1
The Sports Desk / Dean Jones RIP
Only 59 years old
What crap year this is
Absolutely legend of the game
Topics
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Topics - mateinone
Only 59 years old
What crap year this is
Absolutely legend of the game
2
Blah-Blah Bar / Who would you vote for in a State Election if held this weekend 28/09
The third option is for if you are voting Independent for another smaller party, or even possibly one of Greens or Liberal Party, but you won't be voting for Dan Andrews
3
Blah-Blah Bar / Another School Shooting in the US
What personally hit me at the core is that it was in the the town ranked the 3rd safest in Florida. When we were living over there I was lucky and had a job where they let me live wherever I wanted in the country, as long as I was within an hour to the airport if I was needed onsite at a customer. So one of the main things we done was looked at City Data for each town we were considering. After choosing the type of environment we wanted (ie beaches/mountains/big city/location to International Airport etc), Safety and School ratings were the 2 single biggest factors. Because your kids MUST go to a good school in the US or you make life so much harder and your house has to be zoned to the school or you are out of luck and of course safety, because... well if you have ever been around suburban USA you will know how important this is and how much difference 5 minutes travel can make.
So here you have a town that would have certainly met the criteria for us (ie I wanted to live near a beach, though wife was hell bent on Colorado), was safe and had a greatschools rating of 8/10.
It is not the first time of course as both Littleton (Columbine) and Newtown (Sandy Hook) are affluent suburbs above the state average levels.
So it is clear that I was as delusional as anyone else when there that you have to just do the best you can do, because even that doesn't cut it.
When will Americans ever put their kids before the right to own a ridiculous firearm that by being allowed to own, they also allow the person down the street with untold mental issues to own? When will they give that crap up for the safety of everyone?
I know it is NEVER, but it just seems so insane
4
Robert Heatley Stand / 2018 - What do you expect from the club?
So in general, be it gameplay, results etc.. What do you as a support of our football club expect from the club this year?
For me
It is no surprise that I was behind a full rebuild last year. I wanted it to far exceed what happened and part of that puzzle did finally happen this year, with a very good footballer in Bryce leaving and our age profile lowering. To me though this doesn't drastically alter what I expect of a football club. You don't sign up to follow teams with the agreement they can non be competitive for too long. If Carlton had gone real hard last year and traded all their elder players i would have give this year as their last pass. But now I EXPECT and DEMAND results from the football club. That is not so say they have failed me to date, but Carlton has to now be relevant in terms of winning football games. We can't have every win an 'upset' win.
I need Carlton to be finishing 10th or higher this year and to do so with about 8-10 wins. I also need our percentage to be higher than in previous years by quite a long way and I need to see at least a handful of games where we show that we can put 100 points on the scoreboard.
If we want to entice a big talent in next years Free Agency, then we need to be on the verge of something. We need to be able to sell 3 things. The club, the results & of course in Free Agency the money. We want Wines or Lynch or the likes.... Then we need to show they are not here as the savior, they are joining a genuinely exciting organisation.
Anything less than these results for me and we need to be questioning if we have the right people in charge, at all levels of the club (well perhaps excluding SOS who is killing it).
Oh and I EXPECT to see a functioning forward line this year
5
Robert Heatley Stand / Round 14: Pre-Game Richmond
Round: 14
Date: Sunday May 25th
Time: 15:20
Location: MCG
Home Team: Richmond
Last 5
======
Richmond 5-0
Average Margin: 24.2 Points
Last Win
=======
EF 2013
Richmond 3.5 10.7 12.10 14.12 (96)
Carlton 2.3 6.5 12.6 18.8 (116)
Last Game
===========
Round 1: 2017
Carlton 4.3 7.4 12.4 14.5 (89)
Richmond 7.3 13.5 15.11 20.12 (132)
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Robert Heatley Stand / 2017 Jim Park Voting: Rd 13: Carlton vs GCS
Remember:
[1] At least 3 players need to get a mention.
[2] No more than 10 votes for any one player.
[3] Give a rating of team performance. It can be anywhere from A+ to F.
[4] Votes must add up to 15.
7
Robert Heatley Stand / What are your expectations for 2017?
