Carlton Supporters Club

When we were getting smashed in the middle, why weren't our (few) senior players moved to the centre to assist Cripps?  Our small bodied mids were being mauled.

Why did no players assist or comfort Murphy or Jones when they were badly injured? Nobody went near them...Weitering was the only who went up to Jones (whilst Pittman got the giggles in the centre).

Why is Cripps the only player prepared to step up physically to an opponent who rag dolls one of our own?

When we fumble and lose possession, instead of laying a tackle to try to get the ball back we seem more concerned about running back to form our defensive grid or set up.  This might be "the team thing", but it allows the opponent to continue with no pressure on him.  Fisher, O'Brien, Walsh & SPS all did this yesterday...

Why do we repeatedly kick along the wings, back into huge congestion, instead of maintaining possession & switching play?  Which version is our actual game plan under pressure?

Stocker has figured out you have stick up for yourself as there isnt any cavalry coming....

The problem with the switching play is that our guys do it in slow motion.
Watch the GWS guys switching last night. Quick kicks, to open players and moving the ball forward.
Contrast to our guys who kick sideways, the bloke marks, goes back from the mark, looks through a 180 degree arc to assess options, picks one option, decides against it then picks another option, which by that time is a 3 on 1 contest in the opposition favour, and kicks.
When we do it quickly, we look a much better side. I dont know if it's about not being drilled in moving the ball on quickly, if it's about potential receivers not getting into the right positions or what.

Good points, Docherty is a loss in that area of switching play, of recent times we have seen even Levi having a crack at switching play , we dont have a lot of those visionary type players who can
spot up a player and hit them with a bullet pass and then that player in turn hit up a player running at full tilt running down a wing and create an overlap.

The most important thing for mine is WTF do we stand for as a football team, what do we want to be known as? I have always liked the words ruthless and c$%& as descriptors. Funnily enough, Nick Riewoldt on SEN this morning talked about a story he heard last year about Longmire. He heard that Longmire wants his team to be ruthless and to be c#$%s to play against. Now we have a few blokes that I can think of who would have these character traits, they are Crippa, Doc, Simmo, Fisher (not often enough though), SOS, Marchy, Willo, Daisy (a little) and the new boy Stocker. The rest are all bunnies so for me, this is the biggest problem at our club. We are too nice as a group, we need to learn to c$#% up and put the "foot on the opos throat" when the opportunity arises. Ruthless. Teams will walk away knowing they played a game of football.

I think you are sadly mistaken on Marchbank, he's closer to Jane in a Tarzan body, he almost plays bruise free football!

Even for guys like Willo who have shown a bit of aggro, it comes with fitness and form, if you are rooted from chook running and chasing an opponent all over the ground you'll have feck all energy to expend, and with the fatigue the anger fades!

Maybe not this year, but he has shown mongrel at times.

The other thing Nick R said on SEN this morning was about his definition of a brutal game review versus what young newbies think a brutal game review looks like. I assume he is talking about a review on the Thomas and Lyon days. That is , an old school look a player in the eyes and tell him he was s-house, or weak in front of the whole group. Its definitely needed but probably not the done thing these days, or is it?

Maybe not this year, but he has shown mongrel at times.

The other thing Nick R said on SEN this morning was about his definition of a brutal game review versus what young newbies think a brutal game review looks like. I assume he is talking about a review on the Thomas and Lyon days. That is , an old school look a player in the eyes and tell him he was s-house, or weak in front of the whole group. Its definitely needed but probably not the done thing these days, or is it?

I think Rooey said that in his own experience and in discussion with current players, the more educational, calmer route is the done thing at most, if not all clubs. If that's true, then I think using it as justification for our efforts in the North and GWS games is a furphy. Otherwise all clubs would have performances like that, which isn't the case.

It's our group demographic, that's all it can be!

Add just one or two kids to a senior list and the game plan can be unraveled, we are adding one or two kids to a group of mostly kids and being forced to do so weekly!

Shhh...You must allow the Carlton Coach Killer Vortex™ to do its thing. It is our way, the Carlton way, and it must not be disturbed as it goes about its business.