+ and -

[Carlton_Blues]

Without naming individuals, our first QTR showed what we are capable of producing, fast ball movement, good skill, backing each other, all kept the Pies on the backfoot.

The first half of the 3rd QTR looked very promising with a couple of quick goals helping to make up ground, but we dropped off in intensity and urgency and let the Pies make up that ground again.

I asked myself why we couldnt maintain that level of intensity that kept us in the game, and whether we could have be a little more aggressive/unsociable?

Do we need tougher/harder pre-seasons?

We've got the talent, but ATM dont seem to be playing well enough to challenge a top 4 position.

 

[chipzac]

I really like too see this guy make it would be a dead set weapon if he could mark regular and kick straight.

Yeah, if only he had the skills to play AFL standard football. Unfortunately, you either have it or you don't. If it was possible to train quality skills into players, then we would already have a competition full of Judd-like players.

 

[Sin City]

A big negative for mine was being second to the ball far too often, maybe like St Kilda could have benefited from in the GF replay last year a bit less focus on tackling and a bit more on winning the ball first.

 

[le dominateur]

To get within 4-5 goals of Collingwood is a fair effort considering we went in with 18 players compared to their 22. Betts, Walker, Hampson & Carrazzo were pathetic and unfortunately for us 3 of them are in our forward line.

 

[Bingles]

Some of these are just observations rather than negatives.

Heath Scotland - impressive early but that stupid attempt that got smothered and raced down the other end of the ground for a Pies goal was the nail in the coffin - we were a chance until that happened, it changed the complexion of the entire game. It was an absolute rookie mistake. Once again his best is brilliant but the rest of the time its borderline.

Jeff Garlett - He's atypical of other Aboriginal players in the league. Brilliant silky skills but has a tendency to become a show pony rather than doing the smart thing. A couple of times the simple play would have achieved much more than the brilliant play yet he went for the latter. He'll get there and I'm a fan but needs to realize what looks great isn't always the best.

Andrew Carrazzo - Seemed frustrated 90% of the game. When he plays frustrated football he reverts back into somewhat of a liability. Gets the ball but doesn't use it well when in this frame of mind.

Jordan Russell - Was scared that this was going to happen. Played fifteen months of good football and got handsomely rewarded for it. Now that he has the contract in his pocket he's reverted back to garbage. I know that isn't fair to label him as simply about the dosh as he'd be at Gold Coast but the drop off is scary.

Jarrad Waite - Not a good performance at all. He needs to inject himself into the play much more than what he does. He's great when he gets himself involved but needs to do more. Not entirely his fault.

Eddie Betts - Where is the brilliant Eddie Betts? His performance has dropped each week thus far. No passengers? Then Eddie ought to have a fire lit under his ass. Kill it next week or to the Bullants this passenger goes.

Shaun Hampson - The ONLY reason he justifies his position in the team is to be Kreuzer's placeholder. Is not an AFL quality player at this point. Has much more potential than he is showing. It makes me laugh that many considered him the next big thing. Should have taken that pick the Power offered for him. At this rate will easily make my most disliked Carlton players of alltime.

Andrew Walker - WTF?!

The selectors - You don't pick your best team available, you lose. Dropping Dennis Armfield? Are you kidding me? Does Ratten not like him?


Now onto the general positives - I agree with the player observations being shared;

- We've still got half a dozen players who can easily come into our side and we ARE improved even on last night's performance. We have A LOT more room to grow.

- Collingwood is the finished product. They will not improve much from this point on this season. As such I don't see them winning the premiership. No way in hell. They're going to be overtaken.

 

[Faz 2000]

Positives:
- Yarran's willingness to take it on, speed and enthusiasm
- Garlett's electric pace, balance and skills
- Judd's ability to run straight at our goals
- Warnock's strong showing (almost dominance) against Jolly
- Big game experience on big opponents for Watson
- Jamison clearly our best serious defender
- Competing hard for 4 quarters against clearly the best side going around.