So with that in mind, I started to wonder about KPIs and expectations for 2017. My assessment of our list last year was of one that was unlikely to achieve much at all this year and that the results would likely not be enough to show it was building towards that flag. I felt we were far enough away that the quickest way was to have pain this year (and quite possibly next) and trade out the currency we did have to to build a completely different looking list.
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.
So whilst my predictions are for a grim season of between about 2-5 wins, I think my expectation is rightly much higher based on the club's list management team and coaching staff.
Carlton finished with 7 wins and in 14th position last year. It was considered to have a lot of young players who should be better this year and it chose to hold onto most players in last years trade period. It must be therefore reasonable to suggest that the benchmark for a "PASS" this year must be
9th-12th with about 9-11 wins.
The club MUST make that progression to give it the platform to make the step back into finals the following season.
So forget your predictions (well not really), but I am more interested in your expectations.
What does Carlton need to do to meet your expectations and satisfy you that those in charge are taking the club in the right direction?
8
Ladies Lounge / Women's Pay
The AFL owes women so much more
In this argument Larissa argues that women need to be paid more because women support the men's game, making up X% of the audience and volunteers etc.
Now, I don't disagree that women play a big part in the men's game (as all supporters and volunteers do), but I am not sure how that translates to more money being paid as wages to players.
Now this sounds harsh and it isn't meant disrespectfully, but isn't the AFL already committing more money than they are going to be able to be sure the game is able to generate? The men receive about 22% I believe of revenue at present (and are pushing for 25%), is it unreasonable to suggest that if women's football takes off like men's football has that it will attract more sponsorship, that it will attract more people through the gates and will make a significant difference to TV money, which will then see the women rewarded with better pay?
This isn't an equal opportunity thing, the money generated by the sport at present is generated because it is the best AFL competition in the world and as such there is money in it. For many years men were getting paid little or nothing also, until they started to attract more corporate/tv dollars.
I don't have a particular grudge against the women's game at all and I am absolutely all for the AFL investing money in it to give it what I would have thought was a considerable start, but much like the VFL, the SANFL, the WAFL and other competitions, I personally don't have any real major interest in it and I think it is generally like all sporting codes it is getting funding, but it also needs to start generating more funds if it wants to have more for the players.
I don't see that it is at all relevant the sex of the supporters or the volunteers when it comes to the distribution of funds, as they are choosing to invest in the men's version. If those same people choose to stop supporting the men's and instead put their dollars into the women's game then absolutely the distribution should (and will change).
At the moment, I am not sure why it isn't just a time to celebrate for those that are finally getting some good exposure for the sport they are passionate about.
Anyway interested in thoughts of others including just how many people know our players and are planning to go the women's league games (are they on separately or will they be double headers with men's games?). Is there going to be a separate membership and if there is... Will you be getting one?
EDIT: Before the insults come in, I suspect most will disagree with my opinion, which is fine it is an opinion, but I would feel exactly the same if men tried to start a national men's netball league (traditionally considered a women's only sport at the highest level) and get in on the money the game has started to attract. I also do tend to think enough people will get interested in the women's league that it may well end up doing well financially and I think if it does that will be great for them.
9
Notice Board (Visitors Enter Here) / Twitter
But has the forum ever considered incorporating Twitter and/or Facebook?
I know there has been talk of keeping things lean and I know and appreciate the Vlad has heaps on his plate and not enough time, but (especially Twitter) it could seriously increase the number of reader/members of this site with integration of these tools, because use of good hashtags can result in a lot of free advertising. Also following the players, a few of the prominent sporting identities etc can result in them following back and retweeting forums that are discussed here.
There are SMF mods for integration of both, but also this could be started with setting up the initial Twitter and Facebook pages and manually posting links and tags back to club. The Twitter mod at the moment is a
'share this" style mod, there was a full integration but they removed support for it.
So a simple start might be..
Kerridge has joined us, so we start a thread that welcomes him (where are they this year actually?)
and a tweet goes out along the lines of...
Quote from: Example Tweet
@CartlonSC sends @Skerridge29 a warm welcome for joining @CarltonFC. Come join in the conversation here (add tinyurl) #AFLTrade #CarltonFC
Anyway, not trying to rock boats here, not too concerned if they can't be done yet.
Here are the mods
Facebook Mod: http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=365503.0
Twitter Mod
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=365503.0
That twitter mod is actually a "tweet this", "like this (facebook)" or +1 (Google +) mod that all users can use to tweet a topic as well.
