Coaching Staff Brendon Bolton - Senior Coach - Locked in until end of 2020 (23/5/18)

[rampar]

Would anybody be against the idea of us trying to lure Clarkson to the blues? It would be remiss of us not to try and acquire his services

We dont hire little dweeb sniping aholes. If only robbie walls and co had of caught that little *er in London all might have been different for all 3 teams.

 

[Blue__Balls]

Can understand the concerns being raised.

That being said, we're a young team with a young coach. Mistakes will be made, sometimes in an effort to get games into the kids, sometimes in the the pursuit of chasing a result to relieve some pressure. And sometimes it will just be because the coaches get it thoroughly wrong.

Don't mind mistakes being made now if it means when we're contending finals our coach has a better understanding of what works and what doesn't.

In terms of fallout from last weekend - I'm sure the board will have asked Bolts for a please explain on team structure and selection, and Bolton will have to review his decisions. Furthermore, i'm sure the players will be shown some very embarrassing footage and asked to explain their efforts as well.

For me, it's all about the response. And Friday night footy against the Pies is a perfect stage for a fiery response.

 

[The Smoking Gun]

Can understand the concerns being raised.

That being said, we're a young team with a young coach. Mistakes will be made, sometimes in an effort to get games into the kids, sometimes in the the pursuit of chasing a result to relieve some pressure. And sometimes it will just be because the coaches get it thoroughly wrong.

Don't mind mistakes being made now if it means when we're contending finals our coach has a better understanding of what works and what doesn't.

In terms of fallout from last weekend - I'm sure the board will have asked Bolts for a please explain on team structure and selection, and Bolton will have to review his decisions. Furthermore, i'm sure the players will be shown some very embarrassing footage and asked to explain their efforts as well.

For me, it's all about the response. And Friday night footy against the Pies is a perfect stage for a fiery response.

Well balanced response knackers.

 

[I bleed Blue]

Did people lose their minds this much after the Gold Coast game last year?

Relax people. It was a dissapointing game but it's a long season. Let's see how it plays out.

 

[Metalcrusher]

Well balanced response knackers.

Under utilised term knackers .... another aussie euphemism gone by the way side .....

 

[The Flying Doormat]

It was rather disconcerting sitting up in Member's area on Saturday with numerous people literally asking, "WTF is going on here???". Granted it may have been just a bad week, nevertheless, I'm going sheet the blame for the performance against the Suns fairly & squarely on our coach
....
I am well aware that many here will see this post as being unnecessarily harsh and I'll probably have to wear some flack from those who disagree either in part, or in full. So be it, this is a forum after all and I've raised plenty of points for discussion whether they be right or they be wrong. Happy to read everyone else's POV even if it's the polar opposite of mine.

Careful, you'll be criticised for a knee-jerk reaction after one poor performance...
(sorry for ultra editing your post)

 

[Metalcrusher]

you are seriously a deadshit......

you need to work on your people skillz. grumpy bum

 

[therubbernub]

It was rather disconcerting sitting up in Member's area on Saturday with numerous people literally asking, "WTF is going on here???". Granted it may have been just a bad week, nevertheless, I'm going sheet the blame for the performance against the Suns fairly & squarely on our coach for the following reasons:

