Would have liked to see Weid from half time as OMac was wearing Brown like a cheap suit. Would have been a perfect opportunity to put Gus back in the middle which would have got him more involved in the play. Still reckon Cripps is an overated dud with shizen disposal.

I thought kept his good work going from last week.

We would have a player if he had Jettas courage and nouse!

23 minutes ago, DeeZee said:

Viney will be better for the run and didn’t really get into the game tonight.

Salem and May are super important to our whole set up.

I probably would’ve preferred  to see more of the likes of Chandler and Bedford than Hunt , Jordan or Baker and I think Chandler might be a sneaky chance for round one.

Brayshaw back on his wing will also stop alot of opposition attacks

Salem’s value to the team is far greater than any stats can show. Poise, coolheadedness, coordination. 

20 minutes ago, Winter Dan said:

I was miffed at all the tackles we layed without stopping them from disposing effectively. Whats with that?

Many many games last year we got done in the middle/clearances but our defence saved us - not tonight.

Our defence against opp small fwds continues to be troubling, but doesn't help with such muggy slippery conditions. That's how you beat Melb but at same time it's equally not a reliable strategy. 

I wish Hunt showed better form. 

Think Tommo gets the nod over Smith. Smith is a bit of a Frosty type. 

Will be interesting to see if our finals was us having a form spike or if the finals form is the new Melb. Last reg.  season we just found ways to win without dominating. 

Smith a Frosty type?   Not nearly as “entertaining” though.  Rarely a dull moment when Frosty had the ball in hand. 🤔

Inside mid depth is shallow after the main trio

We really do lack a balanced midfield that can play inside but also accumulate on the wing or half fwd 

5 minutes ago, BAMF said:

Turner was injured? 

After the game he was back in his warm-up gear and limping markedly

Game thoughts

-- smashed in the middle

- a waft of arrogance amongst some players

- relieved we fought our way back to within a kick

- we lack back line depth

- a bit rusty and it looked like conditions were a little slippery

- a good way to zap Wiedeman's confidence is to play him like that

Joel Smith is a very limited footballer but too his credit tonight his leap enabled him to spoil De Konning on more than one occasion.

59 minutes ago, DubDee said:

Remember that year we beat the Pies in the preseason and got excited and then we’re terrible all year - some please help with the year/details

2012 Neelds first game as coach

3 minutes ago, adonski said:

Inside mid depth is shallow after the main trio

We really do lack a balanced midfield that can play inside but also accumulate on the wing or half fwd 

I’m not sure that it is, outside mids are the issue.

Of course the quality drops away after the main trio but name another club that doesn’t have a similar issue?

Dunstan was bought in for this very reason…we also have Brayshaw, Harmes Sparrow, Jordon and even ANB ready to step straight in. 

Just now, Beetle said:

I’m not sure that it is, outside mids are the issue.

Of course the quality drops away after the main trio but name another club that doesn’t have a similar issue?

Dunstan was bought in for this very reason…we also have Brayshaw, Harmes Sparrow, Jordon and even ANB ready to step straight in. 

We don't have Brayshaw to step in, that's the issue. There is an effort to play him anywhere but at a centre bounce.

Just now, adonski said:

We don't have Brayshaw to step in, that's the issue. There is an effort to play him anywhere but at a centre bounce.

He can go in if required, that was more my point.

44 minutes ago, BAMF said:

Was Hunt that bad? 

Before the game I was thinking how good it was that we had some decent players to replace our first choices.

Tomlinson looked just a bit off imo. Hopefully just getting some touch back.

I reckon Tommo was good. Shut out McKay in the first half. 
 

We didn’t account for McGovern as intercept defender. Carlton played that card so let’s see how other teams address that. 
 

Kozzy was outclassed by Saad ‘the elite’ he tried but his form and impact on the game wasn’t really there. Am expecting a big year from him, but not sure after his first 2 games. When did he actually kick his last goal? 

LJ has also been quite disappointing so far as well. 

Let’s hope we don’t dish this stuff up again. 

Just now, Beetle said:

He can go in if required, that was more my point.

I think if one of the big dawgs got injured we'd see Sparrow, Harmes & Jordon playing bigger minutes inside than Brayshaw, which is...concerning

Cripps, half the impact with half the favouritism.

Umpires conspired against a good team and were found guilty under the pretext of cracking down on several rules which didn't appear to be in the bible

Carlton a season of big headed pain.Not a lot of pace anywhere there..

55 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

To be fair nobody considered depth would ever come close to replacing Salem. Or Oliver. Or Trac. Or Gawn.

Rivers plays and it’s a different ball game. He takes the kick outs. He is accountable. Same with Hibbo. 
Petty plays and suddenly May out doesn’t hurt so much. 
The issue is all of our first and second choice players in the same area of the ground were out. Lever can only do so much and Bowey is playing game number 9. It took May and Lever a full year of playing together to make things cohesive. You can’t expect that synergy with Smith who lacks IQ and Hunt who is like a kid with ADHD who just ate a gallon of sugar. 
May or Salem or Petty play and we win even tho we were wasteful, lazy, sloppy and undisciplined. 
Hell if we don’t give away 2 centre circle frees because we can’t count to 6 we probably win too. 
That was pathetic to do twice in a quarter!

