Adam The God

Why would we do this though? The club understands where we're at. We're not going to win the flag, so we should be blooding as many elite kids while Roos is here to take the flack as possible. What is the point in playing older players with clear limitations? I don't understand that thinking. I'd much prefer to allow our younger players who we believe can make it, establish themselves and learn this new game plan. Then when Goodwin takes over fully in 2017, these kids can hit the ground running and the rest of the team will have had a year practicing this new system.

Unfortunately, if we take out Kent and Kennedy we lose quite a lot of pace from our half forwardline, which is pretty much the backbone of our game, outside of the midfield. I think one of them will be in the gun, but not both of them. Frost may well come back in and play a forward role though.

People certainly get sucked in too easily by stats. I just found those stats in the Eagles v Suns game quite peculiar. Even the contested possessions weren't far from even. Usually UPs and CPs tell you something about a side's dominace, particularly in a 77 point thumping.

Demonland is therapy.

Of course we're all welcome to our opinion. I just think it's important that we get Prestia, because we need to improve our midfield and he will help in that area.

Bizarre stats in the Eagles v Suns game. The Suns had more kicks than the Eagles. Their efficiency inside 50 was better. They won the uncontested possessions, had more marks, laid far more tackles, won the stoppage clearances, yet lost by 77 points.

That could be a solution, but I think it'd be better if we just stuck stringently to our roles and learn to play disciplined, consistent football. If we do this, we'll win most weeks.

Quite possibly RE: Carlton. I just know I'd much rather be Melbourne than Carlton. We've also got the guy who built the Bulldogs from the ground up. I wouldn't sniff at the argument that McCartney is the most important person at our football club. Worth his weight in gold.

I'm not saying Grimes won't play again this year. I reckon they'll try and get him to 100 games, but he'll be gone by season's end. He's clearly not in their plans, otherwise he would have been played during the first 10 rounds. The reason he's being named as an emergency is to acknowledge his good VFL form. That's a cultural reason. Roos and co want to illustrate to the playing group that if you perform, you'll be in the mix, but it's a show IMO.

Apologies, TU. And absolutely agree with the rest of your post too. I just texted this to my Carlton mate. "I reckon you're (Carlton) are winning too early. Your list is being held together by older players: Murphy, Gibbs, Kreuzer and your mid tier older players like Armfield, Everitt, Casboult, Curnow, Walker etc. But there's not enough talent in the 18-25 demographic to get you any further than 5th to 8th in the future. Bolton is clearly a brilliant communicator and teacher, but you need at least two years of top draft picks to improve your midfield and key position stocks. I think you might get some B graders through the FA and trade period, but they won't give you a flag without more than say Cripps, a young Curnow and Weitering. It'll be interesting to see. We've got Viney, Tyson, Oliver, Petracca and Brayshaw. Only two of these guys have played 50 games, the rest haven't played more than 10-20 games. These are the guys that will develop into A graders, but we're still a few A graders short of completing our midfield (I'm not counting older blokes in Jones or Vince). We'll get Prestia, but we're still at least another A grader off the midfield we need to have sustained success. We have the best forward in the land in Hogan and half decent small forwards, along with developing young key position forwards in the VFL. That's been a two year build with access to the top talent as Hawthorn had. We've actually recruited properly this time and all of these guys are tracking far above the average for their experience. Statistically speaking, Hogan is ahead of the absolute champions of the game in Carey, Riewoldt etc, the stars of the game. Oliver and Petracca are averaging 19 disposals in their first five games. Outrageous. In Judd's first season, he averaged 15 disposals. Cripps averaged 9 across his three games in his first season. You might get lucky with FA and trades, but I think you're building too quickly. Time will tell." And yes, he did say that was the longest text message he'd ever received.

Grimes' cards are marked, TU.

Agreed. I think these are the sort of tweaks that will be applied with time. Not sure about 30 metres, but merely 10 metres might be enough to prevent the breaking of the zone. Spot on, mate. I watched the game with my family yesterday, as I always do and when Hogan had that shot on goal in the last, I said if he misses this, we'll lose by 7 or 8 goals. Sure enough, he missed it and that was pretty much the turning point in the final term, when we were within reach. It's an oldie, but still applies - scoreboard pressure is essential in footy and poor kicking is poor footy. I know it sounds harsh, but I believe Hogan's kicking cost us the game yesterday. He kicked 3.4 and missed some vital shots that would have put us right in the game. His kicking also let us down in the Bulldogs game. In a season or so's time, Hogan will kick those and pretty much win us the game off his own boot. But equally, when the team works hard to create a scoring chance on a lean day and then the forward keeps missing, it just saps our confidence and adds to the opposition's.

