bing181

Worth remembering that it's not all that long ago he was in a moon boot with a serious foot injury. He missed most of the preseason, and it costs. Worth persevering with while he builds form/touch - though not a free pass either.

Brayshaw a concern, though he did a couple of decent things. Could it be that away from the coalface, he's a bit lost?

Hibberd for someone ... Jetta? Hunt? VDB has apparently been good in the last couple of practise matches. In for Sparrow?

This. We may make the finals, but hard to see us getting to the pointy end with skills as they are. Bowey can't come on soon enough.

If we lose this, it'll be down to that old fan favourite, skills: poor disposal, poor kicking for goal, even poor marking. Hunt on borrowed time I feel, he's just too poor a field kick. Surely Hibberd comes in to replace him.

Doing well against a good side - but still lack real class at the top end in order to finish off. Oliver is great, but Billings is dangerous, and that's the difference.

Hunt was moved back because he was a failure as a forward. Sooner or later you have to get the footy, which has always been his achilles heel.

Injuries haven't helped, including the last one (Lisfranc). Seriously compromised preseason, that he's out there at all is an achievement. Thought he wasn't the worst, and he showed more level-headedness than in the past.

Report from Casey practice match is pretty sketchy, but it doesn't sound like Viney, Melksham or Hibberd took the game apart. But if there's any way Viney is ready, or even ready enough, he should come in - if only to free up a bit more outside run from the likes of Oliver. Otherwise, judging by the Casey report, VDB put his hand up.

! It's just not. Not even close. We have a handful of outstanding players, but that's where it stops.

Yze can see it. As can (could) all the coaches. It's not the coaches.

Or you've got to assume that they're incapable of doing any better/different. They've had a succession of perfectly good midfield coaches, now one of the best in the business in Yze - yet we're still seeing the same thing.

Nothing to do with what's going on in the box.

If we lose this, it'll all be on the mids/clearances. Getting killed.

Even with a new midfield coach. Not sure these mids are ever going to get it, not in their DNA.

Same old same old. Still too many players who just aren't reliable when the ball comes near them. Hunt, Harmes, Tomlinson etc. Jetta off the pace. Clayton Oliver - surprised to see he'd had 18 possessions. Needs to do more damage. And on today's performance, I'd be playing Daw (if fit?) over Jackson, who just looks a bit lost.

Rusty. Still a few out there who are poor disposers/decision-makers ... Tomlinson and Hunt notably.

I’ll hardly get any sleep either - but for different reasons. Match starts at 3:45 a.m. for me.

Yes, oddest thing about this thread. He's not playing any differently at Carlton to what he did at Melbourne. A different position, maybe but even there, no different to when he played forward for Melbourne at the back end of 2019 (when our other KPF's were injured) - and where he probably would have played out the season until being injured himself.

Any player who can play a half of AFL footy and manage a dozen or so disposals, a few tackles, a few marks and a couple of goals is by definition AFL standard.

Is all you needed to say.

Yes, but that age figure is a bit deceptive. It's list age, not team age, and I'd be surprised if many of our elderly citizens play much (or at all) this year. Our 4 over-30's are Jones, Mitch Brown, Daw and Jetta - a far cry from having the likes of Dangerfield or Riewoldt. I think a more relevant stat would be the age of your top 10 players, as that's where it counts - and where we're still comparatively young.

And that's putting it kindly.

We have two members of the Board who played at the highest level, one who also worked as an assistant coach. We have two ex AFL coaches, one of whom won a premiership and both of whom also have extensive experience as assistants. We have one of the highest-ranked assistant coaches, not to mention other members of the FD who played AFL or who have been working in the AFL for years. Yet at the centre of all this, our head coach is a "fraud"? Do you even think about what you write?

If you lose x% of your best 22, by definition you're going to underperform, and that's true even if you win. Whether that underperforming team will be enough, time will tell.