Rd 4: Post Game Pain: Carlton vs. Western Bulldogs

[PassIt2Carrots]

Carrazzo was a back pocket player early in his career.

Geez he came a long way. Shows where a great attitude and will to succeed can get you. If only Furphy and jibbs were not too big to let his attitude rub off onto them. 

[JonHenry]

And became a great player for us in midfield. "Become comfortable being uncomfortable." Imagine if Buckley can be developed into what Aaron Hall is for GC now.

Don't mean to pull you up, but.....
Great? maybe very good.

[LoveNavy]

I feel that a couple of people here need to barrack for the tigers.

If anyone thought this was going to be a one year/one draft rebuild doesnt understand what position we started from.

Long road ahead however we have already started our new core group, and finally have a modern game plan. We actually have a list manager, and we are trying to recruit for the game plan instead  of recruiting "best talent" with no plan at all other than to save a coaches career. These are my positives.

Lets all agree that we know we have a long way to go.

It could be far worse. We could be in richmonds shoes and think we are good enough to win a flag lol. They remind me of us not long back.

THIS
Hold your nerve Bluebaggers

[shawny]

Not enough said about how consistent the doc is.

In a defense lacking key personnel he never drops his head and rarely gets beaten.

Reminds me a lot of Andy McKay.

I think he could get a AA selection this year.

[Gointocarlton]

Not enough said about how consistent the doc is.

In a defense lacking key personnel he never drops his head and rarely gets beaten.

Reminds me a lot of Andy McKay.

I think he could get a AA selection this year.

Agree, as someone else said, we are very luck to have him.

[LoveNavy]

Not enough said about how consistent the doc is.

In a defense lacking key personnel he never drops his head and rarely gets beaten.

Reminds me a lot of Andy McKay.

I think he could get a AA selection this year.

Agreed Shawny.
The Doc (along with Crippa, Weitering, and likely quite a few of the newer draft/recruits) is certainly the epitome of leadership. He's Blue through and through and plays like he is.

Murphy, K, Gibbs and co. aside - the young guns will have strong role models in these second teir players. No doubt Murph won't captain next year. This will make room for the next leaders in 2017.
I look forward to the next crop showing the way. It's a new game plan with plenty of room for growth and development of the young blokes. (what happens to the old blokes - well that will be history).

[Rational_Expectations]

Forget the McKay comparisons, this bloke is Peter Dean reborn.

[crashlander]

Plowman and Weitering showed tonight that we don't need Rowe or Jamison.  Rowe looked lost on a number of occasions and I know Byrne was blame for that cross the goal mouth goal, but Rowe put no body on the mark, just accepted it in a lazy, la de da fashion.  Because he zero awareness.

I think you have done Rowe a disservice: he may not have played a great game ( we don't call him 'Fumbles' for nothing), but he kept Tom Boyd down to a handful of possessions and had him totally ineffective. His spoiling was excellent (and nor was it alone: most of our defenders had good nights in the air) and his body work on Boyd was also first class.
What let him down was his inability to hold his marks after he has done all the hard work and his tendency to be a part of some of our worst looking errors.

When Rowe was at his best, a couple of seasons back, he started fumbling a lot, but as the year went on, his confidence improved and he started hold some pretty good marks. I'd like to see him getting back to that sort of form, as having Rowe firing is a big plus.
However, neither he nor Jamison has really managed to get our new game style and defensive structure down pat yet. These 2 guys have been caught out when the ball goes over their heads. THAT is definitely due to lack of awareness.
Yesterday Rowe played a more 1 on 1 game, which suits him far better. Hence he played more effectively.

[malo]

I seem to recall reading somewhere beforehand that Stringer would kick 12.......

[crashlander]

Casboult to defence and take Rowe's spot, Jaksch and Jones in after last night. Casboult plays alot better when he's away from goal. Noticed that tonight. Tempted to drop Krezuer and use Wood, as the former is looking cooked. Graham show ability but needs time with the NB's or now.

Interesting thoughts:
[1] Casboult: not sure he has the awareness to make a top defender, but he just might. There won't be many forward who can out-mark him and him being the hunter instead of the hunted might work out.
[2] Nick Graham: Like Murphy and Gibbs (and to a lesser extent, Cripps), Graham has not managed to relate as well to our new midfield structures as our newer players have. When he was at his best, last year before the injury, he wasn't taking many marks, but was getting to the foot of the pack and getting a lot of clearances. Now he is getting on the end, instead of initiating play again.
I don't think this is a major issue, but it shows how he has adjusted to his present role and it isn't bringing out his best.
Another thing I would do, if I were him, would be work on his body strength. He probably isn't going to get a lot faster, but work on his sprints (particularly the 1st couple of metres) and his ability to out-body opponents (which isn't happening yet) and he would become more effective.
It is possible that he may need a week or 2 in the VFL, when someone like DVR or Cunningham is ready to come up. It wouldn't hurt.
[3] Kreuzer: he is really struggling at the moment, even though he had one of his best ever games at getting taps. He hasn't been able to take a mark around the ground for so long that I can't remember one this season. He finally took a couple of marks on the lead as a forward in the last quarter (after dropping one where he got both hands to the ball directly in front). In fact, he played some of his best forward football in quite a long time last night. However, with 4 marks for the night, and 3 of them on the lead, that isn't enough.
He still had minimal impact around the ground, even against the worst ruck division in the competition.
Phillips, on the other hand, took a couple of nice contested marks and looked to have a future.
Maybe Kreuzer does need some time in the VFL. He needs to rediscover his mojo and start providing a target.
[4] Jaksch and Jones: not sure we can play both of them together yet in the seniors. However, their form has been much improved and at least one of them must be getting close to a recall.