+ and - for the year

[sosos]

Now finals are no longer a distraction, I thought a thread on the ups and downs of 2008 might be appropriate.


plusses

Ratten's development as a coach.

The amazing development of some of the younger guys.
Bower, Jamison, Gibbs, Murphy, Kreuzer, Armfield, Browne.

The improvement in some of the familiar faces like Russell, Bentick, Betts and Waite.

The new ground redevelopment.

The return of some of Carlton's greats to the coaching panel.

The sweet sound of silence re: board room shenanigans.

A modern game plan.

The incredible impact Chris Judd has had on the club.

Winning interstate

No more tanking allegations

The departures of so much dead wood....Mitchell, Liberatore etc.(2007 I know but so pleased the coaching panel's all moving in the same direction.)

The fitness advisors.

Beating Collingwood twice!

The Carlton BF board. Some amazingly knowledgeable and entertaining posters endeavouring to educate and inform the many who crave further information on their beloved team. A big thankyou from me to you. You know who you are.


minusses


Dick Pratt's troubles both health and legal.

Richmond may finish above us .

The Irish experiment(though a bit premature to label a minus).

Still not winning at Telstra Dome.

Losing to Essendon twice!

Missing finals/not winning the flag.

Inconsistency of performance that often comes from the senior players rather than the expected highs and lows of the younger players.

Edwards/Hartlett haven't really stepped up.

The media going to John Elliot for comment every time there is any hint of anything at Carlton. STFU Jack, you've had your time.

The Carlton BF board. Unbelievable the cringe level of too many posts. To paraphrase someone "Grow the #%$#@ up!"




.

 

[EBUS]

Now finals are no longer a distraction, I thought a thread on the ups and downs of 2008 might be appropriate.


plusses

Ratten's development as a coach.

The amazing development of some of the younger guys.
Bower, Jamison, Gibbs, Murphy, Kreuzer, Armfield, Browne.

The improvement in some of the familiar faces like Russell, Bentick, Betts and Waite.

The new ground redevelopment.

The return of some of Carlton's greats to the coaching panel.

The sweet sound of silence re: board room shenanigans.

A modern game plan.

The incredible impact Chris Judd has had on the club.

Winning interstate

No more tanking allegations

The departures of so much dead wood....Mitchell, Liberatore etc.(2007 I know but so pleased the coaching panel's all moving in the same direction.)

The fitness advisors.

Beating Collingwood twice!

The Carlton BF board. Some amazingly knowledgeable and entertaining posters endeavouring to educate and inform the many who crave further information on their beloved team. A big thankyou from me to you. You know who you are.


minusses


Dick Pratt's troubles both health and legal.

Richmond may finish above us .

The Irish experiment(though a bit premature to label a minus).

Still not winning at Telstra Dome.

Losing to Richmond twice!

Missing finals/not winning the flag.

Inconsistency of performance that often comes from the senior players rather than the expected highs and lows of the younger players.

Edwards/Hartlett haven't really stepped up.

The media going to John Elliot for comment every time there is any hint of anything at Carlton. STFU Jack, you've had your time.

The Carlton BF board. Unbelievable the cringe level of too many posts. To paraphrase someone "Grow the #%$#@ up!"




.

We won at the dome twice and narrowly lost to Sydney

We beat Richmond in Round 14 I think it was

How do you expect us to win the flag right after being at the bottom for 5 years straight!

 

[cesc]

Now finals are no longer a distraction, I thought a thread on the ups and downs of 2008 might be appropriate.


plusses

Ratten's development as a coach.

The amazing development of some of the younger guys.
Bower, Jamison, Gibbs, Murphy, Kreuzer, Armfield, Browne.

The improvement in some of the familiar faces like Russell, Bentick, Betts and Waite.

The new ground redevelopment.

The return of some of Carlton's greats to the coaching panel.

The sweet sound of silence re: board room shenanigans.

A modern game plan.

The incredible impact Chris Judd has had on the club.

Winning interstate

No more tanking allegations

The departures of so much dead wood....Mitchell, Liberatore etc.(2007 I know but so pleased the coaching panel's all moving in the same direction.)

The fitness advisors.

Beating Collingwood twice!

The Carlton BF board. Some amazingly knowledgeable and entertaining posters endeavouring to educate and inform the many who crave further information on their beloved team. A big thankyou from me to you. You know who you are.


minusses


Dick Pratt's troubles both health and legal.

Richmond may finish above us .

The Irish experiment(though a bit premature to label a minus).

Still not winning at Telstra Dome.

Losing to Richmond twice!

Missing finals/not winning the flag.

Inconsistency of performance that often comes from the senior players rather than the expected highs and lows of the younger players.

Edwards/Hartlett haven't really stepped up.

The media going to John Elliot for comment every time there is any hint of anything at Carlton. STFU Jack, you've had your time.

The Carlton BF board. Unbelievable the cringe level of too many posts. To paraphrase someone "Grow the #%$#@ up!"




.

i think u mean essendon who we lost to twice

 

[Smell The Glove]

Pratt fully deserves his legal troubles. He committed grievous corporate fraud then tried to hide behind his employees. No respect or sympathy from me there. I, like every Carlton supporter, am grateful for what he has done for Carlton, but lets put it in perspective folks.

And it has nothing to do with Carlton.

 

[phantom 309]

+ now one year nearer to NO 17

 

[sosos]

We won at the dome twice and narrowly lost to Sydney

We beat Richmond in Round 14 I think it was

How do you expect us to win the flag right after being at the bottom for 5 years straight!

I've edited my original post. apologies for that and thankyou for pointing it out!

