Autopsy 2026 Round 0 Carlton vs Sydney Don't ask me, I don’t know either

[Sweet Seventeen]

The way Kemp missed that very first set shot was very dissapointing.

Everyone makes mistakes but Forwards just have to eat those opportunities.

Particularly someone like kemp who is due to be standing and delivering.

Kemp was mainly a midfielder at junior level, i believe. We have played him as a defender mainly, has really not played that

many games for us up forward yet. He is not a full forward, he is a third forward. What he really needs is assistance, a big

burly lump to crumb off and shepherd for him. Skull is that and hopefully will play this week. We cannot expect to much

from O,Keefe just yet though, his still very young and raw. Does show promise though, love his aggression. Our forward

line will take a few weeks to gell together with our new inclusions.

One thing that stood out to me was, we desperately need a big marking target coming out of the goal square. Hudson is the

man, imo.

 

[CarmenSandiego]

utter BS.

Last year was his first stint as a permanent forward. Results pre the Achilles?

Round 3, 7 marks, 5 goals vs the Doggies...

You’re doing that thing where suppporters use 1 standout game as the standard performance for a player. Why would you place those sort of expectations on him?

You also used Derksen as an example - cool, he’s played zero games, hasn’t he? Meanwhile GC didn’t even have their best defender playing…

I’m not saying our players are bad, but a lot of other clubs, particularly the northern ones, have far, far better ones, and a lot more of them.

 

[Korn]

It's the same from last year.
Too congested in the middle with too many players, running like a headless chicken, a big waste of energy.
We are attacking to the right of screen here, Sam Walsh

18

Sam Walsh

Age

25

Ht

184cm

Wt

84kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

25.1

5star

K

13.5

5star

HB

11.6

5star

M

5.1

5star

T

3.2

5star

CL

3.4

5star

No current season stats available

D

26.2

5star

K

15.4

5star

HB

10.8

5star

M

6.0

5star

T

3.2

5star

CL

4.8

5star

with the ball. Tries to handball it to Jagga Smith in front of him, missed the target, loses the ball, turnover, goal to Sydney.

 

[Accidental genius]

Kemp was mainly a midfielder at junior level, i believe. We have played him as a defender mainly, has really not played that

many games for us up forward yet. He is not a full forward, he is a third forward. What he really needs is assistance, a big

burly lump to crumb off and shepherd for him. Skull is that and hopefully will play this week. We cannot expect to much

from O,Keefe just yet though, his still very young and raw. Does show promise though, love his aggression. Our forward

line will take a few weeks to gell together with our new inclusions.

One thing that stood out to me was, we desperately need a big marking target coming out of the goal square. Hudson is the

man, imo.

He shows some excellent qualities as a forward - particularly his leaps and he's is a booming kick.

If he can hang onto more and kick straightetr he'd be fantastic forward for us imo - I believe he can but I just wonder how much skills training he is doing?

His run up and kick from set shot didnt fill me with confidence.

As an example I noticed Heeney's run up at set shot - he was very focused and his hold on the ball was very still on the run up.

 

[Accidental genius]

It's the same from last year.
Too congested in the middle with too many players, running like a headless chicken, a big waste of energy.
We are attacking to the right of screen here, Sam Walsh with the ball. Tries to handball it to Jagga Smith in front of him, missed the target, loses the ball, turnover, goal to Sydney.

View attachment 2544216

One of the prime issues with our game style.

 

[SurreyBlue]

You’re doing that thing where suppporters use 1 standout game as the standard performance for a player. Why would you place those sort of expectations on him?

You also used Derksen as an example - cool, he’s played zero games, hasn’t he? Meanwhile GC didn’t even have their best defender playing…

I’m not saying our players are bad, but a lot of other clubs, particularly the northern ones, have far, far better ones, and a lot more of them.

