Also, it was great to have Lachie Hunter back. 

Reckon there's been some unfair criticism on here lately. He was sorely missed against Freo with his work rate and ability to cover space.

He's tap in the 3rd quarter that set up the Fritta goal. That pure experience right there when Catlton were coming hard.

  On 02/06/2023 at 23:04, —coach— said:

Best line of the year in the age website today:

“The contest was crying out for a bit of Curnow, but he was somewhere under a May blanket. At least he would have been warm there.”

Here's a pearler from BT. I was so surprised by it, I wrote it down. Talking about Carlton:

"Only their third Friday night appearance in eight years, the Blues"

They had 3 last year, 5 this year ya dumb coot

  On 02/06/2023 at 22:30, picket fence said:

BBB MUST COME IN NEXT WEEK OR I WILL STAGE A ONE MAN RIOT AT CITY HALL

He gets another chance today to prove something - let’s see if he’s ready to earn a recall

I’d say Darcy Moore would absolutely lick his chops at the thought of out positioning and running off BBB particularly with our kicking into the F50

Defensively we were much improved last night and that is the cornerstone of our system - if you don’t understand that yet perhaps your not listening to the coach or players. 

BBB is playing VFL because he is poor defensively 

  On 02/06/2023 at 21:01, dazzledavey36 said:

I'll give Tommo credit. Came straight in playing several weeks in the VFL and did a good job imo.

Look he was probably beaten on the night but McKay is a gun forward who is incredibly hard to stop when it's laced out in front of him and has that long reach.

He was also stiffed for getting pinged for holding McKay. Nothing in it.

No coincidence that having the 3rd tall defender we see Jake Lever and Steven May replicate their 2021 form. 

Now leave it this way Simon.

Correct.

Slightly beaten by opponent, but helped defence balance enormously.

Max even referred to him after the game.

Lever had his best game.

  On 02/06/2023 at 13:53, A F said:

Oh btw. McVee looked better tonight, but how bloody good is Salem? I don't care what the DE stat was saying at quarter time, he was so clean, calm and effective.

We've missed his assuredness back there, and I think it makes Bowey and McVee better, freeing them up mentally and literally to join in on slingshot offence. We look so much better when we've got the three talls and the beautifully clean Christian Salem.

In fact, shout out to our entire defence tonight. Thought they were really solid and generated great run off half back. Certainly helped by Carlton's poor forward pressure though.

Salem was very good and has been since he returned. His sharpness is not there understandably. Missed a couple of kicks out of defence early which he’ll nail soon enough. Took the wrong option when in space and heading towards goal in the 3rd I think it was. Should have gone for home rather than going to the pocket. But otherwise very good 

if we’re going to win a flag im sure a fit and firing Salem will be a big part of it 

 

  On 02/06/2023 at 22:19, The heart beats true said:

I thought Salem moved better than he has since that one day in September.

Looks like he’s got real confidence in his legs again, and found the tempo of the game. It’s so good to see. He is an absolute gun, and makes us much harder to play against.

They really looked for him running past to set up the next play. Very cool under pressure.

  On 02/06/2023 at 23:18, Redleg said:

We actually now hold the league record of 40 for F50 interceptions.

We had 20 more inside F50’s.

We kept Blues to lowest score under Voss.

You picked out two stats.  The Voss stat is irrelevant considering he's coached Carlton for 18 months.  We were awful.  There's no way we're winning it playing like that 

Edited June 2, 20231 yr by one_demon

Scoreline flatters Carlton. We dominated. Carlton were awful. Convert a few of our missed shots to goals and it would have been a landslide. It was very a clinical performance. I thought we looked very good in patches. Some of the best passages of play for weeks. Carlton defended really well I thought. Outside of that never looked in doubt.

  On 02/06/2023 at 23:29, one_demon said:

You picked out two stats.  The Voss stat is irrelevant.  We were awful.  There's no way we're winning it playing like that 

Let 2021 go mate. We're not going to dominate every week.

  On 02/06/2023 at 23:30, praha said:

Let 2021 go mate. We're not going to dominate every week.

Ha ha.  Good one.

  On 02/06/2023 at 23:20, Roger Mellie said:

Here's a pearler from BT. I was so surprised by it, I wrote it down. Talking about Carlton:

"Only their third Friday night appearance in eight years, the Blues"

They had 3 last year, 5 this year ya dumb coot

He is a dead set fool

  On 02/06/2023 at 13:28, deanox said:

He got away a copy of times, but overall Harry got good service and also Tomlinson was often left one out in those situations.

I think sacrificial isn't a bad description, even if not entirely true. It's almost as if let that match up be the free one at times, making sure everything else was covered.

Well stated.  Tommo did his job in the team defence. 

  On 02/06/2023 at 13:46, dee-tox said:

Yeah, that was overkill. Lovely people as they are. Peter (father) was a terrific tennis player and his sister Sandra on his left a former Age journalist.

Any Age journalist would be on the left, of course. 

  On 02/06/2023 at 13:51, Jjrogan said:

Ill repeat my call that he deserves midfield minutes.  His spacial awareness and execution is excellent within a 30 metre arc. Give him a run through the middle and lets see how he approaches 30 to 45 metre  I50 kicks.   We've got enough braun in there, we need some brain. 

McVee May eventually do some midfield time but he is developing into one of our most relatable defenders, in a well oiled team defence. Especially with Bowey missing next round the defence needs to remain as settled as possible. 

  On 02/06/2023 at 14:59, layzie said:

They're like a world class ship with a really bad rudder

 

  On 02/06/2023 at 15:02, A F said:

With an engine that picks and chooses when to go.

