Started today with Carlton vs Casey.

We've held off for long enough...
As long as possible.
So here's the definitive 'token' poll that will predict the outcome of tomorrow's election.

The passing of Bob Hawke introduces an interesting element to the election.

No need for folks to comment to keep it scrolling around...I'll just bump the thread until tomorrow night.

https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/lea...fd5efaad20

Whatever your affiliation... a Great Australian
RIP

Just announced - effective immediately.

or rather the midfield...

He's a magnificent beast.

No doubt we will need to be very cautious of poachers in the future.

As good as we thought Patrick Cripps was, I reckon he went to a new level last weekend.

Not sure what to make of this,

https://www.carltonfc.com.au/news/2019-0...w-and-vflw

THE Carlton Football Club is delighted to announce the appointment of Wayne Siekman as the Club’s AFLW and VFLW List Manager.

Sat 18th May at 1400 at Ikon Park. Originally it was supposed to be held at Preston.
There may be a few guys coming back, but the team will lose somebody to replace Willo and Plow.

...it's the only thing!

“Winning isn’t everything… It’s the only thing” UCLA coach Red Sanders…with an assist by Vince Lombardi

For some time there has been a criticism of posters focusing too much on the win/loss side of things as opposed to the growth and development of the playing group. Maybe that criticism was justified, as impatience with the pace of the rebuild is a natural response for some of us after years of poor to average performance. as Bolton said after taking up the job...

“We don’t want to be defined by wins and losses; we want to be defined by our effort and application”

While the above was probably true in the early years of the rebuild eventually the focus had to shift to winning games. If we haven’t reached that point already surely the time is now. Every indication from our draft strategy last year to comments by Bolton that he largely has the list he wants indicate that winning games in 2019 would be an expectation.

Winning is important…
Winning makes supporters happy, losing makes supporters sad
Young supporters are drawn to winning sides.
Winning helps sponsorship
Winning helps membership.
Winning helps crowd numbers
Winning gives you a better ladder position.
You don’t play finals unless you win more games than most of the other sides (unless one of them are drug cheats)
You don’t win premierships these days if you don’t win games at the end of the year.
Winning shuts the critics up.
If you’re a coach, winning keeps your job safe.

As Chris Judd stated earlier in the year "We're in a results-based business. We need to win games and and we're all really clear on that."

The development can run in tandem but surely the focus now must be all-out on achieving a few wins.

Next week we play the late match on Sunday afternoon, starting at 1640 in Sydney. Not going to be on TV again.
Not really happy about that, but ...
We have a chance of having Liam Jones back, which will help our defence. Mind you Levi Casboult had a very good game against Collingwood.
GWS are depending on Dawson Simpson at the moment for ruckman: he is beatable, which could make a huge difference for us.
If we can come back after having our hearts broken again, that would be a phenomenal effort. And the Umpiring simply cannot be as one-sided again. I really hope we officially complain. But that is another story.

You know the rules. Hope there is someone to votes for!

Remember:
[1] At least 3 players need to get a mention.
[2] No more than 10 votes for any one player.
[3] Give a rating of team performance. It can be anywhere from A+ to F.
[4] Votes must add up to 15.