SOS once said in an interview, that it’s easy to put a side together that finishes 8th. That comment has always been in the back of my mind when looking at out playing list.
When I look at our team, we put on the ground against Melbourne I can see what he means. When we are putting players out there who were chosen as rookies / after pick 50, and leaving our high picks in the twos, I question the team selection and the coaches bias for a particular type of player.

Cottrell, Gibbons, Parks, Owies all rookie players over the past 3 years, all getting games ahead of more highly talented players. Add to that Pittonet who was taken at 50.

Look at the rookies this week,
Cottrell 15 poss, 2 tackles, 330 Mg. 79% game time while playing on the wing
Runs all day, gives his all, but disposal is average and is a straight-line player with no tricks.

Parks 5 poss, 0 tackles, 113 Mg, 77% game time, playing Back Pocket.
Lukes worst game and was shown up for what he is, a tryer at best. All he’s done of note is laid two good tackles while playing seniors. Seemed lost all day and is too easily pushed off the ball. Supposed to be an intercept marker but has only taken 2 in a game and only 1 mark this week, with plenty of ball coming down all game long to be involved.

Gibbons, 9 poss, 4 tackles, 1 goal, 160 Mg 71% game time, playing half forward.
While I realise he was the sub, Gibbons still played just under ¾ game time. Seems to be too busy telling everyone else what to do and not getting involved in the play himself.

Owies 6 poss, 7 tackles, 1 goal 2 points, 86% game time.
I actually like Owies and think he has another couple of step to go up. This game was a poor one though, good pressure, but must take a clean ball when it sits up in front of goal, and has to make the easy set shots.

When you have Dow, O’Brien, SPS, deKoning even a Ramsay, dare I say Williamson not playing seniors, you need to question quite a few things.

Are these players desperate enough to lift their games?

Is the coach only picking players who are battlers because that’s the type of player he was?

Are we putting faith into our younger players and letting them play through their mistake?

Lets face it, finals are pretty much out of the question and when we start getting players back from injury they will take the sports of the rookies, when really it should have been our young draft picks.

Put SPS on a half forward flank instead of Gibbons, at least you know he will come at the ball off half back. The look to do something with it.

Get Williamson in the backline and back him in, take away his run out at all costs attitude that seems to have taken over his game. Use his boot and natural aggression to stick a man all game long.

Use O’Brien on a wing get him running up and back, he is a genuine two way runner which we need. He is a confidence player so back him in, say Lachie he’s a block of 4 games, barring injury you will play all four and we will judge you on the four, so play through mistakes and use your one wood which is your run and link up and let’s see the skill that got you taken at 10.

Dow is a quality player who doesn’t have the coaches confidence. Look back at 2019 and Paddy was up around the 20 touches a game while Bolton was coaching, Teague takes over Paddy gets put to a flank and his production dies. He was drafted as a midfielder play him there. Look at Melbourne midfield, all capable of bursting away from the pack, us, Walsh as two on him, Cripps got caught a lot, where that’s Dows strength.

The sooner we get deKoning into the senior side the better!

Hawthorn lost to North in Tassie. Can we manage it at the MCG?

Voting is as usual: you have 15 votes to award pretty much as you will, with the following provisos:
[1] 15 votes in total, no more, no less.
[2] No more than 10 votes for any one player (even Cripps)
[3] Three players at least must get a mention.
[4] A grade for the game, A+ (what I want to see) to F-.

I am not confident.

And the winner is:

Ready for tomorrow. I'll be at the game tomorrow.

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Hello Blues Fans,

Since 2014, we—the students and professors of the Know Rivalry Project—have been studying rivalry for sports in North America with the help of message board members. Now we are expanding our research to the AFL. We also want to start the rivalry conversation here. Please help us ensure that the Carlton Blues are included by taking 9 minutes to complete our updated survey:

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Our previous results in the US have been featured in several sports media outlets, as well as the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. You can view those results, links to media coverage, and learn more about us at our KnowRivalry.com website.

We use the Qualtrics online survey software for data collection. This academic research has been approved by two US universities' Institutional Review Boards (IRB) and it poses no risks to respondents. You'll find more information on the disclosure agreement that is required to start the survey. Thank you for helping us to include the Carlton Blues by participating and please share this with any other fans that may also help.

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Some damning vision on Fox the other night, Doc and Jonesy not doing the basics. It's good to play high scoring footy but the defensive structures need to be able to support that and the defenders need to be switched on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Btbqn7l2v6U&t=544s

Premierships are built of rock solid defences, we need to address this pronto.

Not happy with this.  SEN reported today that Cripps has being playing injured and copping injections before and after the game.  Now Teauge says he has not.  Well both can't be right.  I think this is an attempt to disguise the real 'value' of Crippa if we decide we're going to trade him at the end of the year.  I'm a bit sick of the club being dishonest quite frankly.  Tell it as it is.  If he IS injured, then come clean and rest him.  If not, the what is SEN on about?

The 'opposition run on'

Why is it happening so often?
How do we stop it?

No doubt it's a topic of hot discussion amongst our coaching group.
They're struggling to find the answer.

There seems to be a couple of 'schools of thought' at a supporter level....

Some see us as 'very close'. We dominate games for long stretches. If we can just stop these constant periods where the opposition get a bit of run... we'll be there!

Other see us as still a 'fair way away'. A line up that's far from settled. To them it just seems the opposition have to press a button, go up a level, and we have no answer.

Is it a mental/attitude thing? (not coming ready to play, switching off when in a winning position)
Is it a personnel issue (players capable of the shutdown)
Is it a 'fitness issue'? (possibly, but many of these lapses occur in early parts of a game.)
Is it a leadership problem when these runs occur? (Who stands up?)
Is it a coaching issue (moves that don't occur, or don't work)?

(All of the above?)