Negatives:
- Betts' woeful performance
- Waite' delivering yet another mixed bag game of talent and stupidity
- Hampson's poor positioning and inability to contest more in the air
- Ratten's decision to leave Gibbs in a defensive role for most of the night, and Gibbs' pretty disappointing game overall

The key difference between us and them, to me, was our utter inability to maintain momentum. Whenever we looked good we give away a free kick, kick into a smother, kick a point. You can pretty much hear the pressure leaking out when we do that sort of thing.

I think also we tend to have multiple players going up for the ball, or multiple players diving into packs, and then get exposed when the ball comes out. The Pies are AWESOME and a) spreading from clearances and b) rebounding from the backline, and I think it's all driven from their (justifiable) confidence in their teammates to get the job done. We "try" hard, but we end up falling over, or the ball bobbling out to Shaw, Thomas, Blair, etc who then do damage with it. That just doesn't happen for us often.

 

[FRUMPY]

Positives:

Yarran - silk, that pickup!! (then mucked up the handball, lol) defensivly still needs work but masterstroke by ratts.
Judd - worked hard all day
Garlett - poor early but only threat
Warnock - thought he broke even with jolly which is a good effort, probably neded more around the ground.
Watson - fought hard, spoiled well, keep him in. Will be much better as 3rd tall when bower is back
Laidler - thought he was good, solid
Russell - good rebound
Jamo - solid, ran straight and delivered well
Curnow - solid, love him
Gibbs - good tagging role
Scotland - solid, worked hard

Negatives:
Walker - did nothing, would have been mark of the year if he got within 10 meters of it.
Gibbs - panicked alot
Murphy - needed more, still not the worst game, solid in close. cant play well every week
Thornton - looked ok early, but need more
Carrazzo - slow and terrible. dont take players on, give the first option.
Russell - fumbly, looks to be lacking touch
watson - not having a go at him but struggled to keep up (as 18 year olds would) at times. Keep him in though.
betts - did nothing, does get a harder tag than garlett, needs to work it out.
hammer - struggled today, just keeping kruezer's spot warm. does supply good balls for betts and garlett though in droppd marks, lol.
Duigan - was pretty bad tonight, some terrible errors and was on krakour when he dominated in the 2nd. Maybe overawed by the occasion
Collins - looked terrible, may have found it hard to match the tempo coming on half way

 

[Blue and Silver]

Not sure why people are bagging on Waite. He didn't get to see much of it and outside of the first quarter almost always made something happen. He was playing as a CHF, which is difficult to do with a quality defender and a team that constantly drops the third man in front. Did he fly too willingly and early at times? Yes, Did he occupy two or more defenders while doing so? Yes.

Armfield was ommitted so that he could get a full games run, Walker was probably a bad choice to sub, much rather see Betts taken off. Collins fumbled early on the big stage, but looked ok as he settled, might be back to the twos this week (curse of the sub)

 

[OnceWeWereKings]

Not sure why people are bagging on Waite. He didn't get to see much of it and outside of the first quarter almost always made something happen. He was playing as a CHF, which is difficult to do with a quality defender and a team that constantly drops the third man in front. Did he fly too willingly and early at times? Yes, Did he occupy two or more defenders while doing so? Yes.

Armfield was ommitted so that he could get a full games run, Walker was probably a bad choice to sub, much rather see Betts taken off. Collins fumbled early on the big stage, but looked ok as he settled, might be back to the twos this week (curse of the sub)

Agree on Waite. Carrying the forwardline at the moment. Needs Henderson in the team badly, as badly as the backline needs Bower.
Cannot be the only permanent tall option. Thought he worked hard all night to present an option. Will become more damaging with support.
Played every bit the game Dawes and Cloke played, yet they are talked up. Hendo and Bower are crucial to our structure, add Kruezer and we will get the real measure as to where this team sits.
Put this team together and let them settle and I believe we are every bit a top 4 chance.
We matched it for 3 quarters with a side that is being talked about as unbeatable. We did it with three players missing from our spine.
Were good, how good.......that's the unknown.

 

[blues4flag]

Hampson is so frustrating. Couldn't count the number of times he got ball to hands but he couldn't mark anything. I swear he attempted some marks with hands held sideways!

