Jim Park Medal 2016

[madbluboy]

We lost by 10 goals, how is it a positive  that most of our side got votes? The sysem should work in theory but it completely failed this week.

[DJC]

We lost by 10 goals, how is it a positive  that most of our side got votes? The sysem should work in theory but it completely failed this week.

Yes, some folk will never give Gibbs a vote and some folk will give votes to their favourite players no matter how poorly they play.  Watching the game on TV shows some players in a better light too.  People have different voting systems too - I always have five players but some like to spread their votes around.  In a shellacking like we suffered, voting for lots of players will inevitably mean that players who had little impact, C Curnow, Casboult, etc, will get votes.

It's what happens in a 'free market' voting system but it doesn't mean that the final tally isn't a good measure of our best players.

[crashlander]

Round 3: Carlton vs Gold Coast in Queensland
In many ways this was our most disappointing performance for 2016 so far: we expected Sydney to be good and we really were better than Richmond, although we didn't eventually prevail. As a result, the natives were more restless; a totally expected response.

As the number of votes demonstrates, many of our better players underachieved. Hence they got few, if any, mentions.

The rating for this game was 6.43, the lowest for the year, closest to an E+ ranking.

The votes:
Weitering, Jacob 367
Curnow, Edward 228
Docherty, Sam 158
Cripps, Patrick 56
Wright, Matthew 51
Simpson, Kade 32
Curnow, Charles 21
Gibbs, Bryce 13
Byrne, Ciaran 9
Kerrdige, Sam 7
Graham, Nick 5
Buckley, Dylan 5
Whiley, Mark 3
Murphy, Marc 1

Jacob Weitering announced himself with his 3rd vote-worthy performance in 3 weeks. He was clearly our best player and fitted into our style of play, with his skill, decision making and endeavour extremely well.
Ed Curnow, not in a negative role, was clearly 2nd. Docherty also managed his 3rd vote - worthy game in a row.
That Charlie Curnow managed more votes than Murphy, Gibbs, and most of our other experienced players was telling.

Overall voting so far:
509 - Weitering, Jacob (0)
391 - Curnow, Edward (0)
390 - Docherty, Sam (0)
385 - Murphy, Marc (0)
353 - Cripps, Patrick (0)
259 - Gibbs, Bryce (0)
235 - Thomas, Dale (0)
229 - Wright, Matthew (0)
144 - Simpson, Kade (0)
140 - Kerrdige, Sam (0)
55 - Graham, Nick (0)
42 - Kreuzer, Matthew (0)
28 - Jamison, Michael (0)
25 - Curnow, Charles (0)
19 - Boekhorst, Blaine (0)
19 - Phillips, Andrew (0)
10 - Byrne, Ciaran (0)
9 - Casboult, Levi (0)
8 - Tuohy, Zach (0)
8 - Rowe, Sam (0)
6 - Buckley, Dylan (0)
3 - Whiley, Mark (0)
3 - Walker, Andrew (0)

Weitering is a clear leader at this point. There is little difference in the next 4 placings.

[crashlander]

I won't close off the voting thread until tomorrow; someone might have some late thoughts. However, I will do this now while I have the time.

Round 4: Carlton vs Western Bulldogs at Etihad
A very patchy performance from the Blues, with one disastrous term and the others being spoilt only by our inability to kick goals. I guess we expected The Dogs to win, but there were some promising signs.

We had considerably more people vote this round than at the same time last year. Last year we were in despair, with Malthouse unable to manage to get to be competitive. This year we may not be happy (after all, we are still losing), but we look like we have a future (which hopefully will not disappear as we look for it). Anyway, voter number are up about 40%.

Looking at the numbers, we still haven't had many players really dominate a game. In the coaches voting only one of our guys got a mention. However, first gamers (for us) in Plowman and Sumner both managed to get votes. Our experienced campaigners, on the other hand, continued NOT to get votes.

The rating for this game came out at 7.16, between a D and a D+. Probably a reasonable result, considering our 2nd term.

The Votes:
Docherty, Sam 303
Simpson, Kade 218
Cripps, Patrick 148
Weitering, Jacob 84
Plowman, Lachlan 77
Kerrdige, Sam 51
Curnow, Edward 48
Curnow, Charles 32
Sumner, Liam 32
Wright, Matthew 27
Phillips, Andrew 22
Rowe, Sam 10
Thomas, Dale 7
Byrne, Ciaran 7
Casboult, Levi 3
Lamb, Jed 3

Our BOG was Sam Docherty, who has been consistent this season. He has managed votes in all 4 games so far. However, his 303 votes is not especially high for a guy who was clearly our best player. It suggests, quite reasonably, that we didn't have anyone who dominated the game.
Simmo and Cripps were clearly in 2nd and 3rd spots respectively.
Weitering also continues to poll very well for such a young player.

