to a rousing rendition of 'Happy Birthday dear Essendon....' - priceless!
Can understand why Voss tore into them at 3/4 time - I said to my son at the 25 minute mark of the third quarter that we had started to play 'cute' football with no real intent to crush an opponent that was pretty much done and dusted. To a certain extent, we were just lucky that the Bombers were so dysfunctional in the forward half that they couldn't kick a score to make the last quarter more nerve-wracking that it needed to be.
Mind you, if you had said to me at the start of the game that we would lose the centre clearances 8-13, and still get the 4 points - I would have taken that in a heartbeat.
All in all, a pretty important 4 points - they were bound to be pumped up and they always find an extra 10% against us.
3 important points :
In Weitering's absence, Lewis Young did a great job - he always looks pretty assured, good hands, and is a fantastic kick. Several times I saw him zone off Wright to impact the ball which was heading to another contest. This guy reads the game extremely well, he has the potential to be a Jakovich/Rance/McGovern CHB for many years in Navy Blue
We lost the 'tackles inside 50' count 18 to 7 - Owies/Martin/Durdin/Fisher need to work harder to stop it from getting out. Will definitely need more pressure against Rich/Freo/StK over the next 3 weeks.
Just need a bit more refining work on the Harry/Charlie combo, so they are not flying for marks against each other. They looked particularly potent when one was grabbing marks at half forward and then kicking to the other 50 metres downfield.
In Weitering's absence, Lewis Young did a great job - he always looks pretty assured, good hands, and is a fantastic kick. Several times I saw him zone off Wright to impact the ball which was heading to another contest. This guy reads the game extremely well, he has the potential to be a Jakovich/Rance/McGovern CHB for many years in Navy Blue
He’s also much taller than those 3. I can see him being a 10 year player if the injury gods smile on him. Liam Jones’ implosion was a net negative for us this year but on the positive side it helped to accelerate Young’s arrival as a key position defender.
3rd round pick what a steal this trade was.
Like most weeks, positives and negatives.
But the weekend looks rosier when you wake up after beating those pr#cks....especially after ruining their celebrations.
Quite a few highlights for me but none better than the tackle on Stringer late in the game where he tried the fend off and got caught holding the ball....all it needed was for the tackler to push his head into the soggy turf and really rub it in.
I took a step back this morning and just looked at it.....9-3! Not in our wildest dreams could we have predicted that and with a bit of luck with the Silvagni snap against the Pies, it could be 10-2.
When you take into consideration the players who've missed multiple games this season through injury etc.....Pittonet, Marchbank, Williams, Walsh, McGovern, McDonald, Martin, McKay. Then players who've missed a week here and there.....Cerra, Cripps, Weitering (now out for an extended period), Hewett, Kennedy and probably one or two more that I've missed.
As others have mentioned, we just need to keep winning enough games to get into the 8 and maybe sneak a top 4 spot with a bit of luck and hopefully in the last 3-4 weeks leading into finals we can see a team list which includes Weitering, Pittonet, Williams, McGovern, Cerra etc. It'll be a nice problem to have squeezing them all in.
On a side note, wonderful to see Marchbank back out there and he could really be something down back for us if his body can hold up. He looked a bit rusty of course but he'll only get better. Young looks more composed as each week goes by and with Weitering down back, we have the hallmarks of a really strong defensive unit for years to come.
Loved hearing Bombers fans boo Saad every time he got it and ran off with it. Some of his precision kicking is just elite.
We now know why Sheedy came out of nowhere with that cringeworthy claim that the AFL had done the dirty on those poor innocent drug cheats. He gave the marching orders to the credulous cretins that they needed to embrace the return of Golden Boy during the big reveal as an act of defiance against the rest of the football world. As us Carlton supporters know all too well, acts of defiance don’t help much when you have a crap team. Let’s hope they continue to miss the point.
Loved hearing Bombers fans boo Saad every time he got it and ran off with it. Some of his precision kicking is just elite.
A couple of boos in the first quarter may have been OK, but why continue to boo a bloke that's giving your players a football lesson? Morons!
A couple of boos in the first quarter may have been OK, but why continue to boo a bloke that's giving your players a football lesson? Morons!
Wear those boos as a badge of honor and keep on playing good footy is all Saad had to do....got caught once but played a fine game otherwise. Handled Roaming Brian well and his dopey mate Richo too who struggled to find one decent question between them....commentary on Ch7 was horrendous as usual and the disappointment in the game being over early for the pro Essendon commentary team really made viewing more worthwhile.