Looked overawed by the occasions. He was marking alright in the preseason but yesterday was as bad as I've seen from him.

 

[PumpyChowdown]

+

Yarran - Silk. Comparisons to McLeod aren't as far fetched as I first thought. If he keeps tracking on an upward curve he will be one of the best in the comp in a couple of years.

Judd - Enough said.

Robbo - Puts his incredibly ugly mug over the pill each and every time. Juddy must love him because Robbo creates so much space for him.

Curnow - What a gem of a pickup. Will play all 22 and will be top 10 in the B & F.

Garlett - really stepping it up this year. Punches well above his weight and our only forward to really apply defensive pressure.

Scotland - still getting the job done

-

Hampson - Useless. Absolutely no footy nous at all. Can't read the ball, can't read the play, can't use his impressive frame. Not up to it I'm afraid. Kreuzer can't come back quick enough.

Carrazzo - One of the worst kicks in the game. High, floaty bombs to no one or straight to the opposition. He's a liability.

Russell - Poor decision maker under pressure. Doesn't create play from the back half.

Betts - Did he even play last night?

Walker - Still trying to take mark of the year instead of playing the 1 percenters and doing the hard, basic stuff. Reminds me of Daisy Thomas in his first few years. If Walker committed to doing he hard stuff, he might just fulfil his potential, until then he's merely...meh.

 

[HBF]

Pretty much echo the comments already made in the thread. Yarran and Garlett were electric last night. Just about everytime they got the ball, something happened. Yarran's one-handed pickup in the D50 was all silk!

Ed Curnow continues to be a great find from the VFL. Hard at it, and has pretty good disposal.

Biggest disappointment for mine was Hampson. Sure he can clunk a mark every now and again, but his kicking for goal is horrible, and he continually mis-times his run at the ball. Getting Kreuzer back cannot come quickly enough.

Walker was terrible also. Why oh why he continually tries for mark of the year every week is just beyond me. He'd be better to stay on the ground, and use his athletisism on the ground.

Whilst Gibbs did a good job in containing Pendlebury, I agree with what Tom Harley said after the game. We simply do not have enough quality depth in our midfield for Gibbs to play a negative type role.

All in all, pretty happy that we have closed the gap on Collingwood, particularly after they smashed us both times last year, and we can still bring back Kreuzer, Henderson and Bower into that team.

Going out to the Ants game this afternoon, so i'm hoping guys like Henderson, Bower, Ellard, Austin, Armfield, Lucas and a few others really throw there names up in front of the selectors.

 

[gbatman]

Ratings

1. Curnow, Judd, Yarran, Jamison, Garlett, Robinson and Simpson were all good.

2. Average were Waite, Duigan, Scotland, Laidler, Watson and Russell.

3. Average to poor were Thornton, Walker and Warnock.

4. Really poor were Gibbs, Collins, Murphy, Hampson, Betts and Carrazzo.

Far too many players in this bottom category. Too many core players in the lower categories (Murphy, Gibbs, Warnock). This is where we fell away.

Our coaching staff's inability to get Walker into the game and use him is a problem. He should have gone onto the ball, not subbed off.

We allowed collingwood to set up how they liked at stoppages. There was no body on to force them out of position and us into good position. We were stagnant and got lost when the ball was bounced as they moved and we didn't. Our stoppage work is poor. We are flat footed and lack body on body. There was a lack of blocking and shepherding.

Hampson is a very very poor footballer. He's a good athlete and he's tall. That's it. He can't hold marks, his kicking is suspect and he is a pathetic tackler.

Duigan and Laidler look a bit slow at this level but they make up for it.

Murphy and especially Gibbs really don't look like onballers. They don't put any body on and aren't aggressive enough for contested footy. Murphy is a wingman and Gibbs is a flanker. Scotland and Carrazzo go into this category too. Judd, Curnow, Ellard, Mclean and Robinson are our only genuine onballers.

Warnock running himself under the footy and not protecting the drop zone is embarrassing at this level.

