However due to the evolution of the game I would still pick our current side to easily account for the 2011 one.
That may happen with the players, but I don't think that would happen with our current game plan. Our current game plan doesn't let us easily account for anybody!
What happened to the sides that beat us the following week? They got flogged because they were no where near it and neither were we.
Seriously, how do you think that is relevant or evidence of a Carlton meltdown?
And check your facts, Sydney lost the next 2010 final by 5 points!
Geelong flogged West Coast in 2011 at "The G", but then Geelong flogged everybody in the finals that year! Also during the season the team that you assert, we were no where near, defeated us by 2 points! I suppose that was another meltdown! Goal for goal for four quarters at Etihad with the ultimate premiers!
We were lazy then, just as we are lazy now. The same thing we needed back then is the same thing we need now, on field leadership, and a dose of good old fashioned hard work. I dont give a flying feck who coaches the side, without an increase in work rate we will still be screwed.
Your assertion that when the heat was on we folded in some way, consistently through the Ratten era and still so in the Malthouse era, is incorrect.
The concept of a meltdown imply some collapse under pressure, but in the recent past the hottest games we played in for the last few seasons were the two away finals in 2010 or 2011. There was no sign of capitulation, in fact the exact opposite, we almost made it across the line against adversity!
In both we were given zero chance by the pundits, yet we lost two interstate SF by a grand total of 8 points.
Back then the club was miles ahead of it's current position, we are probably more consistent now, but are we consistently better or worse compared to 2010 or 2011?
The problem back in the Ratten period was consistency not a lack of endeavour, I would assert the lack of ability for players like TBird and Russell to take on the game plan cost the club as much as anything else! Many have still not forgiven Ratten for ending TBird's Carlton career, but end it he did and the decision is justified given TBird could not get a game surrounded by beginners! Even Russell managed to get a game at the hardened Collingwood outfit, which seems somewhat ironic for Tbird!
Now as a group we look lost, last Thuirsday at "The G", despite seeming to match or outnumber Nthmond fans, Carlton people looked full of dread. Like they were attending a funeral not an AFL game! I don't recall ever feeling that way in the Ratten era. In the Ratten era the game plan was a Rollercoaster, not a wake!
Finally, as I have posted many times, this is not about the coach. I think Malthouse is a great coach who slowly languishes and withers under a faulty game plan! The current game plan is not effective on 2015, and it's hard to imagine some players on the list wouldn't think the same!
I agree that our boys melt whenever challenged. That was evident under Ratten and still continues to this day under Malthouse. However I see the workrate thing as a separate issue. And both I think are related more to on-field leadership than off.
Really, we melted under Ratten, are you sure?
As I recall we made the 2011 SF only to lose by 3 points in a Perth SF against West Coast. No doubt we were inconsistent, but melting, hardly!
Furthermore, we had the odds against us in that game with some heavily "influenced" umpiring going down! The ideal circumstances for a meltdown team to meltdown, but we came back!
It appears back then we were a hell of a lot closer to success than we are now!
And all that with a list that was apparently NFG and perhaps even inexperienced at the time!
I think our problems remain because our club behavior isn't changing, we still appear too tricky for our own good.
I want less effort of subterfuge and more effort on results.
I don't think Murphy is a bad leader, he has done well in the past but I doubt he is fit and ready to play. Don't be surprised if we hear at the end of this season that he has been struggling with an injury all season.
Last year 1AW limped through a season, Armfield, Jammo and Hendo as well, we are our own worst enemies in this regard. We claim to be playing the long term game, but we make short term decisions. This affects on field results and has nothing to do with our captain, it's a symptom of a club that has a bunch of players in survival mode!
Clubs like the Dawks or Geelong would have wrapped the better players in cotton wool ready for the next year and played the season out with the juniors to give them some experience. Instead we delay, delay, delay!
When it comes to decision making, we have the putting yips!
Bulldogs players have come out and said the same thing this morning, they are enjoying football under the new coach and they win despite having 3 or 4 of their expected starting lineup on the sidelines.
OK, I think I have a good grasp on where we are going now, and I think the game plan is flawed.
I wondered why we are so focused on moving the ball around the boundary line, why stoppages are a key part of the game plan, and what benefit doing so can have?
I suspect the "sales pitch" for the game plan is that it is designed to get the team late into the season with the most amount of "run in their legs" left to compete in the finals. Almost like planning to run a marathon with a limited resource that you cannot waste too early, so you minimise the waste early by doing lots of stop / start ground work and preparation "around the boundaries."
But I think it is flawed, I think the problem with the plan is that it ignores fatigue caused by other aspects of play, mental fatigue, stress, collisions and frustration. Your legs might be fine but that doesn't mean you aren't physically and mentally shattered. It's not a natural way to play football, it is more like a rugby scrum, wrestle or tug-of-war!
The apparent game plan never gives players a break, they usually teeter between a couple of goals down and a couple of goals up. It's like getting to the lead in the race then deliberately slowing to keep your opponent at your shoulder. You just won't ever see that cruise mode that Adelaide or Hawthorn experience. In my opinion those cruise moments give players a mental break as much as a physical break. Our game plan appears to be relentless burden, a wrestling or boxing match without a bell, just a non-stop slog.
It must be so draining on the players, like flagellation, you bash yourself towards the finals and are relieved if you actually get there!
I think a further flaw in the plan is if you make every contest an arm wrestle, you basically leave your fate to the toss of a coin late in a game. You are hardly ever going to be comfortable because your game plan doesn't allow you to escape the opponent. The opponents are nearly always in the zone with a genuine shot at beating you.
I think our opponents know this, the MM plan is well understood, and all those close loses are an indicator that it is doomed to fail.
Port, Dawks, Adelaide, all appear to do the complete opposite. They do their very best to put the opponents down early, remove the opponents motivation and brace against a potential second wave. If they get that break on a club with a game plan like ours, we have no hope of closing the gap, our plan gains ground one step at a time while the others sprint ahead in leaps and bounds!
We are the Tortoise in "The Tortoise and the Hare", our wins rely on the Hare being a complete idiot!
Finally,the area we lack the most, the creative area of the game, the forward line. How does it flourish under this regime? It must surely wither, is that what we are seeing now?
You still need forwards to capitalise on the huge amount of work done up the ground. I wonder if stay at home types might have some value... Mark and kick isnt glamourous but it works.
Let blokes like Jamison and Watson unload longs kicks off the HBF / Wing to one out power forwards and it works.
But if you spend 5 minutes getting the ball from the back pocket around the boundary line to the wing first it doesn't!
There is a bloke called Patrick Dangerfield effectively on the market this year, no brainer for me throw everything at him, including Bryce and Kreuser at Adelaide......
If they have a big year he would be crazy to leave!
