It might simply be that we are not playing man on man anywhere anymore and its all about how the group functions rather than the particular matchup.
Bolts and the players have said many times that it team defence so they are sticking to the game plan. Time will tell if the personal that we currently have can execute the plan or if there are tweaks that need to be made along the way.
Jeza, as I was watching the final stages of that last quarter, i was thinking back to some of the great half backers of past great Carlton eras to compare Docherty to. I went back to mid 90s...Mackay, hmm......sort of , but not quite, seems silkier than Macca...similar to Secca ? in his composure, yes, but his delivery is better.
So, what about back another 15 years to the late 70s/early 80s ? McConville ? nope........., Hunter (when he was at half back)...yeah, closer to the mark, Geoff Southby......well....now I think we're getting pretty close to the mark...he was composure personified, a brilliant reader of the play, great runner & pinpoint kick up the field.....
But, then I saw how much time Doch seems to have at times, almost as if he's pressed a slo-mo button on the rest of the game....and there was only one other bloke I've seen who could look like that.....Doull. The thought entered my head almost against my will, I mean surely that's a ridiculous (almost sacreligious) comparison. He's got along way to go of course, but in those few moments of the game, that's the player who Docherty most reminds me of among those greats of the past.....
And it's been a long time since I've been as confident about someone in our back half !!!
cheers
Mal.
Mal, reading this post gave me goose bumps. Doull is such a legend of the game. Maybe Doc is the love child he never talked about. Then again Doull never talked that much, just let his football do the talking for him.
Aside from what happened in the forward 50, we controlled the game pretty well. Poor kicking in the 2nd qtr meant a 2 goal lead instead of a 5-6 goal lead.
Defensively we seem to set up well, just miles ahead of some of the rubbish we dished up last year. Plowman looks very solid and composed, Byrne backed up last week and looks the goods.
We might have found a decent ruckman in Phillips... has plenty to go, but he took some ripping marks today and slotted one from 50. The GWS connection had a good day today.
And a great tackle on Fantasia to prevent a certain goal in the last 1/4.
If this was the case I would be rapt however on the provisos that the kid has earned a spot and is ready. I am confident the coaches will make the right decision, the days of our club playing guys for marketing purposes (to the detriment of the players development and long term future) are over I reckon.
hmm don't think so. I got a call from SOSOS the day after he was drafted to sign up as a member
I have read this tread and find some of the comments about Bolton amusing. He will not be going any ware IMHO this year or even next year if we keep improving and there is light at the end of the tunnel. As an employee of the club Bolton will have KPI's and if he does not meet them then Trigg may give him the heave ho, but I doubt it very much that that will occur this year or maybe even next year as long as there is improvement. He is a teacher and you can see that he is getting his message across to the players, he is teaching them how to execute the game plan.
I have been a lifelong Carlton supporter and a paid up member for 40+ years. I've hardly missed a game. I would of done almost anything to see Carlton play. If my wife was having a baby on grand final day and Carlton were playing I would be telling her to cross her legs until after the game. I've put up with all of the crap that we have dished out in the past 15 - 20 years, the spoons the crap from opposition supporters I did not care, I was a Blues supporter and proud of it. I have seen 4 flags live and 8 flags in total through my life. Ask any other supporter how many flags they have seen in the last 40 or 50 years. Last year I could not bear to watch any footy, I was so demoralised by what they dished up and all of the other crap that was going on at the club. I went to maybe 4 games and saw 1 win. I did not watch any replays or read the papers. To top it off we finished last for the 4th spoon in the last 15 years.
This year things have turned around a lot after a big off season. Great recruiting, new assistants and a new coach who comes from the best football team of the last 5 - 10 years. Great marketing, a RESET. I can relate to resets. Working in the IT industry I know that when you reset a pc it starts from scratch, it boots up. A phrase that means you pull yourself up from the bootlaces. It starts at the bottom and it works its way up to the desktop. There are many steps, phases, call them what you want before you get to the desktop. It a long process and things can sometimes go wrong, so there are bumps in the road. Sometimes you have to replace failed or old drivers or uninstall non working applications. Clean out all of the crap before you can get to the desktop and a reliable stable pc. This is all part of the process. Carlton has started at the bottom and is working its way to the desktop it will take time but we are heading in the right direction because the club has RESET.
