rjay

Poor and short sighted response...look at the personnel and experience. They are close to a fully formed team coming into their prime. We had no defence (Omac & Frosty), were poor on the outside and Oliver & Petracca, particularly Petracca were no where near where they are today. Forget the score differentials the true story was told in that 2018 prelim final. Carlton's 2022 story won't be realised until this year is finished but they are certainly ahead of where we were in 2018.

They are better than us of 2018... The area of weakness I see with them is their mids are not yet fully committed to the defensive part of the game and when they break even or worse on contested ball it puts the defence under a lot of pressure and they concede scores. We bat a lot deeper...but don't underrate them.

A lot of people are underselling them 'fr'...trying to convince themselves. ...but I agree, Carlton are a difficult preposition. We will need to bring out 'A' game to beat them.

Yep, Bruce makes a difference but Curnow hasn't got McKay out there tonight and is going ok. Their overall structure is better than the Dogs. I'm still not convinced with their team defence and that's what we started to see a bit that Q.

The Dogs just don't have the forward strength...they are mids & more mids. Carlton have them covered there. Defensively they are also a stronger with the big full back. I think in transition is where they will be caught out at the moment. Cripps is still a one way runner and when you play a really good team everyone needs to buy into team defence. I haven't seen enough to know how hard the forwards work outside of their zone. They put defensive pressure on there but do they push back hard enough to help out the back 6? Going to be an interesting watch. When contested ball doesn't go their way, how do they stand up?

They're every chance of finishing top 2... This has been coming for a while now and a few of us had posted similar over the last 2 seasons. The recruiting had been excellent and all they needed was a bit of luck. Voss is the icing, he will get the credit but the work was done way before he got there. Cripps is critical to where they finish and I'm not sure he can last a full season...lets see.

As I always say 'Red'...it's good for the competition when Carlton are down the bottom.

Good article 'Lucifer'...Caro is a very good journalist no matter what popular opinion would have us believe. It's a pity more didn't jump on board this issue rather than the pathetic Shiel/Parker thing last week. Although with most of the AFL media it's more about not biting the hand that feeds.

That's ridiculous...how do they practice bouncing the ball? how do boundary umpires practice throwing the ball in? field umpires practice positioning? Surely they must have somewhere else to practice these & other ground skills? If they don't it means they are having to practice on the job which is nowhere near optimal.

Yep, I can see that at around the 9 sec mark of this video...not.

Roy Kent, what a legend...hanging for the 3rd season 'DEE'.

I hate the use of that word when talking about players. Anyone that makes it to AFL level for a start is not a spud...they've got to be very good footballers to even get on an AFL list let alone play one game. It's something the majority of us will never do.

Why can't he go West so they can leave Jacko alone to stay here with us.

I have been impressed with his improvement...his ball handling was hit and miss in the past but looked very sharp on the weekend and in his previous outing with the senior team. There's something to be said about a good attitude and good development coaching. You don't have to look much further than ANB to see that.

It must be a Mark thing...

No excuses are offered...player roles are being discussed. I wasn't discussing Weid by the way, Ben Brown & Tommy Mac are/were the 2. Both cover a lot of territory.

It depends what role they have...and what the expectations are. Both cover a lot of ground and whilst not tackling machines create problems by blocking outlets up the ground. Their contest in marking or bringing the ball to ground is also critical for us to hit the scoreboard...

The Charlie Cameron duel in a few weeks is going to a real measure of how far he has come in the role...

Everyones going into raptures about him...I love what he brings too. Just thought I might point out some not so obvious parts of his game to work on. ...and on the not so obvious, I like his vision of what's around and his use of teammates in better positions. I also really liked a few weeks back when he pulled off a classic Tommy Hawkins ruck contest against a bigger, more experienced player.

A really good prospect 'bin', but at times though still plays kids footy. One that stood out to me was a ground ball that bounced up and instead of running through the ball got a bit cute, put the arms out & tried to bring it to him...the opposition cleared easily. Choco won't let him get away with it.

They used to drive me to swimming lessons on Saturday mornings when I was a kid...

Poor entrainment is poor whether it be day or night.

The only 2 I feel sorry for are Trengove and Grimes...they gave 100%.

Is 'Once in a Generation' becoming the new 'Champion'??? Seems to get thrown around a lot.

Well done 'Gonzo'...