Carlton Supporters Club

You tend to bomb long when you have a lot of tall timber, smaller forward setups tend to have the ball run into them more.
Lose a tall and we might play bit smarter given the extra talls are a get out of jail kick for players who dont have the vision or lower their eyes enough when taking the ball deep I50.

When you've got two of the best contested marking forwards in the competition, long bombs into the forward 50 must be part of the armoury.  Most of our goals this season came from long bombs inside 50 but that doesn't mean that we abandon other avenues to goal.  Our gameplan relies on our strengths and should only change if our strengths change.  Our ability to hit up players like Owies, Martin and Cottrell in space inside 50 was outstanding and we set a new world record for goals kicked from centre clearances.  We haven't quite nailed the opportunist/crumbing small forward or the forward with blistering pace.

We were ranked first for contested marks in 2023 ... but that includes intercepts and clunking long kicks down the line.

No doubt you play with what you have and construct a game plan around it.....Hardwick and the Tigers are evidence of that when they won their premierships as are Collingwood with their non traditional setup. Our talls will always be our weapon down forward but we need more form our smalls when that isnt working.

Another buzz word these days is connection or connectivity and often its implied that this refers to connection between lines (ie Def - Mids - Fwds). I often see a lack of connectivity between our fwds (ie talls - smalls). I feel lie they need to work on their structures and patterns as sometimes it looks bit haphazard. Thats what I reckon for what its worth.

The issue isn't where it's going its how it's put there.  Charlie often has to sit under it, ditto Harry.  We need to drop it a little shorter and bring them up to the ball.  Rather than sit it on their head.  Gives them no chance.

No problem kicking it long quickly to one on one and back in our guns to win the contest.
The problem is kicking it long to smalls when they are outnumbered in a zone.

Harry's concussion against Sydney might lend weight to my point.  He had 3 players converge on him because of a hospital kick.

Nine times out of ten Harry clunks that mark and leaves McCartin nursing a bruised back.

McCartin was an extra at the contest, no other players were within two metres.

Have a look at Harry's highlights:

Not so many balls kicked on his head and a few opponents feel the impact of his 105kg