Carlton Supporters Club

It's important to bear in mind that one of the few pieces of the Teague review that was made public was the fact that he focussed too much on offence and not enough on defence. Clearly Voss was brought in to rectify that, and one way of achieving that is to play safe, keepings off and deny the opposition the ball. I can see the logic, and I can also see that he is trying to get the boys to understand the mood of the game at particular moments, when to run and gun and when to go safe. Voss is following the standard and in vogue coaching mantra of wanting us to be a "team that is hard to play against" and wanting to build from a solid base of contest and defence. Clearly we're a good way away from implementing that consistently.

Interesting you say that Paul. A former coach of ours, MM, said last night that there are 2 forms of defence, 1st is if you have the ball and 2nd if they do not have the ball. Unfortunately if you turn the ball over as much as we do then it's not defence any more.

Yep, I agree. The ideas I'm sure are sound, but the implementation is wanting. I'm sure this is the reason why we have the chip kick, 15m backwards passes etc. - to limit turnover. Perhaps it becomes a negative reinforcement loop for the players - they think they're not trusted to go bold, so it preys on their mind and affects their confidence. Perhaps Voss and the other coaches have watched the boys at training and on game day, and have seen enough to feel their damage limitation policy is justified ? I really wish I knew. I can't help but feel that the key to unlock all this is something simple and obvious, it's right under everyone's noses and they're just not seeing it. I wonder if coaches and players have had a heart to heart like Justin Longmuir and the Freo boys ? Maybe our boys need something like that.

madbluboy, Kuddler and LP all agreeing wow.

i have said this many times, if there was a stat for a team that kicks straight to the opposition our club will be on top

We find them with consistency and precision.

i have said this many times, if there was a stat for a team that kicks straight to the opposition our club will be on top

There is a stats for that, its called a turnover. We are ranked 3 with 832, First are Melb with 867, second are Rich with 842 but they haven't played rnd 12 yet. Strangely, 18th is West Coast with 705.

At his media conference, Vossy mentioned that we were too safe and that when we took some risks and went through the middle we looked much better.

So... who's in charge of our attitude to games? Who's responsible for us playing too safe?

I watched the game again this morning. Perplexed. Not sure I would say we played safe... more like 'unsure.' And I think unsure comes before 'safe'... safe is more a symptom of something else. Confused? Unsure? Lack of confidence = Unsure? Game plan too complex?

Liked the games of those who did appear to attempt at least to 'take the game on' - H, Kemp, Cincotta, Cerra & even Acres. Thought TDK, Saad, Boyd (kept a pretty tight rein on Pickett), Weiters and Kennedy were good. Cottrell & Owies below par. Crippa was serviceable but sure does seem 'out of sorts.'

But no matter how you look at it - individualistic/fragmented.

At his media conference, Vossy mentioned that we were too safe and that when we took some risks and went through the middle we looked much better.

So... who's in charge of our attitude to games? Who's responsible for us playing too safe?

I watched the game again this morning. Perplexed. Not sure I would say we played safe... more like 'unsure.' And I think unsure comes before 'safe'... safe is more a symptom of something else. Confused? Unsure? Lack of confidence = Unsure? Game plan too complex?

Liked the games of those who did appear to attempt at least to 'take the game on' - H, Kemp, Cincotta, Cerra & even Acres. Thought TDK, Saad, Boyd (kept a pretty tight rein on Pickett), Weiters and Kennedy were good. Cottrell & Owies below par. Crippa was serviceable but sure does seem 'out of sorts.'

But no matter how you look at it - individualistic/fragmented.

One last thing - LOB, hand in the #4 guernsey, son, just not up to it.   Get the Binns kid in for the rest of the year.