Mav, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Sheedy is working behind the scenes in a way to see that Hird comes back to coach them if Rutten is given the flick at some point. They continue to blame everyone else for that saga, except themselves. I still remember that press conference right back at the start where Hird sat front and centre and declared that "as coach, ultimate responsibility rests with him"....and then proceeded to deny any responsibility or knowledge of what was going on.
Yep, that’s a real possibility. The AFL has shot itself in the foot by saying there’s no issue with Hird assisting McVeigh. That makes it hard for them to block his return to Essendon. We can count on Caro to express disgust but there are plenty of pro-Essendon media people who will champion his cause. I hope there will be some courageous journos who are willing to interrogate Hird at press conferences about what steps he’ll take to ensure there’ll be no unsupervised injection programs again on his watch. And they’d have to be courageous as Essendon wouldn’t install Hird without first compiling Bevo-style dirt files on them and mounting influence campaigns to keep them in line.
A couple of boos in the first quarter may have been OK, but why continue to boo a bloke that's giving your players a football lesson? Morons!
Their fans still screamed baaaallll when their player laid a tackle after our bloke clearly got his kick away.
Essendon were definitely fired up early and played pretty good football in the first quarter. Then the effects of the drugs wore off. They were up about 10 to to in centre clearances in the first half. After that we got back into the game. The knock on their midfield is they are good when they have the ball, not so good when they don't. So they were good in the middle, not so much in around the ground and had little impact in general play.
Two of my biggest criticisms of Carlton over the journey has been that we pick and choose when we want to go and that we play like millionaires when things are going our way. Other than the Gold Coast game, I think we have turned up to play thought the second halves against Port and hawthorn were disappointing. However I was wrapped that Voss called out the players last night on their lack of hard headedness in the second half of the third quarter was great. Hopefully it is a real time lesson that players can understand and use to change the culture of the playing group. The trick is to keep playing the way that has got you on top and not become too defensive or too loose.
Getting Marchbank back was great and Young keeps getting better. Having Marchbank, Curnow and Cripps free from injury has been a great bonus for us this year and on top of the development of some of the players as well as getting in Cerra, and Hewitt it is no wonder we have improves. Voss has clearly got a united Club on his side. Whether he is a driver of this significant change or a fortunate beneficiary of the change is irrelevant. He is managing the circumstance very well.
We have not won nine games in a season since 2013 and we still have ten games to go. I think the players should be reasonably confident about Richmond, Freo, StKilda and Geelong over the next five weeks. Not saying we will win them all but I wouldn't think that any of them will hold any fears for us.
Sure the AFL media isn't biased.
How the feck can that turd Stringer belt so many blokes on camera in his usual gutless manner, from behind or as a blindside, and not earn a single mention of it from the commentary crew?
As for the general commentary, BT was spitting out tooth fragments as we moved into the lead, such was his level of disgust and disinterest in our winning play.
A couple of boos in the first quarter may have been OK, but why continue to boo a bloke that's giving your players a football lesson? Morons!
The beauty is, David, that they were doing plenty of booing of Saad... that's because he was repelling another of their lame forward forays. You would have thought the drongos would have realised after a while that they're doing so much booing because he's getting so much of the aggot!!. You're a bloody ripper, Saady! ...and a BlueBagger through and through.
I'm pinching myself. Waking up after a Friday night win over the drugcheats in itself is beautiful. Beating them after the jaw dropping oxymoron that saw drugcheats worshipped like royalty!
Now that's just magnificent!
A few efforts that had me grinning like a Cheshire cat.
Fisher & Doc's tackles on sh*&thead Stringer
Fisher's R foot goal, and ball on a string tricks
Doc's pinpoint disposal and tackle on Stringer
The steady rise of Lewis Young
The backline's ability to pivot and get it done
Saad's resilience against sh## fans
Corey Durdin running out with his biggest fan
Cotterell's improved kicking and composure
Owies hard hits
LoB showing some attitude
Charlie to Harry
Harry to Charlie
Marchy's miraculous return
Vossy's old fashioned spray
BT's forced pro Carlton commentary in the last 5 minutes. Sad man realised his barracking wasn't going to get them over the line. Then having to roam around the winning Carlton rooms. I give him credit though for remembering our boys names
Raining on the 150th
Waking up the morning after raining on the 150th
commentary on Ch7 was horrendous as usual
Agreed with emphasis
Changes in momentum in games can often be traced back to a single event or two.
I think we lost the plot a bit after starting the third quarter well...and then Durdin had a couple of shots that missed.