Of this week's vote getters, 8 of them (50%) are new to the club this year and another, Byrne, was playing only his 3rd ever game. That says a few things:
[1] Our experienced players are not going so well at this time. A worry, as we need these guys if we are going to make any inroads on 18th place.
[2] Our recruiting appears, at this early stage, to have been effective. A large number of new players are regularly getting games and making worthwhile contributions. Kudos to Stephen Silvagni and his team.

Overall:
693 - Docherty, Sam (0)
592 - Weitering, Jacob (0)
502 - Cripps, Patrick (0)
439 - Curnow, Edward (0)
385 - Murphy, Marc (0)
362 - Simpson, Kade (0)
259 - Gibbs, Bryce (0)
256 - Wright, Matthew (0)
242 - Thomas, Dale (0)
191 - Kerrdige, Sam (0)
77 - Plowman, Lachlan (0)
57 - Curnow, Charles (0)
55 - Graham, Nick (0)
42 - Phillips, Andrew (0)
42 - Kreuzer, Matthew (0)
33 - Sumner, Liam (0)
28 - Jamison, Michael (0)
19 - Boekhorst, Blaine (0)
18 - Rowe, Sam (0)
17 - Byrne, Ciaran (0)
15 - Tuohy, Zach (0)
13 - Casboult, Levi (0)
6 - Buckley, Dylan (0)
4 - Lamb, Jed (0)
3 - Whiley, Mark (0)
3 - Walker, Andrew (0)

Things are pretty close at the top, with a lot of guys getting reasonable vote numbers. Weitering fell to 2nd spot this week, behind another extremely consistent player in Docherty, with Cripps and Curnow not far behind.

[crashlander]

I don't know about the rest of you, but a win does marvellous things to my Brain Chemistry. Dopamine flows nicely between my neurons and the weight of the world lifts from my shoulders. Even though I could only follow on the 'net, instead of experiencing the high first hand, it was worth it.
Mind you, we still need to learn to kick goals. But a win is a win is a WIN!

To be honest, the win didn't bring out as many voters as I expected. I guess with the game on in Perth and not being on free to air TV, it meant that a minimum of Carlton supporters could actually watch and enjoy it. So be it. There were more voters this round than last round and they were happier: 23 voters this week compared to 20 last week and 15 this round last year.
The ranking this week was 8.72, the best for the year. That relates to an average B-. Considering how many goals we missed, that was probably pretty accurate.

The votes were also well spread around this week, suggesting we didn't have one dominant player, but a lot of players who played well.  We actually had as many guys get named this week as we did last time, quite a surprise when they results were so different.

The Votes:
Murphy, Marc 283
Cripps, Patrick 262
Simpson, Kade 165
Byrne, Ciaran 121
Gibbs, Bryce 89
Rowe, Sam 87
Thomas, Dale 82
Curnow, Edward 70
Wright, Matthew 68
Kerridge, Sam 46
Docherty, Sam 15
Casboult, Levi 11
Lamb, Jed 4
Jones, Liam 4
Kreuzer, Matthew 2

Nice to see Rowe in the voting this week. Aso Daisy Thomas. Wright, Kerridge and Docherty continued their consistent form. Weitering missed out this week, for the first time. He didn't play badly and he did his job: he just didn't get huge numbers.

Overall:
763 - Cripps, Patrick (0)
708 - Docherty, Sam (0)
667 - Murphy, Marc (0)
592 - Weitering, Jacob (0)
527 - Simpson, Kade (0)
509 - Curnow, Edward (0)
348 - Gibbs, Bryce (0)
325 - Wright, Matthew (0)
323 - Thomas, Dale (0)
237 - Kerridge, Sam (0)
138 - Byrne, Ciaran (0)
105 - Rowe, Sam (0)
77 - Plowman, Lachlan (0)
57 - Curnow, Charles (0)
55 - Graham, Nick (0)
44 - Kreuzer, Matthew (0)
42 - Phillips, Andrew (0)
33 - Sumner, Liam (0)
28 - Jamison, Michael (0)
24 - Casboult, Levi (0)
19 - Boekhorst, Blaine (0)
15 - Tuohy, Zach (0)
8 - Lamb, Jed (0)
6 - Buckley, Dylan (0)
4 - Jones, Liam (0)
3 - Whiley, Mark (0)
3 - Walker, Andrew (0)

We have a new leader, but it is very close up at the top end.

