Autopsy/Ranting thread keep it all in here.

[thylacine60]

Woops. Hard tackler when in the mood. Too stringy to cause too much hurt.

 

[Just Kreuzing]

I think you are still a top 4 side.. but there was no way you should have been 1.10 vs $7 today and it looked like some of your players bought into the media hype.

Just wanted to post that I agree with previous posters about not flying the flag. I'm not suggesting do stupid things and get rubbed out or give away goals.. but I think you still have to show some spirit.. It seems you blokes have made a big deal about 'being tougher' and losing the 'soft' tag that has haunted you for years (imho) but today you didn't look interested in getting dirty.

Hocking was allowed to maul Judd all game and I only saw two instances of organised blocks at stoppages, that isn't good enough especially when you rely on Judd and Murphy to dominate the clearances to give good delivery into your Forward 50.

Anyway wasn't meaning to troll.. but you would hope that next time one of your prime players is driven into the turf and left busted up.. someone would at least say Hello to the bloke who did it!!

See you later in the year and then hopefully in the Prelim when we can smash you all over again!

Agree with all of this Rines except for the prelim smashing of course, couldn't believe they were offering $7, ridiculous.

 

[Aphrodite]

Woops. Hard tackler when in the mood. Too stringy to cause too much hurt.

You are slipping T. !!!

So unlike you.

 

[C4[2]Yo`DooR]

What a shyte day!

 

[thylacine60]

yup...

 

[the distributer]

First of all i would like to say you guys have improved from last year, it's plain to see, and, you didn't need to improve by much to be a threat, todays game was a prime example of a team dropping 5% intencity and a team upping 5%, i think we all know the Bomber are a decent team, but lets get serious, when push comes to shove they wont be around, you have a bloody good team ATM and they will stand up when it counts IMO.

 

[thylacine60]

Think this is somewhere around the mark.

 

[blue gunslinger]

Why are the Mods shutting down the game day threads, we ought to keep them open and cop every bit of abuse coming to us. I flew down for the game. Dont think I have seen them dish out such shite in a long time. I posted to the game day thread from my phone as I walked out of the ground but it was already closed when my post got through. I responded to MSR's warning and said he can give me my yellow card now, because that was a shameful display from a top rated team. Shameful. Could not find a Carlton player in the top 10 on the ground and they have a second rate list. It doesnt get more shameful that that. A pea hearted effort.

the build up during the week and the preview thread sums it up for me.
This loss and make no mistake it was a belting did not surprise me at all. As the day unfolded I kept on thinking of all the comments made about how much more superior we were and it was a no-contest. Pity we did not turn up to play and it was a pity nobody in Ess listened to the likes of Lloyd and posters here when they decided not to lie down and cop a whack but go and easily defeat a team way better than them.
The players media and many on BF got way ahead of themselves and many of those should put their hands up admit they were wrong
Otherwise they come off as a bit pea-hearted

 

[blue gunslinger]

respect to you mate

I love the Carlton Essendon rivalry, and I thought there wasn't much respect paid to it this week. I am proud to go for the most successful club ever, and I hope you feel the same

congrats lance
happy to see you turned up after the game

 

[LanceRomance]

First of all i would like to say you guys have improved from last year, it's plain to see, and, you didn't need to improve by much to be a threat, todays game was a prime example of a team dropping 5% intencity and a team upping 5%, i think we all know the Bomber are a decent team, but lets get serious, when push comes to shove they wont be around, you have a bloody good team ATM and they will stand up when it counts IMO.

Thats some nice commentary there TD.

I agree the drop in intensity cost us big time and the bombers capitalised .

 

[the distributer]

Thats some nice commentary there TD.

I agree the drop in intensity cost us big time and the bombers capitalised .

Ty.

I have the bombers somewhere around 8th, they're always gunna play above themselves against Carlton and Collingwood, just like we do when they have the upper hand on talent.

Not sure what to make of our season to date, glad to be 2 /2 but i don't think we can make top 4 with our injurys, no top 4 no flag IMO.

