Re: AFL Rd 3 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Melbourne
Reply #59 –
It's a circular argument though isn't it.
Players v Coach
If the players aren't following instructions.
If they're failing to man up.
If the leadership is lacking.
If players aren't sticking to their roles.
Does that not point to a disconnect between players and coach.
What are the consequences?
Does Voss make a statement and drop a couple of high profile players.
What are the consequences of that especially given the increasing pressure that multiple fade-outs have placed on the club?
Maybe best to go down fighting...play the players who show the fight and a bit of mongrel.
So that would be Byrne, Evans and .... 
Lord was probably missed but wouldn't have made a huge difference.
It seems to me we have a number of players clearly out of form.
I thought Kemp was terrible yesterday...but he has missed a year of football.
A spell in the VFL may be what he needs just at the moment.
Get him to make a case there for reinstatement.
He's not impacting either forward or back and is a bit in no-man's land in terms of his career.
Cripps is being 'passed by' because of the way the game is being played at present. He looks frustrated. That may resolve if the game settles down as the year progresses, but that doesn't seem to be the case anytime soon.
Young cops plenty of criticism, but he seems to always draw the better forwards...the thinking is probably to free Weitering up as an interceptor but Young suffers in comparison. Young copped it again yesterday and made a couple of poor decisions but also did some good things especially with his marking. It was a mixed bag.
Ideally I'd like to see him play forward and provide the second ruck option. Both O'Keefe and Reidy are not impacting enough. The problem is Harry Dean seemed to hurt himself and Haynes reportedly suffered an injury in the VFL so it might be Lewis stays and stays as a backman.
McKay is getting plenty of ball...but not plenty of goals.
Flynn Young on the other hand, is among the goals in the VFL so maybe gets a game next week.
In short, too many players playing half a game or well below their best football.
Swap kemp and young.
Sure kemp isnt a gorrilla minder, but kemp makes better decisions with ball in hand. At one point yesterday in the 3rd quarter, it was lewis young intercepts, and then kicked it to ollie hollands, and I had no faith that ball was going to our advantage next.
I look for some constructive things in there usually but aside from ignoring the easy option and taking difficult kicks on that were low percentage, thats all I could really see. Numerous times we ignored the short option that was in the clear to kick to a contest, which is what Voss alluded to in his post match presser. We have some pretty ordinary habits on this front. I can excuse a kick that was going to the right place, that misses the target, as thats an execution issue. The poor option that I saw on too many occasions... Thats a calm head under pressure option that needs to be sorted.
Although based on what I saw yesterday, I had way more faith in Young than Kemp anywhere on the ground.