Carlton Supporters Club

I flew out for Europe on the 29th June after we handed out consecutive 10 goal floggings sitting pretty in second, I thought life was good. I returned last night to watch us capitulate out of the 8 today (We have gone LLWLLL).
I can't see us winning the next two, if you had have told me on the 1st of July we would miss the 8 I would have laughed in your face.
I dont know what else to say, I cannot understand or pinpoint what has gone wrong, perhaps last year was indeed as good as it gets for the this group.
There needs to be a clean out of blokes who cannot stay out on the park (we all know who they are) and replace them with anyone with a pulse and who can play more than 1 in a row.

The critical issue is not losing like we did tonight, as depressing as it was. All teams have shockers (think the Swans last week). The critical issue is whether we can bounce back in the last 2 games. And that in my view is a very open question.

I can’t see it.

It felt - watching them today - that it felt all too hard for them so I don’t see us winning.

Maybe they’re demoralised because they know the season ending injury count is way too high and feel it’s inevitable that it won’t be their year?

I disagree about the earlier suggestion re them not playing well because rumours of Cripps leaving - they’re professional athletes and if they had a shot  at finals and premiership, they’re not just going to give them up being sooks because someone is leaving at seasons end. They want success now and would strive for it particularly if, as it’s suggested Cripps is going, he’s still playing his arse off.

I generally agree Micky. It will be tough from here on in. Apart from today and the Sydney game, the boys have been competitive and been right in most games. There's 8 quarters left of the H/A season, and hopefully they have enough gas to fight it out to the end.

Agree on Cripps. He's contracted till the end of 2027 - that's 3 full seasons away. He's on big money, plus captain, plus a slew of awards and personal accolades. It would take a lot to get us to agree to a trade, but even if we did, do the two WA clubs have what it takes to get a deal happening ? And why would he go to WC ? They have no coach, and he will be down the bottom in a struggling team just like he was here in the early days.

We need to persist with youngsters that can stay on the park.
Play Moir and persist with him in Jack Martin\s role he has talent to burn
Give Billy Wilson a run in Saad's role
Give Jaxon Binns a run in Cottrell's role

I saw this one coming and can’t see any more wins in 2023. This is a season failure. Injuries have hurt us but we have only beaten a bottom 4 side in the last 5 weeks. The side that lost to West Coast that we play next.

When we suffer a humiliating loss, we all look for answers as to how that could have occurred.

Was it lack of run, lack of pressure, coaching inadequacies or lack of depth?
Sometimes the right answer is the most obvious one.
It’s injuries!!

Every aspect of the loss can be traced back to injuries.
When you lose a player to injury you don‘t just lose that player.
You lose a part of every other player who has to sacrifice a part of their contribution to cover that absence.

The “one soldier out, one soldier in.” is another bit of nonsense. The replacement player is nearly always a lesser player. The injured player is ahead of them and in the side, either in terms of ability or what they offer in terms of team structure.

If everyone else has to step up, especially with ‘in-game’ injuries –
You lose 'run' through fatigue.
Your ability to get to contests and to apply pressure is affected by fatigue
Coaching options are less.
Your depth is challenged.
…and all that presents mental and physical challenges for the players not directly affected by injury.

That’s with one injury.
Now multiply that by a dozen, either injured pre-match or during the game…and then add in the players playing injured for weeks on end... and you’re in strife.

We’re in deep strife, for no other reason than we are decimated.

For weeks people have been observing that 'Charlie had turned lazy.' Charlie has been playing injured for weeks. Brad Lloyd said 'a number of weeks' which translated into 'Carlton speak' means at least  6! Walsh is definitely hampered, I'd suspect with a back problem, I can't use his best weapon.... pace and quick reaction therefore he gets caught a lot and is restricted in his delivery. To win premierships you need a consistent list, a high degree of talent, no injuries and a fair bit of luck. What chance did we have.