We need to get Mclean and Touhy into this side asap but they must earn their spot all the same. Bower and another tall forward is a must. Probably Henderson. I would seriously consider dropping Hampson for Casboult. I think Armfield was unlucky to be dropped.

Walker needs to be smarter and stay down, too many forwards flying for the mark, it's stupid.

We had too many players at the footy last night. Too many players trying to win it, more than 1 player trying to make a tackle, it's bad stuff at this level. What happen when it spills out and every one is at the ball, Collingwood run riot. only 1 player should be at the footy and only 1 player should be making tackles. The rest must spread.

Long kicking was not used enough. Probably due to our lack of a center half forward. Long kicking is the key to beating Collingwood's zone/press.

Could be Outs: Carrazzo, Hampson, Thornton, Collins, Betts
Could be Ins: Casboult, Touhy, Henderson, Bower, Armfield

I recon Casboult would give us something up forward. At least he is aggressive and can hold marks. Hampson, I am not a fan.

Touhy seems to be in great form and is quick, tough and a good kick. Carrazzo has been poor all year.

Henderson is a far better player than Thornton period.

Betts is oppertunistic and ther oppertunities were not there tonight. He is trying to take too many marks, needs to focus more at being at ground level.

Collins didn't get much opportunity but he was terrible when he did. Get Bower in ASAP.

Armfield is competing mainly with Duigan but a bit with Laidler. Armfield offers pace and attack where as these two lack that bit. Both Laidler and Duigna have been serviceable.

 

[iRemember87]

Pretty easy here;

+ We didn't have our best 22 play last night

- Collingwood did have their best 22 play last night

 

[gbatman]

Jordan Russell needs to show more leadership on the field. Had an oppertunity to clean Shaw up, both running at the footy, instead Russell avoids contact with Shaw and lets him take an uncontested posession and a straight run down the field. Should have put shaw on his arse and won the ball or at least caused a ball up.

The guy is a big strong, powerful brick but he lacks aggression and hardness at the man. Attack on the ball is fine but he plays like a boy.

What we see from him is fine, but it's what we don't see from him. This goes for a lot of the other players.

The ammount of blocks and shepherds and hits Collingwood put on compared to is is appauling.

 

[Juddrockz]

Not sure why people are bagging on Waite. He didn't get to see much of it and outside of the first quarter almost always made something happen. He was playing as a CHF, which is difficult to do with a quality defender and a team that constantly drops the third man in front. Did he fly too willingly and early at times? Yes, Did he occupy two or more defenders while doing so? Yes.

Armfield was ommitted so that he could get a full games run, Walker was probably a bad choice to sub, much rather see Betts taken off. Collins fumbled early on the big stage, but looked ok as he settled, might be back to the twos this week (curse of the sub)

If Waite worked on marking the ball rather than working out how to injury his opponent whilst in a marking situation he'd be far better off.Too many time you see Waitey being a show pony-sticking out his legs, be it in the air or when going to ground just to try and injury an opponent in the contest.I know ole man Waite was the best in the business when it came to this stuff but times have changed.Take the mark move on quickly,end of story.No brownie points for fancy marking!!!
Eddie had a shocker.
Hampson's height is all he has.Cant mark or kick straight and has been that way since day one.
Walker has his head in the clouds literally!!!
Murph(has bulked on the weight) very poor game,inconsistent.
Gibbs,typical Gibbs the going gets tough,he's nowhere to be seen.
Carrots,far too slow last night.
Russell,too rusty for my liking in a big game when we needed all hands on deck.
Simmo,did he play??????

Jeffy,Yazz,Curnow shining lights,make the team look so much better.
Impressed with Watto's game,the kid didnt drop his head,great experience for him!!!
Judd is just Judd.
Jammo,great lead in defence,stood tall!!!
Robbo,this kid is improving every game.Not scared to lay his body on the line and take on the challenge

I'm not too disappointed in a 5 goal loss,the team is improving and will continue to improve with Blue skies ahead.
Bring on the Bombers!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Bingles]

[youtube]Fl3GC6bxmWE[/youtube]

 

[AndyWalkersGirl]

Positives from last night:

• Yarran, Gartlett, Robbo, Judd, the fact we didn't get smashed too much.
• Other positives include the fact that Kruezer, Bower and Hendo are going to come back into the side to help our structure a bit more. Looking forward to that.