 

[blue gunslinger]

amazing even today how over the top our fans were dropping their bundles like crazy
Today took me back to 2 and 3 years ago when I was often heard to say "all we need is 1 good qtr and we will win". I recall those days when say v Syd that good qtr just never came but we got a few junktime goals to make the score look like we had made an effort
One good thing is hopefully people turn up at Subi not quite as cocky (and anybody calling it anything but Subiaco oval should get a perm ban from this board)
Our fans need to look at themselves and their behaviour. Cocky arrogant pricks was one thing but dummy spitting cry babies looking for a punch up post game was pathetic

 

[the distributer]

amazing even today how over the top our fans were dropping their bundles like crazy
Today took me back to 2 and 3 years ago when I was often heard to say "all we need is 1 good qtr and we will win". I recall those days when say v Syd that good qtr just never came but we got a few junktime goals to make the score look like we had made an effort
One good thing is hopefully people turn up at Subi not quite as cocky (and anybody calling it anything but Subiaco oval should get a perm ban from this board)
Our fans need to look at themselves and their behaviour. Cocky arrogant pricks was one thing but dummy spitting cry babies looking for a punch up post game was pathetic

Don't think that's a Carlton thing mate, it's a football thing, you had every right to think you'd beat the Bombers today, just like in 2010 when most of us thought we had every right to beat the Demons by 28 goals, we played them twice and had a combined winning margin of 1 point lol.

All's you guys should be worring about is top 2, you can do it, and, no one want's to go to perth.

 

[blue gunslinger]

fan's emotions need to be better controlled. It is just a game but today people were acting like their right to book GF tickets was just taken away and that they were owed an undefeated season and flag just because we have been through the bad times. FFS we will have wins and losses. Nature of the beast. But to have such an emotional rollercoaster that pregame everything is butterflies and sunshine to post when it is I am getting smashed and going to go smash those bomber fans was poor form. Post game I wanted to smack Blues fans acting like dills more than the Bombers fans sending jugs my way as a token. Shoe on the other foot and I would sure as hell not buy them a beer

 

[Fleggy]

Sniper comments are seriously making me laugh - hard tackle that lead to a very unfortunate injury for a damn good player in Carrazzo. Anyone who thinks Lonergan did it on purpose needs to pull their head out of their arse and harden up - despite Demetriou's best efforts it is still a contact sport.

 

[go team]

I've been out of the country and out of the loop; only read about the result via the net.

Was Warnock fit? He killed us in our last two games. Should they have played him?

In the preview thread I mentioned that i thought the dons would be competitive as I'd felt the midfield was improved from 2011 - our contested ball has been up; Stanton and Watson in particular looking fit. Yesterday, was it more the case of Carrots going down, or did Essendon perform strongly across the board?

I also felt the last few times the Dons had played the Blues, Essendon were disadvantaged at the loss of players early; reducing flexibility and rotations. Was this also the case for the Blues yesterday? Could you suggest it had an effect on the outcome of the match?

 

[blue healer]

First of all i would like to say you guys have improved from last year, it's plain to see, and, you didn't need to improve by much to be a threat, todays game was a prime example of a team dropping 5% intencity and a team upping 5%, i think we all know the Bomber are a decent team, but lets get serious, when push comes to shove they wont be around, you have a bloody good team ATM and they will stand up when it counts IMO.

This is a post that reflects my thoughts and one that I would have liked to see from one of our posters.

Essendon did to us what we did to the Pies last week and they, like us, were aided also by key injuries to our players.

Just because we beat the Pies doesn't make as flag favourites, all it does is say we are on the up. Conversely one bad game against a determined Essendon doesn't make us duds. That game was lost because, as TD says, of the rise and wane in the respective intensity levels and (it certainly appeared on TV) almost every odd bounce favoured the Bombers. This happens in sport and is another reason to suck it up and move on.

Those ranting about Mclean and Robbo and calling for mass sackings should put on some think music.

The intensity level difference between the AFL and the VFL is widely recognised and the reasonable expectation that it may take a few games to acclimatise to this should be afforded to McLean. I say give him a couple more to see if he can adjust and if he can't then get him out. As for the bigger ground at Subi argument, I thought the overall dimensions were similar to the MCG ie, it is longer but narrower.

Thought, by now, we knew what to expect from Robbo. High intensity and limited disposal skills. This is not going to change overnight and was exactly what was being said about Carrazzo for the last 50 years and now he's a missing hero. I'm happy for Robbo to do what he does every week and wear his mistakes, didn't look like the only one who made them today.

Think it may not be a bad idea to give Jeffy a run in 2's for a while, I can't see that he brings enough on a consistant basis to warrant being a lock.

If AJ is going alright in the VFL he is the obvious replacement for Carrazzo.

The most important change for mine is Thornton for Bower. I understand that the m/c were giving him a chance to resurrect his career but the time has come to say enough is enough. Not only is he still like a rabbit in a spotlight with the ball but to see him in the forward line while Thornton cools his heels in the VFL is an absolute travesty.

