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91
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 5 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Adelaide
Last post by LP -
I thought H was good and don't get the criticism. He attacked the contest and often did his job, but he must work on taking one grab marks.
I don't think there is general criticism or negativity of H, but for someone his size he isn't the physical threatening presence you normally expect, like Cameron or King. You won't find a KPD being walked off concussed from one of H's big knees in the back of the head, but he competes and wins or draws fair contests, we as a team do not take advantage of that.

There is something to be said about becoming a team that is difficult to play against, I'm not sure that we are.
92
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 5 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Adelaide
Last post by LP -
Cripps is continually getting pinged for high contact, opponents basically burrow their head into him and he's got no hope of avoiding the contact that happens.

I'd coach him and Pitto to stride forward lifting his knees higher in the stoppages, if small opponents want to draw that type of contact make it come at a price, but I don't think Cripps is the type, Pitto might have a crack though!

Some see that as a no win scenario, quid pro quo, but you only have to create it once or twice and the hesitation becomes institutional in every game except the GF.
93
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 5 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Adelaide
Last post by Baggers -
Ive given it a bit of thought, and the same issues we complain about are still there.

Im going to comment on this from a what can our boys control perspective, rather than a what happened perspective.

Our inability to hit a target is very much a problem.  I think we would previously have kicked to a down the line contest, hoping to force it out of bounds, or into a contested situation which would help us relieve pressure down back.  The new out of bounds interpretation hurts us more than others here, because of our composition down back.  Our back 6 is not a running back 6.  there is no rebound, or speed or run being provided from it, so this is why our kicks are often forced down the line.  The only alternative to it we have is to kick to the corridor, but we dont hit targets either.  Carroll provides it of the ones that played last night, but you are not going to get much rebound or run from Haynes, Young, Derkson, Cowan (who does get up more, but has a defensive bone, and is often minding a dangerous forward), Newman gives a little bit of drive, but he isnt a rory laird, or millera type either.  Florent seems to go better on a wing.  Keep him forward of the ball, was a contributer to our early run of form. 

For a team that relies on contest, our ability to compete at times is absolutely abhorrent.  The constant going to ground drives me spare.  Derkson cost us a goal doing it (although in fairness to him, he somehow ended up on Rachelle and then he was in all sorts).

Harry goes to ground far too easily and im not sure why he isnt instructed to either push off and gain separation, or fly into packs.  He has had the biggest fall from his 2021 form.  Im not sure what changed with him, maybe its all the head knocks and he has gone conservative?  Not sure, but he is a big friendly giant, and needs to throw his weight around more. 

Our entries into forward 50 were a real contrast last night.  Adelaide were able to hit targets, and find players out in space, and kick it to advantage.  We tend to kick to dangerous spots, and then contest around those spots instead.  Until we tidy that up, we wont achieve a lot.  In the wet, that tactic will work, as it causes a bit of chaos and contest and thats it.  

We are not a high scoring team, and as soon as Adelaide got to 12 goals, I knew our day was done, because we just dont have it in us to kick 15 goals.  Its not new, we have struggled to kick a big score for a while, and it wasnt that long ago that we posted a 100point score for the first time in years.  This will continue with our current avenues to goal.  Ainsworth and Mcgovern are our most dangerous forwards, the rest are conditional on things going their way. 

The rain absolutely helped us out here.  It nullified the Crows polish, and dragged them down to our level, as well as stopped them chopping off a lot of our forward forays and turn the game into more of a wet weather slog.  Ultimately the lack of nous and smarts in our team, is the part that really kills me, when we just do stupid stuff, like try play on quick, when we are in go slow territory, and then miss the next kick.  We were setup to press again at one point last night, and instead of mark kicking to change the angle, at some point we did stupid handball backwards to Jordan Boyd, and the next kick fell short of his target, which resulted in a against the tide goal to the Crows.  Boyds execution was a problem, but why play on in the corridor with a backwards handball?  What did I say last week about banning a handball in the defensive 1/3 of the ground when we are setup forward of the ball?  You could have torped it 50 metres into our forward line with a rainmaker and been more effective.

A good read and really thoughtful, 3 Leos. And it would be difficult and contrary to disagree with anything you wrote.

One of my favourite words in the English language is... 'and.'

I agree with what you wrote. And...

I saw what we're trying to do. I like it.

Some observations: There was a little more creativity and risk. Yes, Derks gave up a goal when he left his opponent, but he was attempting to help out his mate and take a handball to take the game on.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, when we hunt we look much better. We lost the hunt with our early 2nd qtr experiment of Crippa on the bench and Walshy up forward. Exposed a weakness, a gaping hole in our midfield mix.

Yes, the conditions suited us in the 2nd half. Haynsey -- who did better than his VFL form suggested -- admitted it helped him when the game became a slog-fest in the 2nd half rain. Helped a few of our slower lads, also.

We were cruelled by a few blatantly wrong umpiring decisions. Couple of throws from the Croweaters were decisive... for them and against us. And those handballs over the head are throws, throws, which both sides got away with.

