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Blake Caracella - a "voluntary departure"

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Agree 100% with all Sheahan wrote today - apart from Caracella.

And on Taz, he's owned Mick from around 11am-ish one February morning back in 2002, and Mick understandably didn't really like that or ever got over it.
 
Frederlick said:
What I find bizzare about Sheahan, and many other writers, is that last year there were a number of serious high profile head high hits, Caracella being the most serious, although the St Kilda one was up there. The football media went into a flat spin about all of them except the Caracella one, which was the most blatantly unneccesary as he wasn't even over the footy and Notting targetted him, as opposed to the ball. Sheahan and co then tried to make out it was an accident. Just like when that Richmond clown broke his leg trying to pretend to kick the footy off the ground when Leon Davis was the only object that his boot connected with. The supporters booed because it was poetic justice as he (Leon) was no where near the footy at the time! I think that as Magpies supporters we have to take the good with the bad, as for every Collingwood 'hater' there is a 'lover', I mean look at the attendance figures last year ,and some of this is from iconoclasts who love the Pies because everyone else hates them but.... What i don't think is acceptable is apologist journalists for thugs in the game. I mean look how they tried to talk Didak's hit on Scotland up, what a joke, Scotland was back on the ground uninjured and yet Notting escaped unscathed when Caracella wasn't even in possession. The reason they are sports reporters is becasue they aren't smart enough to be a real journalist and look beyond their own pre concieved ideas.
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You must be absolutely joking!!!!! It clearly wasn't intentional, they were both going for the ball and just happened to collide. This has to be the most ridiculous comment i've ever seen posted on this site. And before you go bagging me about being biased because I am an Essendon supporter, I actually went to school with Blake and no one can have a higher opinion of him that me. Even Blake himself concedes it is just one of those things that happens in footy. Also, I can't believe you are assuming the "Richmond Clown" (I assume it is Chris Newmann, correct me if I'm wrong) actually targetted his kick at Davis. Do you actually think players go out and try to kill your Collingwood players. That is the most biased comment ever made. Why don't you actually try to watch footy properly and not just from inside a little bubble where Collingwood can do no wrong, but everyone else is out to get you.
 
Reading the article l didn't have too many concerns about what was written. Sheahan is clearly saying we are sacrificing finals success in the next couple of years, for greener pastures down the track. You would have to agree looking at our draft selections last November, by the number of bigger key position players we picked up, when everyone was saying we needed to pick up small, quick midfield types. This was obviously done with a plan in mind for the future. I, for one look froward to the future and seeing the likes of Reid, Brown, Dawes, Anthony, Cox etc..playing good AFL footy.
We are hanging it on Mike Sheahan, did anyone hear Tony Shaw saying we are going to finish 14th this season. I have respect for TS as a former magpie skipper, but i thought his reasoning was bland. He only harped on the departure of Tarrant and his 36 goal contribution last year, Rocca's good and bad is too far apart, Buckley's on the wrong side of 35. he didn't really mention Fraser, Cloke never got a mention, and didn't talk about Taz's replacement Medhurst, who could easily kick 30-40 goals a season. Young gun Pendles didn't really rate a mention, he did however label Thomas a "a future super star of the comp". He also stated Bryan was still finding his way in the game, hasn't Bryan been playing AFL for 3 years now?
Don't understand how people think we are going to struggle this year because of our goal kicking ability, we were the top scoring side last year, and we have only really lost Tarrant from the '06 forward line.
Gerard Healy, though thinks Buckley will kick 50 goals this season,which is more than a handy replacement for Tarrant.
 
I read the article sometime around 6 this morning so forgive me for paraphrasing, but I thought Sheehan predicted us to finish 10th-12th, and then clarified that by saying that whatever we did in the following years would be much better than this year.

I mean, I'm not a Mike Sheehan fan by any means, but his opinion didn't seem completely unfair to me in this case. And as for saying he never says anything positive about us, well thats untrue. In the first half of last year he praised us quite regularly. And saying we would improve after 2007 is a positive remark in itself.

Who does Sheehan barrack for anyway? I always thought he had a hard on for Carey and the Roos in the late 90's, but he seems to have gone off them now.
 

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Dj Chriss said:
I remember him saying on the show "On the couch" that our performance against Geelong last year was one of the best he's seen for a while :thumbsu: pretty good wrap from someone who doesnt like us.