In summary, let's move on. The upside to our team is still the same as it was before this hiccup. Jamieson and Duigan are still underdone, Walker is close and we have the same depth as we had this time last week.

BTW I seem to recall the '95 team losing to the bottom 2 sides in the league in running weeks and how did that season pan out?

 

[JuddFevGoal]

The most important change for mine is Thornton for Bower. I understand that the m/c were giving him a chance to resurrect his career but the time has come to say enough is enough. Not only is he still like a rabbit in a spotlight with the ball but to see him in the forward line while Thornton cools his heels in the VFL is an absolute travesty.

Agree 100%.

We forget Thorton's almost single handed effort of intensity to get us over the line in the West Coast final last year.

Good pair of hands and versatility

 

[JuddFevGoal]

I don't think there's any need to panic about this game, although there is certainly some productive soul searching and lessons to be learned.

The obvious lesson - always play a game as if you are 10th on the ladder playing 1st.

The not so obvious lesson I think does have to do with intensity but also with balancing our selections.

It's true that the players may have been 5% down on intensity, but also that the selection may have mirrored that lack of intensity in the lack of respect it gave the Bombers.

I think, quite rightly we are looking at Geelong's model from last year of resting players and giving young blokes a go. In other words, managing our depth. The issue though can sometimes be confusing for the players. The time to take chances on the Bowers and McCleans to see if they can rise to AFL tempo are games against GWS, GC, and other teams that are clearly down such as Melbourne, Bulldogs, Port Adelaide etc. Not a team that has won 3 on the trot and that puts us on the big stage in front of 75K at the MCG.

The obvious omission was Thornton and as far as I know, there is no reason of injury for why he has not been there.

I think that if the MC and Coach want the players to always be at 100% they have to echo that approach with always putting a team on the field that pay respect to their opposition's current form.

 

[Daytripper]

Any team that loses a runner for the full game early on is going to be in big trouble. Not only that, Laidler and Curnow looked to be hampered as well.

People can say that injuries during a game aren't an excuse but that's rubbish in my opinion. It puts fatigue on the remaining players out there and from fatigue comes mistakes. I would think a real positive from a Carlton point of view was how your guys were able to run out the game so strongly. That would indicate to me that your fitness blokes have done a good job

That said, happy that Essendon were able to take advantage of Carlton.

 

[40yearBLUE]

the build up during the week and the preview thread sums it up for me.
This loss and make no mistake it was a belting did not surprise me at all. As the day unfolded I kept on thinking of all the comments made about how much more superior we were and it was a no-contest. Pity we did not turn up to play and it was a pity nobody in Ess listened to the likes of Lloyd and posters here when they decided not to lie down and cop a whack but go and easily defeat a team way better than them.
The players media and many on BF got way ahead of themselves and many of those should put their hands up admit they were wrong
Otherwise they come off as a bit pea-hearted

The talk didnt match the walk guns. Thats what bothers some. I think Tanks called it the club being Liars, pretty hard to argue with that. All of the officially sanctioned press releases spoke about us taking the game seriously, being on a mission this year, having set our goals and determinedness to achieve etc. I even got an email from the Pres ffs.

That plus our previous performances set the scene pre match for us not lapsing into the kind of hubris on field as had happened against some lower rated opponents in the past. It gave us a sense of expectation of intent to match that created by watching the skill and fitness witnessed in the previous 3 matches.

It turned out that this pre game talk was just that. Carefully scripted nothing speak that we have come to expect from our politicians. Spin. Say a lot of words but dont say much. We dance around the truth now.

Even in Ratts presser after that shite performance he told us what happened in such careful prose:

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/blues-fume-about-tackle-on-carrazzo-20120421-1xe3g.html

Coach Brett Ratten mentioned Lonergan in his post-match news conference when discussing the physical intent the Bombers had shown. But The Sunday Age was later told the club was privately seething about what it felt was a dangerous tackle and a similar drive tackle soon after on either Kade Simpson or Marc Murphy.

It is expected that the incidents will be scrutinised by the match review panel tomorrow. The Blues are also set to approach the AFL tomorrow and seek clarification on the legality of the tackle.

