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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.
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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!

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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: 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".
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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 16 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs West Coast
Last post by Baggers -
Gotta love what the club is showing and producing at present. No other club would be looking at us as easy beats... especially after half time!! Regaining respect, but still a way to go.

However...

We have yet to beat a very good side in good form, except for our inexplicable 'thing' over the Pussycats.
We've maintained our strong contest and pressure... well embedded... kudos to Vossy.
I love what Frase is doing, especially he and his coaching group's ability to keep strong contest and pressure and effectively introducing dare, risk, changing angles, playing kids and building other parts of the 'modern' game.
However, I aint on the Frase Express yet. Still too early to call. We've passed some tests well, especially yesterday's good win over someone we should beat. Our performance against the Windy Dills was ordinary.
But the real tests lie ahead. Will we back up yesterday's terrific win with an even better performance against the Tiggers? Then we will learn much more against the Dawks, Rottingwood, Brisvegas, the Aints, a better Dishlickers and D1ckers. They'll do their homework on the 'new Blues' which will tests us even further.

Really impressed with Frase's communication. I don't buy comments of 'simple' around his message. Nuh, anything would seem 'simple' after Vossy's word salads over the years. By comparison Frase seems more focussed on all the basics (and broader strategies), not just say... contest and pressure. And he seems to deliver his message, clearly and directly so the players would know exactly what is expected from them, as individuals and a team. That aint 'simple' that's a fundamentals focus which, when done right, builds iron foundations and beams stuff.

And the MC is now getting it right... no sentimental faves getting games with ordinary form! Blokes in the Magoos really have to earn senior selection - that's selection integrity.
And Frase is getting much more from the on-field leaders. The contribution from our on-field leaders has been significantly impactful over the past six weeks. That's buy-in, but... early days. Still a long way to go, but loving what we're doing and how we're 'going for it!'
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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 16 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs West Coast
Last post by Professer E -
The reality Shawny is that the form of the midfield group has directly equated to the team's result.  Cripps et al. were awful during rounds 1 to 8 but have been dominant since then.  And that worries me greatly going forwards because going forwards that's the group we need to re-vitalise.  We can rely on George and Paddy to be competitive.
Where I think we've greatly improved as a coaching group is there seems to be a preference to play blokes in their best positions, pick the right role players and in general far less cockamamie MC choices.
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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 16 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs West Coast
Last post by shawny -
This was one of those 'danger games' when being the hot favorite was pressure we couldn't handle yet we handled it from the first bounce to the siren and won by 10 goals. Another box ticked. 

It was only a few months ago we were all depressed siting second last with one lucky win against the bottom team -most blamed the list saying it was full of holes, we had no youth, trade weitering, trade Cripps etc etc..... then we change the coach and instantly the switch is flicked - 6 wins in a row is not easy and rarely done by the best teams let alone a list full of holes yet there are still those that want to put a negative spin on everything as they can't let the Voss decision go. 

We have a group of kids playing key defensive roles and doing an amazing job and are a lot more even across the ground. We no longer rely on the same 2 key forwards to kick a bag or Cripps to be superman.  The goal spread is so refreshing and what the best teams have. I'm not suggesting our list is perfect or as strong and deep as the top teams but it is nowhere near in as bad a shape as many thought.

We should have Wilson and Bryne added to Jagga and Dean as rising stars nominations and Dean or Jagga should win it.  Get Weitering fit, add Walker and maybe 1 or 2 FA and another 50 games to the kids and IMO the list will be healthy and stronger than its been in the last 2 decades.

Time to let the Voss stuff go as we have a lot to look forward to. ;)

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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 16 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs West Coast
Last post by kruddler -
Quote from: Professer E – on
Didn't think we played particularly well, Eagles applied very little pressure on the ball carrier and set up poorly defensively. We struggled to deal with Reid's pace and explosiveness. Pitto is a wholehearted trier but the new ruck rules have crucified him and appear to have be written to exclusively punish him....it's going to really hurt us against the stronger teams and it's shake your head kind of stuff. Just bewildering.

No doubt the new rules have hurt him. What i noticed having rewatched part of the game was that the umpires are barely throwing it up. If you look at the timing, Williams was running and jumping as soon as the ball left the umpires hands and was reaching the ball at its peak.
This is essentially taking the timing of the jump out of the contest as well.
Previously when bounced, the height would vary. Now the umpires seem to all throw to the same height, at least they all went the same height in the first quarter.

Need to introduce more randomness into it otherwise the jumper always wins.
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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 16 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs West Coast
Last post by Lods -
Not next week.
We need that win...but I reckon it wouldn't be the worst thing to actually drop a game.
Just to get a bit of a check to remind players it's not always going to go our way.
We've seen how they handle the winning.
I'm curious to see how coach and players go when faced with a loss.

It's especially important that we see Fraser coping with a setback if he is going to eventually be part of the process.
It's not a scenario we need to deliberately plan for...it will happen given our draw ahead.
When it does we  just need to realise it's not the end of the world...but an opportunity to assess.