The Premiership Window Closing?

[No. 31 1,000]

1 hour ago, Sir Why You Little said:

 

I would love to know how Carlton can keep all these Players on Big Contracts and be under the Salary Cap

That would be a Fascinating read….

 

Some players like Martin, Williams, Marchbank etc have heavily front loaded contracts and they are on much less in 2024 than they were a few years back. Of course the football media doesn't report this and just bandies about their year 1 salary numbers.

Players like McKay, Curnow, Cripps & TDK all took deals below what they could get elsewhere in the hope and belief that they can win a flag together in the near future.

[Sir Why You Little 36,554]

3 minutes ago, No. 31 said:

Some players like Martin, Williams, Marchbank etc have heavily front loaded contracts and they are on much less in 2024 than they were a few years back. Of course the football media doesn't report this and just bandies about their year 1 salary numbers.

Players like McKay, Curnow, Cripps & TDK all took deals below what they could get elsewhere in the hope and belief that they can win a flag together in the near future.

I have a fair idea of contracts and i also remember very well how Carlton used to do business. 
A very good friend of mine signed up about 5 players in WA back in the 70’s and 80’s when the Cash was flowing very freely from Lygon Street Laundromats. 
 

Remember the Carlton Motto

 

”We are Carlton, F$&@ the Rest…”

[No. 31 1,000]

4 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

I have a fair idea of contracts and i also remember very well how Carlton used to do business. 
A very good friend of mine signed up about 5 players in WA back in the 70’s and 80’s when the Cash was flowing very freely from Lygon Street Laundromats. 
 

Remember the Carlton Motto

 

”We are Carlton, F$&@ the Rest…”

That was the modus operandi decades ago, these days they are precise, careful and play by the book and have become quite adept at managing the cap. The consequences of not doing it by the book are too drastic today.

[Sir Why You Little 36,554]

Just now, No. 31 said:

That was the modus operandi decades ago, these days they are precise, careful and play by the book and have become quite adept at managing the cap. The consequences of not doing it by the book are too drastic today.

We shall see about that. Lygon Street still exists 

You do know The MFC had Wayne Johnson all but stitched up don’t you…

 

[Norm Smith's Curse 2,412]

2 hours ago, No. 31 said:

I wasn't trolling. I don't think there are any question marks about the 2021 Flag, the Dees were easily the best side that year and convincingly won the Grand Final. It being a Covid impacted year is no factor in my mind, same conditions for all Victorian clubs. My point is that it was achieved with what objectively was a mediocre forward line and not addressing that weakness is why the Dees sit on one flag instead of being a dynasty team like Richmond were recently.

I still dont agree Im afraid.

Our forward 50 in 2020 and 2021 wasnt mediocre as it had Ben Brown who was still playing reasonable well and TMAC was also playing quite well in those years. Both Brown and Tmac kicked less than half the goals they kicked in 2021 in 2022 and beyond.

Jackson was also a factor when he moved up forward. I feel that Jackson was actually a massive loss that we never really replaced. Because he was a utility he could move to many positions/roles and Grundy was never that. 

Id argue that the weakness such as the forward 50 became more apparent in 2022 because BB and Tmac were getting on and we didnt have any replacements.

And now we lose Brayshaw after trading out Harmes and Jordan. 

Edited August 3 by Norm Smith's Curse

[Sir Why You Little 36,554]

29 minutes ago, Norm Smith's Curse said:

I still dont agree Im afraid.

Our forward 50 in 2020 and 2021 wasnt mediocre as it had Ben Brown who was still playing reasonable well and TMAC was also playing quite well in those years. Both Brown and Tmac kicked less than half the goals they kicked in 2021 in 2022 and beyond.

Jackson was also a factor when he moved up forward. I feel that Jackson was actually a massive loss that we never really replaced. Because he was a utility he could move to many positions/roles and Grundy was never that. 

Id argue that the weakness such as the forward 50 became more apparent in 2022 because BB and Tmac were getting on and we didnt have any replacements.

And now we lose Brayshaw after trading out Harmes and Jordan. 