• Planning and preparation for this match was obviously piss-poor at best. The team looked disorganised and didn't look ready to play....and that was before the centre bounce. The fact that some of our players hadn't got to position or located their direct opponent by the time the umpire bounced the ball illustrates the point. It's the coaches job to ensure that all players know their roles and are prepared to play from the word go.
• One comment in Bolton's midweek presser But then this from our skipper post match: Which then prompted this from a well-known Fish & Chip Shop proprietor: Well the message obviously didn't get though to the playing group. Perhaps it got diluted going via the extra layer of coaching we picked up over the off-season. Maybe it wasn't even mentioned at all.
• I'm also beginning to wonder if Bolton might be becoming a little too comfortable being comfortable. Other comments made is that same presser also had me concerned, such as: The players don't need a new best chum, they need a coach. Someone who'll teach them discipline, develop their skillset, encourage teamwork so that individuals operate as a collective, build confidence & self-belief. I saw precious little of any of that on Saturday. A coach trying to be his players' best chum can only lead to a case of the tail wagging the dog. Having said that, they don't need a tyrant either.
• For me there were plenty of alarm bells going off before this game was played. The decline in the defensive side of our game in the previous 3 matches has been more than noticeable, whereas virtually every other team has stepped theirs up: Against St.Kilda we had 30 tackles to their 48 and even more damning was just a paltry 2 tackles inside 50 to the Saints 12. Against the Hawks in JLT 2 it was 90 tackles to 52 and to highlight the lack of defensive pressure through the middle of the ground the Hawks had 62 inside 50s to our 39, which resulted in 19 marks for the Hawks to our 6. Forget the result, had Burgoyne not kicked 0.5, Gunston 1.3 and Sicily not handed us 3 goals on a platter we would have had our arses handed to us. Against a half-arsed Tigers we had 47 tackles opposed to 70 and a piss-poor 6 tackles inside 50 to their 11. Our lack of pressure through the middle of the ground and out of the front half resulted in 71 inside 50s to the Tigers against 47 for us, which resulted in 19 marks inside 50 for them opposed to our 8. Given 7 of our goals come from 50m penalties or free kicks and that the Tuggas had 36 scoring shots to our 20 tend to indicate that perhaps our loss in this game wasn't as honourable as many seem to think.....especially given we had a 5 goal head start. Once again on Saturday just 67 tackles to GCS 93. Hate to say it, but based upon the evidence available this Carlton team are still downhill skiers who only play bruise-free footy.
• Of our 2015 draftees, Weitering has gone backwards, SOSOS has backwards, McKay's failed to show any real signs of development, while Cuningham has been moved to a back flank because he can't cut it as a mid, whether that be inside, outside or balanced. The thing that disturbs me most about this is that 3 of those aforementioned players are 1st Round picks and going nowhere. Add to that JGM's barely VFL quality and Gallucci has been delisted. Will we ever see the dividends in Bolton's "investing in people"??? WTF is going on with our development programs???
• Liam Jones' further development as a KPD seems to have been put on ice, forgotten about, or simply ignored. Jones was exposed on a number of occasions towards the end of last year (Cats, Swans & Eagles) yet little seems to have been done over to summer to address his deficiencies and lack of positional nous. You just can't afford to zone off 15-20m from players such as Lynch, Hawkins, Kennedy & Buddy especially when you know the midfield is unlikely to put any defensive pressure on the ball carrier delivering the pill inside 50. Given we now have 2 defensive coaches and the Full Back of the Century is always there for consultation when required, there's absolutely no excuse. Jones' form has also been questionable so far this year. I've lost count of the amount of times he has let the ball get behind him when going for a spoil and his kicking has led to far too many turnovers.
• I get it that finding suitable replacements for injured players with a list that has little depth can be challenging, but some of the recent selections have been bewildering. Polson for Kreuzer??? Really???....and no one to give Casboult a chop out in the ruck??? Surely McKay would have been the appropriate choice and his lead up form wasn't any worse than Polson's. If Plowman or Marchbank had been injured or their form had been bad enough they needed to be replaced then I wouldn't have had an issue with O'Shea's inclusion as his lead-up form had been solid. That was not the case though as he was brought in for SOSOS. Would it not have been better to bring in Graham or Kerridge to replace Kennedy so they could keep their midfield structures as close as possible to those developed during the preseason??? I'll leave the selection issues at that.

For me this game was lost before we even got to the selection table. You simply cannot have that many players off the boil all at the same time unless your preparation is shite and as the old saying goes Perfect Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance. Much of what I saw unfold in front of me at Etihad really stunk of a Malthouse-era-like performance.

Make no mistake, I'm not calling for our coach to be sacked or saying that everything he's implemented during preseason has been rubbish, but I would expect Juddy to pay him a visit, ask a few very pointed questions and give him a couple jabs in the clacker with a very sharp object so that he can re-acquaint himself, in synergy, with being comfortable being uncomfortable. Yes, I'm over the clichés and the associated BS that accompanies them. No, I don't expect our inexperienced side to dominate games week-in-week-out yet, but I do expect to see some tangible bloody progress. Surely this isn't too much to expect.

I am well aware that many here will see this post as being unnecessarily harsh and I'll probably have to wear some flack from those who disagree either in part, or in full. So be it, this is a forum after all and I've raised plenty of points for discussion whether they be right or they be wrong. Happy to read everyone else's POV even if it's the polar opposite of mine.

I hope when I finally make a mistake, that people dont jump on me so quickly

 

[Cripps17]

I was thinking about this as well, moreso our player development which is supposedly Bolton's strength.

Of the players Bolts has had to work with, we didn't see improvement in any of Kerridge, Graham, LeBois, JGM, Buckley, Boekhorst, Palmer, Smedts, DVR, Jaksch, Sumner, Tutt, Whiley, Smith, Foster, Dick, Gorringe, Phillips, White or several other rookies.

