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11
Robert Heatley Stand / VFL 2026 Rd 15: Carlton vs Richmond at Carlton
Last post by crashlander -
This match is an away game for us, due to Richmond's 'upgrade' of Punt Rd. It starts at 12:05 on Saturday (4th July).
Richmond are 20th and were very poor against Collingwood. We are 14th and showed something against Werribee. But that does not guarantee that we win.
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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 16 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs West Coast
Last post by PaulP -
Quote from: Gointocarlton – on
Everyone I have spoken to with connections to AFL clubs and in particular Coll and Haw, tell me Wright is a jet and knows what he is doing and his track record is proven. The fact he was hand picked and anointed by Cook is enough for me.
I have no intel on Davies but from what I have seen and heard from him, he seems knowledgeable and  impressive.

I hope that's true. We need the whole club firing on all cylinders if we're going to be consistently successful.
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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 16 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs West Coast
Last post by Gointocarlton -
Quote from: PaulP – on
I think the current setup is working because the players are less mentally burdened, and because Fraser the Amazer has taken 2.5-3 quarter good efforts and turned them into 3.5-4 quarter efforts. He deserves credit for that. However it's completely inaccurate to think that one individual (an inexperience caretaker coach no less) can take an entire organization from zero to hero in seven days, and keep it going for 6 weeks. There's no way that can be true. A football club is massive, with significant inertia and investment in training loads and methods, personnel, game style etc.

I still have my doubts about Wright and Davies.
Everyone I have spoken to with connections to AFL clubs and in particular Coll and Haw, tell me Wright is a jet and knows what he is doing and his track record is proven. The fact he was hand picked and anointed by Cook is enough for me.
I have no intel on Davies but from what I have seen and heard from him, he seems knowledgeable and  impressive.
14
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: VFL Rd 14 2026 Carlton vs Werribee
Last post by crashlander -
Just finished watching the replay. Very frustrating, but a significant improvement over the last couple of weeks. It seemed to mean a bit more to a few of ours. Not enough, though. Werribee always had the belief and it paid off in the end.

[1] Clearances: we won on the day, but were smashed early and late. Still, Werribee consider clearances their strength and we beat them on the day.
However, did we get much out of them? No, I can't say they did. We really struggled to get the ball forward in a meaningful manner.

[2] Rucks: I mentioned earlier in this thread that Riley tends to get a lot of taps, but hasn't done much around the ground this year. He must have read that, as he was much better around the ground. I couldn't say he was good, but he was improved.
15 disposals, 5 marks and 6 tackles is a positive. Unfortunately, his kicking was totally faecal.
He was probably beaten on the day by Kuol Mun, but Kuol Mun actually leads the VFL in taps. So, Riley wasn't bad at all.
O'Keefe, on the other hand, had a lot of trouble influencing the game. He kicked 2 points from 4 shots, and didn't have a possession to half time. We saw some leap in the ruck, but not enough.

[3] We had a lot more of the ball, but our chains of handball only worked a handful of times. When we were good, we were excellent, but we weren't fluent very often.
On the other hand, they had 20 frees, while we struggled to get 10. Holding the ball didn't exist; no rewards for tackling at all. Some of the not paid frees were ... dreadful.

[4] Some of our players:
(a) Flynn Young: when he does something, it looks good, but he didn't do anywhere near enough. Mind you, we didn't make it easy for him. We moved the ball slowly far too often and couldn't hit anyone on the lead. Young does his best work when he plays like Brad Pearce.
(b) Lewis Young: Lewis had 22 possessions and 10 marks, but his opponents kept kicking goals on him. Take those goals out and we win comfortably. Not looking close to a senior recall unless some disaster happens.
(c) Matt Duffy: 3 possessions and no marks, he really didn't impact the game at all. Playing forward doesn't appear to be his thing. But he was moving very poorly, 'lumbering' was probably the best description. For a guy whose strength was his run, it bodes terribly. I can't see him with us next year.
(d) Lachie Fogarty: 27 possessions, 8 clearances and 8 tackles sounds really good, but he wasn't that effective. God knows he tries hard, but we needed more than that.
(e) Lucas Camporeale: Lucas started slowly, but worked his way into the game. He is clearly a long way from his best at the moment, as his run and carry just wasn't there, but he did manage to get the ball. Hopefully, he can continue his improvement each week: 28 disposals, 2 tackles and 2 clearances.
(f) Campbell Chesser: It was an 'almost' game from Chesser. He got the ball 23 times, which is an improvement, and he showed some grit and determination, but his disposals generally didn't hurt. His fumble in the last quarter changed the match, but he wasn't alone in that.
(g) Darcy Tucker: Tucker has been injured for much of the year and he ran out of gas somewhat, but he did show some leadership. 28 possessions, 8 clearances and 2 tackles was a good return.
(h) Ollie Hollands: 30 possessions, 7 tackles and 5 clearances was a good day at the office, but his disposals didn't hurt as much as they could have. Still, you could see that he wanted the pill.
(i) Harry Charleson: 23 possessions, 3 clearances and 1 tackle, but he was actually one of our best. His opponents did nothing, while he was significant. He smothered his brother's shot at goal and kept his opponent quiet.
(j) Darcy Hogg: Darcy had a shocker. He managed 16 possessions but did nothing in the centre, turned the ball over and made less than perfect decisions. Probably the worst game he's played for 2 seasons.
(k) Ashton Moir: Moir was almost invisible in defence, but much better in attack. He kicked 2 good goals and could well have kicked another.
15
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 16 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs West Coast
Last post by RiverRat -
Quote from: LP – on
I watched the replay this morning, we played well in moments but were too comfortable about it, like we could pick and choose when to go hard. It's a horrible mindset to have, it sets you up for failure on the biggest stage, we'll be the team who could have if we had chosen to!

