We kicked 4 goals in the second half to 7 of Collingwoods who were goalless at half time. Considering the gulf in class a very dissapointing end to the game.
We limp over the line, that game was there to win by 15 goals, we never for it anymore.
I think watching this will highlight one of our big problems, and that is we do not and never have taken VFL seriously, as such the development of our stocking fillers falls dramatically short.
When was the last time you can recall a Carlton player coming in cold from the VFL and doing a job, Cottrell maybe, but even he like Evans took games to settle?
We never get them cherry ripe, and even if they are showing form we tend to run it out of them and wait until they are on the slide before begrudgingly giving them a shot.
btw., This is not a coach or MC issue, because it's been happening for decades, through dozens of coaches and probably hundreds of MC.
My only conclusion today EB is that the medical staff thought it best he be out there with his team mates. Up until 3/4 time he spent 84% TOG. They rested him in the forth and ended up on 60%.
Maybe, but they have to strike a balance as Spock stated!
I know I've piled on about our headspace issues as a team, but this is just another example that there is something horribly wrong with our sports psychology and health departments.
We are a professional organisation, we probably have tens of university-trained professionals circulating among the players pre-game, and yet EH ends up out there!
I feel the chance that they all failed to notice something is negligible.
Addiction is a mental health issue im told. Just a nicer way of saying it
In fairness, addiction is more often than not the consequence of a long series of problems and events, it's rarely the root cause of a problem but a futile attempt to escape from it. That is why it's often starts with and is identified as mental health.
It's no good guessing about last night.
A while back I talked about scary trends in football, from amateur to professional ranks blokes are/were taking high dose paracetamol 1 - 2 hours before games. Pre-emptive self-medication because it stops the pain from in game collisions. But it leads to problems after the game, the AFL don't talk about it but it's endemic and has been for at least two decades. fwiw, It's endemic in rugby as well and most collision based professional sports. A famous past player has even talked about it in the media and it's just glossed over. The professional sports take it even further, handing out prescription only jabs to numb painful conditions. What happens the night after the game when these things wear off?
Same social media reaction, lots of people throwing rocks none of them knew what was going on, lots of guesses most of them 100% wrong.
This is when the Caro's of this world tell you ten versions of the same event, lots or if, but, maybes, this and or that, then weeks or months later come out and write "I told you so!"
Contrast the commentary about Elliott missing goals for the first 3 Qtrs with that of Harry.
btw., As bad as some of the shots at goal might be, the horrendous missing of targets in open play is even worse, but it's not just Carlton doing this in 2026. Games in general are more like episodes of The Keystone Cops than football.
The thing that differentiates us is not the poor skills, we are the same or equal of the rest, it's that a lack of leg speed / closing speed prevents recovering from the initial error, and it also hinders our ability to take a toll on the opposition's errors. Our list needs to be better skilled just to be equal because we have less time and space.
Team mates didn't want a bar of him after the match.
As portrayed by who, the media, the coach, did you ask them?
Didn't Bolton tell you need to become comfortable being uncomfortable?
If we as a team can't deal with this in a serious and respectful manner, show some care and respect for someone besides you in the trenches, how do you seriously expect any of them to deal with the public pressure of AFL?
Everytime the AFL tweak the rules and interpretations they feck it up, instead they should just enforce the rules that are there.
How does the AFL today rationalise H being whacked across the face, is it now legal to hit people in the face as long as you contact the footy, is that the message? If so wait and see what the likes of Larky and King will do! The H incident wasn't some middle of the pack obscured contest, this was in the open clear of all vision obstructions!
In the meantime, the AFL review a pill pinging off sets of legs that were possibly a centimetre inside the boundary line, and ignore a smack in the face that was seemingly obvious to everybody at the ground and on the broadcast but to which the umpires were oblivious. Is the AFL asserting H is a stager for frees, and is this therefore a staging for free crackdown, if so explain the other end of the ground!
Until our club gets good at posing the hard questions in public forums, we'll continue to suffer this cognitive bias in the outcomes of the game. Again for clarity, this isn't deliberate but it's obviously heavily biased in one direction. It's costing us games to the point that opposition coaches have picked up on it and are putting to their advantage.
Watch Dickos get a free kick for two fingers on his waist, then go back and watch the Filth opponent back to the ball, front on to Cripps, grab Cripps jumper by the collar and frog march him away from the fall of the ball for a play on call! The umpire is standing in the camera field of view watching that happen.
Feel your pain, brother GTC. At this stage, we're a shell of the club we grew up with and the brunt of way too many jokes.
@Baggers this stuff is self-perpetuating if you let it, you of all people here on this forum should know that.
Want to know what it feels like to have the Colliwobbles, the putting yips, now you do!
The only way through this is to stick fat, the exact opposite of what most are calling for, this is the front line and it needs quiet controlled and undivided unity to move forward step by step.
We can't be the chaotic numpty waging war against opponents and allies alike, we have to be calm, cold and deliberate like the SAS.
Arguably 5 could be addressed by a good system/coach but we’re a mess. A good side would have smashed Collingwood tonight.
What we saw tonight is typical of the broader AFL standard for 2026, it's a consequence of the continuous play and fatigue being caused by the new rules and interpretations.
All the teams are exhibiting shocking skill levels, the game is being dragged into a new low.
The key difference between the top and the bottom is not the amount of errors they make, it's that those at the top are much better at making opponents pay for those mistakes.
It's been a huge mistake leaving the rules of the game and the implementation of those rules in the hands of the AFL. If anything is needed, it's for amateur footy to wrestle back control of the sports rules and bring footy back.