Don't underestimate our dealings with GCS in the recent past.

You mean like us having the largest statistical scoring improvement in the modern era? Or are you looking for a flag this season, ADC? I rate your posts, mate, but sometimes you're a little too negative for your own good.

It takes time to find the balance between attack and defence. We lead the competition for a number of stats. We score more goals and have a greater spread of goalkickers than practically anyone else.

Vince was an inconsistent B grader who wasn't in their coach's plans. Prestia is an A grader and vice captain of a club that desperately needs leadership right now. A second rounder will not get this deal done.

Yep, agreed.

Agree on Kent and have said so many times. He has been really important for us this season when he applies pressure (Richmond and Collingwood in particular) and provides an attacking outlet as well. However, as you say, he's a lazy footballer. He plays a position in our side that at the moment is simply a role player, specifically, applying pressure across half forward. When he and the other half forwards do this, we look good, but we look horrible when blokes like him don't play their role. I really like Salem and he hasn't had the greatest run at it, but if we could get an A grader in the 23-25 age bracket for him, I'd do the trade.

It's Carlton's senior players that are getting the job done this season too. I haven't watched any of the game today, but I understand Gibbs is dominating again. Kreuzer is playing better footy too. Armfield, Everitt, Casboult, Curnow, Walker etc. Their older guys are dragging them through. Obviously, Bolton is a master motivator and communicator too, but their list is a lot more mature than ours. I just wonder whether they're making their rise too soon. Unless they're going to rely on trading in good players, they don't have enough talent on that list, let alone enough talent in the 18-25 demographic. It might be good for Carlton in the short term, but hamper them in the mid to long term. No way Carlton jumps us. Their percentage is putrid. Not this week anyway. Disagree. This is a simplistic approach. As per my post above, I think Carlton's list is very, very ordinary. Great coaching and communication can only take you so far. If a team doesn't have enough true talent, a team will never win the ultimate. A team like North might pinch a flag (I highly doubt it), but they'll never have sustained success. We need sustained success as a football club and that's what good, strong clubs should aspire for. If I was a switched on Carlton supporter, I'd be worried about the ordinary nature of their list. Without access to top picks, they'll struggle to improve their list. Roos and co have done the right thing. Identified players within that have external value and attempted to maximise the compensation we received for each. We also played an outdated, but accountable brand of football that enabled us to stay in games, but never sacrifice access to the best talent in the land (Petracca, Brayshaw, Oliver, Weideman). I think Carlton are building towards a middle of the road 5th to 8th placed team and will drop off a ledge when Gibbs, Murphy and Kreuzer retire. Unless of course they get extremely lucky with FA and trading. You don't want to base a lot of your future success on luck though. We're building properly. We're building for sustained success and whilst it's frustrating given the rubbish we've had to endure for a decade, I believe it will be worth it in the mid to long term.

I'd also back Jason Taylor and co to nail the remaining picks we have.

I thought our kicking was a lot better in the first 10 minutes yesterday and then seemed to deteriorate, in line with our player's work rate. If we work hard, it means our players with ball in hand have simpler targets to hit.

Someone on Demonland said yesterday (was it bing?) that the Bulldogs were 5-5 last year too. If we keep tracking as is we'll win our 10 or so games. If we build on our start to the season, I think we'll make finals. I think the latter is unlikely, but our draw is tougher in the second half. I think as long as we bring manic pressure, we can beat any opposition on our day.

Are you saying the Hawks are 'gettable', Chris? It'll be a 5-10 goal loss next week.

Come on, Demi. Prestia is an A grader. You don't get players of his ilk for second rounders.

I think one of our biggest problems yesterday was that our press was far too high. Some might say it was 'aggressive', but for mine it was just stupid when we press too far up the ground. It just means teams can get out so easily. If I was one of the coaches I would have been saying watch the press and at least a couple of defenders should have pressed no higher than the centre square. It's a bit like a back four in football/soccer. If your back four is too high, teams can play through you far too easily. This is the sort of tinker mid game that I'd expect our coaches to make, but I accept that it might be a little complex at this stage of our implementation of this game style.