Coaching Staff Brendon Bolton - Senior Coach - Locked in until end of 2020 (23/5/18)

[Jimmae]

What agenda Jimmae? Seriously, what agenda?
Don't try to be too clever pointing your Goddard-type finger. You're wrong and don't lie, thank you.

If (I have to use the word if) the board applied pressure onto the football department to change their approach.........what can one say?

I understand the want to see a more attacking football style, but it has to come about at the right time and only the coaches should ever make that call and especially so given we're effectively nurturing the majority of the squad. We can't just be turning the tap on and off and when things down't work out.....guess whose head gets placed on the chopping block?

Maybe Bolton went along with the notion, but if he did against his own common sense, then he's doing it wrong also.

I'm sure if a journalist of any repute wanted to tug some strings that they will find this to be true, but note that the board did not make the final decision, they simply campaigned hard to see how we'd look with caution thrown to the wind for a few early rounds as we drive for membership.

Boards are always doing this, and taking any route had the potential for short-term pain, but the argument was incremental changes versus turning a few games into a super difficult training drill to harden the team mentally and physically.

But by all means, bang that drum.

 

[thylacine60]

Bolton is safe for the next 2-3 years atleast. Can't expect much with the current state of our list being so inexperienced and being highlighted further with the injuries we currently have.

There's a plan in place and our youngsters are progressing well. I have no doubts that we are going to be a very good football team in a couple of years

hopefully anyone feeling bolton needs to show more ain't got anything to do with club decision making - leave that for the loonies around here

 

[thylacine60]

Agree with all of this.

agree fully with your agreeance.......

 

[HARKER]

Boards are always doing this, and taking any route had the potential for short-term pain, but the argument was incremental changes versus turning a few games into a super difficult training drill to harden the team mentally and physically.

But by all means, bang that drum.

So, what's my agenda? Don't worry about. Let's put it down to an honest mistake.

Of course there's talk around the club. Always has been and always will be, but get ready for it......The baker has to ultimately bake the bread and for his sake, Bolton & co are best served following through with their plan than to be nudged and winked into submission and change tack.

You see, that's very straight forward. By the way, thanks for brining that info forward. Appreciated.

 

[Benaly28]

Every list manager talks to managers,other list managers and the like about players all the time has been happening for ages it’s only natural that when there is talent that has not signed yet that rumours spread.Cripps will be captain and as long as Ed plays for Carlton so will Charlie.

 

[thylacine60]

co-captains it is then

 

[Coona Blues]

co-captains it is then

Never been a fan of the model, but we have two young guns deserving of the role. Plenty of quality
players/leaders have never captained their club, but Doc and Crippa would certainly complement
each other (and probably compliment too)

 

[blueblooded]

I get the feeling that as long as there is one C Judd on the board and driving the football agenda that no rash decisions will be made regarding sacking a coach at ground zero in a rebuild. Fair to say Bolts is pretty safe.

We may only pinch two to three wins at best this season but club must stay strong.

 

[thylacine60]

did not know they were spelt differently - learning

 

[Coona Blues]

did not know they were spelt differently - learning

Never too old

 

[mickelboy182]

I get the feeling that as long as there is one C Judd on the board and driving the football agenda that no rash decisions will be made regarding sacking a coach at ground zero in a rebuild. Fair to say Bolts is pretty safe.

We may only pinch two to three wins at best this season but club must stay strong.

Not at ground zero, he has had a couple of years now....

Notions that he is safe for at least another 2-3 years is head in the sand stuff. Needs significant improvement in that time to stay on board.

This board always went on about messiah complex, and they've gone and done the same thing with Bolts and SOS

 

[BlueVision]

Not at ground zero, he has had a couple of years now....

Notions that he is safe for at least another 2-3 years is head in the sand stuff. Needs significant improvement in that time to stay on board.

