Carlton Supporters Club

Today was humiliating. There is no other way of describing it. We haven't learnt anything from last year.
[1] There are others who may not agree, but Gawn's game today showed why having a decent ruckman is a necessity. He lifted and dragged his midfield with him. Pitto tried his heart out, but he isn't a top ruck.
HOK has also gone backwards, which doesn't help us at all. Reidy doesn't look like the answer either, although he does, at least, get a few possessions.
We need a top ruck if we are to ever get back to being a contender! We had one but he is no longer at the club!!

[2] Our fitness levels remain suspect. Our 1st quarter was as good as any played this season, but after that ...        Not fitness. Its mental. I remember an interview with Florent after the first game and he said that all the clubs have the same fitness base and that it is more of a mental issue.
This was clear last year, yet we don't appear to have addressed it at all. If anything, we conk our earlier. We've been in front at half time in all of our games, again! Yet, we've won one and were lucky to do so.

[3] Our disposal: Another point we noted last year. Has it improved? Well, I couldn't say yes. Our disposal at times was diabolical. Nothings changed!!

[4] Our decision making also appears no better. Again, it was obvious last year. Nothings changed!!

[5] Our style of play: it was incredibly obvious that we our game style needs work.
(a) We don't stay close enough, or put enough physical pressure on to make a difference. That was so obvious when you looked at Talor Byrne's efforts, which really stood out.
(b) we don't lead and we don't honour a lead. We just fill in the spaces, so there is nowhere to run into. Instead we kick long down the line to a contest, which was so predictable to the opposition that they know what we're doing better than our players do.
(c) Run and carry: after quarter time we barely had any. Melbourne continually had guys open because they ran hard and kicked long. We stopped until everyone was covered before we tried to kick.
(d) We don't run with anybody. Opposition good players feast out on us as nobody picks them up. Pickett doesn't get a kick on a negative player who sticks close to him. But allow him to run around and he kills you!
(e) We kick the ball to the opposition's netter players instead of to ours. The number of times we kicked the ball to Gawn was ghastly!

[6] Psychological help: we clearly need it, as we lack belief. We don't think quickly. We make poor decisions. Most of that can be cured if we have faith in our teammates. We don't. We really need to have this self-belief if we are to improve.

[7] Leadership: we really are missing a fair bit there. Our 'leaders' don't go the extra mile. When things get hard, they don't stand up. Melbourne's leaders really stood up when it was needed. Ours did not. We cannot afford that.

I don not think Voss will be coaching us next year. No matter how well he might speak, his tenure has been one of lack of leadership, being unable to run out games, not being able to react to changes and not improving our game plan.
I don't know who our next coach may be, but we need one. We have issues that need addressing and Voss isn't doing the job.

On a positive note, Talor Byrne had a great debut for the club. A great first game. A goal with his first kick after using his body to edge out the Melbourne player and a couple of great bumps to clear the way for a couple of goals. Nice work young man and good luck for the future.

Quote from: crashlander – on Today at 08:53:46 pm

It has been an embarrassing day for Carlton, but it certainly didn't start the way it should have.
Carlton 12 - 7 - 79
Williamstown 12 - 12 - 84

[1] We haven't beaten Williamstown yet in this iteration of our 2nds. That is simply unacceptable! Granted that our VFL program has been turned on its head, with Power replaced by Truslove (and most of the other coaches as well), but with so many AFL LISTED PLAYERS, we should not be losing to VFL clubs!

[2] To start so poorly is unprofessional, especially as we don't run out games.

[3] To have Mirkov beat Reidy in the ruck is awful. For all his limitations, Mirkov gave his mids first look. That bodes terribly for Reidy. And it bodes terribly for Carlton as a team, as we badly needed Reidy to step up.
The positive was Reidy's work around the ground: 20 disposals is a positive. But it doesn't give our mids the service they need.

[4] Williamstown had the 3 top possession getters on the ground: FitzGerald, Hall-Kahan & Toner. And yet, did we have anyone run with them?
Our lack of run-with players is terribly obvious in the seniors, but it seems that there is nobody doing the job in the VFL.

[5] Nick Haynes: 13 marks. Nobody else got close to that. If he has done his hamstring, then we've lost something.

[6] Nic Newman: I was hoping that we wouldn't need Nic much any longer, but he does something few of our defenders do, he wins one on one possessions. His lack of pace might be an issue, but there is still a place for him in the seniors.

[7] Other than Flynn Young, who kicks our goals?

How did all the other senior listed players go? Moir, the Campos? The Irish guys?