Carlton Supporters Club

Interesting that both you and GTC picked b and only b.

What about Lynch, Cameron and Jenkins?

Interesting that both you and GTC picked b and only b.

I think that we're pretty competitive in most aspects of the game.  What takes the wind out of our sails are the rebound 50s that put our mids and defence under so much pressure.  A couple of elite forwards to improve our forward 50 efficiency and lock the ball in and we'd be on the way 

Pressure on the rebound is not strictly or exclusively related to the forwards ability to win the ball inside F50 or the quality of the forwards. I think it's mostly related to work effort to setup early through the midfield and defense, and the ability of the mids and defense to lock the ball inside F50.

Some of that rebound pressure, perhaps much of it in our case, comes from mindlessly bombing the football into F50! Not something you can fix with better forwards, and I recall it being a major issue at one stage in the past when we had Fev and Betts.

Of course if the forwards don't chase there would be an issue, but I don't see how that is exclusively related to a forwards ability to win the ball.

No it's not.  Locking the ball inside 50 is just as important, as implied in my post 

So you think better forwards fix the problem, even if the mids and defense fail to setup correctly, or if they bomb the ball into F50 mindlessly?

I find it hard to imagine a forward, any forward, good enough to cover for a poor structure or crap ball use, they'd be dead on their feet from chasing after a quarter of footy.

I agree with Paul, as he has already highlighted, that a single factor cannot possible address the issues in isolation. In the Adelaide example, it's clear their mature list maintains structure and applies pressure all over the ground. If they didn't Betts and Walker would be wasted, just a the Fev / Betts combination was wasted in the paste.

I seem to recall that the Fev/Betts combination got us into the finals.

I'm not going to write a freaking thesis on forward structures, ball movement, midfield pressure, defensive set ups, etc but, yes, adding an elite key forward and an elite small forward to our line up would make a huge difference.  Our defence is more than competent, our midfield is better than competitive, and our gameplan is reasonably effective.  The most glaring deficiency is our forward line.  At best, it's a work in progress and we desperately need improved performances from most of our forwards, or new forwards.

I seem to recall that the Fev/Betts combination got us into the finals.

Agree that we lack the capacity to capitalise on our F50 entries and generate some real scoreboard pressure. That let's opposition teams off lightly for their mistakes i.e. we don't really punish them, and leaves our guys wondering what the heck they have to do to build up a strong scoreline to put a team away. I'm certain this will be one of our main focus areas next up.

I reckon the fev/betts combo got us a spoon too.
The post fev forwardline got us deeper/closer to a flag that we did with fev.

Take home point. Its not as simple as that.


FWIW, this is why i had all the 'doom and gloom' about our season/future.

Our midfield, if bested on a given day, is deplorable.....

When we get carted, it's because the midfield has thrown in the towel...

Nt saying that SPS or Fisher or even Cuningham won't make the grade but we're - right now - lacking in this area big time. Well, at least 1 very good mid short....(maybe that was meant to be Daisy?)

Our midfield, if bested on a given day, is deplorable.....

When we get carted, it's because the midfield has thrown in the towel...

Nt saying that SPS or Fisher or even Cuningham won't make the grade but we're - right now - lacking in this area big time. Well, at least 1 very good mid short....(maybe that was meant to be Daisy?)

Just remember we are less than half way through an at least 3 year rebuild..