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21
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 8 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs St. Kilda
Last post by Gointocarlton -
Quote from: IvanAwfulbigone – on
Quote from: crashlander – on
[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.

So many dropped balls on and off the field.
All great points. I suspect though with Jagga the sole focus would have been getting the knee rehabbed 110%, they may have resulted in compromising size and strength increase. Just guessing, he has time on this side to get bigger and stronger. My view is our kids are the least of our problems.
22
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 8 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs St. Kilda
Last post by IvanAwfulbigone -
Quote from: crashlander – on
[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.

So many dropped balls on and off the field.
23
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 8 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs St. Kilda
Last post by Professer E -
Our problems start and finish in the centre squar;, our set up is abominable and stale.
Our rucks try hard but they are useless under the new rules. Why didn't the club work to get ahead of this?
Our mids are totally unsuited to the modern game. They provide no leadership, no dynamic ball movement and no defensive cover.  They are slow as get out, and don't kick goals.  And now the one wood - contested footy - is gone. So they are passengers and a liability.

George and Lord must play going forwards.
Cerra was a mistake and needs to learn how to become relevant in the seconds.
Cripps should join him but his future looks to be up forward or traded out.
We need to try something else and look for something more dynamic within the centre square - Williams ? (another over rated player), Ainsworth ? The Campos? Anybody.

And gees,didn't the genius MC make another set of stunningly effective decisions again.  If we aren't tanking I've never seen it.
24
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 8 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs St. Kilda
Last post by Gointocarlton -
Quote from: LP – on
Quote from: ElwoodBlues1 – on
Terrible messy game to watch standard wise and the Saints were not much better than us with their skills.
All AFL is currently like this, it's unwatchable chaos. n the past I would. watch multiple games in a weekend, this season it is lucky if I watch four full quarters in total.

LOL, I watch nearly every game and enjoy most of them except ours.
I am not gonna lie, I was watching the Coll Haw game the other night and for the first time EVER, my mind was wondering and I found myself thinking about who I'd convert to if I was to ditch Carlton. The answer was I would barrack for the arch enemy Coll. Yep, big Melb club, tick. The players give there all 99% of the time, they never give up, yes they are well coached but they execute the basics more than well and do the extraordinary often. They have the right mix of rat bags (extroverts) and choir boys (a bit introverted). The group never give up and they are always in game. As an organisation they are stable and well run, have been for a very long time. That stability filters down to the playing group.

Our club is 180 degrees opposite to the above and the results show.
25
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 8 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs St. Kilda
Last post by Lods -
This nonsense has to stop.

It defies belief that a side can control a game for large portions and then in a matter of minutes see any lead disappear and the game gone. You could accept it if it happened once or twice, but every ‘frigging’ single game. It’s now common knowledge that the opposition go into the rooms at half-time and the talk is about how Carlton will probably fade. In post-match interviews the opposition players will pass it off as “yeah, it was mentioned”.

Supporters will have their own opinion as to who or what is to blame but it’s a collective responsibility and no-one should be able to sit back and say if only we had ‘this or that.’ You make do with what you have.
The fact that we can control games for long periods shows the side isn’t completely devoid of talent, but the decline in performance and the fade out half way through a game of some players is staggering, especially amongst our senior players, some of whom are starting to play a very “individual” style of football.

At the moment fans are walking out a three -quarter time, soon they won’t come at all. Members, and maybe even some sponsors, will have second thoughts about their commitment. That can’t be ignored.

It’s probably reached the point where it requires a significant action to reset, a ‘nuclear’ option, and sometimes in that moment good people may need to make way.

We can’t produce another 15 weeks or so of these dominate/capitulate results. Players and coaches all speak of things like ownership and it “being on them” but talk means nothing if you don’t, or can’t, back it up with a response.

One of the problems of a ‘culture of losing and discontent’ is that even with a big cleanout there are often elements that aren’t erased but just remain dormant until they surface again. Players must be getting frustrated and with that frustration comes further division and discontent. Watching Cripps and Weitering leave the field last night and they were deep in a serious conversation…you wonder what their thoughts were in the immediate aftermath. They look across at former team-mates celebrating and enjoying their football and they’re heading to the rooms knowing that all they have to look forward to is another week of criticism and scrutiny.
28
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 8 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs St. Kilda
Last post by Gointocarlton -
Quote from: RiverRat – on
The match committee seemed to make one decision that was out of left field and was moderately effective during the first half; i.e. Cowan running with W-Miller.

Conversely, they made a dumb decision by omitting Lewis Young (not a great player but usually serviceable) when the Aints had two ruckmen who were capable of playing effective roles as tall marking forwards without anybody tall enough to defend against high kicks to the forward line - except Weitering who prefers to play against lesser opponents these days.
That was probably the worst game I have seem from Weiters. He went in to the rooms in the 1st and sat on the bench. Not making excuses but he wasn't right after that, not sure if he got a knock to the ribs or what. In any case, he has shown the last several weeks that his form has been attrocious and he either is down on confidence or doesn't GAF.
Ditto Walsh, Cripps, Cerra, Hayward, H. Walsh and Cripps for example have shown that they can gather lots of stats but they dont impact games with what they do and they make too many errors (turn it over, get caught, miss easy shots etc). The costly errors from senior players is getting worse with every week.
Agree dropping Young was a mistake, he has been FAR from our worst every week, they wont drop the captain and v.captain though can they?
29
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 8 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs St. Kilda
Last post by crashlander -
I have rarely seen such heartless, soulless performances than what I saw tonight. After half time far too many players didn't give a yelp. Don't worry, there is plenty of blame to go around.
[1] Our coach is a dead man walking. He won't be there in 2027, the only question is will he see out the year? If this is what we're going to produce week in and week out, that's not going to happen.
We've changed most of the coaching staff, yet we're doing even worse.
I am sure our coaching panel next year will be significantly different again.
Our game style sucks: we run past for a handball and find there is nobody to kick it to. Our forwards don't move enough in the forward 50. We don't react well to changes in the game. There doesn't appear to be a plan B. We don't seem to set up like the better teams do.

[2] Our players are playing themselves out of a job.
You can blame the coach: he deserves his share of the blame, but it isn't just him. Our players need to take a good, hard look at themselves, as few of them are producing anything close to their best.
If we can recognize what they should be doing, then so should they. But, do we see any sign of it? We see our players getting frustrated, but we see little to rectify the reasons for that frustration. Harry Dean wasn't Robinson Crusoe with his frustration, but his response to it was stupid.

[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.

[5] The Umpires: a cannot miss giving them their place in our disaster. They way the rules were applied tonight was simply diabolical. The ruck frees ... I don't want to go there. But we take it, we don't complain. Our admin needs to get on the front foot and start calling this sh*t out! The way H, for example, gets held almost every time he goes for the ball. How our players get pushed out of contests and the umps just ignore it. I could go on.
30
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 8 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs St. Kilda
Last post by RiverRat -
The match committee seemed to make one decision that was out of left field and was moderately effective during the first half; i.e. Cowan running with W-Miller.

Conversely, they made a dumb decision by omitting Lewis Young (not a great player but usually serviceable) when the Aints had two ruckmen who were capable of playing effective roles as tall marking forwards without anybody tall enough to defend against high kicks to the forward line - except Weitering who prefers to play against lesser opponents these days.