Preview 2024 AFL Community Series - Carl v Melb Wed 28th Feb 6.40PM @ Ikon Park

[DangerousD]

We beat melbourne in the 2022 hit out and look how that turned out for us

Do you mean when we were in the top 8 for 22 weeks of the year and played some great footy after years in the wilderness?

That pre-season our form was very strong, we then started the season very strong.

 

[Blue1980]

We weren’t good last night, but trying to figure out what it all means is complete guesswork. It could be a few things:

1. A one off bad game where melb smacked us, can happen in the normal season too.

2. Both our games being in extreme heat not helping.

3. We will start slowly this year and building to peak later with a few injuries etc.

4. We are s**t, and 2nd half of last season was a fluke

I consider 4 extremely unlikely, most likely some combo of the first 3.

We were smacked in the middle by Max who was amazing and everything flowed from there. Our defence looked terrible as the ball was coming in there all the time easily, and our entries forward generally weren’t great as they were more hurried.

Weitering out can be mitigated somewhat by defensive pressure from the whole team. The lack of pressure was the main difference to what we saw last year to this game.

 

[Soapy V]

H as second ruck is genius.

Tall enough to drag the ball out of the ruck,can seriously run and is actually a good field kick.

We must persist and shelve Pitto for break glass in case of emergency.


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Agree. What I like is it gets him involved more and takes pressure off. Feels like he contributes.
Also, allows us to mix up the forward line and be less predictable
He has the engine and the athleticism to be very good at this role and will still kick as many goals if not more

 

[Blue Pulse]

Tough one to get a gauge on where we are at, it didn't look pretty as many have said. Only watched the first half.

On ball pressure was chalk and cheese, as a back man you want midfield pressure on the ball carrier or the forward is just going to get silver service all night as they did. Tough night for the back man when our midfield pressure was very low.

Same for us going forward, they pressured us into poor kicking on most occasions and limited our forward entries. Didn't suit us playing an extra around the ball as it allowed Lever to control our forward half as they pressured our forward entries, we played their game.

We turned last season around when we became ruthless around the ball, it was brutal and beautiful to watch at the same time, however it is taxing on the body so if we go with that style of game again we need plenty of healthy bodies and a bit of luck.

Next week v Brisbane will be interesting on many levels, with regards to selection and setup, coming up against a quality outfit in humid conditions will test us out and it will be a huge risk to take guys into this game under done, except maybe Walsh, he's a freak.

 

[Robertio]

Do you think our forward line connection will suddenly improve in a week? Or our skills?

Of course it will, a praccy match in 38 degrees, come on mate you give up a little to easily.

 

[Bluebager]

For those of you wanting to give us a ‘review’ on tonight’s proceedings, please refrain from using the terms, our ball movement was poor, our skill level was poor, we looked slow, our kicking was poor and so on…

All POINTLESS comments as it’s February!

Instead try, ‘insert name’ ran all night and looks super fit, o could see a different style coming out of defence, I noticed this at the end of last year but now it looks so much better, etc…

A little side note:

A conversation had on the weekend with ‘a well connected individual’, there have been a few elbow nudges and sideways smirks when Moir has been in the play, especially at training…

Geez lets hope vossy has a magic wand and able to change the blues play at a click of a button

 

[AndyLucimitis]

At our best, we are a brutal contested beast of a team - the Voss blueprint.

Not sure what it was like at the ground but watching on TV we just looked very tentative - almost 'soft' dare I say (and I know we aren't).

Melbourne were cracking in harder which made us rush our disposals and we looked terribly fumbly - which is often the case when you are looking over your shoulder a bit.

I'm hoping we were just in self-preservation mode ???

 

[Blue1980]

Geez lets hope vossy has a magic wand and able to change the blues play at a click of a button

We have literally no idea if this means anything.

It’s a long season and the real stuff hasn’t even begun.

 

[Blue1980]

At our best, we are a brutal contested beast of a team - the Voss blueprint.

Not sure what it was like at the ground but watching on TV we just looked very tentative - almost 'soft' dare I say (and I know we aren't).

Melbourne were cracking in harder which made us rush our disposals and we looked terribly fumbly - which is often the case when you are looking over your shoulder a bit.

I'm hoping we were just in self-preservation mode ???

I think our focus seemed to be on ball movement, which is difficult when you aren’t getting first use of the ball and Max dominating us.

Melbourne are a good side too, so if you aren’t playing well they can dominate you.

The pressure certainly wasn’t there.

 

[thylacine60]

Geez lets hope vossy has a magic wand and able to change the blues play at a click of a button

don't need a wand to click a button.......

 

[Bluebager]

don't need a wand to click a button.......

Thanks David Copperfield

 

[thylacine60]

you're welcome, gandalf.......

 

[Aphrodite]

AAMI Community Series | Boyd's big impact

Jordan Boyd continued his impressive pre-season with an impactful performance for the Blues, contributing a goal plus two assists.

www.carltonfc.com.au

 

[Juice030103]

Do you think our forward line connection will suddenly improve in a week? Or our skills?