That's true but our backline wasn't so much the issue, our mids and forwards were sloppy and didn't want to dig in when Carlton stepped the tempo up halfway through the 1st. That's fine, it's a practice game so I get not killing yourselves for nothing but hopefully they get their heads right for round 1. Similarly it wasn't Smith, Baker, Hunt etc that was why we lost/played poorly - it was Petracca, TMac, Kozzie, Oliver etc missing targets, bombing away and failing to apply pressure.

Edited March 3, 20223 yr by Dr. Gonzo

Just now, Beetle said:

I’m not sure that it is, outside mids are the issue.

Of course the quality drops away after the main trio but name another club that doesn’t have a similar issue?

Dunstan was bought in for this very reason…we also have Brayshaw, Harmes Sparrow, Jordon and even ANB ready to step straight in. 

I too think it's an issue hence why we chased Cerra.

After Petracca and Oliver there is a significant drop in midfield depth. Guys like Jordon and Harmes who I thought were going to play more inside minutes were instead playing out on a wing with little influence.

Sparrow was okay tonight, but he's a bit midfielder still. 

Viney was rusty as expected.

We're absolutely [censored] if Oliver or Petracca go down with an injury.

No issues with me. Blues played well and we played bad and lost by under a goal. If most think Blues will make finals then we have huge upside over them. Tomorrow is another day and by round 1 we will be ready.

Just wish those two youngsters from WA will show a bit more come the game against the doggies. Yes Picket had 8 or so tackles but he needs to get the pill and hit the scoreboard. Jacko got hands on ball like McDonald and Brown but all 3 could not hold them.

Bring on the Doggies.

11 minutes ago, Roger Mellie said:

Game thoughts

-- smashed in the middle

- a waft of arrogance amongst some players

- relieved we fought our way back to within a kick

- we lack back line depth

- a bit rusty and it looked like conditions were a little slippery

- a good way to zap Wiedeman's confidence is to play him like that

Having 85% of your backline out is not something "depth" can fix.
Depth is 1-3 players max. After that you're asking too much, as more than half your core group isn't there to stabilize the others.

1 hour ago, Seraph said:

I would imagine they'll be told to relax tomorrow.

50m penalty for shaking your head while looking at the ground. What an absolute joke.

What was it for? Dissent?

We seemed to play man on man a lot of the game. There was a lot of time when we didn’t have an extra back.
We were definitely not going hard into contests. perhaps the goal was more about getting as many k’s into their legs as possible rather than sticking to structurally sound game plans that have proven to be effective last year. Hopefully the caution at the contest was also a preservation thing. 
 

the difference in energy levels and intent was very noticeable at the ground. Carlton we’re very up for it and we were going through the motions. They were getting around each other after goals and we were not really. They were very hard at it and we kinda let them have it. The optimist says we are managing ourselves and the pessimist says we drank too much bath water and are headed for a hang over. It felt like we were never in it and almost pinched it at the end which is a good sign.

our game is built on our backline and they were all out tonight, lever aside. No team has that depth.
 

without having tv to know what went on with all those fifties I am absolutely at a loss as to what happened with any of them. I can’t remember ever seeing so many in a game and all for one team.

 

Thought I might not be as invested this season, but was already resorting to dropping F-bombs and even the occasional C-bomb by early in the second quarter. The vulgarity was mainly directed at the horrific umpiring, but also at our continual butter fingers at inopportune times. I like ANB but he's infuriating to watch when he's off. Just can't handle the ball cleanly. To be fair he was far from alone tonight. 

Nice to see that becoming a Premiership team doesn't now make us immune to complete and utter spuds tearing us a new one either. Matthew Kennedy, give me a [censored] break.

Bloody good to be back to be honest. 

Edited March 3, 20223 yr by Bang Bang Bang

So undisciplined it is ridiculous, they knew the umpires were going to crack down on dissent yet continually opened their mouths, appalling from the players.

 

Expect a very different performance in two weeks!

Edited March 3, 20223 yr by Rod Grinter Riot Squad

We lost to Carlton at Docklands in the pre-season of 2007 and it ushered in 12 years of irrelevance and shame.

So let’s see if we can avoid that.

Not concerned in the slightest. We’ll smash the Blues next time we meet.

Reminded me of Round 19 v Bulldogs last year when, other than our clearly being below our best, there were three key factors that determined the result: outstanding individual performance from their captain, lots of goals from an unusual source (forward stoppages for Dogs, centre clearances for Blues) and, let’s face it, a dream run from the umps. As we saw in the Grand Final, the likelihood of all three happening against us again is nil. 

(Also, throw in May and Salem, and we’re a different proposition.)

Well I’ve had a bex. Now for the lie down