Jaded No More

GAWN! And at least Barty is a chance!

As I said yesterday, we have issues we need to address and we certainly need to lift our intensity and contested footy, but for a deadshit like Robinson (and who the f' is Armatige, please!) to come out and publicly say things like that, is a disgrace. Both are ordinary players, who will never reach the heights Brad Green has achieved in his career, and both should focus on their own careers instead of worrying about our club. We've done just fine without their opinions for 150 years. Can't wait for someone to iron out that absolute loser Robinson come round 20. Plenty of Carlton supporters I know would be delighted too.

I hope he is back, but if he is not, I wish him all the very best. It's a horrible situation, and unless you have experienced real grief you can't really understand how hard things must be for him. He is still so young and the horrible things he has been through recently would take a toll on anyone. Good luck to him and I hope he is back better than ever!

While we do have issues to address,I think Mitch Robinson should concentrate on hitting the side of a barn and also getting his head examined for brain cells, before he opens his big ugly mouth. I would be more concerned if those comments came from good players, not D grade hacks who are only getting a game because they like playing like talentless [censored]. I hope we use these comments, and I particularly hope we use them to smash the shizen out of that arrogant, full of self importance, done nothing in 10 years footy club come Round 20.

That is what made Roos a great coach, he expected everyone to perform to within an inch of their talent, every minute of every game in every season. That is why he got great success from a fairly ordinary list of players, because he extracted everything they had to give. Sylvia has had a fairly good year, but he has all the skills required to be an A grader, an elite player, and he is nowhere near that and has never been that in his entire career. It is because he is so talented that Roos probably expects more from him.

With the new sub rule all clubs are now using their second ruck as a player who can be just that, a stop gap. The second ruckman has to be able to play a number of roles, even if they don't really excel in any of those roles. Think Petrie, think Hawkins, etc. Martin can play down back successfully, he can contribute in the middle and beat most of his rucking opponents at ground level due to his excellent agility, and in general he gives us a contest up forward. I would personally hope to see him improve as a forward, hope he can learn to lead and take contested marks, because honestly that is what we really need/want out of our secondary ruckman (see Newton getting 700 contract extensions). If Jamar comes back and Martin continues to improve, I would think that Jamar will spend at least 30% of game time up forward, which will give us a huge advantage and a much stronger forward set up, given how good Jamar is overhead. I can see both Jamar and Martin playing together successfully in the future. Whereas I think Spencer is a pure first ruck and will struggle to fit into the team while Jamar is also playing, unless we decide to turn Jamar into a full time forward, but for that to happen we need Spencer/Gawn to be as good in the ruck as Jamar, and that could take a very long time to happen.

People refuse to acknowledge his lack of improvement because he has improved out of sight this year! I know you don't like to believe stats, but Martin has almost doubled his disposal average this year, more than doubled his marks average, and doubled his tackle count. Of course this makes sense when he is spending more time in the middle of the ground, but for someone who has been a ruckman for less than half a season, who has played footy for about 5 years and has never spent more than a year in any one position, to come out and compete against seasoned players, gain 40 hitouts in a match and contribute around the ground with excellent agility and passable disposal, is a huge improvement. Is he a first ruck? No. Does he need to improve his kicking, decision making and overhead marking? Sure. But to deny him the opportunity to do so, by dropping him to Casey, when he has already improved so much in such a short period of time, is cruel, and it does nothing for the club. We need more agile big man, and Martin has proven to be a quick learner. I'm sure the club is very happy with his development this year and he will continue to get games and be part of our future.

Pretty sure I presented some very relevant counter arguments. This place can use more laughs and a hell of a lot less panic stricken, drama-filled threads. Just like you have the right to clog up the forum with yet another Scully thread, I have the right to laugh at the hysteria. And do you know what people care less about? Conclusions drawn from Twitter accounts!

I thought the club was bullshitting about the injury to cover for Davey being dropped, especially given Bailey said post match he'd be 50-50 for this weekend, but I was wrong. I wish him a quick recovery, and I hope that when he is back on the field he plays with a lot more intent and physically, that befitting a vice captain.

Jamar couldn't hit the side of a barn door two years ago, and to be honest, his kicking is still very very suspect. Martin's disposal isn't as bad as you seem to make out, and despite all the logic and statistical evidence that people are throwing at you, you continue to choose to rubbish him. That is your choice, but sadly nobody is buying what you're selling. And rude? come on, harden up!

Martin averages more marks, more kicks and more handballs than Jamar over his career. Now I'm not saying Martin is anywhere near the level of Mark Jamar, but two years ago was the first time in his career Russian broke through the 5 kicks a match barrier!