But still, i dont like him :rolleyes:
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fair enough.. he makes the occasional nice comment.... and i think that comment was meant to be felt by the cats more than it was a genuine compliment to our club.. Isnt he a geelong supporter?


P.S.. i dont like the ornio either... hes like an old kariola..
 
ant22 said:
Name them. I doubt there is one person other than a 1 eyed collingwood supporter who would find 3, infact most nuetral experts would struggle to find 1 . Clement would be the closest and even he may find it hard to squeeze into the top 25. I can find 3 in the second 25(clement, didak and maybe johnson-debatable) and thats about it.
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Josh Fraser... probably top 5 in the best big men in the league(not overall.)
James clement.. surely there would not be more than 2-3 other backmen of his stature...
Alan Didak... one of the best in the business last year...

keep in mind he'll put reiwoldt and brown in... and they didnt ply their trade of 22 rounds..... regardless of how good they potentially are...
if thats the cae buckley would still be there because a forward he'll be like a brad johnson/mar ruccitio.
 
BoundforGlory said:
Fair enough ANT thats your opinion, but I couldnt disagree more!!!! Tarrant is gone & not because we are rebuilding, but because he under performed for 3 years, injury prone (not his fault) & couldnt really convert goals. His off field issues didnt help eithie & Iam led to believe there was more to it than meets the eye.

One thing I cant understand is that when we had Taz, all the experts suggested he was overrated & we should trade hm. Now that he is gone, all of a sudden we are finished:rolleyes: Please get your hand off it!

We finished 5th last season after H & A, but fell away in the last 8 rounds. I believe that had a combination to do with injuries to Rocca, Didak, Lica & young players tiring.

The coach & captian think we will improve & top 4 is the natural progression if your going to improve on 5th. I think given a good run of injuries & 15 MCG games, we can definetly give top 4 a shake.

PS Mike doesnt like us & finds it hard to say a good word about the pies. But that why I love the pies because you ethier love them or hate them:)
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BFG, you are obvisouly a very passionate and proud pies supporter which is great but don't get to sucked in by what the captain and coach say. Do you honestly expect them to say " I am expecting us to go backwards " There is not a single coach or captain in the league who will say that at this time of the year.

I don't disagree with your tarrant comments because i believe he was overated but we have not got a replacement and he was still very servicable . The forward line will not be as good this year without him in my opinion.

As for the injuries , every club as niggles at the end of the year. We were found out by a club that had far worse injuries than we had. This cannot be an excuse IMO. I think we had a better run than most in regards to injuries.

I hope I am wrong but I just cannot see us improving on last year.
 
Ok firstly Sheehan is a twit.
10-12th position? Stupid prediction.
Worst case scenario would be 10th....and I mean worst!!!!
If we make the 8, he'll have us at 10-12th again for the following year.
He's not the sharpest tool in the shed.
 
Parallel Andy said:
Ok firstly Sheehan is a twit.
10-12th position? Stupid prediction.
Worst case scenario would be 10th....and I mean worst!!!!
If we make the 8, he'll have us at 10-12th again for the following year.
He's not the sharpest tool in the shed.
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You say worst case scenario is 10th. does that mean you can find 6 teams who will definitly finish below you no matter what injuries and suspensions Collingwood may sustain throughout the year? There are no definites in football. Worst case scenario is to not win a game all year.
 
donsman4eva said:
You say worst case scenario is 10th. does that mean you can find 6 teams who will definitly finish below you no matter what injuries and suspensions Collingwood may sustain throughout the year? There are no definites in football. Worst case scenario is to not win a game all year.
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Of course there are no definates, but when making a prediction limits must be put on that prediction.
An example of this being Sheehan placing Collingwood in the range of 10-12th place.
Of course there is the chance that things can go horribly wrong. That can happen to any club, any time.
I am saying that the worst case scenario in my prediction is 10th.
Regardless, this has nothing to do with the point I am making.
As I said though, no there are no definates, but in my opinion there is an extremely high probability that Collingwood will finish above: Carlton, Brisbane, Essendon, Kangaroos, Port Adelaide, Richmond and Hawthorn. Also to a lesser extent Geelong.
 

