Carlton Supporters Club

The thing I liked about him last night was that he seemed confident and attacked the ball with purpose (if that makes sense), unlike a few others. One of the few bright lights.

That certainly made matters a lot worse, and I'm not blaming the backline players - we just do not look like we've mastered zone defence. Over to the coaching staff.

Players guarding grass not opposing player's is what I saw.....even solid footballers like Ed Curnow look rattled and frustrated, Sidebottom carved him up but Ed looked uncertain
who to defend and where to stand, we often had mismatched players in the zone...it was more like a game of musical chairs.... when the music stops grab a player...any player?

Non-contributors - time for the VFL drop:
•   Polson – not ready for the big time yet
•   Lamb – not a good enough player to lose focus by pushing and shoving all match
•   Mullett – good impression of the invisible man

Disappointing so far:
•   Kennedy – looks slow of foot and hand – hopefully the ankle injury is a factor
•   Weitering – stuffed around by the match committee last year and this
•   Jones + Plowman – struggling to cope with unpressured movement into the forward line

Skilled players but can we carry this many in the team?
•   Fisher – best of this group so far this season
•    SPS – brilliant skills but doesn’t work hard enough without the ball
•   Garlett – looks the goods but needs to contribute more
•   Dow – will be good but can we carry this many?

Love Cripps but his lack of pace is a worry regarding him as captain.

A few occasions last night he gave up the chase once his opponent got a few yards break on him. Not a great look for others to follow.

One particular time early in the last quarter looked terrible.....just jogged after an opponent and conceded he wasnt going to catch him.  This one looked particularly bad because the opposition fumbled the ball further up the field and Cripps' non chase meant that we were outnumbered when the ball was up for grabs.

Game plan - if there was one

We were so generous to the mudpies last night (or was that just inept?).

Our players generally played in such a soft defensive zone that the nearly total absence of up-field pressure allowed the opposition to deliver such advantageous foot passes that the defenders were simply not competitive. This 'plan' relies entirely on waiting for the opposition to make a skill error - instead of trying to force such an error.

Going forward, kicking long to a tall target rarely works when the forwards are outnumbered and kicking forward above the head of a small target is even less useful.

We struggle when the opposing teams play the one or two tall forwards and have 4-5 smaller forward types....Tigers, GC, Pies all had the same setup same game plan, same result, same lack of nous from Bolton trying to match players up.....Zone D wont work vs a forward line based around movement/running forwards.

Game plan - if there was one

We were so generous to the mudpies last night (or was that just inept?).

Our players generally played in such a soft defensive zone that the nearly total absence of up-field pressure allowed the opposition to deliver such advantageous foot passes that the defenders were simply not competitive. This 'plan' relies entirely on waiting for the opposition to make a skill error - instead of trying to force such an error.

Going forward, kicking long to a tall target rarely works when the forwards are outnumbered and kicking forward above the head of a small target is even less useful.

Non-contributors - time for the VFL drop:
•   Polson – not ready for the big time yet
•   Lamb – not a good enough player to lose focus by pushing and shoving all match
•   Mullett – good impression of the invisible man
So was Wright.

Disappointing so far:
•   Kennedy – looks slow of foot and hand – hopefully the ankle injury is a factor
•   Weitering – stuffed around by the match committee last year and this Should have been dropped. We need to work hard on getting him back to playing with confidence.
•   Jones + Plowman – struggling to cope with unpressured movement into the forward line Indeed. No pressure from the forwards.

Skilled players but can we carry this many in the team?
•   Fisher – best of this group so far this season Agree
•    SPS – brilliant skills but doesn’t work hard enough without the ball Indeed. He tackled early last year: where did that go?
•   Garlett – looks the goods but needs to contribute more
•   Dow – will be good but can we carry this many? Not ready yet.

Why would you play Marchbank on Varcoe....the latter passed the balll to Hoskin Elliott for the first two Colllingwood goals...who plays a Tall defender on a speedster?