They are well coached. I’ll compare to GC as an example, Ben King is not better than Harry. Cripps is a dual Brownlow medalist, Walsh, Cerra, Smith all top 10 draft picks. Weitering is better than any KP defender GC have. Everyone was raving on about Haywood, yet in an average setup, he looks standard! The problem is Hardwick has then now playing unselfish team footy, something previous coaches weren’t capable of accomplishing. It’s not just the players….. Brisbane have nailed the trades and Fagan is just another great people person. They love playing for him and would kill for him!!!!

It’s not just one way traffic, we need to understand that comments by ex-players do have significance.

 

[The Bighouse]

Do we ever train at night for those slippery conditions, every training video I see is during the day but we play every game at night ?? Maybe just Maybe train in the conditions we mostly play in. Probably wouldn’t fumble as much
Looked like they were playing in a sauna

Unlikely to be able to replicate those conditions, unless we’re heading north for night training sessions (we did fly to play BL 2 weeks prior).

 

[Sweet Seventeen]

He shows some excellent qualities as a forward - particularly his leaps and he's is a booming kick.

If he can hang onto more and kick straightetr he'd be fantastic forward for us imo - I believe he can but I just wonder how much skills training he is doing?

His run up and kick from set shot didnt fill me with confidence.

As an example I noticed Heeney's run up at set shot - he was very focused and his hold on the ball was very still on the run up.

Agree with all that Genius. But as I said, Kemp will never be a Fevola. He will be a very handy forward pocket for the next

five to seven years. He is not far off 25 yo, his best footy is still in front of him. He is also 192 cm's, we cannot expect him

to be the main man up their.

 

[The Bighouse]

Kemp was mainly a midfielder at junior level, i believe. We have played him as a defender mainly, has really not played that

many games for us up forward yet. He is not a full forward, he is a third forward. What he really needs is assistance, a big

burly lump to crumb off and shepherd for him. Skull is that and hopefully will play this week. We cannot expect to much

from O,Keefe just yet though, his still very young and raw. Does show promise though, love his aggression. Our forward

line will take a few weeks to gell together with our new inclusions.

One thing that stood out to me was, we desperately need a big marking target coming out of the goal square. Hudson is the

man, imo.

Not sure you do…

Get some separation from your defender and the ball kicked to your advantage & you can have an effective smaller FF i.e. Jack Gunston, Logan Morris.
BK unfort doesn’t have the necessary kicking for goal prowess & mentality for the set shot.

 

[The Bighouse]

It's the same from last year.
Too congested in the middle with too many players, running like a headless chicken, a big waste of energy.
We are attacking to the right of screen here, Sam Walsh with the ball. Tries to handball it to Jagga Smith in front of him, missed the target, loses the ball, turnover, goal to Sydney.

View attachment 2544216

Composure & execution. Players need to obtain.

 

[Accidental genius]

Agree with all that Genius. But as I said, Kemp will never be a Fevola. He will be a very handy forward pocket for the next

five to seven years. He is not far off 25 yo, his best footy is still in front of him. He is also 192 cm's, we cannot expect him

to be the main man up their.

100% agree Sweety...

Fevola was a generational talent.

Interestingly Kemp kicked the difficult angled snap but missed directly out in front from a set shot - pressure/phycology has something to do with it too imo.

I expect him to improve if he plays in a consistent role.

 

[Chookaradley]

The first half was impressive, despite how abysmal the second half was. The worst part is no matter how far down teams are, they will believe they can over run us.

 

[jj1978]

The same Doc that got gifted games at the start of last season (opted in for a final when underdone), cost us the R1 game with his errors when coming on as the sub, was one of the worst culprits of the dump kick/turnovers and wanted another contract for 2026? It was the same trucking thing from him last season too.

We only have the cattle that we do from our list management decisions and the players need to take some ownership out on the field - there appears to be a lack of resilience and fight in the group when the heat gets turned up. Time to remedy that from here on in.