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donsman4eva said:
You must be absolutely joking!!!!! It clearly wasn't intentional, they were both going for the ball and just happened to collide. This has to be the most ridiculous comment i've ever seen posted on this site. And before you go bagging me about being biased because I am an Essendon supporter, I actually went to school with Blake and no one can have a higher opinion of him that me. Even Blake himself concedes it is just one of those things that happens in footy. Also, I can't believe you are assuming the "Richmond Clown" (I assume it is Chris Newmann, correct me if I'm wrong) actually targetted his kick at Davis. Do you actually think players go out and try to kill your Collingwood players. That is the most biased comment ever made. Why don't you actually try to watch footy properly and not just from inside a little bubble where Collingwood can do no wrong, but everyone else is out to get you.
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Dear Dons whatevea, you are obviously a soccer player as if the collission between Caracella and Notting was accidental so were the 2 planes flying into the world trade centre. Caracella had overrun the football which was about a metre behind him. I did not claim anyone was trying to kill Collingwood players or even injure them on purpose, the point that was obviously lost on you was that either players who do not have the ball can be struck, or they can't. Last time I checked the rules they can't. Either by a hip and shoulder or a kick. Players can't simply target someone and then claim it was an accident, the AFL tribunal actually calls that reckless. If Caracella had been in possession of the football it may have changed the whole complexion of the matter if you accept that it is OK to hip and shoulder someones head off their shoulders. Whether Notting meant it or not is beside the point his reckless actions went unpunished. The last time I looked if you had your head over the ball and your head was struck it was a free kick, always has been, yet Caracella didn't get that so ergo his head wasn't over the ball and therefore he was struck while not in posession, but still no free kick, hellllooooo. Ever read a book called Catch 22? I highly recommend it.
As for the Newman incident I assume that like me, you were actually at the game and saw the incident in real time. Again I don't think Newman was trying to purposely injure a player although his reckless kick did. Outcome the same. If I give Newman the benefit of the doubt and say that he was genuinely trying to kick the footy off the ground then he is the most incompetent footballer around as he does not realise that his leg is not 4 metres long because that is how far away the footy had bounced ahead of him. Leon Davis who was running from the left at an oblique angle to him may have reached the footy a split second ahead of him and he tried to delay his attack by 'attempting' to boot the footy which was no where near his foot. By your flawed reasoning players can willy niily go about kicking near the ball, injure someone and that is OK! Please find anyone who finds that acceptable. By the way, the fact you went to school with Caracella doesn't make your argument any more valid. Also please learn how interperet what is written and don't jump in half cocked or you end up being fully cocked.
 
Caracella's departure was voluntary. He retired of his own accord following his doctors' instructions. Collingwood were trying to get his neck strong enough for next season. I don't mind that article since it makes a lot of sense.
 
I have no problem with the article. I think some of our supporters are misunderstanding what Mike meant by "voluntary"...but others have cleared that up.

Our team for 2007 has too many question marks for journo's to be predicting a top 4 finish. Despite Tarrant's up and down performances he was crucial to our structure leading up the ground and taking away a quality defender. Didak's coming off surgery and a late start. Leon had a career season before injury in 2006 (can he replicate?). Nobody knows what Medhurst is bringing on a week to week basis. Buckley as great as he is turned 35, has dodgey hammy's and will be rested at stages. Rocca has been crash and bash his whole career and better players than he (Dermie, Duck) have had a sudden downturn at his age. Rusling will miss the majority oif the season again........and thats just the forward line.

Midfield......Holland suspension, Licuria's decline last year, O'Bree had a career season (can it be replicated?), Dane Swan was a revelation but so was Phil Walsh back in 1983, Dale Thomas still has a way to go with his body and skills although the intangibles are there, Pendlebury may be the second coming of Cameron Bruce or may be just another Ryan Houlihan, Josh is a gun when he is healthy and stays that way....but does he have any back-up of note? Is Guy Richards ever going to make it? Are any of the younger brigade going to step up.

The only criticism i have of the article is that perhaps he was a little tough on our backline. We have Presti rarely getting beaten and through the first half of last season would have been under AA consideration.....Wakelin is still servicable given the right match-up, Clement is a superstar......perhaps the best/most versatile backman in the league irrespective of the hands in the back issue.....Heath Shaw is a future All-Australian.....Nick Maxwell keeps getting better....Harry will get better with opportunities.....Benny can give us pace and drive off the half back line.......we are no frills but effective on the back half.
 
Collingwoodrow said:
I have no problem with the article. I think some of our supporters are misunderstanding what Mike meant by "voluntary"...but others have cleared that up.

