Robbo: Carlton tanking?

[crashlander]

It's not so much about Wood although he did have more clearances than any other ruckman in the comp before he was dropped, it's more about playing 2 ruckman.

It gives Kreuzer relief which allows Casboult to play more forward without getting worn out rucking which gives Henderson more support which allows Menzel more freedom etc etc.

In that I agree with you totally. Our structure is much better playing the 2 ruckmen. But we have a minimal supply of decent ruckmen at the moment and Wood is not holding his own.

IF (and it is a very big IF) we were tanking, then planning our team structure to minimize success would include playing 1 ruckman, rather than 2, not playing guys in positions where they are more effective and things like that. However, proving that this is the case with us would be extremely difficult and would be offensive considering the number of players we have who are unavailable. Nor could it be reasonable to accuse us of this when other teams appear equally guilty (Look at Essendon, for example) without having our coaching changes and injury issues. No other team has lost its coach like we did (Adelaide lost their coach under different circumstances and it appears to have galvanized them to superior efforts), and only one other team has lost their captain and best player (the other being Gold Coast, who were also terrible for much of the year and who remain less than 1 game in front of us with a better overall list).