Being selected to play is not on Doc… that’s on the shoulders of our match committee who keep making strange selection choices. Doc should never have played in the elimination final in 2024 and the selection committee made many stupid selections for that game.

 

[jj1978]

I’d really love to hear one of our inner game analysis sessions to actually see if they have yet to identify the issues we’ve seen for the last 100+ games. We keep hearing “we’ll learn from it” but what are they learning? Why is that not translating in game? That’s on the coaches 80%

 

[2blue4u]

I'm just going to say this. If Harry is demotivated i don't blame him. Imagine being a forward for Carlton. Would have to be the worst delivery into f50 of any club. Imagine as a forward putting up with that crap for most of your forward career. Forwards don't have a hope in our team. Seem him lead up quite a few times but they chose to bomb to a contest instead and if its not that its just terrible delivery. Look what Charlie was getting compared to what Harry gets. Wouldn't blame the guy if he wanted to move on. Yes Harry could be more physical in contests but what's the actual point.

 

[Sweet Seventeen]

100% agree Sweety...

Fevola was a generational talent.

Interestingly Kemp kicked the difficult angled snap but missed directly out in front from a set shot - pressure/phycology has something to do with it too imo.

I expect him to improve if he plays in a consistent role.

Happy that you mentioned his miraculous goal, it was the best goal of the game. This to me suggests that, he has the talent

and when he does not have all that time(not a set shot). He plays on instinct and finds a way. This indicates to me, that he

needs a good phycologist to help him not panic, but relax and go through his routine when lining up. This is key and would

help him become a much more reliable set shot, imo.

 

[GoBlues!]

I'm just going to say this. If Harry is demotivated i don't blame him. Imagine being a forward for Carlton. Would have to be the worst delivery into f50 of any club. Imagine as a forward putting up with that crap for most of your forward career. Forwards don't have a hope in our team. Seem him lead up quite a few times but they chose to bomb to a contest instead and if its not that its just terrible delivery. Look what Charlie was getting compared to what Harry gets. Wouldn't blame the guy if he wanted to move on. Yes Harry could be more physical in contests but what's the actual point.

I don’t think Harry is demotivated, from the Swans and the practice games it looks like he’s being easily nullified.

I’d like to see a second tall forward target, whether that’s Hudson or even Derksen , to split the defence and stop H from getting double teamed.

 

[Beer n Skittles]

You’re doing that thing where suppporters use 1 standout game as the standard performance for a player. Why would you place those sort of expectations on him?

You also used Derksen as an example - cool, he’s played zero games, hasn’t he? Meanwhile GC didn’t even have their best defender playing…

I’m not saying our players are bad, but a lot of other clubs, particularly the northern ones, have far, far better ones, and a lot more of them.

Hang on who are you calling GC's best defender? Collins played...

 

[CarmenSandiego]

They are well coached. I’ll compare to GC as an example, Ben King is not better than Harry. Cripps is a dual Brownlow medalist, Walsh, Cerra, Smith all top 10 draft picks. Weitering is better than any KP defender GC have. Everyone was raving on about Haywood, yet in an average setup, he looks standard! The problem is Hardwick has then now playing unselfish team footy, something previous coaches weren’t capable of accomplishing. It’s not just the players….. Brisbane have nailed the trades and Fagan is just another great people person. They love playing for him and would kill for him!!!!

It’s not just one way traffic, we need to understand that comments by ex-players do have significance.

Blue-eyed goggles on, sadly.

King is now flanked by Petracca & Humphrey, whilst McKay has Ainsworth and.... Moir? Frankie Evans?
Cripps is a 31yo and moving every bit like one, whilst GC have another Brownlow medalist in Rowell who is 7 years younger.
Walsh is a fantastic player - but again, GC have player(s) better in ther midfield - Noah Anderson, Touk Miller.
Cerra - a top 10 pick what? 9 years & 7 hamstring strains ago? GC currently have 8x top 10 picks btw.