Or that famous unsinkable ship whose watertight partitions were incomplete.  

  On 02/06/2023 at 17:17, Buzzy said:

I suspect he's injured

Cripps - still carrying an elbow / forearm injury from late 2022?

  On 02/06/2023 at 23:30, praha said:

Let 2021 go mate. We're not going to dominate every week.

And thats the one area we're excelling in 😉

  On 02/06/2023 at 23:18, Redleg said:

We didn’t play terribly....

We kinda did.....

  On 02/06/2023 at 23:20, Roger Mellie said:

Here's a pearler from BT. I was so surprised by it, I wrote it down. Talking about Carlton:

"Only their third Friday night appearance in eight years, the Blues"

They had 3 last year, 5 this year ya dumb coot

I stand corrected but I think he might have said it was only their third Friday night appearance at the G in eight years. They’ve played some of their Friday night games at Marvel.

In any event, and I stand corrected again, they played there earlier in the season when they beat Geelong and twice last year on Friday nights so that makes four in two years.

I’ve woke up this morning feeling very confident we’ll beat the pies. Wishful thinking perhaps but I reckon we’ll play with more freedom because no one expects us to win 

  On 02/06/2023 at 23:29, one_demon said:

You picked out two stats.  The Voss stat is irrelevant considering he's coached Carlton for 18 months.  We were awful.  There's no way we're winning it playing like that 

That’s funny, all officials who rarely compliment, say we played well, except for disposal.

Commentators the same.

Many on here the same.

Here are a few more stats.

Inside 50’s 59-39.

Frees 22-13 their way.

Approx 50 more disposals.

We had no Petty, Tom Mac or BBB and a red headed contested beast out. They had a ruck and a few flankers out, but had their best mids, key forwards and key backs all playing and we didn’t jet them score.

Fix up disposal and it’s a smashing.

Lastly, they were never going to win.

Edited June 2, 20231 yr by Redleg

  On 02/06/2023 at 23:38, rumpole said:

I stand corrected but I think he might have said it was only their third Friday night appearance at the G in eight years. They’ve played some of their Friday night games at Marvel.

In any event, and I stand corrected again, they played there earlier in the season when they beat Geelong and twice last year on Friday nights so that makes four in two years.

Now matter how many games they get on Friday night or marquee games they play in Carlton have absolutely no right to as they  have been ****house for years. The only explanation for this is the club lawyer who clearly is a genius 

  On 02/06/2023 at 23:38, beelzebub said:

We kinda did.....

You should be over the moon today. 

You said earlier this week that you couldn’t see a positive in how we are playing. To win despite that should have you ecstatic. 

  On 02/06/2023 at 23:47, Redleg said:

That’s funny, all officials who rarely compliment, say we played well, except for disposal.

Commentators the same.

Many on here the same.

Here are a few more stats.

Inside 50’s 59-39.

Frees 22-13 their way.

Approx 50 more disposals.

We had no Petty, Tom Mac or BBB and a red headed contested beast out. They had a ruck and a few flankers out, but had their best mids, key forwards and key backs all playing and we didn’t jet them score.

Lastly, they were never going to win.

No Hibberd either, who despite his age and weary achilles has been one of our best this season so far. 

What makes me happy is that I was actually starting to doubt us. I watched last night and saw a team that’s building for the business end. Our defence is purring and once we clean up forward connection I’d hate to be playing us in September. In…it….necks…..upto

  On 02/06/2023 at 23:19, dazzledavey36 said:

Also, it was great to have Lachie Hunter back. 

Reckon there's been some unfair criticism on here lately. He was sorely missed against Freo with his work rate and ability to cover space.

He's tap in the 3rd quarter that set up the Fritta goal. That pure experience right there when Catlton were coming hard.

He was stronger at the contest and escaped tackles better this week. Couldn’t lay a tackle himself. And his kicking penetration remains dreadful and costly.
 

Maybe the tv doesn’t capture how he has short or long options but invariably goes with slow 35m up and unders that consistently get spoiled. The decline in his kicking and seemingly in his confidence to flatten his kicks from preseason to the real stuff is is drastic as I can remember 

  On 02/06/2023 at 23:47, Redleg said:

That’s funny, all officials who rarely compliment, say we played well, except for disposal.

Commentators the same.

Many on here the same.

Here are a few more stats.

Inside 50’s 59-39.

Frees 22-13 their way.

Approx 50 more disposals.

We had no Petty, Tom Mac or BBB and a red headed contested beast out. They had a ruck and a few flankers out, but had their best mids, key forwards and key backs all playing and we didn’t jet them score.

Fix up disposal and it’s a smashing.

Lastly, they were never going to win.

You can't assess performance on stats alone.  Stats don't tell the full story 

Edited June 3, 20231 yr by one_demon

  On 02/06/2023 at 23:48, titan_uranus said:

You should be over the moon today. 

You said earlier this week that you couldn’t see a positive in how we are playing. To win despite that should have you ecstatic. 

That was about as far removed from ecstasy as i could imagine. We've Mr Reliable Fritter.. way off the boil. Somehow teams still best us at centre bounces ( more often than not ). Someone needs to run tutorials on weighting kicks... might save us from ramming the leather down opponents throats. The idea of playing on...is to do that...quickly, not in a manner you invite your opponents to participate.  Interesting that both styles on display at times. The backs weren't that bad last night....   but there was little rhyme reason or composure going forward.

Ill take the 4 points....  im still not all warm and fuzzy about it.

You're welcome to be.

  On 02/06/2023 at 22:30, picket fence said:

BBB MUST COME IN NEXT WEEK OR I WILL STAGE A ONE MAN RIOT AT CITY HALL

You are unanimous in that