Re: Carlton 2017 - Review
Reply #32 –
Some humble thoughts.
It's difficult to assess our year, clearly and succinctly... and there's still a bit to go. On the surface, Ws and Ls, it is a cr@p year thus far with us sitting 2nd bottom. That is horrible and galling.
Talk of CFC supporters being 'conned' again from the media fuels discontent and suspicions, after all we were conned mercilessly from around 2001 until early 2015. So, this together with another poor year (Ws and Ls wise), makes it hard to be optimistic... and patient... or gullible going into 2018.
However, despite all this 'surface' stuff, it would seem 'the new team' has done everything we asked them to do... no more quick fixes, no more saviours and FFS not another Messiah! But, if we look similar to where we are now this time next year then I think the word conned will have grown big muscular legs.
As difficult as it is, to be really objective, I think it only reasonable to factor into our situation some sobering and important realities when assessing 2017:
CEO and President inherited a cot case, on and off field.
New Senior Coach and recruiting chief (SOS) inherited a recruiting and development, well, pile of cr@p. A succession of failed key position recruits (Watson and Co.) and outside mids (Lucas & Co) greeted them.
After 2-3 years, most of the non-hackers are off the list... just a few to go. And that means we're out of balance, too much youth at present. But will the investment pay off? There are some distance rays of sunshine on the horizon... woops, sorry, green shoots!
So, 2017. Positives:
Continued transparency from the club CEO and President.
Injury updates have much less bullshizen and more transparency also.
Very good reason to be optimistic about the prospects, on the field, of newly/recently introduced players: SOJ, Samo, H, Jones (he's a first year recruit!!!!!), Weitering, Marchbank, Curnow C, Plowman, Fisher, Macreadie, Willow, Pickett & ACOS. Cautious optimism re: Cuningham (I'm still yet to be convinced - too much invisibility), Polson, Smedts (I'm not as pessimistic as some about this bloke), Sheehan (50/50), Lamb (coming along nicely) & Kerr.
Weitering was wobbling but has looked better recently. Much better.
The senior blokes who have stood up well with increased load owing to injuries include Gibbs, Murphy, Kreuzer, Docherty & Matty Wright.
Injuries to Cripps, Curnow E, ACOS, Bunsen & Phillips haven’t help.
Foot soldiers who've been really honest and given their best when needed: Kerridge, Rowe, Graham, Thomas, White & Meat. I'd like to see us keep them all with the possible exception of Meat.
Negatives:
Dylan Buckley has failed to improve enough on last year. One more chance/depth player?
Time for a great servant, Den Den, to hang up the boots.
Kade Simpson, sadly, is showing signs of the game having passed him... ?retire?
Good-bye: Boekhorst, Sumner, Jaksch, Gorringe, JGM, Korcheck, Gallucci. And maybe Meat. Hopefully not Gibbs.
In summary, I don't think you can, in all fairness, ask if we're better than last year. Last year and this should be clumped together and compared to 2015 - and then the improvement is palpable, especially the emergence of a developing culture which BB seems to be building just nicely.
I think that all the questions of green shoots, SOS recruiting excellence, moving from team defence into more scoring and so on will be answered next year... when Ws and Ls WILL be more important than for last year and this.
For 2018? We need a significant improvement in midfield strength, mongrel, depth, experience and speed, then, I reckon, more scoring will take care of itself.
It’s been a fair-dinkum reset (bravo ‘new team’), with another very busy end of season draft / recruiting drive required. But let's see if we can get some quality experience into the joint. 
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