2018 Rd 21 Post Game Prattle: Carlton vs Freo in Perth

[Lods]

Fair enough EB. I don't like the sound of them though, especially Libba, who could be a real handful/disruptor for the club to deal with off-field, albeit the type of goer we do need on field. His dad also has a bit of history with us.

Not a "happy ending" from memory

[cookie2]

Not a "happy ending" from memory

From memory he was going around a few years ago saying that we had been deliberately tanking during his time at the club.

[kruddler]

Yeah, not sure Libba snr would be welcome around the club.

Libba jnr i'm not a real fan of either, but him and his mate Wallis would certainly fill a roll at the club....blue collar workers.

Could do worse...

[Lods]

From memory he was going around a few years ago saying that we had been deliberately tanking during his time at the club.

Yeah...nothing concrete...he just had a 'vibe' ;D

[blue4life]

Yeah, not sure Libba snr would be welcome around the club.

Libba jnr i'm not a real fan of either, but him and his mate Wallis would certainly fill a roll at the club....blue collar workers.

Could do worse...

I'm not interested in either of them, we're building something special and the last thing we need is a couple of disgruntled blow ins with attitude and an inflated opinion of themselves.

[Professer E]

Libba senior had no qualms sticking the shiv in.  Doesn't seem the type to engender much loyalty, team etc. Big no from me.

[crashlander]

To be honest Wallis interests me somewhat, but Libba does not. If they have to come as a pair, I'm happy to have Essendon have them. If Wallis wants to come alone, I'd be dickering.
We DO have to get another decent mature body in the middle: we can't go into another season with Cripps, followed by not much. But we also have to be careful not to ruin ourselves in the process. If idiots were our flavour, we'd never have got rid of Robbo.

[LP]

If idiots were our flavour, we'd never have got rid of Robbo.

Robbo's specialty was shooting himself in the foot, in hindsight he actually stitched himself up by lying about rescuing a team-mate, a team-mate who didn't stick up for him it seems!

The two suggested above, fall in the later category, they'll sink the ship before they drown trying to save somebody!

[Tragic]

sorry in advance - just realised how long this post was...

in the first few rounds i noted that we were still in development mode.  Playing Dow & O'B so early was a clear sign to me the match committee was still trying to get games into kids over going for the win.  Could have played Graham & Kerridge and had a better chance of winning.  We continue to play Polson, which is clearly not based on merit, I can only assume they are trying to fast track his development.  You never know (but I doubt it from what I've seen), but this might be the making of the kid, if he gets a good taste of seniors, has a really strong off season and works REALLY HARD on his abundant deficiencies, he might come back next year and go from being a D grader to a C grader, and maybe a B grader the year after.  Optimism abounds.

Anyway, the point I'm trying to make, is that we are way in development mode still, and playing kids who do not get enough of the ball yet. If you replaced the bottom 6 players with some of Doc, Weiters, Williamson, Fisher, Plowman, Kennedy & Kreuzer, and then add another 5 possies or so a week (from natural growth) to Dow, O'B, SPS, Fisher, Kennedy, Big H, & Charlie, then things won't look so bad.

Pickett is starting to make me look bad, because I rate him, but he's really got to have a strong year next year.  Same with Lang, they both need to get fit and show what they can do, or they can move on.  Kennedy I think will be a good solid midfielder, but also needs to get fitter.  Marchbank is a much better player than he is currently showing, of that I'm certain.  That's four players underperforming, and I expect atleast 2 of them to prove themselves.

Murphy has some issues with his kicking, which I think it might be fitness, because early on in the game he was involved in a lot of our scores, and hit up our forwards very nicely.  He's one of the few mids we have who can put the ball to the advantage of our forwards, and he clearly has a good feel for the game because he usually picks the right option and kicks nicely to space.  He needs to play wing or forward.

Big H and Charlie also faded, and it must be related to fitness, because early on they were on fire.  Either that, or the midfielders fell away so badly they lacked good opportunities in the second half.  I think it was a combination.  Even so, they have given us a glimpse of what might be a very deadly pairing.

Back to the team in general.  As mentioned in earlier posts, our bottom six are generally dreadful, and occasionally ok.  We don't have the depth yet, because we only want 1 of them playing at any one time, not all of them!  Every club gets injuries, and obviously the weaker the list, the more it hurts.  We still lack depth, and still need more time developing the kids. 

But let's look at our top 5 of the future.  I've only picked young players who have that certain something that makes them standout above the rest, and who you would consider elite (or very promising signs they will become so in the next 1 - 2 years). 
Cripps - young gun, deadset star.
Doc - still relatively young, hopefully returns as good as he left, because they don't dish out AA's for free, and he is a very good player.
Charlie - getting better every week, and will develop more muscle and more composure, and will be challenging Cripps for best player at the club.
Dow - if he continues to develop like he hes been the last month or so, then we have another seriously good player, with a real weapon in his explosiveness and toughness in tight.
Fisher - provides real dash and class, and top notch harrassment. 

And then there's a few who might become Elite, but can still easily become run of the mill A graders, or whatever the level is below elite. 
SPS - after a slow start to the year, improving week by week.  Has real awareness, and while he mungs some of his kicks, the rest are sweet, and he is one of those blokes who seems to have more time than everyone else. 
Big H - let's roll the dice here.  He could be a super player if he wants it bad enough, or he could be a so so player who shines every now and then, just often enough to get a good pay check.  Dunno.  Hope he really has a dip coz he has plenty to like about him.
Weiters - some might wonder about this, but I think he'll toughen up as he ages, and will become the key defender we need. Of course he's not going to match it with ACOS & Rowe yet physically, they've got 10 preseasons on him.  When his confidence started coming back he showed how good a mark and kick he is.  I still have confidence in him.

That's 8 really good young players, and maybe another 9 who should be good soldiers (O'B, Kennedy, Lang, Plowman, Williamson, Lamb, Jones, Marchbank & Byrne).

After that are the speculatives, where you'd think only one or two, or hopefully three of the following will make it as good players (Silvagni, Cunningham, TDK, Schumacher, Macreadie, Polson, Pickett, Garlett & Kerr).

Somewhere in there is the top 20 at our club in the next couple of years, remembering there are no veterans in that list.  Doc is the oldest listed there and he's still not 25.  We chuck in half a dozen veterans and we still only have 26 good players to choose from.  Half of the 26 are still in early development phase.  Throw injuries at our list and look what happens.  Polson, Graham & Kerridge is what happens, and a few others who aren't far in front of them.  We still need another 10 decent players in the next 2 - 3 years to replace the spuds and the veterans and have a list of 30 good players to choose from. 

That's 3 good players a year we need for the next 3.  A priority pick this year would really help our cause.  If we have pick 1, 20 (PP), and another couple in the twenties from the crows and the bulldogs, surely we can get 3 or 4 of them this year.

pretty sure i've strayed off topic, and better stop now.

[LoveNavy]

Well Tragic... that post was a fine read indeed.
I think you're right in the MC motives, which like your post, have strayed as the season passed. Our injury toll and lack of depth undoubtedly spell: go to plan scrape-the-bottom-of-the-barrel.

Thanks for the great post????