This board always went on about messiah complex, and they've gone and done the same thing with Bolts and SOS

So when do you think ground zero was/is ????? It is well documented we have had 42 list changes in the last 3 years and changed our age profile significantly, surely you weren't expecting finals or top 10 finishes at this stage.

The club has a plan and are sticking to it yet you consider that is a messiah complex, I call it good governance.

 

[tarczonandjane]

I get the feeling that as long as there is one C Judd on the board and driving the football agenda that no rash decisions will be made regarding sacking a coach at ground zero in a rebuild. Fair to say Bolts is pretty safe.

We may only pinch two to three wins at best this season but club must stay strong.

I don’t understand this unrelenting faith in the wisdom of Chris Judd. The most obvious shortcoming is witnessed in choosing a trade to us rather than Collingwood. He chose money over a premiership. I guess maybe money was more important (you’d have to ask him), but given he’s always talked about success you’d have to assume it was a poor strategic choice. If he’s got one of the biggest decisions in his life wrong, what might he get wrong while sitting on our Board. Not saying he’s incapable of making good decisions, but on exposed form, he’s not infallible.

 

[gbatman]

The only way we could be in a worse place is if we assembled a list of a couple of good young players, some pretty good yet over priced stars poached from other clubs and filled the rest with average ordinary players with deficiencies and draft/trade on a conservative manner. Like we did last time. Happy to be down the bottom for the reasons we are.

We aren't going badly because we are badly coached or because we have recruited poorly. We have a good coach and have assembled a very good recruiting team. Just hasn't had time to take effect yet.

We're losing because we have too many players with too many deficiencies, too many young players and not enough top level players in their prime.

We have not quite entered a building phase yet. Unfortunately we have had to do a near complete rebuild. The players we got rid of were got rid of because their age did not match the rebuilding time frame which I think will be 5-7 years or because they weren't good enough or because they did not fit in with the culture we are trying to create at Carlton.

First step is replacing the players who don't tick all the boxes and that's pretty much all of them. Finding 20 odd gun players and another 10 really serviceable ones. How many draft picks and trade options do we get? It's a big number.

We've done well to get so far into replacing so many players really and you replace older mature players with young ones, what do you expect when it usually takes an AFL footballer around 4 years to mature into that level of football and find their feet?

The Way I see it...

2008 - 2015 - Yarran Rowe Casboult Curnow Cripps only players of quality drafted. Lots of our better AFL players gone. Walker, Judd, Robinson, Yarran, McLean, Betts, Henderson, Armfield, Scotland, Waite, Duigan, Garlett, Jamison, Carrazzo gone, mostly for nothing, we've spent time replacing them and replacing those who have gone afterwards. Replacing is effective when you are up the top but we were down the bottom.

2015 - Silvagni Bolton alliance arrives. List replacement begins, starts with drafting talls. Crunow, Weitering, McKay, Silvagni and Cuningham arrive. Henderson, Bell, Yarran out. Talls should have real impact in 2019-2020. Smalls 2018-2019. Curnow has been an early developer. The rest are going at a normal rate. Kerridge, Lamb, Phillips, Plowman traded in to fit culture and age requirements and are more replacements than improvements. Focus on age demographic of list. Clearly aiming for when the talls develop which will be around 2019-2020 for real improvement.

2016 - Another replacement period. Focus on smaller midfield Types. SPS, Fisher, Williamson and a tall in Macreadie. Macreadie exceeded expectation and played some games but can be expected to be prime in 2020-2021. SPS, Williamson and Fisher especially developed a little early but can be expected to be strong in 2019 onwards. Marchbank and Pickett arrive as quality age bracket players who have not arrived/peaked yet. Again more of a replacement period. Tuohy traded out.

2017 - Bryce Gibbs goes out for young draftees and Lang who has been injured, Kennedy who has not impacted and Lobbe come in. Kennedy should come into impacting games this year or the next as should Lang. Focus was primarily on midfield and then on long term replacements. Dow and O'Brien as midfielders who should be impacting in 2020-2021 whereas DeKoning is more Kreuzer's replacement around 2021-2022. White delisted.

