Carlton Supporters Club

Cooper Lord continuing to be very busy, may be our best. 

Lord is a handy type but like Binns a lightly built player who needs more size to play senior footy but he can find the footy which is important.
Carroll and McMahon to me are the standouts in this team, more class and composure than the others and more senior ready if in McMahons case he ever gets drafted.
Mirkov again won his fair share of hitouts but I wasnt impressed....
Sam Durdin was well beaten by a young kid called Gray and Lewis Young looks disinterested. Marchbank unsighted and Cuningham showed glimpses of form but faded. Moir kicked a goal but was unsighted otherwise.
Lemmey later and Akuei early showed some good form but dont play four quarters...

We were very top heavy. Cuningham half a game, Motlop not at all and Wilson out really limited our run. Liked Lemmey and like it when Akuei is on the ball. They should try playing him on the wing. Winning the Reserves has never been the priority at Carlton it has always been about developing players for the firsts. I don't think there is much future in Big Durdin. Pretty disappointing end result but I would rather win by 10 goals in the AFL than win by six in the VFL.

I read what you’re saying but if not big durds, who covers if Weitering gets hit by a bus ?
No one IS Weiters replacement, but we need someone of a similar physical build to play in his position with help from others…

We need to recruit a player like Blight who played his first game today for Richmond and looked the part....they wont be Weitering in the short term but they can learn from him if we get that player sooner than later.
Sam Durdin is a good clubman but has his limitations as he showed today and doesnt have any upside. He had four kicked on him by a kid called Campbell Gray who was the Tigers second mid season rookie pick from Essendons VFL team and Id be letting Sam go at seasons end if we can get a younger State League CHB with size.

It's too early to go the crow on the viability of MSD candidates, they are newbies and in the short term they live in a honeymoon period until opponents have collected enough information on their habits.

Point is S Durdin isn't the answer and we should be looking for an apprentice for Weitering now. If he gets injured and we have nothing suitable to bring in as cover we can probably forget about winning a GF.Recruiting a player like Lord is ok but not a high priority Imho.

We didn't have Weitering early in the year and Durdin didn't play. We have young and Marchbank playing down back so I would say it would be one of them. I am not having a go at Durdin but I think it is time to move on. I don't think he is going to get any better.

Sam wasn't available - suspension and injury. 

He is on a par with Young and could do a reasonable job if required.  He's cheap too.

By all means add a young KPD to the list but you have to keep injury cover until they're ready to step up ... in a year or two.

I think Sam Durdin is a better ball user than Young, not sure who out of Young and S.Durdin is the best fit besides McGovern and Kemp if Weiters is missing. Maybe Marchbank is the best choice if fit.

I think Sam Durdin is a better ball user than Young, not sure who out of Young and S.Durdin is the best fit besides McGovern and Kemp if Weiters is missing. Maybe Marchbank is the best choice if fit.

Young and S.Durdin struggle vs kids from the burbs in the VFL, Marchbank isnt big enough(I know you think size doesnt matter😉 ) imo. If I had to make a choice it would be playing/keeping Young as he showed in his first year with us he can play decent football, as I have said many times I would love to know what has gone wrong with him and get it fixed but we cant keep hoping he will turn it around and need to keep moving forward and build depth by adding another KP or two to have some cover.

Weiters and McGovern would struggle with the ball coming in that fast and that often.  Team defence isn't really a feature of our VFL team.

Weiters and McGovern would struggle with the ball coming in that fast and that often.  Team defence isn't really a feature of our VFL team.

Not sure about that djc.  They'd have a picnic and probably organise the troops better.  I've seen weiters play vfl once.  Something astonishing like 25 intercept marks vs Frankston was the statistic

Even orazio got leather poisoning at vfl level. It's why it's so frustrating seeing a team full of afl listed players have effectively no idea.

Good point Thry, Weiters could probably cope with anything a VFL side could produce.  However, Sam Durdin and Lewis Young would probably play much better with teammates like Saad, Newman, McGovern alongside them.

While our VFL side may have plenty of AFL listed players, only Marchbank, Young, Durdin X 2 and Cuningham have decent AFL experience; Moir, Binns, Lemmey, Lord, Mirkov, Monahan and Akuei have one game between them.

Who slipped Aliir Aliir into Dom Akuei's jumper?  He looks a footballer for the first time ever. 

One of the real problem with Akuei's growth and development has been the fact that he's played back, forward, ruck, even the wing, and not been able to settle into a position. He's a slow burn type of player. He's gone to the back line and ruck for this year, what's his position? Perhaps keep playing him as a second ruck for the rest of the year? Arguably with O'Keeffe out of the side, it may have came out of necessity. But this means he doesn't play permanently as a defender. Still, it looks like he's really showing something there. If he keeps going the way he is in that role, then he's a real chance of becoming a category a rookie next year. Clearly he was going to take time to develop, but the signs are there that as a second ruck, he's showing some promise.