Carlton Supporters Club

Now that I've calmed down and let the anger, frustration and disappoint dissipate, I'm not that disappointed with the result. Why? Because Brisbane have few injuries (unlike us), they have a system that our VFL boys are only learning and their team structure was far superior to ours. Look at their line-up and they have so much more experience that we do. Coleman, Doedee, McKenna and Robertson, for example. The only one we can claim to have that sort of experience is Acres, and he isn't fit. So, to get within 4 goals, and to restrict this mob to less than 100 points isn't the bad sort of loss we've seen from the seniors in recent weeks.

Does that mean I like it? Not in the least, but earlier this season (and especially last year) we would have been pounded, as we were by Southport.

What did I like?
[1] Ethan Phillips: I understand that Phillips has his issues, but he had 18 marks today and 26 disposals. He may not be as physical as I'd like a key defender to be, but has to be better value than Frankie Evans, Flynn Young or Will White (whom I like). Probably better value that Corey Durdin or Lachie Fogarty.
So, why didn't we select him? I don't know.
[2] Billy Wilson and Jordan Boyd had very solid games and must be in line to play next week. Wilson had 23 possessions and a goal. Boyd had 19 possessions.
[3] Flynn Riley probably had slightly the better of 2 listed ruckmen with 5 clearances to boot. I would be seriously considering him for a rookie spot.

Boyd has something we need - play him in the seniors for the rest of the season.

Quote from: Micky0 – on July 11, 2025, 08:24:12 pm

Boyd has something we need - play him in the seniors for the rest of the season.

Yep. He does odd things like ...Hit team mates on the chest with bullet passes, take a risk, take on the game, hardness at the aggott and man, enthusiasm, hunger for the contest, controlled aggression... not sure if our seniors can accommodate such things.

Quote from: Thryleon – on July 11, 2025, 03:14:24 pm

@kruddler

Now that the season is dead, you set standards.  You a kid wanting to play AFL footy?  You need to bang the door down like this VFL hack who isnt good enough.  Why is he so much better at the level than you if he's rubbish?

AFL players?  You want to play AFL footy or continue at the club?  Dont go to the VFL and give us what Blake Acres did today.  He should have been one of the best on.  Instead he was just going.  The workrate was there, the ability to hit targets not.  Thats a negative for an important senior player. 

Set the standards now.  Playing the kids at AFL level before they have time, or gifting us games through a rebuild is precisely why we are rubbish.  Brisbane's Deven Robertson has been squeezed out of their senior team.   He has that many players ahead of him, you could forgive him for going at half rat power.  They were 6 goals up with 10 minutes to play, and he ended up with a bloody nose because of his commitment to the contest, and statistically was 2nd best Lion on the day, out of 18 senior listed players.  He isnt guaranteed a game next week, and it shows.  Our boys by contrast, dont want it enough. Set THAT standard.  Its way more important than gifting any young kid a game.

Look, i get it.

Set the standard, reward VFL form etc. Thats fine. That CAN lead to improvement on field. Its what we've done in the last few weeks though and how has that worked out?
If we only picked blokes who were setting standards, we'd have about half a teams worth of players running out each week.

So...that ain't working. Remembering we rewarded Evans 2 weeks ago, then found him wanting and shafted him back to the 2's, now we want to promote him again? Its not helping us, him or anyone.

We have to make some very tough calls this off-season. We've got 6-7 weeks to gather a wealth of information that we normally wouldn't be able to do if we were still in finals contention. Don't blow it.

Lemmey is possibly more likely to be delisted then re-signed for next year. Are we 100% certain thats the right thing to do?
Play him in the 1's and find out.
White? Young? Play them.
Evans and Fantasia....we know what we will get....what do we gain by playing them??

Billy Wilson....Jaxon Binns.....at this stage, i'd delist them both. Play them and see if they can surprise you.
Give Charleson a crack while you can.

These blokes will give you more effort in the 1's than most of the team so far. We are not playing to win. So what are we playing for??