Carlton Supporters Club

Tuesday arvo calmness - well at least I hope that comes through the post!
I agree we may have lost it in selection - but then I look at this with calmness and think who else could we bring in?
At some point form has to be the key. Both Dow and Polson were showing form - it isn't anyone's fault the games they are playing in resemble little of the action in senior footy.
Further to this I am fascinated with Polson. When played as a fwd he displayed to me dear in a headlight symptoms. Would run fast, miss easy marks and kicking was an issue. The move to defence is a good move for him and the team - as we have a shortage here with no access to Stocker atm.  So when I saw Polson take the ball and run out of defence early in the first qtr I felt this was what the coaches wanted - dare, pace, carry. They would know kicking is an issue but the other key points come first. Then my joy changed.
I noticed Polson look down field, then look behind to Simpson to handball backwards. At this point I had to pause as I simply can't determine from the vision if he looked back cos Simpson was screaming to him to do this - or if no fwd was leading to the space his kick could reach? It wouldn't surprise me to see down field vision of no one running to the space to warrant a lead as our fwds currently aren't the smartest bunch. Here is when I feel for Polson - his very first involvement looked good but ended poorly with a turn over - a 50 50 kick in hope, Well we all should know this isn't the first time in a very long time this has happened. Bloody hell our joint captain gave away our fist goal with the worse kick I have ever seen him do - talk about setting the tone. We are a confidence team and a good start has always been vital.
I'm pretty confident Polson spent solid time on the pine. Most likely dragged as Teague is displaying very little patience for youth anymore and their mistakes. Let's not forget this was one of the biggest criticisms of Ratten - wouldn't play or develop the young guys enough. Tended to stick to the core of senior players. I fear we are headed down this path again. We can't have the SOS injection of youth - and our Exec committee saying this is the re-build we needed. Then bye to SOS and Teague shows strong signs of not backing enough of the youth. For example...He brings in Honey v Freo. Wet rainy conditions. Not allowing to displaying his skill set. I felt his touch was very good considering - so why drop him? One match in the wet - give me a spell. We stuck with Cottrell who showed some very good signs up until needing a rest. Honey is explosive as is Philp. Pace is what we are screaming for. Play these 2 then. Give Eddie a rest for example. Or rotate him on the bench more - thus dropping a big guy. We are way too tall against any team.
With Dow he also is fascinating. We all know kicking is a real issue. Yet in the twos it's not as noticeable. My issue with him is a perceived lack of hunger for the contest. And a real fear to kick the ball. Many times I saw a lack of desire to tackle - and when he did Collingwood players easily brushed him off. My read of Teague is this would be the number 1 thing he wouldn't like. A lack of defensive pressure (hence O'Brien not playing imo).
If this can't be taught or injected in to these players, under Teague they simply won't get a game or will be de-listed.
It will be fascinating to see if they persist with Dow and Polson in an absolute must win match. this to me will say so much about our current coaching and selection crew. PS is Sav Rocca still the kicking coach? I recall 2 years a go Cripps nailing a high percentage of set shots and having a clear method to his pre kick routine. For a star like him I am amazed his routine this year (which CLEARLY) isn't working - hasn't been amended. If he is injured which affects his kicking - don't bloody put him fwd!! Calmness gone sorry...

Keogh....I've posted it before and didn't want to torture the readers again.....but if you look at the 2014 Draft, that was the killer! An absolute disaster....blokes from that draft would now be in their prime years but not one of them is left at the club.

The small defender role is important in terms of the player having to be a very good user of the ball these days and be able to hit targets under pressure to clear the ball.
Lets give Polson a pass on defending but IMO his use of the ball, decision making wont stand up under pressure from really good teams. The player we really needed to nail as a trade was Saad...he was a bad miss for us, can defend, has pace and is a decent kick and decision maker, shame he picked EFC and I wish we had probably offered a bit more money to sway his opinion.

Saad?  Your kidding EB! 

The bloke’s run at all costs modus operandi is well in to Emu territory, and I don’t ever want to see that from another Carlton player.

Teague is still playing the kids.  He's rotating them through the key roles rather than throwing them in the deep end.

As for the polson assertion he had 80% time on ground against Collingwood according to afl tables.

He's stuck by de koning as another example.  Don't worry too much about the first year kids and them not getting more than a bit of a taste.  They'll get their time in the sun.

Weve spent a bit of time trying to keep our line up settled and thats what Luke hodge reckons will help our team.  Continuity.  We haven't seen much of it over the last 5 years.

Agree with your last point that a consistent line up is a key and something we haven't had for some time. My pint was more in this season with so many games and inconsistent rest periods we could have benefited from resting a few more. And to my first point outside of Dow and Polson not much else outside of Philp and Honey imo

Yes, LP and the Prof have nailed it!

It was drummed into me at a very young age that Carlton supporters must not tolerate losses.  However, after a couple of days have passed and the disappointment has dissipated somewhat, there are positives to take out of the game.

We actually havent had a heavy schedule yet though.  From memory, I think our shortest break was 5 days (correct me if Im wrong anyone) and it only happened once.

Have a look at how people have reacted to one loss in which we rested Cottrell and SPS, to bring in Polson and Dow.

Teague's on a hiding to nothing in that equation.

Not saying your point isnt worth considering, just challenging it to make sure its one to consider.  I think we will see a few more trialled coming up too, but time will tell.

Yep, I said this in another thread, our biggest sin against Collingwood wasnt capitalising on the sustained pressure we were putting on and our time in forward half.  For some reason we seemed unwilling to have a go for goal.  Martins pulled kick to Cripps might tell a story in itself.  I thought he was in range and he decided to go short, we might have a few more soft tissue issues than we first thought, and the advise might be to go short rather than long.

I havent seen anyone try and pot one 40+ out for a few weeks.

Saad?  Your kidding EB! 

The bloke’s run at all costs modus operandi is well in to Emu territory, and I don’t ever want to see that from another Carlton player.