Negatives :

• Sorry, but Murphy and Gibbs are still not taking games on in terms of standing up and doing wonders. yes, Gibbs shut down one of their best players, but good players shut them down AND take the game on as well. Murphy battles hard, and is a little warrior, but neither of them are standing up, leading with flair and skills and goals and pressure and all that leadership stuff yet. Easy to do it in games like Richmond and GC, butthey need to do it in the games that matter like the big ones. Still waiting... They were just too quiet last night, when they needed to make some noise, that's all.
• No Passengers is our motto, and it was up there in a big banner in the rooms. I saw a few passengers in the side last night...

Overall, I thought we did ok considering I thought we were going to get smashed. Few little things, few passengers still, few untidy skills, few players can't mark.... we'll get there

 

[gardiner stand]

positives
warnock becoming consistent
curnow has composure
garlett always lively
judd what a true champ
robbo love his mongrel
yarran very silky and still very young
waite starting to get his timing
laidler goes about it quietly and is a perfect 3rd defender
negatives
rattens coaching i.e using our best ball user as a tagger
hampson just doesnt know how to compete
betts needs to get these bad games out of his system(ratten could be smarter and put him in the midfield instead of leaving him in the fp all night
simpsons turnovers

 

[aristeas]

Ratings

1. Curnow, Judd, Yarran, Jamison, Garlett, Robinson and Simpson were all good.

2. Average were Waite, Duigan, Scotland, Laidler, Watson and Russell.

3. Average to poor were Thornton, Walker and Warnock.

4. Really poor were Gibbs, Collins, Murphy, Hampson, Betts and Carrazzo.

Far too many players in this bottom category. Too many core players in the lower categories (Murphy, Gibbs, Warnock). This is where we fell away.

Our coaching staff's inability to get Walker into the game and use him is a problem. He should have gone onto the ball, not subbed off.

We allowed collingwood to set up how they liked at stoppages. There was no body on to force them out of position and us into good position. We were stagnant and got lost when the ball was bounced as they moved and we didn't. ..

Hampson is a very very poor footballer. He's a good athlete and he's tall. That's it. He can't hold marks, his kicking is suspect and he is a pathetic tackler..

Duigan and Laidler look a bit slow at this level ..

Murphy and especially Gibbs really don't look like onballers. They don't put any body on and aren't aggressive enough for contested footy. Murphy is a wingman and Gibbs is a flanker. Scotland and Carrazzo go into this category too. Judd, Curnow, Ellard, Mclean and Robinson are our only genuine onballers.

Warnock running himself under the footy and not protecting the drop zone is embarrassing at this level...

Armfield is competing mainly with Duigan but a bit with Laidler. Armfield offers pace and attack where as these two lack that bit. Both Laidler and Duigna have been serviceable.

Lots to agree with here although I'd rate Gibbs night as average rather than poor.

Biggest problems:

1. Our lot were overawed by the Pies from the start, and shouldn't be - most of our players are good enough to match them at this level.

2. Coaching and game plan. Played the game on Collingwood's terms, defensive around the wing and paid for it. Far too many ineffective kicks coming out of defense that favoured their game plan. If you can't apply the forward press like the Pies you look like a suburban side clumped around the ball. Too many times we had no-one protecting the goal behind the pack when it was only 20 metres out.

No attempt to use the corridor where Pies are vulnerable, especially with Curnow, Judd, Robinson and other quick players there. Too may times we had the ball at half back and there was no-one in the centre or in a direct line to the goal.

3. Poor man management. Gibbs was wasted as a stopper, should be used to create not negate. Waite not told to pull his head in and play the ball. Carrazzo not told to calm-the-f#ck down and get on with it. Similar with Walker being pulled for Collins, looked like we'd conceded the match as Collins was hopeless (did we really give Grigg away for this?). Big games aren't the place to give youngsters game time. Betts left to wander without effect.

