Post Game Passion: AFL 2019 Rd 11: Carlton vs. the Drug Cheats

[blue4life]

Sacking Bolton won't necessarily derail the club, McCartney did a lot of the ground work at Footscray but they gave him the bullet for Beveridge and a couple of years later they were holding up the cup.
Bolton was unproven and always a risky appointment, and he's had a fair crack at it, if you could see improvement things might be different.

[PaulP]

Dow looked much better today, especially in the second half. His kicking is still average but he showed a lot of pace to get clear of traffic and get the ball moving. Casboult is doing OK down back and weitering was probably our best.

Quite a few times we kicked forward to no one. Its a sign of a side still struggling to gel and preempt each other, allowing disposals to happen quicker.  Too often we get caught: another symptom of a lack of preemption and confidence in a team mate.

No answers other than time. Our young players are getting quite an education

I believe the new coach has a clock that speeds up time, built by the Irish. It can do 1 hour in 45 minutes.

[LoveNavy]

Perfect summary. Midfield is just way too young to be able to compete at this level. Simply too many kids without any cover. Won’t win another game unless the balance changes which can’t see how that can happen with the list we have.

I agree shawny.
While I can see the potential of our young mids, it lacks the protection and experience around them. Their age also means inconsistencies for a while.
It's hard to comprehend our best and poor performances are by the same group . Yet that is inconsistency by definition. Need to take a deep breath and remain united.

[kruddler]

Obviously effort is unconditional. But in terms of actual performance, we were a severely depleted side today.

On our list we have 11 players with 90 or more games experience to their name. Just 11.

From that 11, 6 of them did not play today. 5 through injury/suspension and 1 of them is a backup ruck who was not good enough to get picked (Lobbe).
Of the remaining 5 who did play, 2 of them are not in our best 22 (Casboult, Fasolo) and 1 is borderline (E. Curnow). Leaving only Cripps and Kreuzer from our most experienced 11 players who deserved to be out there.

Simpson - 314
Murphy - 258
Thomas - 248
Kreuzer - 179
Ed Curnow - 154
Jones - 119
Casboult - 113
Fasolo - 104
Lobbe - 100
Cripps - 92
Docherty - 92

We were a rudderless ship today, and a lack of leadership out on the ground couldn't have come at a worse time.

[madbluboy]

Essendon were missing better players.

[kruddler]

Essendon were missing better players.

Better players is subjective, and besides the point.

Who did we have out there that was capable of taking control of the situation?

Cripps was up to his eyeballs with his tagger and everyone else is fresh out of nappies or lucky to be getting a game.

Zaharakis, Heppel, Hooker, Hurley, Bellchambers, Baguley, Merrett all played 90+ games each, which is more experience than what our lot had.

[madbluboy]

The guy that beat Cripps has played 2 games.

[cookie2]

Dark days indeed guys and probably more ahead of us. We have to back in the club though and ride with whatever the decision is with the coach etc. Let's not turn on each other. I know I find our games excruciating to watch but somehow a little light stays on when I think about some of the great times I've had watching the Blueboys. I can only hope those experiences can come about again - I'm not getting any younger. My only solace is that we do have some good talent on our list - hopefully we can build on that.

[kruddler]

The guy that beat Cripps has played 2 games.

Thank you Sandra Sully.

Now back to THE POINT.

Cripps was beaten, he needed help.

Who from the side that was out there has the experience required to stand up and say 'follow me' and cover for him?

Our best bet was a bloke who was famous for having the nickname Humphrey FFS.
Can you see a problem with this picture?
No Simmo.
No Daisy.
No Murphy (opinions aside, he'll at least give the boys a spray and a rev up)
No Jones
No Docherty

No 1031 games of experience available between those 5 players to rally the kids.

[flyboy77]

Perfect summary. Midfield is just way too young to be able to compete at this level. Simply too many kids without any cover. Won’t win another game unless the balance changes which can’t see how that can happen with the list we have.

Big blunder by SOS in the off season  imo - could've taken Barlow or a Jye Bolton type or even a Tom Bell type to help at the coal face....but chose more scrawny kids who are a mile off the pace....

Perhaps SOS is more the problem rather than the panacea?