[crashlander]

Rd 6: Carlton vs Essendon
It might have been a pretty small crowd and a less than perfect game, but the result was the stuff of dreams. Now to complete the 3-peat! Well, I can dream....

Thanks to the 25 people who voted. That was 8 more than for the corresponding game last year. The voters were also happier than they were last year. The rating was 8.35, a little less than last week, but a comfortable C+. If we could actually show some skill....
Again, I can dream.
Again, there was a considerable spread in votes. Many voters were (relatively) happy with the performances of many of the players and even those who did not get votes were considered liabilities.

The Votes:
Thomas, Dale 359
Gibbs, Bryce 230
Murphy, Marc 145
Curnow, Edward 135
Simpson, Kade 130
Wright, Matthew 60
Phillips, Andrew 52
Byrne, Ciaran 50
Docherty, Sam 20
Graham, Nick 17
Kerridge, Sam 15
Rowe, Sam 12
Armfield, Dennis 10
White, Simon 8
Kreuzer, Matthew 7
Plowman, Lachlan 2

Daisy Thomas played arguably his best game for Carlton for the 2nd time this year. He deserved to be a top vote getter for this round. Murphy, Gibbs, Curnow and  Simpson also garner attention for strong displays. Wright, Simpson, Ed Curnow, Kerridge and Docherty continued their consistent performances, polling votes in every game so far.

Progressive Standings:
813 - Murphy, Marc (0)
763 - Cripps, Patrick (0)
728 - Docherty, Sam (0)
682 - Thomas, Dale (0)
657 - Simpson, Kade (0)
644 - Curnow, Edward (0)
592 - Weitering, Jacob (0)
579 - Gibbs, Bryce (0)
385 - Wright, Matthew (0)
252 - Kerridge, Sam (0)
188 - Byrne, Ciaran (0)
117 - Rowe, Sam (0)
93 - Phillips, Andrew (0)
79 - Plowman, Lachlan (0)
72 - Graham, Nick (0)
57 - Curnow, Charles (0)
50 - Kreuzer, Matthew (0)
33 - Sumner, Liam (0)
28 - Jamison, Michael (0)
24 - Casboult, Levi (0)
19 - Boekhorst, Blaine (0)
15 - Tuohy, Zach (0)
11 - Armfield, Dennis (0)
9 - White, Simon (0)
8 - Lamb, Jed (0)
6 - Buckley, Dylan (0)
4 - Jones, Liam (0)
3 - Whiley, Mark (0)
3 - Walker, Andrew (0)

It is a very close thing at the top of the table. There are a large number of players who have managed to get votes consistently this year, so there is only 1 good game's difference between the top 8 players. Murphy managed to get the lead this week, as Cripps missed out with injury.

[dodge]

Great work, Crash.

It really goes to show people's perspectives - 16/22 players received votes...

[pinot]

Its odd to see Nick Graham regarded by fans but keeps getting dropped.

[crashlander]

Its odd to see Nick Graham regarded by fans but keeps getting dropped.

To be honest, he is nowhere near the form he was in last year before he got injured. But he isn't playing badly; well, he did have a couple of quietish games, but nothing terrible.
When he started he got a lot of marks, especially in defence, and moved the ball on VERY slowly. He might get 15 possessions, but he didn't hurt anyone. He appeared to lack confidence and he took no risks at all. He was often out-bodied and he got relatively few clearances. Considering that the whole team was playing 'safely', it is no surprise when he didn't jell.
Last year after the coaching change, his style of play changed radically. He was involved in a lot more clearances and he took very few marks. He was a more attacking player.
This year he has played somewhat more like he used to, although he is getting more ball and moving the ball on faster and more accurately. He hasn't had the clearances and he has been out-bodied more than a little. He is probably been dropped because he hasn't been able to get the clearances yet. I think that will come. But he does need to get stronger, as he probably won't get much faster.
Another thing is the different way we set up in the middle. A lot of our mids have had some trouble with that. It appears that Bolton wants some faster people in there to get a fast break. Also he has to share the job with Kerridge and Wright, who have taken his time in the middle.
I cannot be certain that he will return to his 'old' form, but he has developed a lot more than he did under Malthouse. He was one step from delisting then.

[pinot]

That's really good stuff Crash, didn't look at it that way and you are right.