Yeh I do because about a third of our best side wasn’t playing yesterday and I don’t think we are a skilful side but a bash and crash side. We didn’t go full intensity for that in a praccy match because that’s how you get injured


We averaged 62 tackles a game last year and that’s including our s**t start to the year. Was closer to 70 in the back half. We had less than 50 yesterday.


I’ll start worrying about the score line of actual games if we play our brand and are still losing like we did yesterday

 

[TrueQldBlue]

I don't buy that players were just jogging. Many were playing to be selected for the first game. What was dished up last night was simply not good enough. Set ups and game plan was horrible. Inside 50 connection still has not been addressed. Skills are atrocious.

What gets me is that they still can't handball with any skill and this goes on every year ????

Why are we so friggin poor at this ?

On CPH2135 using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Hands On]

We hear this every year but it was a different era, where we had a lot of proven players, whether their proving grounds had been in the VFL or interstate.

Knowing one's capabilities and that of the team was enough in those days due to a lack of concrete tactics and systems.

Easy to do the extra running and destroy your opponents with an outnumber due to the lack of consistent professional standards across the league, a situation our club later fell into and is arguably still climbing out of.

Also a much bigger feeder system through the season too in the form of the reserves and the U19s, even the odd transfer.

Yes, agree. but do you really think they played to or revealed the tweaks we have made to our game plan, or were instructed to have a run be careful and play on instinct?

All will be revealed on the 8th at Brisvegas.

 

[Arr0w]

Think I finally worked it out

When watching a game we lose, i believe supporters only focus on our poor disposals, ball movement, etc, etc.

Yet it seems our opposition was perfect

Strangely enough, in most games, both sides average a combined turnover and clanger rate of about 120

 

[Juddernaut08]

I have two thoughts:

1) Heat: Not many games are played in 35 degree heat. Most people struggle to walk in that heat. So it's important not to read too much into it.

2) System: I think there are a few teams each year who employ a superior system, that could be offensive, defensive or both. Superior systems cover those team's deficiencies or maximise output of their stars and roleplayers. It also allows teams to cover when stars are missing.

I don't think we have a superior system, probably about average compared to the competition. This means we need to rely on having superior talent - which I believe we do have compared to most teams, when all fit.

 

[THEYSEEMEROLLIN]

Plenty of whining Eeyores about this place over some Mickey Mouse praccy matches. It's a 24 round season of which we have played 0 minutes. Get a grip, people

Huge year ahead and we'll be there when the whips are cracking. Go Blues!

 

[goreds]

We were going at about 85%…

Definitely a ‘miles in your legs and don’t get hurt’ game.

Not expecting anything special against the Lions either, as they will relish playing at home in 90% humidity…

 

[Opium]

The quote of the day from the match day coach.

"I’d be more concerned if it was cold or cool conditions"

What is that?? They have been training all summer and you use that as an excuse for that performance? I hate to tell him but we're playing Brisbane in more stifling conditions.

 

[incaciawin]

Top 25 players missing last night....Walsh, Weitering, Martin, Marchbank, ZWilliams, Kennedy,Silvagni, Owies and Motlop injured early.
Thats a CHUNK ! Hopefully player availability improves from here on.

 

[Bamboo Harvester]

Pitto was horribly undercooked last night and it showed. He was there purely to get some minutes under his belt - and in between times got demolished by big Max, who happens to be the best ruck in the comp.....which of course set up the win for them from the get go.

Rewind only 2 games ago when we played them in the final.....Pitto was massive in that game, and took control of the ruck in that crucial final quarter - AND nullified Maxy along the way with the assistance of TDK.

Granted he may not be the best ruckman running around, but he's vitally important to us when he's up and running and working in tandem with TDK.

Love it or hate it, we know that Vossy loves running with 2 ruckmen, so we better get used to it. It also allows TDK to have stints up forward - or have big H pinch hitting in the ruck when one of the big fellas is having a rest on the bench. For mine, the bigger issue is getting more out of our small forwards when we have the luxury of Charles, H and TDK roaming the forward half.

 

[lily of laguna]

Keep looking in the rear view mirror. We are in a new season now and with that comes expectations. Our current sample size is small, and while I agree it's only two practice matches. The approach and application has been less than ideal. Surely you can appreciate that? On current form we will not win the first two games.

Not singling you out just responding to the general “worrying signs” notion.

The application is a factor in performance for sure, but do we expect players to apply themselves to a contest in a 35C praccy in the same way as they do in season?

I don’t. I of course would want them to show fluidity, better execution of skills and some match conditioning, but I don’t want any impact or joint injuries from collisions and acrobatics.

This is how it is in preseason and I don’t care about what other teams decide to do. Nothing on the line, absolutely nothing!!!


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[Disguised Bread]

There were a few positives last night I think, although I found myself mostly underwhelmed by what we dished up. I would have preferred a better showing, but hopefully we will show it when the real stuff is on and it counts!

Thinking the biggest + might be that we've had two games in the stinking hot heat, which might hold us in good stead for Brisbane conditions next week! Hoping so anyways!