Anyway just some suggestions trying to drive a bit more traffic
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Notice Board (Visitors Enter Here) / BB Code
A couple of nice little tweaks could really help such as including borders in table or header fields so that a table can take on a nicer looks.
Also there are a number of other nice little options that can be added in minutes without a great deal of difficulty to sexy up the forum.
11
The Sports Desk / Soccer Season 15/16
Among them
Pogba - Juventus -> Chelsea (80 million pounds)
Muller - Bayern Munich -> Man United (60 million pounds)
Stones - Everton -> Chelsea (40 million pounds)
Berahino - West Brom -> Tottenham (25 million pounds).
The last day was mainly taken up with the two really big 'will they - won't they' stories.
With De Gea's transfer to Real Madrid and Berahino to Tottenham taking up most of the air space.
In the end West Brom send Tottenham packing (much to the chagrin of Berahino) and Man Utd and Real Madrid messed up their paper work, which has now seen De Gea re-sign for another 4 years.
What is amazing about this transfer window is that every club has had their hands in their pocket, they need to because the TV rights kick in next season and it will be a disaster for any club that goes down.
Some clubs (West Ham, Crystal Palace, Stoke and Swansea) seem to have done some incredible business with the likes of Payet, Cabaye,Shaqiri (I cannot believe he plays for stoke!!!) and Ayew are just some of the names going to these clubs (Ayew starts the season with a handful of goals, including against Man U and Chelsea to win EPL player of hte month after signing on a FREE).
The club that I think impressed me the most was Man City. some think it is easy with buckets of cash, but you still need the right players and when Man City, Utd or Chelsea come calling, the price goes up by 10-15 million pounds per player.
They already looked dangerous, but come with some frailties last year, this year in the space of 3 signings (they actually made 5 or 6 in total) they have transformed their team.
Raheem Sterling is a complete wanker, but he also plays some beautiful football, has pace to burn, good with the ball at his feet and knows how to strike it, he is a major upgrade on Navas.
De Bruyne was sold by Chelsea last year and it looks like a monumental mistake. De Bruyne could simply play wide and have taken the role that Cuadrado failed in, but really as good as Oscar is, De Bruyne would be a very big upgrade and with Willian on the right and Hazard on the left would make the most fearsome LW-CAM/SS-RW combination the premier league has maybe ever seen, with Costa up front just having a feeding frenzy, or indeed Remy with his pace in front of these 3 could just blow teams apart... but... Man City have him now .
The only problem is that De Bruyne and Silva both play the same role (though play it differently) and one of the is going to be pushed wide> I think it might be Silva, though it is tough. He is the best passer I have ever seen in the prem (yeap better than Scholes) and his delivery usually has more impact from central position, but he has proven he is more than capable of playing our wide. De Bruyne (imo) drops off more when moves wider, so I would probably start with that.
Otamendi is an excellent signing and I expect him to be a regular as soon as he is settled. He is A grade and if Kompany can find his form of 18 months ago, that is a rock solid partnership that has the ability to take them deep (finally) in Champions League, as well as to the title in the EPL.
Chelsea started their window well with the signing of Pedro from Barcelona from under Man United's nose, but they can't escape that they saw some real gaps in the center back position and after missing their first choice signed some very underwhelming backups to Terry.
Also signed Falcao on loan, which might work, but seems to be a bit of a head scratcher.
Lost Peter Cech and replaced with the very capable Begovic who will now be first choice for the next 3 months with Courtois going down. Also traded Filipe Luis back to Spain after a pretty ordinary year, that does put a lot of pressure though on Azpilcueta, but he is a very handy footballer.
Man United. They have spent 250 million pounds in 2 seasons and they still don't have a playmaker to replace Carrick or a real striker to work in front of Rooney. They will walk away knowing their squad cannot chellenge this year, great signings, but a real scatter gun approach that still leaves them very exposed at CB (Blind already exposed by Swansea) and as above anyone to support Rooney and Carrick.
Tottenham - Thrown in here just to let my disgust out. God rid of some truly terrible players, but the way Levy does business is like the old Essendon and clubs hate dealing with him, he has a habit of getting into agents ears and trying to get players to put pressure on their club to sell on the cheap, he done it last season with Schneiderlin and this season with Wanyama and Berahino. Southampton have claimed they will not deal with Tottenham at all going forward and I doubt West Brom will either unless they are forced to by release clauses being met. In all of the above instances the players ended up handing in official transfer requests and got upset at not moving, it is a Tottenham habit that makes other clubs hate them.