2018 - A year where we start to really get that balance between replacing players and building up our list. Murphy, Kreuzer, Thomas, Casboult, Simpson and Rowe are the players we will soon have to replace and we will be hoping that draftees from previous seasons can step up into their roles at the same level or better. This is also the first year that free agents become an option as some of them are now in our age bracket. From here on I think we will be heavily focused on midfielders and midfield/forwards with pace. We need to fill our boots with players who can run kick play on the ball and kick goals and apply pressure up forward. Still we need to be aware that these youngsters will take 2-4 years to really impact.

2019 - This will be a season of building, we will hope that we are satisfied the replacement period is behind us as those replacements should be best 22 or pushing strongly in the VFL. We will likely be heavily into Smaller players who will hit their peak by 2022 and free agents

2020 - This is when the slower developing players we first drafted in 2015 when SOS and Bolton arrived start to really hit their straps and make it as AFL footballers thenm and the smaller players we drafted in 2016. Finals may or may not be on the cards yet but improvement will be leaps and bounds ahead of where it has been. There will still likely be some player replacement happening as Murphy (32), Kreuzer (30), Jones (29), Thomas (32), Casboult (30), Simpson (35), Curnow (32) and Rowe (32). These players will need to be replaced and added on top of by now regardless of whether they are still playing. If we get good service from our older players we might have a pretty decent season.

This is a big year for our development IMO, especially if we do well with free agency and smart trading etc. There will be a lot of talented youth maturing and we may be lucky enough to get plenty out of quality veterans. Cohesion and stability should be strong in the side and we should have a good balance of youth and mature players.

B: Marchbank (2019) Jones Byrne (2018)
HB: Docherty Weitering (2020) Williamson (2020)
C: ??? Cripps (2018) O'Brien
HF: SPS Curnow (2020) Murphy
F: Silvagni (2019) McKay (2020) Thomas
OB: Kreuzer Dow (2020) Fisher (2019)
IC: Kennedy (2019) Lang (2016) Pickett (2017/injuries) Curnow

2021 - We have 8 really good players to find between now and then. A Wingman and 3 really good forwards, one a medium sizer and two smaller types who have really good forward pressure. Plus we need 4 utilities who can rotate in the midfield and flanks. That could come from what we already have but we will have to find this talent. By this stage I expect us to be a strong team playing finals or at least pushing for finals.

Between what we already have developing, the 3 first and second round picks we have, Father sons, good leter picks plus being in a good position for free agency we should be able to find something.

Just going on maturing of AFL players for where they really start to impact at AFL level. Talls are about 4-5 years. Inside mids are about 4 years and the rest are about 3 for full maturity.

This is where we need to be to be really strong and those question marks have to be really good players.

B: Marchbank (2019) Jones (mature) Byrne (2018)
HB: Docherty (mature) Weitering (2020) Williamson (2020)
C: ??? (Wing) Cripps (2018) O'Brien (2020)
HF: SPS (2019) Curnow (2020) ??? (Half Forward)
F: ??? (Mid Forward) McKay (2020) ??? (Small Forward)
OB: DeKoning (2021-2022) Dow (2020) Fisher (2019)
IC: ??? ??? ??? ??? (Mids and utilities)
EM: Kennedy (2019) Silvagni (2019) Lang (2016) Plowman (2016-2017) Macreadie (2021) Cuningham (2018) Pickett (2017/injuries) Mullett (Mature) Schumacher (2020-2021)

Older players:
Murphy (33), Kreuzer (31), Jones (30), Thomas (33), Casboult (31), Simpson (36), Curnow (33) and Rowe (33). It's likely some may still be around but I get the feeling not that likely. If I had to guess I would say that perhaps Murphy, Ed Curnow and Jones may still be around. Murphy possibly as a small forward and Curnow possibly as a rotation player playing defence or on the ball. Jones at 30 is still young enough for a full back.

