With Cripps Weitering and McKay, I would be sitting them down at the end of the year and see where they think they are at. If they are happy to be part of a rebuild at Carlton knowing full well they wont be playing in a premiership (or even finals) anytime soon, then great. If however they want out, then like with Charlie we should facilitate trades for them.
As for their leadership, we can only judge from an outsider looking in as we dont know what they are like "close up" and "within the four walls". From that outsiders perspective:
- Harry offers zero and shouldn't be anywhere near the official leadership group. Nor can he be relied on to provide onfield leadership in the way he plays.
- Weitering appears to offer marginally more that Harry, his body language and demeanour this year in particular has been alarming (to me at least). He could form part of the leadership group but VC or Captain, no way.
- Cripps. We all know he tries his absolute heart out and leads the best way he can. However he seems broken and defeated and maybe removing the captaincy from him will lighten the burden for him and freshen him up to go about and do what he does best, win the footy inside. The question is, will he see this as a slap in the face or will he embrace it?
Again, the above is my uneducated opinion based on what it looks like to me. The only ones who know best are their team mates and coaches.
With Cripps Weitering and McKay, I would be sitting them down at the end of the year and see where they think they are at. If they are happy to be part of a rebuild at Carlton knowing full well they wont be playing in a premiership (or even finals) anytime soon, then great. If however they want out, then like with Charlie we should facilitate trades for them.
As for their leadership, we can only judge from an outsider looking in as we dont know what they are like "close up" and "within the four walls". From that outsiders perspective:
- Harry offers zero and shouldn't be anywhere near the official leadership group. Nor can he be relied on to provide onfield leadership in the way he plays.
- Weitering appears to offer marginally more that Harry, his body language and demeanour this year in particular has been alarming (to me at least). He could form part of the leadership group but VC or Captain, no way.
- Cripps. We all know he tries his absolute heart out and leads the best way he can. However he seems broken and defeated and maybe removing the captaincy from him will lighten the burden for him and freshen him up to go about and do what he does best, win the footy inside. The question is, will he see this as a slap in the face or will he embrace it?
Again, the above is my uneducated opinion based on what it looks like to me. The only ones who know best are their team mates and coaches.
Nobody think we're traveling okay, but some of us can see the building blocks and good things that are in place, without the standard supporter call to nuke the joint every four years.
And getting rid of what little leadership we have is a terrible idea. If we do that, we can enjoy the Richmond 2026 brand for the next few years.
King puts the blame on the players, leaders specifically, but says the coach has to go.
Why?
We have players who wont straightline the ball and pull out of marking contests, then we had the five players on the last line of defense who stood and watched while TDK took a mark and none of them contested, they didnt have a man they were just lounging around waiting for the other bloke to contest. Weitering should have been directing traffic as the senior defender but he doesnt care anymore and couldnt be bothered much like when he fumbled at half back but couldnt be bothered chasing back towards goal. Harry Dean would have learnt SFA watching his senior mates perform, we have 13 players with over 100 games and around 4 with over 200 games but you wouldnt know it watching after half time as they looked like directionless farm animals waiting for a Kelpie to herd them...
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/teams/carlton-blues/afl-news-2026-brutal-trade-calls-carlton-must-explore-according-to-david-king-including-jacob-weitering-harry-mckay-and-patrick-cripps/news-story/71eabe60daaa4066dffc4f46d837622d
Interesting summary, and i agree with most of the points he raises...
But many here probably won't,, all the deniers here who think we're travelling ok and just need some minor tweaks and give MV another 3-4 years...
Nobody think we're traveling okay, but some of us can see the building blocks and good things that are in place, without the standard supporter call to nuke the joint every four years.
And getting rid of what little leadership we have is a terrible idea. If we do that, we can enjoy the Richmond 2026 brand for the next few years.