From that point we started to see little things creep in, some flashy plays that didn't quite come off, Harry going for a mark one-handed (not hugely important in the scheme of things, but not a full hearted effort), the intensity at the contest slacking off and Essendon being harder at the ball.
I've seen in other places (not so much on here) some suggestions that the Voss blast at three quarter time was not effective...even a bit over the top.
Folks point to the fact that we didn't score goals in the last quarter as a failed response.
That's not correct.
Once momentum is lost it's sometimes as hard to turn around as a cruise liner.
The first step is to arrest that momentum and break even at the contests.
That was achieved successfully throughout that last quarter and in the end that margin was comfortable.
Carlton sides over the last decade would rarely have been able to halt that momentum.
The three quarter 'pep talk' was effective.
I'm pretty sure there will be some reinforcement through the week...albeit a bit more measured. ;) ;D
Voss is the coach ... fully entitled to blast the group as he sees fit
Changes in momentum in games can often be traced back to a single event or two.
I think we lost the plot a bit after starting the third quarter well...and then Durdin had a couple of shots that missed.
From that point we started to see little things creep in, some flashy plays that didn't quite come off, Harry going for a mark one-handed (not hugely important in the scheme of things, but not a full hearted effort), the intensity at the contest slacking off and Essendon being harder at the ball.
I've seen in other places (not so much on here) some suggestions that the Voss blast at three quarter time was not effective...even a bit over the top.
Folks point to the fact that we didn't score goals in the last quarter as a failed response.
That's not correct.
Once momentum is lost it's sometimes as hard to turn around as a cruise liner.
The first step is to arrest that momentum and break even at the contests.
That was achieved successfully throughout that last quarter and in the end that margin was comfortable.
Carlton sides over the last decade would rarely have been able to halt that momentum.
The three quarter 'pep talk' was effective.
I'm pretty sure there will be some reinforcement through the week...albeit a bit more measured. ;) ;D
I think Browny and Lyon reckon they could pick the moment that would have riled Voss. They suspect it was the moment Cripps swung onto his left foot and bombed it in long to a nothing contest instead of looking for a runner going passed to start a chain. I remember it and tend to agree, at the time I thought to myself another no look kick to no1inparticular,
Essendon were up about 10 to 2 in centre clearances in the first half.
Getting Marchbank back was great and Young keeps getting better.
Having Marchbank, Curnow and Cripps free from injury has been a great bonus for us this year and on top of the development of some of the players as well as getting in Cerra, and Hewitt it is no wonder we have improved.
Midfield clearances were really down on the night - Cerra missing and Kennedy quiet - which really put our defenders under the pump so not surprising that so many of our defenders were amongst our better players including Newnes, who made major contributions in defence and in forward delivery like a good winger should - one of the better games I have seen from him and one of the reasons why Dow (whose defensive efforts are more akin to our former skipper) can't get a game if he doesn't have a role in the centre square.
Also impressed by the fact that we were able to set up most of our scoring from defense, rather than being so reliant on centre clearances.
TDK struggled against tag-team opponents who were athletic enough to match or better his leap - but he still kept giving.
Also impressed by the fact that we were able to set up most of our scoring from defense, rather than being so reliant on centre clearances.
This is the take home message from our game.
All year we have won games through the middle. Early on Pittonet was dominating and giving us first use.
He goes down and TDK 'breaks even' and our mids do the rest.
We were soundly beaten from the centre on Friday, and even without our #1 (Weitering), #2 (McDonald), #3 (McGovern) we were still able to not only hold our own down back, but win the game from there.
That shows a big evolution in our game from week 1.
There are quite a few 'rolling AA teams' on the go. Most of which have had Weitering in there. More and more of them are featuring Docherty in there as well. Considering many of us were trying to work out who we would draft with the long term injury spot he would open up on our list this year, it is a miraculous comeback to form. FWIW, i'd have Saad pretty close to AA selection too.
Apparently 20% above the AFL average in scores from defence.
Won't get any easier for TDK this week either with Nankervis/Soldo.
Won't get any easier for TDK this week either with Nankervis/Soldo.
Nank is one of the best cheap shot artists in the caper, been giving away some dumb free kicks since he has been captain but he does give the Tigers some physical presence and has a habit of kicking handy goals.
Big Ivan has probably improved from his early days when he was a real stiff, for some reason he reminds me of Warren Jones, the Mo and lumbering awkward style perhaps. He doesnt seem to dominate the ruck but doesnt let the opposition dominate either, hoping its a dry track and TDK/Jack can lope around and be more effective at ground level..