So we need to wait. It's a long journey, get the expectations up for 2020 and lets hope that we have good luck, draft well and do well with free agency. We're doing the best we can, no coach or game plan is going to get us winning games, we just have to build a side where the players in it are of the quality and age where they can have an impact. As you can see we have some time to go just yet.

 

[Arr0w]

Not at ground zero, he has had a couple of years now....

Notions that he is safe for at least another 2-3 years is head in the sand stuff. Needs significant improvement in that time to stay on board.

This board always went on about messiah complex, and they've gone and done the same thing with Bolts and SOS

Bolton a messiah appointment? So far from reality.

By the way, ground zero is the start of next year after another trade/draft period

 

[BlueVision]

I don’t understand this unrelenting faith in the wisdom of Chris Judd. The most obvious shortcoming is witnessed in choosing a trade to us rather than Collingwood. He chose money over a premiership. I guess maybe money was more important (you’d have to ask him), but given he’s always talked about success you’d have to assume it was a poor strategic choice. If he’s got one of the biggest decisions in his life wrong, what might he get wrong while sitting on our Board. Not saying he’s incapable of making good decisions, but on exposed form, he’s not infallible.

So your suggesting that because Judd didn't have the fore sight to know who was going to win a premiership out of Carlton or Collingwood when he left West Coast he has no idea when it comes to decision making ??????

 

[Arr0w]

I don’t understand this unrelenting faith in the wisdom of Chris Judd. The most obvious shortcoming is witnessed in choosing a trade to us rather than Collingwood. He chose money over a premiership. I guess maybe money was more important (you’d have to ask him), but given he’s always talked about success you’d have to assume it was a poor strategic choice. If he’s got one of the biggest decisions in his life wrong, what might he get wrong while sitting on our Board. Not saying he’s incapable of making good decisions, but on exposed form, he’s not infallible.

That is an extremely long bow

 

[tarczonandjane]

So your suggesting that because Judd didn't have the fore sight to know who was going to win a premiership out of Carlton or Collingwood when he left West Coast he has no idea when it comes to decision making ??????

Yep. And we can add turning a blind eye to the drug taking culture at West Coast to the list too. Chicken wings as a captain when your team needs you could also go on the list. As I say, this doesn’t make him incapable of making good decisions, but he’s anything but infallible.

 

[thylacine60]

who suggested he is infallible?

 

[ESKIE]

Oh boy

 

[BlueVision]

Yep. And we can add turning a blind eye to the drug taking culture at West Coast to the list too. Chicken wings as a captain when your team needs you could also go on the list. As I say, this doesn’t make him incapable of making good decisions, but he’s anything but infallible.

Cool, thanks for confirming what I thought.

 

[mickelboy182]

Bolton a messiah appointment? So far from reality.

By the way, ground zero is the start of next year after another trade/draft period

I don't think you understand the use of the term...

Bolton started the rebuild when he got the role. That is ground zero. By this point in time we'd really be hoping to see signs of transition.

We are 50 games into the '66 game rebuild' that the club mentioned. To only win a couple of games this year would be a failure. Amazing how apologetic we have become.

Deep criticism only seems welcome after we make changes and never before.

 

[Mr_Plow]

I don't think you understand the use of the term...

Bolton started the rebuild when he got the role. That is ground zero. By this point in time we'd really be hoping to see signs of transition.

We are 50 games into the '66 game rebuild' that the club mentioned. To only win a couple of games this year would be a failure. Amazing how apologetic we have become.

Deep criticism only seems welcome after we make changes and never before.

What would you do/have done differently?

 

[thylacine60]

Deep criticism only seems welcome after we make changes and never before.

Pretty interesting sentence. Do you have any more on this, m182?

 

[BLUEALLTHRU]

your violence is offensive - you don't need it neither do I

Point taken.