While these players have clear limitations, would we not expect these to be the type of players that a development/good coach could turn at least some into decent role players?

Mullett, O'Shea and Shaw haven't inspired any belief that this trend will change.

Plowman, Marchbank, Curnow, SPS, Fisher have all shown great improvement but they are also top 10 picks essentially other than Fisher.

Williamson and Macreadie have looked good, however you couldn't confidently say that any of Weitering, McKay, Cuningham, Silvagni, or Pickett have thrived under Bolts as yet.

Jones was an amazing turn around, will it last though?

None of this relates to one game either. I love the list that SOS has given us, but I don't see the individual examples that show Bolts is the great developer that we're all banking on him to be. Not yet critical or concerned but both will change at the end of this year if we don't.

 

[Davey33]

It was rather disconcerting sitting up in Member's area on Saturday with numerous people literally asking, "WTF is going on here???". Granted it may have been just a bad week, nevertheless, I'm going sheet the blame for the performance against the Suns fairly & squarely on our coach for the following reasons:

• Planning and preparation for this match was obviously piss-poor at best. The team looked disorganised and didn't look ready to play....and that was before the centre bounce. The fact that some of our players hadn't got to position or located their direct opponent by the time the umpire bounced the ball illustrates the point. It's the coaches job to ensure that all players know their roles and are prepared to play from the word go.
• One comment in Bolton's midweek presser But then this from our skipper post match: Which then prompted this from a well-known Fish & Chip Shop proprietor: Well the message obviously didn't get though to the playing group. Perhaps it got diluted going via the extra layer of coaching we picked up over the off-season. Maybe it wasn't even mentioned at all.
• I'm also beginning to wonder if Bolton might be becoming a little too comfortable being comfortable. Other comments made is that same presser also had me concerned, such as: The players don't need a new best chum, they need a coach. Someone who'll teach them discipline, develop their skillset, encourage teamwork so that individuals operate as a collective, build confidence & self-belief. I saw precious little of any of that on Saturday. A coach trying to be his players' best chum can only lead to a case of the tail wagging the dog. Having said that, they don't need a tyrant either.
• For me there were plenty of alarm bells going off before this game was played. The decline in the defensive side of our game in the previous 3 matches has been more than noticeable, whereas virtually every other team has stepped theirs up: Against St.Kilda we had 30 tackles to their 48 and even more damning was just a paltry 2 tackles inside 50 to the Saints 12. Against the Hawks in JLT 2 it was 90 tackles to 52 and to highlight the lack of defensive pressure through the middle of the ground the Hawks had 62 inside 50s to our 39, which resulted in 19 marks for the Hawks to our 6. Forget the result, had Burgoyne not kicked 0.5, Gunston 1.3 and Sicily not handed us 3 goals on a platter we would have had our arses handed to us. Against a half-arsed Tigers we had 47 tackles opposed to 70 and a piss-poor 6 tackles inside 50 to their 11. Our lack of pressure through the middle of the ground and out of the front half resulted in 71 inside 50s to the Tigers against 47 for us, which resulted in 19 marks inside 50 for them opposed to our 8. Given 7 of our goals come from 50m penalties or free kicks and that the Tuggas had 36 scoring shots to our 20 tend to indicate that perhaps our loss in this game wasn't as honourable as many seem to think.....especially given we had a 5 goal head start. Once again on Saturday just 67 tackles to GCS 93. Hate to say it, but based upon the evidence available this Carlton team are still downhill skiers who only play bruise-free footy.
• Of our 2015 draftees, Weitering has gone backwards, SOSOS has backwards, McKay's failed to show any real signs of development, while Cuningham has been moved to a back flank because he can't cut it as a mid, whether that be inside, outside or balanced. The thing that disturbs me most about this is that 3 of those aforementioned players are 1st Round picks and going nowhere. Add to that JGM's barely VFL quality and Gallucci has been delisted. Will we ever see the dividends in Bolton's "investing in people"??? WTF is going on with our development programs???
• Liam Jones' further development as a KPD seems to have been put on ice, forgotten about, or simply ignored. Jones was exposed on a number of occasions towards the end of last year (Cats, Swans & Eagles) yet little seems to have been done over to summer to address his deficiencies and lack of positional nous. You just can't afford to zone off 15-20m from players such as Lynch, Hawkins, Kennedy & Buddy especially when you know the midfield is unlikely to put any defensive pressure on the ball carrier delivering the pill inside 50. Given we now have 2 defensive coaches and the Full Back of the Century is always there for consultation when required, there's absolutely no excuse. Jones' form has also been questionable so far this year. I've lost count of the amount of times he has let the ball get behind him when going for a spoil and his kicking has led to far too many turnovers.
• I get it that finding suitable replacements for injured players with a list that has little depth can be challenging, but some of the recent selections have been bewildering. Polson for Kreuzer??? Really???....and no one to give Casboult a chop out in the ruck??? Surely McKay would have been the appropriate choice and his lead up form wasn't any worse than Polson's. If Plowman or Marchbank had been injured or their form had been bad enough they needed to be replaced then I wouldn't have had an issue with O'Shea's inclusion as his lead-up form had been solid. That was not the case though as he was brought in for SOSOS. Would it not have been better to bring in Graham or Kerridge to replace Kennedy so they could keep their midfield structures as close as possible to those developed during the preseason??? I'll leave the selection issues at that.