Needed Armfield's pace from the start, not left out of the side. Our backline was inadequate and could't clear the ball beyond the fifty.

4. Overall we were two goals closer than last year but still without a genuine belief in winning and still without the game plan to do it.

 

[fnm_just a man]

Wow. Some serious overreacting going on here. We played well for the most part. A promising performance was what I wanted to see, and we got that. Very good signs.

 

[In cotton wool]

- we lost

+ at least it was a round 3 loss and not a September loss! We've had a look at them up close, can now refine our team structure and game plan, get more games into young players and work towards having a decent crack at them when it really matters!

 

[Dustyjackman]

+

The opposition only beat us in a ten to twelve minute burst of arsey football.

Robinson - Voss like with his attack on the ball and completely fearless with regard to physical contact.

Curnow - As soon as he comes on the game begins to swing our way. He constantly keeps pushing the pill towards our goals.

Judd - In heavy traffic is amazing to watch. The problem is some of our boys just stand there and watch - in amazement.

Yarran - Appears to have found himself a home a half back. And, given that he's such a likable sort of lad (read: not a big-headed prick) even opposition supporters have taken a shine to him.

Watson - His temperament is wonderful. He was beaten several times last night by much larger, stronger men. Not once did he drop his head, crack the shits or look beaten, you have to admire that. When Bower comes back I'm hoping Watson will still be in the side, as he will fast track his learning curve playing for the Blues rather than the Ants.




-

Use of Gibbs. He loves getting his hands on the footy, he loves kicking the footy. He does not like the feel of another footballer on his skin and for that reason he will never be a gun negator. Let him chase, collect and deliver the footy. Let the opposition worry about him. Blokes who don't like being touched are very hard to get a-hold of.

Murphy - At AFL level Murphy will constantly get beaten (top sides) or break even (average sides) against other mid-fielders, but rarely (if ever) will he smash a game open. On the other hand, he could develop his game and become an absolute elite small forward, something along the lines of Nathan Brown at his peak.

Judd - who the hell taught Judd to hold a football when taking a set shot for a goal? For all the money he is being paid, surely, out of his own dough, couldn't he hire, say, Peter McKenna or someone of the ilk to teach him how to shoot for goals. With the first lesson being "Here Chris, let me adjust the way you hold the ball"

 

[AndyWalkersGirl]

+

Use of Gibbs. He loves getting his hands on the footy, he loves kicking the footy. He does not like the feel of another footballer on his skin and for that reason he will never be a gun negator

.


Then perhaps he should be playing soccer if body contests bother him so much. It's not good enough, it's as if he believes his own hype with comments like this.

Let him chase, collect and deliver the footy. Let the opposition worry about him. Blokes who don't like being touched are very hard to get a-hold of.

Agree absolutely with the whole 'letting oppositions worry about him, instead of us using Gibbs to hold their players back.


"

Seriously though, you're saying Gibbs doesn't like being touched or having a player breathe down his neck all game. He needs to have a cup of concrete and harden up a bit I think.

 

[T2B_]

Curnow - As soon as he comes on the game begins to swing our way. He constantly keeps pushing the pill towards our goals.

Agreed, I've noticed this in the few games so far and it's why I feel he's already one of our most important mids. Maybe that sounds like an overreaction.. but I really believe it at this stage. Even against the Pies pressure, he didn't batter an eyelid and went about business; very clean in traffic. And his mind seems to be just consistently on what he's meant to be doing and he works damn hard.

Also agree about the Judd ball grip style... I knew he was going to miss the shot at goal as soon as I saw it. He holds it like this a lot though, his kicking action in general looks different to most players. Could be the groins or that huge rump, but honestly I'm not knowledgable enough to know.


Also wanted to mention Jamo. Was great to see him back and defending pretty well etc, but what I don't think has been mentioned too much is he really seemed to be trying to attack as well, which is something he's not generally credited as having in his arsenal. Could be a pretty good year for him.