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/blues-fume-about-tackle-on-carrazzo-20120421-1xe3g.html

Let me decipher that for you. We probably werent as on the front foot as they were? In other words, we raised the white flag. Just say it. We were challenged and didnt object to their challenge appropriately. I needed to see Lonergan rag dolled by multiple of our players. Perhaps even a mellee. I even saw the pea hearted Rider giving Hammer the treatment. We surrendered to their physical pressure. I said it at the ground, they hurt us physically and mentally. The physical we can easily deal with, the mental not so easily.

The rhetoric did not match the intent. We had been lied to. Lets see if the club underlines that performance or lack thereof and makes its on field talk more of a statement than the off field. Otherwise, its all just smoke mirrors and membership drives.

 

[blue healer]

I don't think there's any need to panic about this game, although there is certainly some productive soul searching and lessons to be learned.

The obvious lesson - always play a game as if you are 10th on the ladder playing 1st.

The not so obvious lesson I think does have to do with intensity but also with balancing our selections.

It's true that the players may have been 5% down on intensity, but also that the selection may have mirrored that lack of intensity in the lack of respect it gave the Bombers.

I think, quite rightly we are looking at Geelong's model from last year of resting players and giving young blokes a go. In other words, managing our depth. The issue though can sometimes be confusing for the players. The time to take chances on the Bowers and McCleans to see if they can rise to AFL tempo are games against GWS, GC, and other teams that are clearly down such as Melbourne, Bulldogs, Port Adelaide etc. Not a team that has won 3 on the trot and that puts us on the big stage in front of 75K at the MCG.

The obvious omission was Thornton and as far as I know, there is no reason of injury for why he has not been there.

I think that if the MC and Coach want the players to always be at 100% they have to echo that approach with always putting a team on the field that pay respect to their opposition's current form.

Before the Pies game the MC wanted to make room (in a winning team) for Jamieson and Diugan. I think Russell's form made him the standout demotion and it was a toss up between Thornton and Bower for the other one. My theory is that, even though Thornton was the better player, they wanted to give Bower more opportunity to prove himself. He hasn't and that decision should now be reversed.

The only change this week was the necessary omission of Armfield and, rightly or wrongly, McLean's record in the VFL was rewarded. As I stated earlier I think we should give him another couple of matches and if he doesn't shape up should be sent packing. McLean wasn't great but he wasn't the reason we lost yesterday.

As for resting players against the weaker teams, I agree but don't think we should be wasting the opportunity to blood players by putting Bower or Mclean in. Against weaker teams they are going to look better than they may be.

If resting players I think we should use that opportunity to blood younger players like Bootsma, Watson and MacCarthy. We believe they are our future whilst Bower and McLean are more than likely our past.

If we're going to play these two, do it against the better sides so that we can more accurately measure their worth.

BTW barring major injuries I don't think Bower should wear the navy blue again, reckon we've waited too long.

 

[pepalenko]

Would have been interesting to see the reaction if this foeum was around in 95 when we lost consecutive games to Swans and Saints. Not saying we will have the same kind of year (would be nice), but we were down today and Essendon were up for it. Goes to show how mental tgis game can be.

 

[Krooooze]

Let's be honest, this was almost identical to the Pies game for us, but in reverse. Last week, our intensity was up, Pies got injuries, and we took full advantage of it. This week, for some reason or another, we lacked energy, lost Carrots early, Laids/Yazz/Curnow all played under duress and they were able to capitalize. I remember looking and Murph and Simmo at the beginning of the last qtr and thinking "how stuffed are these guys". They could barely run. I reckon the only 2 players that can hold their heads high are Murph and Hendo. They both tried extremely hard. We will never win a flag if we kick for goal the way we do. Waite and Simmo are the main culprits. They are extremely unreliable from set shots. I am never confident when they're lining up.

As much as I hate losing to the scum, I would hope we won't suffer the same bad luck during the game next time. It was just one of those days for us whereby everything that could have gone wrong, did go wrong. For them, it was the opposite. Still, I am disappointed with the intensity we showed.

 

[T2B_]

It was quite obvious very early on that we were flat (that's not an excuse, just the reality). I said this to my wife during the first quarter. I was hoping we would turn it around at some stage during the game, but except for a short period in the 3rd quarter, the lethargy continued for the rest of the game.

Hopefully Ratts can get the boys back up this week & we can come out & give Freo a touch up.

We sure did have a period of running over them in general play.

Unfortunately we missed a bunch of chances during that time...Essendon finally then go forward and kick a goal... that must be absolutely sapping.

If we kicked those goals, who knows. But we need the mental toughness to stick those marks and kick those goals (looking at you Waite too).