Our team for 2007 has too many question marks for journo's to be predicting a top 4 finish. Despite Tarrant's up and down performances he was crucial to our structure leading up the ground and taking away a quality defender. Didak's coming off surgery and a late start. Leon had a career season before injury in 2006 (can he replicate?). Nobody knows what Medhurst is bringing on a week to week basis. Buckley as great as he is turned 35, has dodgey hammy's and will be rested at stages. Rocca has been crash and bash his whole career and better players than he (Dermie, Duck) have had a sudden downturn at his age. Rusling will miss the majority oif the season again........and thats just the forward line.

Midfield......Holland suspension, Licuria's decline last year, O'Bree had a career season (can it be replicated?), Dane Swan was a revelation but so was Phil Walsh back in 1983, Dale Thomas still has a way to go with his body and skills although the intangibles are there, Pendlebury may be the second coming of Cameron Bruce or may be just another Ryan Houlihan, Josh is a gun when he is healthy and stays that way....but does he have any back-up of note? Is Guy Richards ever going to make it? Are any of the younger brigade going to step up.

The only criticism i have of the article is that perhaps he was a little tough on our backline. We have Presti rarely getting beaten and through the first half of last season would have been under AA consideration.....Wakelin is still servicable given the right match-up, Clement is a superstar......perhaps the best/most versatile backman in the league irrespective of the hands in the back issue.....Heath Shaw is a future All-Australian.....Nick Maxwell keeps getting better....Harry will get better with opportunities.....Benny can give us pace and drive off the half back line.......we are no frills but effective on the back half.
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Outstanding post. Finally a supporter who is willing to have an unbiased look at our club. While not for one second are you suggesting we will not be any good you are simply stating the facts that there are question marks.

Alot of our supporters look at our list and judge each player assuming they will play at there best week in week out. Every supporter of just about every club could do this and they would have there side in the top 4. For us to make finals or be top 4 a hell of a lot would need to go right.
 
I think we can finish Top 6 if everything goes our way. It really comes down to luck a lot of the time......If Sydney had the injury woes of St Kilda they surely would not have had the success they have had the past two years.

We only have to look at Collingwood the past two years to know how big of a difference injuries can have on your play.

If we are as close to 100% healthy and play to our utmost potential......and others are not...then I think we are a top 4 chance. But I don't view us as being as talented as St Kilda who can absorb season ending injuries or long term injuries to key players and still make the finals. We need all guns firing and the young guys to come along quickly.

Maybe they will.....I surely hope so.

I think I'd get more satisfaction from the season seeing a few of the young guys show real improvement and the potential to be long term stars and see us drop back a little on the ladder, than see another career season from the likes of Lonie & O'Bree and see us flogged in the first round of the finals. We need the young kids who haven't played to put pressure on the incubents.....and see Heath Shaw, Thomas, Cloke, Pendlebury et al take the next step in their development.

I am glad we have given Mick Malthouse a coaching extension also.......as his performance should not be assessed on where we finish on the ladder but the development of the kids we have drafted the past three years.
 

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Grimreepah said:
Exactly. Sheehan is just saying the club didn't sack him.
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that's the way I read it too. I thought from the way the comment was made about Sheahan that there was more to it. Obviously there isn't.

Any news as to what Blake's doing? I'm in Adelaide and don't hear anything about any ex-players.

Cheers

BTW - am reading this thread because I thought Blake was a good player who was very unlucky and lucky all in the same incident. Unlucky to be there at all, lucky to still be able to walk! Some people aren't as fortunate.
 
vinnie_vegas69 said:
So are you saying that Blake Caracella didn't want to retire, and the club made him?

No, he retired on his own. It was voluntary.

The neck injury that led to his retirement was involuntary, but that's another story altogether.
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Suffice it to say that Notting would've got several games under the "new" (ie, different interpretation they've lead us to believe is new) interpretation this year!
 
gadj1976 said:
that's the way I read it too. I thought from the way the comment was made about Sheahan that there was more to it. Obviously there isn't.

Any news as to what Blake's doing? I'm in Adelaide and don't hear anything about any ex-players.

Cheers

BTW - am reading this thread because I thought Blake was a good player who was very unlucky and lucky all in the same incident. Unlucky to be there at all, lucky to still be able to walk! Some people aren't as fortunate.
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He is on the Collingwood coaching staff as a 'forward scout'.
 

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Blake Caracella - a "voluntary departure"

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