Back in our glory days, the era of Dominator and Doull, we never let up, we went harder at it for longer than the opposition and set a standard that intimidated opposition. It become a meme in our 3rd quarters, and ear worm for the opposition that they could not escape. But make no mistake about it, it was driven by the likes of Dominator and Doull, who hit the playing surface every week wishing to obliterate the opponents, not just have a well-managed win.
Different game then - much more stop and start.  These days there is relentless pressure of fatigue associated with the game style.
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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 16 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs West Coast
Last post by Lods -
Quote from: LP – on
I watched the replay this morning, we played well in moments but were too comfortable about it, like we could pick and choose when to go hard. It's a horrible mindset to have, it sets you up for failure on the biggest stage, we'll be the team who could have if we had chosen to!

That probably expresses what I was thinking a I was watching.
It was like we knew we had their measure and just needed to tighten the screws every now and then to keep them in their place.

It one of the reasons I wouldn't be too perturbed if we had a 'down' match just to shock them back into the mindset to keep the pressure on.

As for Fraser....we need to play out the season.
See how he responds in the tough games or losses that may still be ahead of us.
If at the end he decides to put himself through the process both he and the club will have a much better idea if he really is our guy.

Don't take any notice of the 'not ready' comments either from the club or Fraser.
In fact don't' take a lot of notice of any comments around the change.
Everything is very vague..."we haven't changed a lot"
"Simplified" seems to be a buzzword.
I'm not even sure what that means.


17
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 16 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs West Coast
Last post by PaulP -
I think the current setup is working because the players are less mentally burdened, and because Fraser the Amazer has taken 2.5-3 quarter good efforts and turned them into 3.5-4 quarter efforts. He deserves credit for that. However it's completely inaccurate to think that one individual (an inexperience caretaker coach no less) can take an entire organization from zero to hero in seven days, and keep it going for 6 weeks. There's no way that can be true. A football club is massive, with significant inertia and investment in training loads and methods, personnel, game style etc.

I still have my doubts about Wright and Davies.
18
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 16 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs West Coast
Last post by LP -
I watched the replay this morning, we played well in moments but were too comfortable about it, like we could pick and choose when to go hard. It's a horrible mindset to have, it sets you up for failure on the biggest stage, we'll be the team who could have if we had chosen to!

Back in our glory days, the era of Dominator and Doull, we never let up, we went harder at it for longer than the opposition and set a standard that intimidated opposition. It become a meme in our 3rd quarters, and ear worm for the opposition that they could not escape. But make no mistake about it, it was driven by the likes of Dominator and Doull, who hit the playing surface every week wishing to obliterate the opponents, not just have a well-managed win.
19
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 16 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs West Coast
Last post by LP -
Quote from: PaulP – on
I'd love to know what Davies and Wright are thinking right about now.
If you search for it there was an interview with Davies just late last week, I think it was either SEN or Fox Footy, that had Davies basically ruling a line through Fraser stating he has some deficiencies and is not yet ready for senior coaching.

What's interesting to me is that this raises the question, why then is the current setup working? Is it on the players, or is a less autocratic model perhaps the real solution, a solution that most in the AFL can't accept?

We can't know, but I truly suspect Davies comments indicate that at the moment the weekly result is an unsustainable team effort, who'd have thunk it?

To me that's old world thinking, corporate mentality, the opposite of war, and it flies in the face of the concept that a champion team defeats a team of champions. The most effective unit in the military is the small independant unit SAS model, the opposite of Trump's war on Iran, smart and agile is better than overwhelmingly powerful.

AFL is war, break the game down into a set of small independant battles to win, and you are well on the way to victory in any circumstance!

20
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 16 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs West Coast
Last post by Lods -
Quote from: RiverRat – on
I was never particularly impressed with Voss as a match-day coach and I can't help wondering whether Fraser is simply better in this regard - with the benefit of watching the game from an elevated position, instead of from the bench.

Possibly.
You would think though, that Fraser was probably performing that role while Voss was still the coach.
I'm not 100% sure but wouldn't Fraser (or Hansen) have been up in the box relaying thoughts to Voss on the sidelines.
The difference may be we've cut out the "middle man".