Brisbane are similar - absolutely demolished a seasoned Geelong with a star-studded team and a 21yo winning his 2nd Norm Smith medal who they got for nothing, while they had 5 other academy/FS players collect Premiership medals.

Sydney belted us the other night with 5x of their academy players running riot.

Our coach is average, but our list is absolutely dwarfed by the Northern clubs right now. Worst thing that can happen to these young blokes is a feral supporter base expecting them to take us to the promised land as soon as we get a new coach.

 

[Beer n Skittles]

Agree with all that Genius. But as I said, Kemp will never be a Fevola. He will be a very handy forward pocket for the next

five to seven years. He is not far off 25 yo, his best footy is still in front of him. He is also 192 cm's, we cannot expect him

to be the main man up their.

Oh yep Kemp at 192cm is too short to be the 191cm Fevola type

 

[2blue4u]

I don’t think Harry is demotivated, from the Swans and the practice games it looks like he’s being easily nullified.

I’d like to see a second tall forward target, whether that’s Hudson or even Derksen , to split the defence and stop H from getting double teamed.

Do you think though the constant poor delivery into F50 would be an issue also? If i was a forward and had to put up with that year after year i probably would go elsewhere.

 

[CarmenSandiego]

Hang on who are you calling GC's best defender? Collins played...

Ballard.

 

[AndyLucimitis]

Oh yep Kemp at 192cm is too short to be the 191cm Fevola type

Fevola was quick off the mark but had hands like a vice when marking on the lead.

 

[Sweet Seventeen]

Oh yep Kemp at 192cm is too short to be the 191cm Fevola type

Just goes to show what a freak Fev really was. Such a wasted talent, yes he played some great footy for us. But, his career

could have been much better. Club never looked after him the way they should have, unfortunately. Fev will know that he

could have had a much more decorated career, had it not been for his gambling and drinking. Of course he is not the only

one, who has not got the best out of themselves.

 

[JustaBattler]

Blue-eyed goggles on, sadly.

King is now flanked by Petracca & Humphrey, whilst McKay has Ainsworth and.... Moir? Frankie Evans?
Cripps is a 31yo and moving every bit like one, whilst GC have another Brownlow medalist in Rowell who is 7 years younger.
Walsh is a fantastic player - but again, GC have player(s) better in ther midfield - Noah Anderson, Touk Miller.
Cerra - a top 10 pick what? 9 years & 7 hamstring strains ago? GC currently have 8x top 10 picks btw.

Brisbane are similar - absolutely demolished a seasoned Geelong with a star-studded team and a 21yo winning his 2nd Norm Smith medal who they got for nothing, while they had 5 other academy/FS players collect Premiership medals.

Sydney belted us the other night with 5x of their academy players running riot.

Our coach is average, but our list is absolutely dwarfed by the Northern clubs right now. Worst thing that can happen to these young blokes is a feral supporter base expecting them to take us to the promised land as soon as we get a new coach.

I dont think most posters on here even bother to look at opposition lineups or games tbh. The rating of teh Crlton list that I read about on here bares little resembalnce to what the serious contenders lists look like and perform like....

No CLub can afford to stack their side with developed players ( so called) liek Yopiung/McGovern/Williams as examples or overpay too few ( super stars - liek Carlton has done - and then to have nothing around them ( liek Carlton has done) and have them perform week in week out line c graders for years - when they arent injured.

No team cam afford to have in their prime year players important for structure like Cerra now and previously Cuningham Marchbank constantly out injured ..or Walsh or Curnow before him....Cottrell like him or dont he is AFL quality....

these are all list issues - the catch22 of if you didnt have enough depth you cant build to contention and if you cant build to contention you will never have enough depth in quality

it isnt an aaccident the AFL jas handed Suns and Brisbane so much talent for free same for Sydney.....and it wil nbe the same for Tasmania...

for non franchise CLubs you have to work twice as hard and be twice as good just to be competitive as these franchise cheat CLubs.