For me this game was lost before we even got to the selection table. You simply cannot have that many players off the boil all at the same time unless your preparation is shite and as the old saying goes Perfect Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance. Much of what I saw unfold in front of me at Etihad really stunk of a Malthouse-era-like performance.

Make no mistake, I'm not calling for our coach to be sacked or saying that everything he's implemented during preseason has been rubbish, but I would expect Juddy to pay him a visit, ask a few very pointed questions and give him a couple jabs in the clacker with a very sharp object so that he can re-acquaint himself, in synergy, with being comfortable being uncomfortable. Yes, I'm over the clichés and the associated BS that accompanies them. No, I don't expect our inexperienced side to dominate games week-in-week-out yet, but I do expect to see some tangible bloody progress. Surely this isn't too much to expect.

I am well aware that many here will see this post as being unnecessarily harsh and I'll probably have to wear some flack from those who disagree either in part, or in full. So be it, this is a forum after all and I've raised plenty of points for discussion whether they be right or they be wrong. Happy to read everyone else's POV even if it's the polar opposite of mine.

Agree with pretty much all of your analysis. Well said.

Note that Mckay actually had a pretty good game in the reserves also and showed decent form in the JLT. I was of the school that he should be playing every senior game he;s available this year but even if thats not the case, on Saturday he was surely required...

With Bolton , dont know if its "being chum" or he almost seems like an excited fan speaking at pressers sometimes. Sometimes it seems like he's getting just a little ahead of himself.

 

[Davey33]

Did people lose their minds this much after the Gold Coast game last year?

Relax people. It was a dissapointing game but it's a long season. Let's see how it plays out.

Think the disappointment is because we thought we'd progressed from last year both defensively and offensively.

 

[Blue_Fusion]

Think the disappointment is because we thought we'd progressed from last year both defensively and offensively.

That's just crazy talk. How can we improve defensively when Simmo is turning 34 now and we've lost Doc and Gibbs?

How can we improve offensively when we still have the worst midfield in the comp that cannot hit i50 targets?

This stuff doesn't just magically happen.

With the changes we were always going to go back a bit this year. It's not what everyone wants to hear but it's reality.

Majority of our senior players refuse to step up so we will have to wait a few years and hope our youngsters can lead the way in the future.

 

[rog1995]

It was rather disconcerting sitting up in Member's area on Saturday with numerous people literally asking, "WTF is going on here???". Granted it may have been just a bad week, nevertheless, I'm going sheet the blame for the performance against the Suns fairly & squarely on our coach for the following reasons:

• Planning and preparation for this match was obviously piss-poor at best. The team looked disorganised and didn't look ready to play....and that was before the centre bounce. The fact that some of our players hadn't got to position or located their direct opponent by the time the umpire bounced the ball illustrates the point. It's the coaches job to ensure that all players know their roles and are prepared to play from the word go.
• One comment in Bolton's midweek presser But then this from our skipper post match: Which then prompted this from a well-known Fish & Chip Shop proprietor: Well the message obviously didn't get though to the playing group. Perhaps it got diluted going via the extra layer of coaching we picked up over the off-season. Maybe it wasn't even mentioned at all.
• I'm also beginning to wonder if Bolton might be becoming a little too comfortable being comfortable. Other comments made is that same presser also had me concerned, such as: The players don't need a new best chum, they need a coach. Someone who'll teach them discipline, develop their skillset, encourage teamwork so that individuals operate as a collective, build confidence & self-belief. I saw precious little of any of that on Saturday. A coach trying to be his players' best chum can only lead to a case of the tail wagging the dog. Having said that, they don't need a tyrant either.
• For me there were plenty of alarm bells going off before this game was played. The decline in the defensive side of our game in the previous 3 matches has been more than noticeable, whereas virtually every other team has stepped theirs up: Against St.Kilda we had 30 tackles to their 48 and even more damning was just a paltry 2 tackles inside 50 to the Saints 12. Against the Hawks in JLT 2 it was 90 tackles to 52 and to highlight the lack of defensive pressure through the middle of the ground the Hawks had 62 inside 50s to our 39, which resulted in 19 marks for the Hawks to our 6. Forget the result, had Burgoyne not kicked 0.5, Gunston 1.3 and Sicily not handed us 3 goals on a platter we would have had our arses handed to us. Against a half-arsed Tigers we had 47 tackles opposed to 70 and a piss-poor 6 tackles inside 50 to their 11. Our lack of pressure through the middle of the ground and out of the front half resulted in 71 inside 50s to the Tigers against 47 for us, which resulted in 19 marks inside 50 for them opposed to our 8. Given 7 of our goals come from 50m penalties or free kicks and that the Tuggas had 36 scoring shots to our 20 tend to indicate that perhaps our loss in this game wasn't as honourable as many seem to think.....especially given we had a 5 goal head start. Once again on Saturday just 67 tackles to GCS 93. Hate to say it, but based upon the evidence available this Carlton team are still downhill skiers who only play bruise-free footy.
• Of our 2015 draftees, Weitering has gone backwards, SOSOS has backwards, McKay's failed to show any real signs of development, while Cuningham has been moved to a back flank because he can't cut it as a mid, whether that be inside, outside or balanced. The thing that disturbs me most about this is that 3 of those aforementioned players are 1st Round picks and going nowhere. Add to that JGM's barely VFL quality and Gallucci has been delisted. Will we ever see the dividends in Bolton's "investing in people"??? WTF is going on with our development programs???
• Liam Jones' further development as a KPD seems to have been put on ice, forgotten about, or simply ignored. Jones was exposed on a number of occasions towards the end of last year (Cats, Swans & Eagles) yet little seems to have been done over to summer to address his deficiencies and lack of positional nous. You just can't afford to zone off 15-20m from players such as Lynch, Hawkins, Kennedy & Buddy especially when you know the midfield is unlikely to put any defensive pressure on the ball carrier delivering the pill inside 50. Given we now have 2 defensive coaches and the Full Back of the Century is always there for consultation when required, there's absolutely no excuse. Jones' form has also been questionable so far this year. I've lost count of the amount of times he has let the ball get behind him when going for a spoil and his kicking has led to far too many turnovers.
• I get it that finding suitable replacements for injured players with a list that has little depth can be challenging, but some of the recent selections have been bewildering. Polson for Kreuzer??? Really???....and no one to give Casboult a chop out in the ruck??? Surely McKay would have been the appropriate choice and his lead up form wasn't any worse than Polson's. If Plowman or Marchbank had been injured or their form had been bad enough they needed to be replaced then I wouldn't have had an issue with O'Shea's inclusion as his lead-up form had been solid. That was not the case though as he was brought in for SOSOS. Would it not have been better to bring in Graham or Kerridge to replace Kennedy so they could keep their midfield structures as close as possible to those developed during the preseason??? I'll leave the selection issues at that.

For me this game was lost before we even got to the selection table. You simply cannot have that many players off the boil all at the same time unless your preparation is shite and as the old saying goes Perfect Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance. Much of what I saw unfold in front of me at Etihad really stunk of a Malthouse-era-like performance.

Make no mistake, I'm not calling for our coach to be sacked or saying that everything he's implemented during preseason has been rubbish, but I would expect Juddy to pay him a visit, ask a few very pointed questions and give him a couple jabs in the clacker with a very sharp object so that he can re-acquaint himself, in synergy, with being comfortable being uncomfortable. Yes, I'm over the clichés and the associated BS that accompanies them. No, I don't expect our inexperienced side to dominate games week-in-week-out yet, but I do expect to see some tangible bloody progress. Surely this isn't too much to expect.

I am well aware that many here will see this post as being unnecessarily harsh and I'll probably have to wear some flack from those who disagree either in part, or in full. So be it, this is a forum after all and I've raised plenty of points for discussion whether they be right or they be wrong. Happy to read everyone else's POV even if it's the polar opposite of mine.

This is perfect.. Hit the nail on the head.

 

[Navy Blue Blood]

Would anybody be against the idea of us trying to lure Clarkson to the blues? It would be remiss of us not to try and acquire his services

The year we recruit Clarkson is the year my membership goes into hibernation.

Pretty sure the pool of coaches who can check the box "have not king hit a Carlton player and broken his jaw" is not noticeably poorer for disqualifying Clarkson.