The between the arcs, 'slingshot' frees are a debacle. They confuse players and umpires and stopping the game to review the last touch defeats the fkng purpose!

When the heat came in the 2nd half, a more recent cue for us to capitulate - we didn't. The fight and spirit was excellent.

Ainsworth stood up at valuable times: a really good inclusion.

Kemp aint a forward, he just doesn't think like a forward. Midfield? Defence?

I thought H was good and don't get the criticism. He attacked the contest and often did his job, but he must work on taking one grab marks.

What has happened to Boyd? He seems to have lost confidence and is being too careful.

Some other positives: Derks. The Byrner... this kid is rarely beaten in a contest, and has 2nd, 3rd, 4th efforts to burn (sorry). Bounces from contest to contest like a champ. Thank the gods for Newman, Carroll and Pitto.

Concerns: Cerra confuses me. He gets plenty of the aggot but seems to fail to do so with any authority or impact.
HOK. This was a mistake selecting him. His form was reflective of his VFL form... all at sea. Should have been F Young or Billy Wilson.
Florent does so much that is good, plenty... but his disposal lets him down. Work on it, fella.

With valuable returns next week, I reckon we're in with a really good chance. Dean will likely replace Derks but I think Derks should be tried up forward and Kemp given a stint in the Magoos and experimented with as a midfield. Weiters for Young? Be an interesting Wednesday at the selection table.

All-in-all, I think we're (slowly) heading in the right direction.
94
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 5 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Adelaide
Last post by LP -
I think tactically we are making an error.

Last night from late in the 1st and early in the 2nd, the Crows surrendered the front spot in the midfield and basically started the momentum shift by forcing turnovers from whoever we had on the spot. Our natural tendency is to try and pick up the footy, and when we turn it over we try and tackle to create the holding the ball free. It's pointless because the circumstance doesn't suit our list, especially if we can't be clean, and when tackled opponents drop the footy cold on their terms to favour their team, and it often becomes a foot race into any available free space, which more often than not we lose.

I'd be surrendering the front position, and instead of tackling I'd be training to knock the footy free in the tackle on our terms rather than allowing the opponents to drop it on their terms. Don't trap it, but don't let it favour the opposition either, make it a contest that favours the bigger, slower, heavier bodies that expect the ball to be on the ground.
95
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 5 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Adelaide
Last post by LP -
Coming out of this game, a couple of positives.

Haynes back, if he can stay on the park, will make a huge difference when Weiters returns, assuming we can get Weiters, Haynes and Newman all out there together, at least for this season. I think there will be many changes next round.

Walsh gets better every game, a good sign for a bloke who has just earned a hefty long-term term deal, he is far from putting his cue in the rack.

Our midfield at the moment is Cripps, Walsh >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> whoever. We need to find them genuine support so they have some longevity, in each game and in their remaining career.

Kemp is going nowhere as a F50 target, he's unnatural at it and consequently predictable, Cripps is much the same. They have a role as a pinch hitter, but not in perpetuity. Moving Gov into D50 to try and stop the bleeding comes with too high of a price, we have no release valve when Harry is solo. Harry is effective on the aerobic scale, but he's not a physically intimidating type other than his height, and he's a terrible wet weather mark for someone with such a clear reach advantage. Even so nobody is going to outmark him, so where in the hell were the guys who are meant to be crumbing?

Fans complain about our kicking to contests in F50, but there is a reason for it. So often it is a contest because we are predictable and every opponent knows the ball is going 9 out of 10 entries, the opposition are there in the zone waiting. It won't ever change until we see players creating space in F50, and we use those options, and that will be hard for us as a team because we are nearly always slower than the opposition. Ainsworth is a ray of hope, he's capable.

As a group we have such a lack of physical presence that we do not even mark when we have a 2 on 1 in our favour, a couple of times you saw two Carlton players at the fall of the ball, in the clear free of opponents, yet punch the footy! Who's talking, how can this be, where is the teamwork?

I'd give up on Kemp in F50, he should perhaps have midfield time just as a chop out for Cripps, if for nothing else but to have a role in stalling the momentum swings. Hayward might also be useful, but I do expect Hewett to return.
96
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 5 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Adelaide
Last post by LP -
@Thryleon good post, much of what I've been staying for a while now, I'm glad it's not just me that sees it.

For me even Gov goes to ground too easily.

The tell for me is most of our blokes get up and play on in the absence of further treatment, it's a Carlton pandemic and a further sign of headspace issues, a lack of physical resilience brought on by a lack of mental resilience. Pavlov's Dogs, but are they naturally so or is this a creation of our own doing?

97
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 5 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Adelaide
Last post by Thryleon -
Ive given it a bit of thought, and the same issues we complain about are still there.

Im going to comment on this from a what can our boys control perspective, rather than a what happened perspective.

