Reality: 1. Early days for Frase - the early crowing by some commentators that Frase should put his hand up for the senior coach gig is frivolous and just plain absurd. As Frase acknowledged -- he strikes me as a realist -- it's a coaching groupeffort... how very socialist 2. There will be a reality check, which may be as early as Friday night against the Pussycats.
I’ll reserve judgement on Fraser, for now. But if Crippa EVER again attempts to kick around the corner on his left from a set shot then we’ll know Josh is simply not up to it 😝
I thought Chris Fagan's press conference was good. Balanced assessment of the game, and said some good, and to my mind, correct things about us.
His post-game pressers are probably the best of all the coaches. Insightful, measured, doesn’t overuse the cliches, but I reckon he never gives up “the good oil”. Didn’t realise he has a Uni degree which is neither here nor there but he’s clearly no dummy.
[3] Our recruiter certainly deserve their share of the blame. Rarely have I seen a list with so little athleticism. We didn't have anyone who could run with St. Kilda's better players. Whose fault is this? We lack pace all over the field. We have few players with real spring. Many of our better players are as slow as treacle!
[4] Our fitness people also need to admit that they've failed. There are reports that our guys have never been fitter. That doesn't stack up. Otherwise, we would be running guys down late in games. Otherwise, opposition players wouldn't break out tackles so easily. Our guys are weak, not just the youngsters, who have some excuse.
Recruiting HAS been horrendous. Where are our ‘buzzy’-type players that hit the ball at speed and create chaos? Think Watson at Hawthorn. I heard the commentator from yesterday’s Brisbane match say they’re the best because they play consistently with precision AND speed - basically the opposite of us.
As if highlighting BOTH of you points above - why is Jagga Smith still so skinny? How come no-one mentored him at the gym during his time out and put some muscle on him? A good weights regime and decent protein laden diet should see any 20 year old bulk up considerably. Instead we’ve got yet another accumulator who doesn’t impact or influence effectively.
Re: E. Hollands - what a freakin’ disgrace. Amateur hour at Carlton like it has been for 30+ years. I’m a former project manager so I want to see the club’s:
Risk Management Plan for player health.
Stakeholder Management Plan showing roles and responsibilities (RACI = Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed. There should only be one ‘A’).
An Issues Management Plan. Usually a flowchart with various ‘STOP’ points. e.g. (for my son) Has mouthguard? Yes = continue, No = STOP
Escalation Management Plan. Can also be a flowchart. Make EVERYONE feel empowered to speak up. If someone brings an issue to a ‘higher up’ they MUST escalate it up the chain until the ultimate arbiter makes a call. For medical issues it would be the club doctor. If something like this was in place it avoids the ‘not my problem’ scenario or post-incident finger pointing.
There’s many more tools and procedures but they’re the bare minimum. If the club can’t produce these for the AFL then I’d be happy to see the book thrown at them.
Pittonet was tired in the last and couldn’t get off the ground. Steene, who has played a total of 4 AFL games, jumped all over him to put it down the throat of Naicos et al. for those early centre breaks.
I see this is as more GOOD coaching by McCrae than anything. Knowing we didn’t have a decent backup, throw the young fellow in early and tell him his opponent who has rucked most of the game is tired and won’t be able to jump.
Of course, it also highlights the fact that Voss seems to be highly reactive rather than a creative tactician. The result is one poor team just got up over the other poor team.
After all the recent rubbish, players and coaches are mentally and emotionally shot.
Certainly looks that way. Williams’ intercepted handball was a p!ssweak effort - rocked back on his heels at the prospect of body on body. Haynes our best. Loved the way he gave it back to Cameron.
Lets not let facts get in the way of good stories by the naysayers.
Oh my god, the negativity. Most of us saw with our own eyes that he almost ALWAYS single-handedly influenced games that were in the balance (and dominated games that were not).
Having watched footy for 50+ years I’ve never been more certain of a Brownlow winner. He deserved every vote and he deserved to win by the length of the straight.
Why does the QB at the Super Bowl inevitably win the MVP? Because they have/had the biggest influence. Anyone whingeing about this has no feel for the game or is a Collingwood supporter.
His best quarters are invariably his 3rd and 4th so his efforts would be fresh in the umps minds when they cast votes (sans stats as others have pointed out) after the siren. Whenever he’s pinged with a free against he just gives the umps that cheeky “you got me” look, gives the ball straight back and gets on with it. That counts for a lot. He is inscrutably fair and I agree with Gerard Whately - it’s a unique quirk that you have to be the “fairest” in this award and it would be a shame to lose that history.
EDIT: I just heard Whateley has been one of those denigrating Crippa’s incredible achievement. I take back what I said. screw him.
Umpires are not idiots. Crippa gets tagged more than any other player but still makes the ball his sole focus. He [almost] never remonstrates or complains when the umps ping him for incorrect disposal or htb (umps would LOVE this). He almost always finishes games strongly which means he would be fresh in their minds when they cast the votes afterwards. There’s not a dirty bone in his body (I see there’s some idiots still going on about Ah Chee getting in his way). He actually smiles on the field like he enjoys being out there. Just a likeable guy.
Maybe our mistake wasn't so much not playing some of these youngsters last night....but not giving them more game time through the year. … The kids settled OK in the final couple of H&A games but finals are different. We'll never know how they would have gone now, but it was probably as big a risk as playing underdone players...and the result may not have been much different.
YES! Absolutely this. More game time during the year - the few games they played showed they were eager and hungry. Exactly the qualities that were missing last night.
Can’t imagine the result would have been any worse but how valuable would such experience be going forward?
Completely disillusioned with the MC’s lack of imagination.
2. There will be a reality check, which may be as early as Friday night against the Pussycats.