Carlton Supporters Club

and some inexplicable decisions

Yep, I think it's almost a given that he will take that step. Big men always take time and Cas was as raw as they come.

Biggest positive for me was a trait of the better teams that has been missing from the Blues for many years - namely, creating fierce pressure by aggressively closing on the player who is about to receive the ball instead of waiting until he gets it and then simply trying to corral him.

The players were excellent in this regard until they started to run out of legs and the difference from previous years was stark.

The fact that we no longer had soft-cocks Menzel and Yarran probably helped - they were two who rarely tried to close down an opponent until he had already gained possession and then they used to have a think about it before doing anything.

Despite some negative comments about Gibbs, I though he also showed willingness to improve in this area.

That's what we said about Hampson for five years or more, and anyone who called him for the spud he is was shouted down.
Levi is what, 26 or so?
What you see is what you get.

Throwing a theory out there - what if we didn't use Murphy and Gibbs in the middle any more?

Against decent opposition both go to water and suck the rest of the team down the vortex they leave behind.

Can we shuffle them out to the flanks / wings where they might be All Australian quality? Gibbs off half-back. Murphy as a small forward / wingman.

Hand the midfield to Cripps to lead with rotations between more accountable players like Whiley, Kerridge, Curnow, Plowman, Tutt, etc.?

Murphy and Gibbs are 3 quarters of our problem in my opinion. Too easy to beat. They do not make it hard enough for their opponents, they let the team down with little or no accountability and unless it's all flowing their way are a liability.

The 2 of them are p1ssweak but they have that "best of a bad lot" position on our list so nobody cares.

Leave them out of the midfield plans and we might be able to build something worthwhile.

Throw it out there all you like but I doubt whether Bolton will share your view. 

Throw it out there all you like but I doubt whether Bolton will share your view. 

still think we'll beat Richmond round 1

Hampson took one contested mark in 5 years.

Compare him to Hawkins who is 2 years his senior, has played in a quality side and took a similar time to come of age as a presence.

You're kidding right?
Podsiadly went down early in the 2011 Grand Final and Hawkins played the game of his life, at age 23.
For the record, 19 touches, 15 of them contested, 9 marks and 3 goals 3, 3rd in the Norm Smith behind Bartel and Sellwood.
The biggest problem with Levi is that if he takes a mark outside scoring range Carlton is 50/50 at best to get the next possession, and watching him again last night nothing has changed on that score.
He's a better footballer than Hampson but that wouldn't be hard, Hampson is the worst footballer to ever play 50 games in Navy Blue.