I didn't expect a flag this year. Its just that I believe Carlton are in the business of winning premierships and they didn't, therefore its a minus. Huge improvement on the previous 5 years though.

 

[parrot]

Pluses
------
Judd - onfield efforts, leadership, role-model, etc etc.
Gibbs, Murph - outstanding progress
Stevens - awesome comeback post injury. Elite
Fev - awesome year, despite massive anti-Carlton media scrutiny
Ratten - learning obviously, but passionate, and improving
Assistant coaches - much better, more involved
Gameplan - more modern, exciting, better defensive game
Kruezer - glimpses of a very bright future
Eddie Betts - awesome
Grigg - progressing nicely
Defensive Unit taking shape - Jamo, Bower etc
Brilliant 2007 draft choices - Browne, Armfield making an impact
Fitness - massive improvement. Getting better as the year goes on
Financial - massive turnaround
Membership - booming
Blues manipulation of the media by Swann and co - just brilliant
Booming sponsorship
Back-to-back Collingwood thumpings - good for a laugh
Spoiling the 100 years of Yellow and Bleakness birthday party - another laugh
Interstate performances
Team spirit - never give up, massive comebacks

That's about 10% of the positives


Negative
----------
We didn't win the flag, so by definition it was a failure.

 

[gbatman]

+
Improvement from most players
Some good work in the draft.
Young players coming of age
Our big profit!
Big improvers during the season
Winning plenty of games
Filling our holes
Beating some better sides & Flogging Port
Player fitness
Coaching harmony
Improved defence
Depth!
_
Hartlett showing nothing
Edwards doing very little
Dick Pratt saga
Round 1 loss to Richmond
Betts Endurance



Players
+ (Big improvers/been good)
Armfield
Austin
Bannister
Bower
Browne
Carrazzo
Cloke
Fevola
Gibbs
Grigg
Judd
Kreuzer
Murphy
Setanta O'hAilpin
Scotland
Simpson
Stevens
Waite
Walker
Wiggins
Jamison

- (been disappointing)
Ackland
Benjamin
Edwards
Fisher only for kicking
Hartlett
Asiak O'hAilpin
Pfeiffer
Saddington


Excused (Been Injured)
Blackwell
Hadley
Houlihan
Jackson
Anderson

Limbo (Haven't improved much)
Bentick - not quick enough & doesn't have much to make up for it.
Betts - Endurance is no good. Lazy trainer? Heeps of unfulfilled potential.
Hampson - As good as he was this time last year.
Russell - Has improved, still needs to prove himself.
Thornton - great start to the year, got injured and hasn't been the same since, perhaps could be excused.

 

[EBUS]

+
Improvement from most players
Some good work in the draft.
Young players coming of age
Our big profit!
Big improvers during the season
Winning plenty of games
Filling our holes
Beating some better sides & Flogging Port
Player fitness
Coaching harmony
Improved defence
Depth!
_
Hartlett showing nothing
Edwards doing very little
Dick Pratt saga
Round 1 loss to Richmond
Betts Endurance



Players
+ (Big improvers/been good)
Armfield
Austin
Bannister
Bower
Browne
Carrazzo
Cloke
Fevola
Gibbs
Grigg
Judd
Kreuzer
Murphy
Setanta O'hAilpin
Scotland
Simpson
Stevens
Waite
Walker
Wiggins
Jamison

- (been disappointing)
Ackland
Benjamin
Edwards
Fisher only for kicking
Hartlett
Asiak O'hAilpin
Pfeiffer
Saddington


Excused (Been Injured)
Blackwell
Hadley
Houlihan
Jackson
Anderson

Limbo (Haven't improved much)
Bentick - not quick enough & doesn't have much to make up for it.
Betts - Endurance is no good. Lazy trainer? Heeps of unfulfilled potential.
Hampson - As good as he was this time last year.
Russell - Has improved, still needs to prove himself.
Thornton - great start to the year, got injured and hasn't been the same since, perhaps could be excused.

Eddie has had his best year of his career so far but needs to be more consistent

 

[Just Kreuzing]

Eddie has had his best year of his career so far but needs to be more consistent

Eddie needs to start kicking multiple goals and being more team orientated, nearly does a lot of good things but outsmarts himself at times. He will be important to us if he can fix a few areas up and get fitter and give away these inside out kicks and biting of a bit more then he can chew at times, especially when the game is right in the balance, I dont mind the boundary snaps if there is no other option or like the St.Kilda game deep in the 4th when we have lost and there is no other option.

 

[blue gunslinger]

Pratt fully deserves his legal troubles. He committed grievous corporate fraud then tried to hide behind his employees. No respect or sympathy from me there. I, like every Carlton supporter, am grateful for what he has done for Carlton, but lets put it in perspective folks.

And it has nothing to do with Carlton.

The ACCC are the most corrupt group around and have their strings pulled by Coles and Woolworths
But I agree nothing to do with Carlton

 

[BLUE BLEEDING]

the pro's that you listed un-deniably outweighed the con's.

 

[Dramoth]

Major plus for this year...

Didnt finish in the bottom 2 for the first time in years...

Major minus for this year...

Didnt make the finals (but wtf... how many of us really expected to be there at the end)

At the end of the year, our pluses for the year outweigh our minus's for the year and I am very happy with the progress that the players have made this year and I am looking forward to seeing us scare the shit out of a few more teams next year.

I am even happier with the progress of the coaching staff and in particular with Ratts efforts. If we still had Pagan in charge for his final year, I think that Ratts would have gone to Melbourne and we would be struggling to get someone as passionate about the club as Ratts is.

Next year I am expecting us to finish in 6-8 place in the final 8...


Lets go Blues