As for my team West Brom..
A mixed bag, we released a long time performer in Mulumbu and also let Lescott who is real class cross to our rivals. We brought in another 2 ex-Man United players in Johnny Evans and Anders Lindergaard, we needed cover in both of those positions, but I do have some questions. We also brought in Chester from Hull who looks like a good buy as both McAuley and Olsson are getting a bit old and neither was every quick or had great ball playing skills, they were out and out old school center backs.
In the wider positions we brought in Gnabry from Arsenal (not sure how young loanees go, they really are hit and miss) and also brought in James McClean (strange transfer from Wigan, as can be divisive with supporters and players due to his stances against England) to put pressure on the likes of Brunt.
Up forward we brought in experience in Lambert and a real quality striker in Rondon, taking advantage of the new ratios imposed in the Russian league for non-european clubs. Rondon is a big strong and tall forward who plays a 'target man' type role, could form a good relationship with Berahino and Lambert and will be suited to the very unfortunate 'long ball' style of Tony Pulis.
It will be a long season for West Brom and they will be aiming for at 10-15 finish again, but it will be dangerous to continue playing this style of football as the overall class of the PL continues to improve. I do think that the likes of Sunderland and Norwich are in real trouble though and should be favorites for the drop. With unfortunately probably Bournemouth struggling as well. If Bournemouth does stay up though, expect Howe to move onto a bigger club as he is probably the 'manager most likely' and could well go on to be one of the greats from what I have seen so far. (of course he might just fail at the top level also).
I won't tough on other leagues here other than to say the obvious will be in line for honors again, with probably only Dortmund and possibly Wolfsburg again giving Bayern any grief, the same 3 will be in the running in the La Liga also.
I Serie A Juventus has lost Teves (Boca) and Pirlo (MLS) and not started the campaign very well, but they will get their act together and again be very formidable. Dzeko moving to Roma will give them more attacking options and they are the team most likely to challenge there.
Anyway.. tonight.. West Brom v Southampton is the game to keep your eye on.... well for me
12
Blah-Blah Bar / Just a few things about the site in general
I want to start by saying as I have to the man himself and on these boards that I think Spanner does a sensational job in both hosting and maintaining this site for a number of years, but I am disappointed the opportunity wasn't taken to implement some great new features at no basic cost to get the site right into 2013 and beyond.
I think the color scheme is probably a little off, I think one of the best elements of the previous site was the color scheme, it was so unmistakeably Carlton.
I would like to see more BB Code implemented into the forum. BB Code is not hard to change, anyone with administrators access can add a number of features that allow for more modern and structured posts. The BB Code here looks like it is 'out of the box', options to change the colors of tables, rows, etc.
Have hidden/unhidden elements in posts for 'spoiler alert' options etc just make for better posting. In fact on a football site, something as simply as a 'scoreboard' tag that formats the score of a game would make such a difference to the whole posting situation and with not a real lot of work in the background for anyone with the skill set (or even anyone with basic html skills would be able to work it out).
The other element I would have liked to see (and still think the site should think about) is a Content Management system around the forum, so the forum integrates into the site. it could be very simple to start with with a pretty stock standard Drupal install (yes Drupal is free), then with an SMF integration. When you log into drupal, it will pass your password across to SMF forum (or PHP) to allow for seamless integration.
There could be within the CM system so many extra features... Editorials/blogging, historical logging of any Carlton articles, Player profile pages, video libraries etc. The world really is the limit. There is no need to go into the site we looked at building a few years back (and in fact which I only just deleted in the last 3 months) whereby a full stats feature is built, Drupal is very intuitive and in fact can be administered by a non-technical person. It doesn't have to happen of course, but surely it would be better to have this site be about more than a chin wag and add some real substance and push the website to the forefront of supporter sites.
As I mentioned the site I built with the help of Brendan a number of years ago was a lot more involved than what I am mentioning here and we had tracked every Carlton game every, plus all games of all Current carlton players, stats for said games etc, video libraries etc....
That required more technical skill, but there should be a happy medium imo.