For the third week in a row, Martin was our second highest clearance winner, beaten only by Sylvia. He also had the third highest contested possession count behind Sylvia and Green. So unless you have some actual hard evidence to support your rubbishing of someone who is developing rapidly, I suggest you stop before you find yourself further up sh*t creek without a paddle.

I would like to see him dominate and play like a gun. Judd has no passion for anything but his own form and bank account. Doubt anyone at Carlton cares. In fact, I doubt Judd regularly hangs out with idiots like Betts, Russell and Robinson!

OMG Skullz is going to Richmond!!!!!!11 I guess Beamer and Rivers want to go to Carlton because they hang out with McLean so much. FFS people, get a grip!

Tomorrow's headline: "Bullied lonely Scully wants out- says wedgies from teammates have caused him severe knee pain" Is this seriously what this Scully situation has come to? Who the [censored] works with people and loves every single one of them? I sure as hell don't and just like Scully my priority at work is to excel and get ahead not to socialize with morons.

If Scully has no pain after playing on the weekend, then that is the most caution we can take. He realistically can break down and develop soreness again at any point in the future. It can happen next week in the VFL or in a month in the AFL, so if he is physically fit and pain free this week we should play him, even if we need to sub him off at 3/4 time. He is that good that 3 quarters from him, even at reduced fitness, would be better than what most others will give us for 4 quarters. At some point we will have to bite the bullet and play him and test out that knee.

I love that you post here mainly because you enjoy reading aloud your own thoughts once you have typed them out on the screen B) Very few poster here would be shocked/upset if Bailey wasn't with the club next year. But many also recognise, as you have, that a premature departure will do nothing but damage to the club. And at the same time, there is also a recognition that our leadership is shizen and we have been hit very hard by injuries. Malthouse couldn't win games with 8-10 of his best players missing either. Having said that, I think Bailey lacks a great tactical mind and I don't know if he can extract the best out of his players, and for those reasons I hope we change coaches at the end of the season.

Has been sensational under immense pressure. Highlight of the season for me

If this is how you want things to go down, then great. Here is a reminder of the Eade-Roos situation http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/06/25/1023864581312.html Now let us replicate that scenario in Victoria, where the footy media coverage is ten times that of Sydney, and also let us not forget that our next coach is probably not already on our coaching staff. That means 10 rounds or so of someone coaching who has no long term interests in the club. It is just a very messy situation that we need to try and avoid. Nothing monumental will happen with a mid year sacking and replacing of a coach with a short term caretaker. If you told me Roos was ready to step up and start next week, it would be a different story, but as the situation stands currently, we have to minimise the damage as much as we can if we decide to let Bailey go.

Nothing is ever achieved by sacking a coach mid season. Show me one good example where this has worked favorably for a club? If we keep losing we have to suck it up until Round 24 is over, and trust that the club is working behind the scenes to get us a new coach.

Look at that kid, sitting there with ice on his knee.... he is so obviously going to GWS. That ice bag is full of dirty GWS money too

The club would be stupid to cause this sort of upheaval, especially if they are trying to lure an experienced coach, and they know that. Bailey will coach the season out, and I fully support that move. We cannot keep destabilizing our club with internal upheaval. It's messy, it's unprofessional, and it makes us a very unattractive proposition for any perspective coach. Besides, Bailey has done a great deal right for our club and regardless of what happens at the end of the season we should be eternally greatful that he had the balls to turn our list over.

Good changes. They showed the injury list up on the big screen at the G last night and Bartram had 4 weeks next to his name I would drop Newton and keep Evans though. I think you need to get debutants at least 3 weeks to find their feet and I don't think we can carry Newton, Gawn and Howe in the same side. If Howe was to come in, I'd play him at FF and Watts at CHF, and they can rotate between themselves. Otherwise I'd keep Newton and Evans and Howe can come in next week. I think it's important right now to bring in some pace and foot skills, which is where I see Blease fitting in.

This is our golden opportunity to continue to develop some kids. Given many of our first choice players are out injured, we did the right thing in recent weeks playing our more mature depth players with very disappointing outcomes. It's fair to say that our more experienced depth players are poorly skilled, lack smarts and worse of all, have not given us a serious contest (apologies to Newton who has actually worked hard, but just isn't up to it). With all that in mind, now is the time to play some more kids who have shown some level of form with Casey. So going by half time reports from Casey, my changes would be: In: Trengove, SCULLY, Gawn, Blease, Howe The outs can really just pick themselves.