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News 2019 Rumour File - discuss rumours here!

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No, most Carlton supporters are ******ed sheep, i'm not surprised it works there at all.

I suspect, being a club of dynamically-minded free-thinkers, we have trouble following set rules and are more concerned about the dissemination of ideas.
You are talking about supporters and not staff because 14 years of MacKay says no-one on list management or selection is thinking at all.
 
This idea that trading our best midfielder (Brad Crouch) somehow makes us a better team is ridiculous.

We have options on how to manage the midfield mix whilst also keeping both Crouches. Go look at how some of the better teams have utilised midfielders in slightly different roles. It just requires the right coaches.

I’d be more than happy to trade Ellis-Yolmen and Greenwood. But we must keep the Crouches.
I don’t know that he is our best Midfielder. Matt’s 2017 season far exceeded Brads 2019 season, I mean it’s not even close. I’ve watched a lot of Brad very closely and I have to say. He’s good, but not the shining light that so many people in here make him out to be. And given his perceived lack of burst since his last injury, I’m really not sure there is all that much more growth in his game.

Bottom line is if someone offered me a top 10 pick for him this offseason...

Mate, start the car!
 

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This is exactly it. Our midfield for the most part is slow as treacle and we get cut up by opposition going the other way and struggle to move the ball effectively by hand because we simply have not spread. Now some of this may be coaching related, but a lot of it has to do with personnel.

Our midfield brigade is currently:
Sloane - Average speed, POD is runs his guts out.
M.Crouch - Bog slow, limited defensive pressure, doesn't break the lines. Wins buckets of uncontested footy and is our prime inside mid.
B.Crouch - Actually has a bit of pace and can be quite dynamic. Trouble is we rarely see it, especially when coming back from injury. Defensively average.
Greenwood - Tackles hard, elite contested ball/clearance winner, but again slow on the outside
CEY - Again big body, good around the contest, but again slow on the outside
Wilson - Again, wins a lot of the footy, but slow on the spread/outside
Gibbs - Classy player, wins contested ball as a midfielder, but again slow defensively and on the spread

If we're going to continue, as is highly likely, with Sloane and the Crouch brothers as our 3 main inside midfielders(rightly or wrongly), then there's really little room for the other 4 in our side. Greenwood perhaps has a role as a forward.

Otherwise these guys should be depth and we should be looking to insert Milera, McHenry, Jones, Gallucci +/- other draftees into this mix to counter the lack of defensive ability and spread of the combo of Sloane/Crouch brothers. Noting Sloanes good defensively and Brad has the ability to be a great spread/break player.
Gooch and Milera certainly add some pace and creativity. Unsure about their defensive side.

Tackle pressure in our midfield and between the arcs is the number one concern for me. The common thread with our losses is the ease of which the opposition cut through any "resistance" we offer once the ball goes beyond our defenders. As well as the ease we give up centre breaks if we dont win it in one.or two possessions.



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This idea that trading our best midfielder (Brad Crouch) somehow makes us a better team is ridiculous.

We have options on how to manage the midfield mix whilst also keeping both Crouches. Go look at how some of the better teams have utilised midfielders in slightly different roles. It just requires the right coaches.

I’d be more than happy to trade Ellis-Yolmen and Greenwood. But we must keep the Crouches.
Agree completely. The Crouches are who we should be building our midfield around. Do we honestly think that we'll get someone better in their place?
Yes, our midfield is one paced. But you don't get rid of all the players, just the less good ones like CEY, Greenwood etc. Replace THEM with faster players, not the Crouches FFS
 

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I think you will find there is interest out there. I don’t think he is taken some kids spot, “SHOULD be in the team,”if they are better they will force him out,

Shaun Marsh being recalled to the test team 9 times is the closest to our selection policy of sticking with guys who arent good enough.
 
Ok, There seems to be a lot of passion about one Brad Crouch on the board. So I thought I'd put this question out to everyone as a discussion point.

What traits make Brad Crouch more then just a good player?

Is it his Pace, Fitness, Skills, Goalkicking, Ball winning, Tackling, Defensive pressure, Versatility, Marking, Forward entries, Clearances, Contested Possessions vs Uncontested possessions, etc.

Where is he elite, Where is above average, Where is he average and Where is he below average?

Note: I think we all agree that he is at minimum a good player, but the question is specifically what are the traits that Bigfooty posters feel elevates him from being just a good player to a guy you can't trade no matter what.
 
I don’t know that he is our best Midfielder. Matt’s 2017 season far exceeded Brads 2019 season, I mean it’s not even close. I’ve watched a lot of Brad very closely and I have to say. He’s good, but not the shining light that so many people in here make him out to be. And given his perceived lack of burst since his last injury, I’m really not sure there is all that much more growth in his game.

Bottom line is if someone offered me a top 10 pick for him this offseason...

Mate, start the car!

This sounds great of course if this year's draft was similar to last years with a number of prospects (SA boys included) in that range. Don't think simply obtaining a top 10 pick in a weaker draft for the sake of showing you are 'rebuilding' is the way to go. Very possible that with the way that this draft seemingly drops off, you could acquire similar talents with a pick/s that, with some juggling, could come from a mixture of: Betts, Jenkins, Keath, Greenwood, CEY departing or the Carl 2nd. Uprooting an established senior player, who had his most consistent season, and has stated he'd love to resign is a mistake imo.
 
Agreed, but don't think we should lose both greenwood and CEY

At this point, I'm comfortable losing both. Greenwood is prime trade bait seeing he's 27 and really, he has a profile that only suits a contender at this point in time, and CEY isn't worthwhile to keep with our current issues.
 

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This sounds great of course if this year's draft was similar to last years with a number of prospects (SA boys included) in that range. Don't think simply obtaining a top 10 pick in a weaker draft for the sake of showing you are 'rebuilding' is the way to go. Very possible that with the way that this draft seemingly drops off, you could acquire similar talents with a pick/s that, with some juggling, could come from a mixture of: Betts, Jenkins, Keath, Greenwood, CEY departing or the Carl 2nd. Uprooting an established senior player, who had his most consistent season, and has stated he'd love to resign is a mistake imo.
The top 10 pick isn't the point. Its getting a better balance for our midfield which should be priority #1.

Its pretty much universally agreed that we got smashed in the midfield due to a lack of speed and defensive running, and that we need to change the mixup if we are to go forward. Well the 2 guys who played the VAST majority of midfield minutes for us this year both have the surname Crouch, and they are both known for their mediocre speed (Especially after BC's last injury) and lack of defensive running! Sure coaching had something to do with it, but we can't only look at the coaches to fix this issue. They absolutely need to be looked at if we are serious about going forward. Cause Blind Freddie could see the midfield balance sucked with them both in the middle.

Now, if it turns out that we can find a way for them to play together and get that balance right, great. But after this year, i'm really not convinced!
 
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This idea that trading our best midfielder (Brad Crouch) somehow makes us a better team is ridiculous.

We have options on how to manage the midfield mix whilst also keeping both Crouches. Go look at how some of the better teams have utilised midfielders in slightly different roles. It just requires the right coaches.

I’d be more than happy to trade Ellis-Yolmen and Greenwood. But we must keep the Crouches.
Yep. They need a shot at it with new midfield coaches and a new midfield philosophy. In particular a midfield coach that gets them to focus on what they do after they win possession.

And focusing on blocking for each other and working as a unit. And on structuring up with receivers outside the contest. And on working defensively.
 
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