There is no doubt we have had a lot of bad luck, but so do most clubs. 
We just have not recovered well. 
We need to employ more recruiting staff around the country 

[dees189227 12,017]

We just can't afford to fall away like Richmond have. Yes I know they had more success but we can't afford to flounder and be near the bottom again.  

My biggest worry is we don't seem to be planning down the track for max finishing up & having someone step up 

[Little Goffy 13,923]

Hmm, reflecting on the mention of Jackson as a loss. As well as being pretty versatile for a big guy, he had one thing which I think has been a particular shortage on our list even in the premiership year, which is 'dangerous' players.

Petracca, of course, is the ultimate example of a player which oppositions have to plan for. I think we've seen all too clearly what happens when you take that sense of uncertainty away. Since the loss of Petracca we've not only had a simple 'amount of quality' missing, but a whole capacity to menace. Opposition midfields simply haven't had to fear us and as a result they have been able to go into full attack against us, maximising the advantage gained from clearances won and coming with the further consequence of completely wrecking our defensive strategy of forcing predictable entries to be eaten up by top quality defenders.

I'm not saying attack is the best defence, but being in a position to attack does make your opponents cautious about what they do, and the greatest gift to defence is making things predictable.

2024 Demons is not that far different from 2021 except we haven't had the capacity to go 'Bang. Bang bang bang.'

We need more bang in 2025 and that's what we should be drafting or trading for to push the proverbial window back open again.

 

 

 

[ElDiablo14 4,868]

1 hour ago, Little Goffy said:

Hmm, reflecting on the mention of Jackson as a loss. As well as being pretty versatile for a big guy, he had one thing which I think has been a particular shortage on our list even in the premiership year, which is 'dangerous' players.

Petracca, of course, is the ultimate example of a player which oppositions have to plan for. I think we've seen all too clearly what happens when you take that sense of uncertainty away. Since the loss of Petracca we've not only had a simple 'amount of quality' missing, but a whole capacity to menace. Opposition midfields simply haven't had to fear us and as a result they have been able to go into full attack against us, maximising the advantage gained from clearances won and coming with the further consequence of completely wrecking our defensive strategy of forcing predictable entries to be eaten up by top quality defenders.

I'm not saying attack is the best defence, but being in a position to attack does make your opponents cautious about what they do, and the greatest gift to defence is making things predictable.

2024 Demons is not that far different from 2021 except we haven't had the capacity to go 'Bang. Bang bang bang.'

We need more bang in 2025 and that's what we should be drafting or trading for to push the proverbial window back open again.

 

 

 

Our dangerous players are, in my view, the following:

Petracca 

Fritsch 

Kozzy 

Rivers

Windsor 

Hopefully JVR next year can become one, he is going well at the moment.

[Guest]

Unfortunately we just haven't attracted any solid talent from other clubs in the last few years. 

We did great with Langdon, Lever and May.  BBB helped us in a small window. F all since.

In the last few years we have failed to top up the list with some solid soldiers to aid our core of stars.  We are now relying on developing young players to do that, and that will take time.

We might get another tilt at it in a couple of years if all goes well.

[Little Goffy 13,923]

37 minutes ago, ElDiablo14 said:

Our dangerous players are, in my view, the following:

Petracca 

Fritsch 

Kozzy 

Rivers

Windsor 

Hopefully JVR next year can become one, he is going well at the moment.

That's a fair list. With Petracca injured, Fritsch mysterious low-impact for much of the season, and Windsor so young, it does also illustrate the issue.

I have high hopes that we can become a much more worrying threat again next season. I'm very bullish about Tholstrup's capacity with each additional pre-season and it is obvious Windsor can become sublime once his fitness builds.

Just at the moment we have the opposite problem to star-dependent Carlton - not quite enough players who can turn a moment to our favour through sheer personal dominance, and take the initiative away from the best-laid opposition planning.

[adonski 10,760]

15 hours ago, dees189227 said:

We just can't afford to fall away like Richmond have. Yes I know they had more success but we can't afford to flounder and be near the bottom again.  

My biggest worry is we don't seem to be planning down the track for max finishing up & having someone step up 

I think the whole planning for Max thing is overrated. We just need some big 200cm bloke.