Our inability to hit a target is very much a problem.  I think we would previously have kicked to a down the line contest, hoping to force it out of bounds, or into a contested situation which would help us relieve pressure down back.  The new out of bounds interpretation hurts us more than others here, because of our composition down back.  Our back 6 is not a running back 6.  there is no rebound, or speed or run being provided from it, so this is why our kicks are often forced down the line.  The only alternative to it we have is to kick to the corridor, but we dont hit targets either.  Carroll provides it of the ones that played last night, but you are not going to get much rebound or run from Haynes, Young, Derkson, Cowan (who does get up more, but has a defensive bone, and is often minding a dangerous forward), Newman gives a little bit of drive, but he isnt a rory laird, or millera type either.  Florent seems to go better on a wing.  Keep him forward of the ball, was a contributer to our early run of form. 

For a team that relies on contest, our ability to compete at times is absolutely abhorrent.  The constant going to ground drives me spare.  Derkson cost us a goal doing it (although in fairness to him, he somehow ended up on Rachelle and then he was in all sorts).

Harry goes to ground far too easily and im not sure why he isnt instructed to either push off and gain separation, or fly into packs.  He has had the biggest fall from his 2021 form.  Im not sure what changed with him, maybe its all the head knocks and he has gone conservative?  Not sure, but he is a big friendly giant, and needs to throw his weight around more. 

Our entries into forward 50 were a real contrast last night.  Adelaide were able to hit targets, and find players out in space, and kick it to advantage.  We tend to kick to dangerous spots, and then contest around those spots instead.  Until we tidy that up, we wont achieve a lot.  In the wet, that tactic will work, as it causes a bit of chaos and contest and thats it.  

We are not a high scoring team, and as soon as Adelaide got to 12 goals, I knew our day was done, because we just dont have it in us to kick 15 goals.  Its not new, we have struggled to kick a big score for a while, and it wasnt that long ago that we posted a 100point score for the first time in years.  This will continue with our current avenues to goal.  Ainsworth and Mcgovern are our most dangerous forwards, the rest are conditional on things going their way. 

The rain absolutely helped us out here.  It nullified the Crows polish, and dragged them down to our level, as well as stopped them chopping off a lot of our forward forays and turn the game into more of a wet weather slog.  Ultimately the lack of nous and smarts in our team, is the part that really kills me, when we just do stupid stuff, like try play on quick, when we are in go slow territory, and then miss the next kick.  We were setup to press again at one point last night, and instead of mark kicking to change the angle, at some point we did stupid handball backwards to Jordan Boyd, and the next kick fell short of his target, which resulted in a against the tide goal to the Crows.  Boyds execution was a problem, but why play on in the corridor with a backwards handball?  What did I say last week about banning a handball in the defensive 1/3 of the ground when we are setup forward of the ball?  You could have torped it 50 metres into our forward line with a rainmaker and been more effective.
99
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 5 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Adelaide
Last post by Lods -
I'm not feeling as negative as some...

Lots of suggestions for things to fix.
Areas where we need to be better.
Many are valid.
The run on goals was still there last night.
Improvements aren't going to come all at one time.
So we should take the  little improvements where they come.

In the bigger scheme of things we were comfortably beaten by a better team.

But we weren't disgraced and played a team who...

Were on their home turf...one were we usually struggle.
Were minor premiers in 2025
Have beaten Collingwood
Lost to the Western Bulldogs by the current ladder leader by 6 points
Lost to Geelong, last years grand finalist by 8 points
Lost to Fremantle currently sitting 4th by 2 points.

They may not have been winning games but they're matching it with the best.
We matched them for large portions of the game
Were actually better for periods of the game...missing our key defender.
We lost the game in about ten minutes of the 'usual' lapse, but kept fighting.
The rain may have helped, but well into the last quarter we were competitive (in the play, if not on the scoreboard) so I suspect it's not the 'fitness' issue some suggested.

Not happy to lose.
But I thought there was enough improvement there that will be the 'theme' of the week, rather than the 'coach sacking' talk.




Honorable loss time again

Nah
I don't think I've ever used that term.
A loss is a loss.
It's particularly harder when you've predicted we'll match or exceed our 2025 ladder position.

But you take the "little bit betters" when you can.
Because a few weeks of 'little bit better' and you end up with much better.
What we can't afford and what some expected was a massive drubbing.

Watch the media his week.
It will still be Voss under pressure but there will also be talk of some positives. Things that if we fix up, may set us on the path to actually winning a few games.
100
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 5 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Adelaide
Last post by shawny -
They 'complained' about the umpiring last week.

That may be the trick.
We should take our 'diary' to the AFL this week.

On another point...did anyone else notice we tried the old "over the head not looking handball" a few times last night.

This is another pet hate of our current list and club.

We are too nice and too honest to play the game like the better teams do to maximize results and give us any edge. Examples of last night, Tex gets hit in the back in a marking contest and flops holding his head and sucks the umpiring into a 50. Adel player handballs into the shin of our player on the boundary and forces a free. Its within the current rules and not something we would ever think to do. 

Our forwards never exaggerate any pressures, any push/shove to the back to help the umpire see it they just hope the umpires pick it up.

The umpiring last night was very poor yet we never complain like other coaches in post match pressers. If the umpiring last night was against a Hardwick, C Scott, Nicks, etc coached team it would be raised strongly and clearly in the presser. Not us we cope it on the chin and move on to next weeks upcoming loss.