2018 Rd 14; Pre Game Preparations: Carlton vs Collingwood

[Jack Burton]

Ahh the glory days of 2016 and 2017  :

[blue4life]

I'm not expecting a win, but an honorable loss would be nice.
The contrast between 2016, 17 and now is palpable.

Take three of the best five players out of any side and they'll struggle, take them out of a side already struggling and this is what you see.

[flyboy77]

Again, it seems player mismanagement has played its part this season....

Murphy, Kennedy, Marchbank and Kreuzer - all brought back too soon.

It's cost us Murphy for another big chunk of a season (and let's see if he does actually play again this year), it has cost Kennedy big time (and us as a foil for Crippa), Marchbank arguably our best third tall defender and Matty K - is he even fit now?

Why did we pick up Shaw in the off season and not even give him a go? Couldn't have been any worse than Mullet or O'Shea.... who both got extended runs despite being worse than ordinary for weeks....

I'd rather see Schmacher given a crack ahead of Mullet.

Why is Polson picked again - out of the blue - off the back of zip form in the 2s. Graham again made a scape goat....?

Then there's the ongoing MC selections. More often than not picking an unbalanced side....

[BluePhantom]

Then there's the ongoing MC selections. More often than not picking an unbalanced side....

Tanking?

[DesEnglish]

Tanking?

I hope so. It'd be nice to know we aren't really this bad after all

[cookie2]

Tanking?

List development. 

[DJC]

I wonder if BB is one of the those blokes who wants to do everything... control freak. When coaches learn to delegate and trust they inevitably get a better result.

I can only go on the footage from The Journey and training snippets but Bolton and the assistants seem very relaxed and comfortable.  The assistants also seem to have considerable autonomy/responsibility and Bolts is often notable for his absence.  That suggests to me that Bolts is anything but a control freak ... but it would be nice to get an insider’s opinion. 

[townsendcalling]

Why is Polson picked again - out of the blue - off the back of zip form in the 2s. Graham again made a scape goat....?

Forward pressure tackling. He can lay a tackle and make it stick. That will be his brief tomorrow, double digit tackles in our forward 50, plus a bit of icing if he can add it. 

[flyboy77]

Forward pressure tackling. He can lay a tackle and make it stick. That will be his brief tomorrow, double digit tackles in our forward 50, plus a bit of icing if he can add it.

Last time he played - against the Pies - ZERO tackles!

But 5 mighty disposals...

Yep, sound choice.

[LP]

Why is Polson picked again - out of the blue - off the back of zip form in the 2s. Graham again made a scape goat....?

Polson deserved a game weeks ago ahead of Silvagni, and didn't get it!

Graham, for a 24 year old experienced player, was just awful last week! Even if his replacement isn't in form, there is no way you can reward a player by letting them retain a spot after that sort of effort!