I'm satisfied with Bolt's at the moment anyway.

 

[HARKER]

This is perfect.. Hit the nail on the head.

Far from perfect, but not without valid points.

Team looked disorganised? Absolutely. Players either lost their bearings or were asked to play a certain style at all cost. Didn't work.

Bolton and his captain not on the same page? Murphy just probably shouldn't speak on behalf of the club, but that makes for another story.

Bolton too comfortable being comfortable? At the CFC without a contract? I don't think so.
Nothing wrong with backing your players or at least to be seen to be backing you players. Can't do it the other way.
A new attacking game-style will take time to nurture and mature and made somewhat harder for incurring injuries to the wrong players.

The defensive side of our game seems to have lost its edge without Docherty. That's understandable but only to a point.
Players should have learned plenty playing together last year, but somehow that team defence isn't as apparent as it was last year.
Yes, Marchbank and Byrne seem to have been given the license to run and carry, but it's not looking particularly great just for now, at least.
The balance between attack and defence isn't there just yet.

2015 draftees and lack of development?
Weitering's situation is interesting. Reckon there are some demons wrestling around in Jacobs head. Anything to do with Bolton? Who knows for sure?
McKay: A bit of a risk and always a longer term project. Can't just build strength required on a injured and then, growing tall.
CCurnow: No problem here.
Cuningham: We didn't know what to do with him and he won't make for a starting mid, which we tried to develop him into.
Silvagni: Hard to say he's gone backwards.

Recruits: Mullet, Shaw and o'Shea? Didn't really understand it last year. doubt i'll understand it this year. Did Bolton want them? Don't know.

Selections: Somewhat bewildering. Let's see what comes about this week. Live and learn?

Sack Bolton? That's not going to happen in the short term, but should things go belly-up in the second half of the year and MLG & SOS start to distance themselves from Brendon.....We'll know what's going on. Bolton cannot be comfortable, but he shouldn't have a gun to his head either, but we are the CFC.

 

[Soapy V]

you are seriously a deadshit......

old fuddy duddy

 

[Soapy V]

Far from perfect, but not without valid points.

Team looked disorganised? Absolutely. Players either lost their bearings or were asked to play a certain style at all cost. Didn't work.

I still maintain it was a young group finding the balance between attack & defence and was reactive. Last 2 years we trained to be highly defence oriented. Over the summer we trained to be more offensive. In round one we were too attacking and Bolton said we need to work on the balance between the two.

With a young group and some deckchairs it takes time and will look ugly until they get it right

 

[HBF]

you need to work on your people skillz. grumpy bum

Try sitting with him at the footy.....

 

[gbatman]

It was rather disconcerting sitting up in Member's area on Saturday with numerous people literally asking, "WTF is going on here???". Granted it may have been just a bad week, nevertheless, I'm going sheet the blame for the performance against the Suns fairly & squarely on our coach for the following reasons:

• Planning and preparation for this match was obviously piss-poor at best. The team looked disorganised and didn't look ready to play....and that was before the centre bounce. The fact that some of our players hadn't got to position or located their direct opponent by the time the umpire bounced the ball illustrates the point. It's the coaches job to ensure that all players know their roles and are prepared to play from the word go.
• One comment in Bolton's midweek presser But then this from our skipper post match: Which then prompted this from a well-known Fish & Chip Shop proprietor: Well the message obviously didn't get though to the playing group. Perhaps it got diluted going via the extra layer of coaching we picked up over the off-season. Maybe it wasn't even mentioned at all.
• I'm also beginning to wonder if Bolton might be becoming a little too comfortable being comfortable. Other comments made is that same presser also had me concerned, such as: The players don't need a new best chum, they need a coach. Someone who'll teach them discipline, develop their skillset, encourage teamwork so that individuals operate as a collective, build confidence & self-belief. I saw precious little of any of that on Saturday. A coach trying to be his players' best chum can only lead to a case of the tail wagging the dog. Having said that, they don't need a tyrant either.
• For me there were plenty of alarm bells going off before this game was played. The decline in the defensive side of our game in the previous 3 matches has been more than noticeable, whereas virtually every other team has stepped theirs up: Against St.Kilda we had 30 tackles to their 48 and even more damning was just a paltry 2 tackles inside 50 to the Saints 12. Against the Hawks in JLT 2 it was 90 tackles to 52 and to highlight the lack of defensive pressure through the middle of the ground the Hawks had 62 inside 50s to our 39, which resulted in 19 marks for the Hawks to our 6. Forget the result, had Burgoyne not kicked 0.5, Gunston 1.3 and Sicily not handed us 3 goals on a platter we would have had our arses handed to us. Against a half-arsed Tigers we had 47 tackles opposed to 70 and a piss-poor 6 tackles inside 50 to their 11. Our lack of pressure through the middle of the ground and out of the front half resulted in 71 inside 50s to the Tigers against 47 for us, which resulted in 19 marks inside 50 for them opposed to our 8. Given 7 of our goals come from 50m penalties or free kicks and that the Tuggas had 36 scoring shots to our 20 tend to indicate that perhaps our loss in this game wasn't as honourable as many seem to think.....especially given we had a 5 goal head start. Once again on Saturday just 67 tackles to GCS 93. Hate to say it, but based upon the evidence available this Carlton team are still downhill skiers who only play bruise-free footy.
• Of our 2015 draftees, Weitering has gone backwards, SOSOS has backwards, McKay's failed to show any real signs of development, while Cuningham has been moved to a back flank because he can't cut it as a mid, whether that be inside, outside or balanced. The thing that disturbs me most about this is that 3 of those aforementioned players are 1st Round picks and going nowhere. Add to that JGM's barely VFL quality and Gallucci has been delisted. Will we ever see the dividends in Bolton's "investing in people"??? WTF is going on with our development programs???
• Liam Jones' further development as a KPD seems to have been put on ice, forgotten about, or simply ignored. Jones was exposed on a number of occasions towards the end of last year (Cats, Swans & Eagles) yet little seems to have been done over to summer to address his deficiencies and lack of positional nous. You just can't afford to zone off 15-20m from players such as Lynch, Hawkins, Kennedy & Buddy especially when you know the midfield is unlikely to put any defensive pressure on the ball carrier delivering the pill inside 50. Given we now have 2 defensive coaches and the Full Back of the Century is always there for consultation when required, there's absolutely no excuse. Jones' form has also been questionable so far this year. I've lost count of the amount of times he has let the ball get behind him when going for a spoil and his kicking has led to far too many turnovers.
• I get it that finding suitable replacements for injured players with a list that has little depth can be challenging, but some of the recent selections have been bewildering. Polson for Kreuzer??? Really???....and no one to give Casboult a chop out in the ruck??? Surely McKay would have been the appropriate choice and his lead up form wasn't any worse than Polson's. If Plowman or Marchbank had been injured or their form had been bad enough they needed to be replaced then I wouldn't have had an issue with O'Shea's inclusion as his lead-up form had been solid. That was not the case though as he was brought in for SOSOS. Would it not have been better to bring in Graham or Kerridge to replace Kennedy so they could keep their midfield structures as close as possible to those developed during the preseason??? I'll leave the selection issues at that.

For me this game was lost before we even got to the selection table. You simply cannot have that many players off the boil all at the same time unless your preparation is shite and as the old saying goes Perfect Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance. Much of what I saw unfold in front of me at Etihad really stunk of a Malthouse-era-like performance.

Make no mistake, I'm not calling for our coach to be sacked or saying that everything he's implemented during preseason has been rubbish, but I would expect Juddy to pay him a visit, ask a few very pointed questions and give him a couple jabs in the clacker with a very sharp object so that he can re-acquaint himself, in synergy, with being comfortable being uncomfortable. Yes, I'm over the clichés and the associated BS that accompanies them. No, I don't expect our inexperienced side to dominate games week-in-week-out yet, but I do expect to see some tangible bloody progress. Surely this isn't too much to expect.

I am well aware that many here will see this post as being unnecessarily harsh and I'll probably have to wear some flack from those who disagree either in part, or in full. So be it, this is a forum after all and I've raised plenty of points for discussion whether they be right or they be wrong. Happy to read everyone else's POV even if it's the polar opposite of mine.

I think we will come back from that. For what it's worth, this is a reason Mick Malthouse came to Carlton and made us play around the boundary and we are and are going to get a look at that. Weren't good enough to go direct then and certainly not good enough now.

Direct footy takes pace, heaps of skill and really good decision making. We've been scored freely against and have not defended well.

I think if we stick at it there will be reward as those players not good enough to perform in this style of footy will stand out and we will get rid of them while some others may stand up.

I'm not sure, with a really tall backline, that playing an open and direct style of footy will work for us, when we forced the ball to come in to defence on the angle slowly our tall defenders could zone up and go for intercepts, now we are turning it over in more direct positions they aren't standing much chance.

We wither have to go back to being more defencive or we have to change the line up of the side to suit our new style.

In saying this, lack of effort, ball winning in the middle and pressure around the ball is no excuse for all this.

