What are your expectations for 2017?

[mateinone]

For a club to make the progression to the top of the tree, they must have a clear understanding of where their playing list stands, both in regards to their ideal model of a premiership team, but also in comparison to the competition. If they fail to do either of these things, I am not sure how they can make the correct list management decisions.

So with that in mind, I started to wonder about KPIs and expectations for 2017. My assessment of our list last year was of one that was unlikely to achieve much at all this year and that the results would likely not be enough to show it was building towards that flag.  I felt we were far enough away that the quickest way was to have pain this year (and quite possibly next) and trade out the currency we did have to to build a completely different looking list.

I accept the club quite obviously felt differently, but to me, that means that the club does get to be beaten around this year and there are absolutely no excuses for the club to not be taking definable steps forward from 2016. Rebuilding your list from the ground and getting beaten up is acceptable. Trying to be a competitive AFL team and getting beaten up is not.

So whilst my predictions are for a grim season of between about 2-5 wins, I think my expectation  is rightly much higher based on the club's list management team and coaching staff.

Carlton finished with 7 wins and in 14th position last year. It was considered to have a lot of young players who should be better this year and it chose to hold onto most players in last years trade period. It must be therefore reasonable to suggest that the benchmark for a "PASS" this year must  be

9th-12th with about 9-11 wins.
The club MUST make that progression to give it the platform to make the step back into finals the following season.

So forget your predictions (well not really), but I am more interested in your expectations.

What does Carlton need to do to meet your expectations and satisfy you that those in charge are taking the club in the right direction?