Carlton Supporters Club

NM having another close look, I wouldnt rate Hawthorn so lo nor CheatsFC so hight. That is, I cant see Hawthorn falling away that much and I cant see CheatsFC rising much more than they did this year. I agree, they have managed to pick up a few good ones courtesy of there cheating ways. I dont think Saad (HB flanker), Stringer (front runner) and Smith (overrated and injury prone) will make a huge difference.
I would guess Hawthorn will be in the 8 purely because of the wiiley old fox Clarkson. Missing the finals this year would have stung him like mad and will have been stewing over it all summer come round round 1. He and his fellow coaches would have devised a plan to rectify that wrong make no mistake. Time will tell.

For me, there are two approaches one could take :

1. the approach you've taken, which I call the graduated scale approach, where you can look at the various criteria, lists, coaches etc., and tease out from this whether certain teams are ahead of others.

2. A simpler approach, where you essentially have 2 groups : 1. genuine premiership contenders, and 2. the rest.

I can see the merit in both, but to me, teams like Essendon are not really any closer to the next flag than we are. They are without doubt closer to playing finals than we are, but making up the numbers in the 8 is one thing - being a genuine flag chance is quite another. The leap required to go from 5-8 to 1-4 in the H/A is greater than going from, say 9-12 to 5-8. At least IMO.

And as an aside, I don't understand the consternation towards Richmond. They finished 3rd, missing top 2 by 2 points, with a higher % than the 2nd placed Geelong. They lost several games by single digit figures. A stray kick here or there and they would have finished 1st. They were absolutely in the mix, in the 2nd half of the season, and certainly in finals.

Yeah I definitely have my reservations about Essendon, but I can’t deny tha they have some very good players in important positions. Daniher becoming one of the better forwards in the comp is a massive plus for them, Hurley was exceptional last year down back. They have some great kids coming through as well as icing on the cake players like Tippa and Fantasia. Like with a few of these teams, it’ll come down to how a few things fall; if Stringer gets back to his 2015 form and even pushes into the middle, and if a couple more of their high end kids come on, they’re in with a chance.

As for Hawthorn, Burton aside, I don’t see any of their kids really becoming elite. They’ve lost or are losing most of their genuine A Grade talent and don’t have the same quality to replace it. I don’t think that they’ll rebound quicker than most due to the genius of Clarkson. I mean he started the process before others even recognised its need by moving on the likes of Mitchell and Lewis.

I think that long term, we are much better placed than Essendon, but looking solely at 2018, they’re in a much better position than us for success this year. What the past couple of years has shown us is that there aren’t teams ‘making up the numbers’ in the finals anymore. Bulldogs weren’t favourite in any of their finals in 2016, but it was them holding up the Cup at the end of it. Richmond in my opinion were not the best team in 2017, in fact going into the finals I would have had 3 teams above them...but again, they had the last laugh. They’re not a team with great depth, they had a lot of ordinary foot soldiers in their Premiership team, but they were hungry and lucky with injuries. If a team like Essendon have the same luck, then certainly they’re in the mix. I mean I still think there are at least 5 or so teams that are more likely, but I can’t disscount them.

Whorethorn sold the farm to get O'meara.  If he doesn't turn into an elite topliner they will have given up four first rounders.... Theres your rebuild right there.

Rumour floating around that Worsfold isn't liked by the playing group and another middling year could see unrest.

Whorethorn sold the farm to get O'meara.  If he doesn't turn into an elite topliner they will have given up four first rounders.... Theres your rebuild right there.

Matthew Lloyd has been anti Worsfold and sown the seeds of doubts on him when talking in the media.... a poor 2018 and I reckon Woosha might be back to the pharmacy...

A promising future at Chemist Warehouse awaits? 

From one rule breaking business to another.... Chemist Warehouse is a clever conglomeration that breaks business rules in Australia
and has been allowed to get away with it.....sound familiar..

Richmond recruited well with Nankervis, Prestia and Caddy.....increased their depth, they also reconstructed their game plan and went the small forward/pressure lineup....it was canny recruiting and a brave game plan which they executed week after week.
Grimes and Astbury stayed on the park after being injury prone croc's and Rance was freed up to dominate as a intercept marking player....
Houli became a top quality rebounder with his excellent disposal......Lambert was freed up with Prestia and Caddy arriving to be a real nuisance player for opposing teams....they introduced ready made mid size forwards in Townsend and Graham who were both strong bodied types who kicked straight, they were the Tory Dickson types who didnt need many possies to hurt you as they kicked so straight. Momentum built and Martin was just too much for any individual player to handle for 100 mins and they always had the Martin to Full Forward move up their sleeve to win the close ones or finish teams off...

It was impressive from Hardwick and crew given the clubs recent decade of failure and lacking a team of genuine superstars, he got everything he could out of that list and surprised with his game plan which everyone including me thought would fail in finals...