Agree with a lot of this, questions must be asked over preparation. Were the players pushed too hard mid week? Were they not fresh?

 

[HARKER]

I still maintain it was a young group finding the balance between attack & defence and was reactive. Last 2 years we trained to be highly defence oriented. Over the summer we trained to be more offensive. In round one we were too attacking and Bolton said we need to work on the balance between the two.

With a young group and some deckchairs it takes time and will look ugly until they get it right

As long as everyone is on the same page.
Nothing worse than having a club eat itself. Not sure I care to go through that again.

We still rely on our seniors to lead the way and that's the way it should be, but given that the Gibbs short-term loss would have hurt enough, let alone losing your captain-in-waiting and AA Docherty and then the mid recruited to support Cripps in Kennedy and then your premium ruck-man in Kreuzer etc.

Re. Bolton: I said last year that should things go awry this year, one may be somewhat optimistic to think that Boltons tenure to be safe.
There's little need to be talking about that now, but no-one is completely safe at the CFC.........other than SOS.......and McKay

 

[Soapy V]

As long as everyone is on the same page.
Nothing worse than having a club eat itself. Not sure I care to go through that again.

We still rely on our seniors to lead the way and that's the way it should be, but given that the Gibbs short-term loss would have hurt enough, let alone losing your captain-in-waiting and AA Docherty and then the mid recruited to support Cripps in Kennedy and then your premium ruck-man in Kreuzer etc.

Re. Bolton: I said last year that should things go awry this year, one may be somewhat optimistic to think that Boltons tenure to be safe.
There's little need to be talking about that now, but no-one is completely safe at the CFC.........other than SOS.......and McKay

I know it can look bad from the outside but go to training or into the club and the positivity and direction is clear. They may be frustration from outsiders but I have no doubt the club is doing the right thing. We have all said it, there will be ups and downs which is typical of a rebuild. Some real bad days but I seriosuly believe we are on the right track and the talent we have accumulated is as good as any around.

IMHO we are stiil a minimum 18 months away from being a really consistent and competitive side

 

[HARKER]

I know it can look bad from the outside but go to training or into the club and the positivity and direction is clear. They may be frustration from outsiders but I have no doubt the club is doing the right thing. We have all said it, there will be ups and downs which is typical of a rebuild. Some real bad days but I seriosuly believe we are on the right track and the talent we have accumulated is as good as any around.

IMHO we are stiil a minimum 18 months away from being a really consistent and competitive side

I know this to be right, but I also know our club.

MLG isn't a soother nor smoother of situations and even for his love for the club, can be the one that creates distances amongst the key personnel.
If, if SOS and Bolton are close and are backing one another, I dare say we may be on the right path. If though distance is created between any or all of SOS, McKay, Bolton and Liddle, problems will arise and spill onto the field, as they inadvertently do.

Nothing to do with Bolton, but I wonder how Murphys contract talks are progressing. Why? Just because and I don't know anything.

 

[RudyBlue]

Bolton- how long?

 

[Soapy V]

I know this to be right, but I also know our club.

MLG isn't a soother nor smoother of situations and even for his love for the club, can be the one that creates distances amongst the key personnel.
If, if SOS and Bolton are close and are backing one another, I dare say we may be on the right path. If though distance is created between any or all of SOS, McKay, Bolton and Liddle, problems will arise and spill onto the field, as they inadvertently do.

Nothing to do with Bolton, but I wonder how Murphys contract talks are progressing. Why? Just because and I don't know anything.

Understand your point but I would be extremely disappointed if things change and we deviate off our current path. The belief at the moment is things are progressing as well as could be expected. This years draft/trade period will be another big one.

Extremely important that the club holds it's nerve and doesn't bow to outside pressure. I have to believe them when they say it's going to take time and no more quick fixes. Once the pieces fall into place, the kids get enough experience it will be a very exciting period for the club.

 

[HARKER]

Understand your point but I would be extremely disappointed if things change and we deviate off our current path. The belief at the moment is things are progressing as well as could be expected. This years draft/trade period will be another big one.

Extremely important that the club holds it's nerve and doesn't bow to outside pressure. I have to believe them when they say it's going to take time and no more quick fixes. Once the pieces fall into place, the kids get enough experience it will be a very exciting period for the club.

I agree and it has nothing to do with the weekends loss. We were saying this 12 months ago, 6 months ago and even a few weeks ago.
A lot looks wrong right now and we can side with the negatives and forget the positives.

I just want our club to be as united as it practically can be and that...........get ready.........allow the baker to bake the bread.