I went to the game last night and was pissed at their effort in the second quarter and thought a hiding was coming for the rest of the game. But no it didn't. We out played them at their own game in the second half. We won almost all of the stats apart from free kicks, don't get me started, and possessions. We matched it with them and only turnovers cost us. If not for turnovers we would of been a lot closer. If that had of been last year we would of folded like a house of cards and been smashed by 100 point!!! I believe that we are on the right track. We are rebuilding from scratch.
I have watched the replay of the game even though we lost, I don't usually watch replays when we lose but this year I have made a point to, just to see the green sprouts that Bolton talks about and I can see them. Yes we have some old drivers and applications that are not working and need to be cleaned out but this will take time to do you can't do all in one go. Bolton is the right man for the club no doubt about it he will take up to the promised land and if not he will lay foundations for someone who will in the next 5 years or so.
Something I noticed last night at half time break was a shot of the Carlton rooms with Bolton talking to the players behind closed doors. The room was dark and Bolton was standing in front of the players. At first I was confused as to what was going on. I then realised that he was showing them a replay, video or slide of the game plan or the game. He was teaching them, reinforcing the intricacies about the game plan during the half time break. Now I am not privy to what goes on behind closed doors during half time breaks, and if this is part and parcel of what teams do, but I thought that this was something that a great leader/teacher does and I was really impressed. It must of worked as I said previously we won the second half and did not go onto been smashed by 100 points as may of been the case last year.
The green sprouts are the new recruits, Whitering, Curnow, Kerriage, Wright, Plowman, Sumner ect they have made a difference so far. They are the new drivers and applications that have started the reset and they are making a difference. I looking forward to the rest of the year, there maybe some glitches along the way and I will be pulling my hair out, what's left of it, but I am confident that we are finally heading in the right direction.
In case people haven't followed Liam Jones before he joined us he was actually playing well at vfl level in 2014 but couldn't translate that to AFL.
And that's the whole problem thr, he cant translate that into AFL. Has he turned the corner, only time will when he gets his recall back into the seniors.
Nice work Laj. I'm sitting in front of the computer and I am following the NB twitter feed from the NB web page, http://northernbluesfc.com.au/. Alternatively you can follow NB twitter feed if you have a twitter account. Its pretty much up to date with what is happening. Looking forward to your report on each player at the end of the game.
Interesting observation RR. It sounds like some kind of anatomical issue that would be difficult to fix, but I'm no expert and as you say maybe he could overcome it?
Didn't he have some hip issues last year or was it someone else?
Good call there PI2C. When he lined up for that deadset gimme in the last, I had no doubts he'd miss, 'cos by then his kicking demons had well and truly settled inside his head. He would've been a mess by then.
He's our version of Cloke. Great mark but cant kick to save himself. Can improve if he works at it as last year proved. Just wondering as he had a PCL injury and a short pre-season if his kicking was effected in the last half due to fatigue?
They couldn't move in the last five minutes. There were moments when the game was being played in slow motion. And Richmond's older, tougher bodies won out.
Thought our five newbies played well. Wright kicked three goals and while he dropped in and out of the game, I'll take three goals from him anyday.
Phillips rucked very well and did more around the ground in 100 minutes than Warnock did in however many years he was at the club.
Lamb put on great forward pressure even if he didn't get much of the ball.
Weitering was fantastic. Lost his man a couple of times, but was so composed and assured down back.
Kerridge faded in the last quarter. Got plenty of hard ball, and had some great moments, but his kicking wasn't great. Still liked his hard nut play.
Murphy, Simo and Cripps were magnificent. Yes Murph and Cripps struggled in the last, but one is in his third year and the other was under prepared. I adore Cripps.
Everett dropping that mark and Bolt's easy miss were the killers in the end.
Was listening to the game on the radio and we had one rotation left with 7 minutes to go and Richmond had 6 or 7 although not quite sure if that is an accurate number. The last interchange was Murphy coming on for the last 5 mins. So may of contributed to the fade out in the end.
Buckley put a huge amount of defensive pressure on. The processions and goals will come. I will be surprised if he is dropped.
x2
A couple of tackles on Houli when he was running through the centre. One was marked by Carlton I think, and one was a turnover that resulted in a goal to us from the turnover. Not a great game but applied pressure with his tackling when he got the opportunity.
