jnrmac

Regardless of what happened re the camp it should NEVER have gone outside the four walls of the club. That is the real and most damning issue.

Dion J congratulating Spargo was good. Hopefully he gets a rocket that Spargs got a game before him.....

We did lose to their seconds side a few years back............

I actually like Pedo but he hasn't really delivered. And its not just us. He's 31yo and has only played 70ish games at two clubs. North didnt rate him either...

Well done to OMcD. Very interesting no votes for Gawn despite his dominance. Hopefully that indicates to him what he and his mids must do to be effective..... And Martin 1 vote? Please....

Carlton have lost 14 of their last 15 games. We make a better case than them.

We had numerous opportunities to switch play and didnt take them. We also had plenty of opportunity to chip kick quickly repeatedly to break up the zone defence. we didn't take these either. We practiced for this a lot on the pre-season but it has gone the way of the Dodo.

What a condescending post and a BS argument. No one else has to give up 'blockbuster' games, nor should we. In any case I'd be happy to give up playing Gold Coast at the G or Frem. In addition to Essendon, since 2005 we have only had: 5 homes games against Carlton 7 v Richmond 5 v Geelong And for example, Carlton haven't played at Geelong since 1997, Ess since 1993 and Coll since 1999. No wonder teams have such different gate receipts from football. We are denied access to big games against large drawing Vic clubs and its wrong. And BTW we rotate the ANZAC day Eve game with Richmond.

Since 2005 we have played 1 home game against Essendon. Why is this? it is absolutely appalling. Another example of the stupid nature of the "Fixture"

I would argue we haven't done that since Bailey was coach.

Gee we already have Rawlings, Plapp and Chaplin from the Tigers.... have I missed any?

Thanks for that summary. Could you please now explain why Carlton get 6 prime time Friday/Saturday night games this year?

Age is a bulldust excuse except for maybe tiring late in the season.

Yep and last year they scored a goal.

Fritsch averages 11 disposals and 1 goal. Hardly a world beater and not the reason we lost. Stretch was selected for his outside pace and delivery into the fwd line. He didn't succeed but that was why he was selected. Plus he is being managed as a first year player with 2 games in 5 days.

Watts kicked 100 goals in his last 5 seasons. Big deal, he averages 1 a game. He is not the answer to our goalkicking woes.

In the pre-season and PS games we spent most of the time chip kicking to players space to maintain possession of the ball. It worked well. But this has completely disappeared from our game and this year we have been cut up by teams doing the same to us..Now we predictably kick it long to packs along the line.

Gutted after last night. Some say the effort was there. It was but it was the wrong effort. Most notably, in a contest we would have 3 or 4 players crowding around while Richmond had players scattered on the outside. When they won the pill the ball was flicked to the outside and they ran the ball very well with general precision. Sitting up high I could see Tiger players streaming fwd and our players bunched up back at where the contest was - not running and looking flat footed. That explained the massive outnumbering that occurred in their fwd line. When we won the pill in a contest we were immediately under pressure from the Richmond players stationed around the outside. And more often than not we would turn it over. When the game broke open in the last it was Richmond that was full of running and Melbourne that was stationary. I don't believe they gave up but after a game of chasing Richmond players streaming into their fwd line we were overwhelmed. This is fixable. Flying for the mark. As has been said here repeatedly we stupidly send 3 or 4 players up for the mark or spoil leaving no-one down. Again from viewing up high it is so obvious and amateurish it is hard to believe. This couple with spoils that go to the middle of the goal square (Lever) and fumbles within 10m of goal (OMac) mean that we are constantly against it because we are a poor contested marking side and we don't have any crumbers on the ground. This is fixable. Centre clearances. Gawn winning most of the taps is next to useless if our mids can't win his taps. We were smashed in the clearances. 5 to 0 in the second quarter. In the last it was 7 to 1 late in the quarter. Our set ups are atrocious and the number of times Richmond had players running from the back of the centre square to receive a handball and pump the ball into their fwd 50 was frustrating in the extreme. When we got the ball from a centre stoppage we often handballed to a stationary target, a man under pressure or we simply turned it over. Tyson has severe disposal flaws and decision making skills that will never be fixed. He gets the ball but if he turns it over every 2nd time what use is he? Not so easy to fix. Defence. We lack the ability to defend one on one and kill the ball when it close to goal. Basic stuff. We fumble badly and as said above we gave away several goals through bad errors. While Lever had a reasonable game, we are sadly lacking in quality backmen. I am on record as saying I don't think OMac will make it. To me he is like Zac Dawson. Yes he is improving and his disposal is OK but we give away at least 2 goals a week from his weak attack on the ball or his inability to withstand physical pressure. Jetta hasn't played to his usual standard this year, Hibberd similar but is slowly improving. Wagner is starting to do some good things but overall he is just a player and does no damage to the opposition and doesn't get the ball enough. Last year we were 18th in defending one on one contests. This year we will likely win that title again. Forward line. What has happened to Garlett? Has had one terrific game and 4 terrible games. We put up with his weak efforts because he is mercurial and can turn it one when you least expect it but overall he is now a liability and deserves time in the twos. Melksham had a pretty good game last night but needed to as his previous 4 were hopeless. Hogan is a quality player and I was impressed with Weideman last night, finally seeing something that makes me think he will make it as a player. A much better second ruck option than Harmes. Harmes, ANB, Hunt, Stretch, Salem, Brayshaw, Kent are all in that category that can do some good things but have not improved and have severe flaws. Brayshaw was probably the pick last night but still he was unsighted for much of the night. The coach. I don't rate him and he seems incapable of fixing basic problems like flying for the mark or crowding a contest or defending. We have no choice but to persevere with him but I see nothing from our coaching panel that makes me think we will get through this quickly. We are in a world of pain and many of us are furious that our club cannot resolve some of these basic football issues after so fricking long. It is demoralising to have three members of your family in the car on the way home from the footy crying and saying 'Why do we have to follow such a crap football team?' I can't answer that. The club is trashing its supporters resolve and doing long lasting and perhaps fatal damage to its future support base. I am almost over caring.

No they are not. At least half of them are too high and a free should be given but the maggots would be lynched by the salivating media and the Richmond fleas.

ohh the irony...

So we must play a high posession game then and handball backwards at all costs?

This is overated. The Kennel was a mess: lost their coach, captain, CEO and a few others in a short space of time. No one wanted to be there. Beveridge turned it around very quickly but the reality is they made the finals and had a fantastic September. Have been ordinary since then. This talk of 'McCartney being the genius behind the dog's flag' is rubbish. Yes he takes credit for developing some of their junior players but he was not liked down there and couldn't get them winning regularly. The raps on him at Melbourne have been good but maybe there is some friction there with Goody seeing him interfering beyond his role. Or maybe things were simply working better when McC was on the bench. Who knows? But what I do know is I hate seeing our name in the press for this stuff. It reeks of disharmony and when added to the pre-season camp stuff, that should NEVER have gone outside and should have been handled in-house, it worries me that things aren't rosy. Then when you see clear disfunction on the field it starts to smell more....

Yes lets wait for Saty.... oh hang on...

On Punt Road End some are very nervous. Vlastuin is a big out and they are worried about being smashed in the clearances. Vlas, Graham and Caddy are the 'outs' and 3 of their 'hardest' players apparently....