Verdict: With Murphy, Gibbs and Judd starting in the guts, the Carlton midfield is blue chip, but it falls away quickly from there. Andrew Walker, Chris Yarran and Kade Simpson spend more time forward and back and the relievers are honest, but lack speed and polish. Their youngsters will continue to get opportunities this year.
Every Blues fan has a favourite player or a couple of newbies who they have some genuine excitement about. On the flipside, every Blues fan has their own 'whipping boy' that can never do anything well or right no matter how hard they try.
With the list being turned over dramatically, who do you have on your "Camel Train" (bandwagon) & who is your "Desert Dweller" (whipping boy) now & why ??
"Camel Train" Mark Whilley Dillon Viojo-Rainbow
Watched Whilley play two games for GWS late last year and he just kept ploughing in and fighting hard for the aggot, has the gritty type of qualities I look for in a player.
'Skittles' looks like a readymade player across half-back or wing as he has a decent physique already, best of all, he has a damaging left foot and I'm extremely keen to see him use it.
"Desert-Dwellers" Levi Casboult
The 'Big Galoot" has the appearance of a modern day leviathan with hands that clunk everything sight. However, his kicking for goal is going to be the death of me, I cringe every time he takes a set shot. He annoys the bejesus out of me and always has since making his debut.
CARLTON coach Mick Malthouse believes a fit-again Matthew Kreuzer will be the one to take his side to another level next year, despite another off-season luring talent from rival clubs.
GWS pair Kristian Jaksch and Mark Whiley, Western Bulldogs forward Liam Jones and ex-Sydney defender Matt Dick were all plucked by the Blues last month.
But Malthouse said Kreuzer, who endured a nightmare 2014 season hampered by more foot surgery, was ready to explode.
“I feel very confident he’ll have a great season,” Malthouse said.
“I think he’ll be our No.1 recruit. He’s got so much to add to our football side. He’s aggressive, he’s a multi-positional player, he wears his heart on his sleeve, he bleeds blue blood.
“I think every player and official in the club wants him to success and have a bit of luck.”
Fair point about him being our No. 1 recruit, if fully fit and completely over his injury issues, he could have a huge impact.
Some people are predicting a huge rise up the ladder in 2015, others are expecting more of the same as last year.
The club has a number of big unknowns that will directly determine the outcomes next season, best of all, no-one really knows the answer to them either :
1. Kreuzer - will he return to full fitness & playing standard plus will he be groomed as a key forward or played as a genuine ruckman again ?? 2. Warnock - can he do more than just stand in the centre circle ?? 3. Jones - where does he fit into the overall structure ?? 4. Watson - how can he be fitted into the team ?? 5. Casboult - can he ever kick straight and where will he fit into team ?? 6. Buckley - does he stay in defence or is he going to be moved to the forward line ?? 7. Jaksch - which end of the ground does he play at ?? 8. Walker - will he return to the forward line permanently as that appears hi best slot ?? 9. Cripps - is he ready to play regular senior footy ?? 10. Thomas - is he really over this ankle injury ?? 11. Henderson - where does he play, if forward, is it alongside Casboult, Jones & Jaksch ?? 12. Menzel - is it time for him to really break out and kick 40-goals or more for the season ?? 13. Rowe - can he replicate the good form he showed in defence last year or was it a once-off ?? 14. Whiley - what impact will he have at a new club ?? 15. Carrazzo & Curnow - can they be palyed in the team at the same time ??
We have delisted or lost players via FA who may have had some hand in the leadership stakes and with an all-new & revamped list, one with a lot of younger guys, I'm somewhat concerned about the quality & depth of leadership we have at the club right now.
I'm not a fan at all of this invogue "leadership group" concept, in fact I think it's a complete & utter wank. I prefer three people in that group - captain, vice-captain & deputy vice-captain.
With Judd entering his last season of footy and having passed on the captaincy to Marc Murphy, where is our leadership going to come from in the future ??
Since 2000, the average AFL score has shrunk continuously, from more than 15 goals per team per game to barely 12.5 now. This is despite constant improvement in conditions at all grounds, and from 2001 the utility of a ground, now called Etihad Stadium, where conditions don't matter at all.
If we take those stats by Greg Baum as gospel, then all we need to do in 2015 to win a large percentage of our matches is kick 15-goals per game. This equates to an overall tally of 330 goals being needed for the whole season to achieve those results.
Bearing in mind we have made some dramatic changes to the playing list, where are our goals going to come from next year to get us to 330 ??
Looking at the tea-leaves and believing that we will be successful in securing both Liam Jones & Kristian Jaksch, I'm thinking we may be looking to completely rejig our regular spine/structure.
Using Casboult in this manner would mean that he could be used to roam around the ground and clunk big marks (something Warnock is incapable of) with the added bonus of taking the pressure off him to kick straight which could be the making of him actually.
"Mad" Mick Malthouse has always had the knack of getting something out of a couple of players who are on the fringe and possibly destined for delisting. Undoubtedly, his two success stories this year are Sam Rowe & Simon White.
I have always thought White was a reasonable player but has never been given a dedicated role in the team and accordingly have suggested he would be cut. Rowe has never impressed me looking too slow at this level and was some sort of token listing by Ratten. This year, both have turned those thoughts on their head and were two of the first picked most of the time.
The thing is, I'm really wondering whether their emergence as frontliners was on the back of and out of pure necessity by Malthouse or were they always destined to make it in this manner ??
Our defensive unit currently has those two plus Yarran, Docherty, Buckley, Jamison & Tuohy (Henderson should be there two) which is quite thin overall.
Are Rowe & White real defenders now and if so, for how long too ??
I still believe they are stop-gap measures in the short-term !!
There are some things that I just cannot ever understand about the NRL and it is the way players, and now a senior coach, announce mid-season that they are going elsewhere next season.
The current Brisbane Broncos coach has been told today he is being punted in favour of super-coach Wayne Bennett who is currently at Newcastle.
What does an announcement like this do for morale at both clubs ??
And tonight just showed that both teams are miles away from the top 4 in the competition.
Cameron Wood, well done fella, took the opportunity with open arms and has resigned Warnock to the Trade Table for once and for all. Thank god for that !!
Graham was brought on in place of Everitt due to injury and played 3/4 of the game. Kicked a nice goal and did okay but he still has some way to go before he is where we really want him to be. More senior game time will assist in that.
Six goals to Henderson (4 in the last) was terrific and McLean pulling out giving Waite a game was a noble gesture by Brock.
All season we have wondered about the Malthouse game-plan and whether the players were capable of carrying it out.
There was the hog-the-boundary scheme which frustrated everyone, then there was the quick-transition-to-the-corridor add-on which did seem to garner some strong results.
Now, after a long period of losses, neither option is as apparent and has to be part of the onfield failing.
Has anyone noticed something different to this recently ??
Is the problem that we don't have the players with the skills to make any game-plan work ??
Or, is there a better option that could be implemented ??
THE NRL has begun the biggest corporate shake-up in the history of rugby league, designed to get more women involved at executive level, clean up the image of the game and attract new fans.
In a move aimed at a wide range of issues — from player misbehaviour to salary cap rorting — NRL chief executive Dave Smith has drawn up a blueprint to implement cultural change from the top down.
