Post Game Philosphical Discussion: AFL 2020 Rd 18: Carlton vs Brisbane

[ElwoodBlues1]

Rich needed a man, he never really defends and is used in an attacking role, Gibbons was the wrong player for him and we obviously did zero scouting as Rich plays that loose attacker from half back every week.
That first goal he kicked was a shocker being allowed to run and take the easy receive, should never have happened.
Not sure why Cripps played, in fact he should have been rested ages ago...shoulder injury and taped up like Judd, what a surprise.
The club needed to cut the cord and let Cripps rest and make other players more responsible...thought Walsh and Martin stepped up tonight and did the dirty work at the fall of the ball and were very good. Harry was very good, his marking a feature and he kicked straight, too many talls though and we didnt have enough ground troops down forward.
Thought Plowman did well on Cameron and Pittonet was very handy vs good opposition.
Effort was there, we just lack class and polish to compete for 4 quarters....
Umpiring was poor IMO and some strange decisions made that were not consistent.
Polson had a shocker, whats new.......McGovern was a passenger again although it wasnt a night for marking players.

[Gointocarlton]

Fun facts: We kicked 6.1 and the behind was rushed so no one missed. Also, every player laid at least one tackle. Cunningham had a game high 9, Murphy had 6.

[laj]

Another blue by MC imo. Too tall given the conditions.

Missed Setters. Got done over by the umps again. Just when you think it improved (Fair last round), they pull another howler out. What was it 20 - 9? How many perfect tackles did we lay. Yet no reward. Our club needs to whinge like Clarko and the Scott's do.

That was a blunder of the highest order. We often struggled at ground level.

[laj]

Gave effort but beaten by a stronger team and won’t beat any of the better teams when we concede 5 goals plus in a row.

Still a fair bit of work to do and way off the better teams but would have been much closer tonight if MC had of picked the team correctly.

Cas Pit and TDK should never all play in the same team let alone on a wet night. And selections Polson yet again is beyond any sense.  Same with giving Eddie another year. Makes little sense when looking at his output.

Way too regularly does the MC make dumb selection decisions that make our task to improve harder then it should be.

Bad night to pick them all.

Eddie needs to be played up the ground more when he's struggling up forward. He was alot more creative in the 2nd half up the ground, one of the few with skills. Don't think he touched it up forward in the first half.

[LoveNavy]

31 possessions to Walsh. Bet they don't give him any credit in the media.

Correct ✅

[Micky0]

Thank goodness we have Walsh.

Don’t Understand at all why we didn’t play Cottrell
And/Or Honey.

Didn’t like Pitts game til the end.

Why play Cripps when he’s injured.

Shit end to Simos Career IMO. Had our opportunities and to me, only Kennedy showed heart for the Whole 4 quarters.

[LP]

We get to the footy first plenty, but we are so far from being clean with our collection and disposal it's not funny.

Effort wasted!

To add some indignity we aren't big enough, physical enough or fast enough to hang back, so it becomes a lose lose scenario for us!

[capcom]

Who's the better player to have kept?  Simpson or Polson?  Don't answer that.

[LP]

Didn’t like Pitts game til the end.

Funny how everyone sees something different, I'd say in crap conditions for big blokes it was probably Pittonet's and McKay's best games for us!

[bignic]

Final thoughts,after missing the finals AGAIN!!

PLEASE Mark Murphy, do the right thing by the club and retire.

He can't stick a tackle to save his life. His shoulders are stuffed and he's afraid of a dislocation. He had his jaw broken, and doesn't want it to happen again so he skirts packs rather than go in hard. Add to that his decision making and the little kicks he does which  are disastrous for the team, and only selfishness would make him play on.

Eddie is gone. Ambassador for the club, great. Playing next year, no way.

Here are some others that haven't got it. By that I mean, football brains, the courage to tackle and tackle hard, and general ability to play the game at the highest level.

Cunningham. He gave us one good game this year, and that's all we got out of him, and we won't get any more. He missed a tackle in the last quarter and stood in the centre of the ground not even bothering to chase. That's him in a nutshell.
Poulson, not up to it. OK reserves player, nothing more.
Petrevski Seaton, tackling virtually non existent against opponents bigger than him. Doesn't want to get hurt. We don't get enough out of him. He isn't good enough to win us a game.

Williamson must learn to kick with his right foot.  Simpson did. If he can't, he's no good to us because he's too predictable. Simmo never was.
Mcgovern, getting 700 large a year, to stand there. It's actually sickening to watch his virtual non participation.

Plowman, as Jack Dyer used to say, a good ordinary player. But he's a turnover merchant and too easily out bodied.
Gibbons, can't kick, and the big boys find him out. Another one who won't win you a flag.
Dow, too weak, hasn't built up physically, and can't kick.

There are more, but those are the ones that come to mind at the moment.

So, the fact is, that it is a miracle that we won 7 games, and came close in others, carrying so many passengers.

The good.
Obviously, Cripps, Walsh, Mackay, Weitering, the Curnows, hopefully Charlie is back bigger than ever next year. Levi has been good, but is 31 next year.  So is Ed Curnow,  but he's a different type of player with at least two more decent years in him.
We need more out of Jack Martin, hopefully he will have an injury free year, but the class and ability is there.

Bottom line.
Get rid of the passengers, the blokes who won't go in, the ones  who can't stick a tackle, the ones who will look at who is  coming towards them as they go to pick up the ball, rather than picking it up first and being prepared to take the hit if and when it comes.

We need to be ruthless at the trade table.
We need coaches who can actually teach our players  the skills of the game, so that they hit targets rather than continuously turn the ball over.
And we need Teague, to be less of a mate, and more of a bastard to the players when they don't perform and not make excuses for them.

I really believe having supported this club for 67 years, that we aren't far away, but they have to be ruthless.
67,000 plus decided that they would become members this year. A record.

They did it, because they actually believed that we were not only  headed in the right direction, but that playing in finals this year was a real possibility.

If the club allow emotion to over-rule common sense and refuse to make the hard uncompromising decisions to take the club forward, many thousands of those 67,000 will disappear, never to be members again.

It starts at the exit interviews on Monday, goes to the draft and the trade period and onto the pre-season where the team needs to be vastly improved skill and tackling ability wise, out of sight, compared to this year.

If they get it right, and it won't be easy, then  all of us who have been starved of the ultimate success for 25 long years, might see us reach the pinnacle that we so desperately desire.

ANOTHER CARLTON PREMIERSHIP