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91
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 20 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Brisbane at Marvel
Last post by LP -
You have to pick and choose your battles, and good coaches get the most out of any list.

 Fraser did this with our 2s before, just as he is doing it now with the 1s!

These Norbit business corporate types, that want the coach to be a gun marketer, business analyst, salesmen, etc., etc.., can go and get stuffed. All fans want is a football coach, not a spin doctor! ;)
92
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: Is Lewis Young showing more than ever before?
Last post by shawny -
Quote from: LP – on
At the moment Young is rucking and floating forward, and it's Pitto doing the D50 end, it helped let Harry and Kemp off the hook. Young doesn't have to be as accountable in F50, he can move to space and make himself an option and teams aren't standing a close defender on him, but that won't persist. On top of this, right at the moment at least, he has the perfect coach to get the most out of him by using him in his best role.

In D50 Young gets caught out in no man's land ball watching, he's not needed there at the moment because we have Derksen and Dean doing a job. In this regard he is miles off Weitering, Dean or Derksen, they do no hesitate they just back themselves in to influence the contest.

As I watched last night I was thinking the Lions were making the same mistake with Hipwood that we made with Young, just because someone has the size and shape doesn't mean they will make it as a defender.

As much as I like the two rucks, I suspect when Weitering is back Young might be the out, with Derksen filling the F50 role, Derksen is now probably our 3rd best contested mark and getting better just behind Weitering and Harry. I think Derksen could easily fill the role left vacant by Charlie, and float to wherever he is needed. In my opinion he's a great get, who recruited him?


agree. much easy as a floating PT forward/ruck then being undersized as a key defender.

he is doing well in the new role but equally makes you appreciate the holding down of key posts the 2 kids in dean and dersken are doing ad that is not easy and they have held up extremely well considering neither have played 20 games!
93
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 20 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Brisbane at Marvel
Last post by kruddler -
The reason the list needs work is because we have holes.
Sure, everyone has holes.
But, some holes we have no cover for.
Imagine we had a good run with injuries, and were like Freo, sitting pretty on top of the ladder. Then we lose a couple players in key areas, which leads to poor results, which leads to more injuries, etc Season gone.

Won't/Can't happen?

Remember when we were 2 games clear in 2nd place a few years ago? Its already happened.....and we are more susceptable to that kind of fall now.

If we lost Harry and lost Kemp......how could we cover them?
94
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 20 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Brisbane at Marvel
Last post by shawny -
Too many fans think because we have holes we cant compete for a flag.

Go thru the last 10 premiers and theres holes on there list and most will have several areas needing work or no depth in some areas. Nothing is every the finished piece as injuries can ruin the best plans.

You need a consistsnt strong list, playing confidently, mentally strong, with a good coach and then have a decent run with injuries and then get some 50/50 big calls in big moments your way lock straight when it matters and a list with holes will be very hard to topple.
95
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 20 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Brisbane at Marvel
Last post by LP -
I don't think the list needs much, and I've been saying as much for the whole season, we are just one or two pieces off being in a position to enter the Top 8, turning more of those close losses into close wins.

The thing is as we are now seeing, a couple of wins instead of a pile of close losses, and the headspace of the entire list changes. It's not a big deal to get those extra wins, as long as the club doesn't b0rk things up.
96
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 20 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Brisbane at Marvel
Last post by kruddler -
Quote from: PaulP – on
Not really part of this thread, but Davies has stated the club's belief that the list requires "significant work." What exactly he means by that is anyone's guess.

Probably a summary of what every on here has been saying.

We know it needs work.

Can they find the parts to fix it? Thats my biggest concern.
98
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: Is Lewis Young showing more than ever before?
Last post by DJC -
In the game against the Suns, Lewis Young took a mark at CHB, faked a handpass to a teammate behind him, then played on past wrongfooted opponents.  It was not what I would have expected from Young but it now seems to be the way he's playing.  His round the corner goal and deft tap on for Frankie's goal are what you'd expect from a confident player enjoying the game and not feeling pressure to perform.

His ruckwork is barely competitive, but he gives it a crack, and he demands a KPD when he goes forward, making life easier for our other talls.  His work in defence is still his bread and butter.  Although he does tend to be on the end of some defensive breakdowns, we're losing nothing when it's his turn to man an opposition KPF or resting ruck.

Who knows why, I just hope that he can keep it up!
99
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 20 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Brisbane at Marvel
Last post by LordLucifer -
Quote from: bratblue – on
I also have a question...............Will that change your lists?

Kruddler partly answered the question for you but the key issue for me is that a leopard doesn't change its spots.

We definitely have 6-8 who have to go and should go (eg. Saad, Fogarty, Boyd etc), however, there are some who have been playing for their career and have played a little out of their skin doing a Jake Stringer impersonation.

We can wax lyrical or pontificate in theory over why this has happened but when it all boils down, the same question keeps coming up, why have some of these players not done this before ?? 

In the main, we are not talking about the young chaps either, it's the more mature players who were coasting and terribly inconsistent earlier in the year.  

I accept that I am "old school" here but I have always had concerns over players who don't dig in when the going gets tough preferring to just take the weekly pay packet without any remorse or commitment.

These are the players who, IMO, will let you down in a cut-throat final, it's their natural fallback position.

For that reason, I still see a handful of other players who should be shown the door anyway bearing in mind that 10-12 changes is the limit in any one year when it comes to list changes.

Factoring in the need to address the onfield deficiencies we currently have should also have a serious bearing on how many goes and who they are.
100
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 20 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Brisbane at Marvel
Last post by DJC -
I think that Brisbane’s Achille’s heel is lack of depth.  They have three players out injured and Gallop is suspended.  We have eight players out injured, excluding Motlop and Carroll but including Lij Hollands, and we pumped them in the Magoos. Their best 25 is very good, after that, not so much.

Hipwood was a liability in defence for them and that reduced Andrews’ effectiveness, as did our forward set up and ball use.

Draper and Fort may have had the better of Pitto, Harry and Young in hitouts and hitouts to advantage, but I thought that Pitto was the best big man on the ground.  His work at centre ball ups and stoppages helped stop Brisbane making the most of their hitouts to advantage and we won the centre clearances comfortably and just won stoppage clearances, with Pitto managing three of each. Pitto employed different ruck tactics throughout the game and didn’t give away any rucklotto frees. He also took three marks, two of them contested.  One resulted in a goal and one was potentially goal saving deep in defence.  That’s what a ruckman should bring.

Kemp’s forward craft has been good but he has been let down by his kicking for goal.  What a turnaround with 5.1, a goal assist, and nine score involvements.  He also did his bit providing a target when we went down the line.

What really stood out for me was the contribution from our “bottom six”, the whipping boys if you will.  Acres, Cottrell, Lord (back to his best), Young, Cerra (great game) and Evans all played their part.  The youngsters in Smith, Dean, Byrner, Wilson and Cowan were great and our older newbie in Derksen is playing like a veteran.

Harry’s importance to the team was emphasised by his ten marks, many of them as a marking target down the line, as well as inside 50.

The skipper had a quiet night by his standards but he still cracked in.  I was disappointed that he didn’t quite get to be our seventeenth goal scorer, but I suspect that he wasn’t too fussed.  It was good to see him enjoying the last quarter of his 250th, as did Haynes.

Our three imports in Hayward, Florent and Ainsworth have made a big difference with their attitude, endeavour and footy smarts and all were important last night.

The players I haven’t mentioned were either good, very good or outstanding; they know who they are!

And it was good to see Fraser giving credit to the assistant coaches for their work since the pre-season.