- Mar 25, 2019
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I'll retire from BigFooty if we win the flag in 2026.
Absolutely no chance imo, building towards 2027 onwards.
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Carlton's finals aspirations for 2026
- Thread starter Black Haze
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Absolutely no chance imo, building towards 2027 onwards.
i'd expect bottom half of the ladder
i'd expect though a bit more discipline, training standards, addressing game plan and tactics and all the other stuff that can occur when someone runs a broom through a business. whether that translates to anything onfield remains to be seen.
i'd expect though a bit more discipline, training standards, addressing game plan and tactics and all the other stuff that can occur when someone runs a broom through a business. whether that translates to anything onfield remains to be seen.
- Apr 18, 2005
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It’s game plan and intensity. List is there. You have had recent finals experience. It’s all you need as a prerequisite.
- Apr 18, 2005
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- Mar 25, 2019
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Lachie Cowan - Jacob Weitering - Harry Dean/Lewis Young
Ollie Florent - Nick Haynes - Nic Newman
Sam Walsh - Patrick Cripps - Campbell Chesser
Marc Pittonet - Jagga Smith - George Hewett
Ben Ainsworth - Hudson O'Keefe - Zac Williams
Ashton Moir - Harry McKay - Will Hayward
Adam Cerra - Brodie Kemp - Adam Saad - Matthew Cottrell - Ollie Hollands
Something like this at this stage. If Elijah is miraculously kept on for 1 more year he'd replace someone.
Defense looks a bit vulnerable still with a lack of a genuine 2nd KPD option. Haynes was good last year but more as that 3rd tall type. Expect we look at a DFA option before the draft such as Blight or Derksen.
bradfisher14
Not actually Brad Fisher
| FB: | Haynes | Weitering | Newman |
| HB: | Cowan | Dean | Florent |
| C: | O. Hollands | Walsh | Chesser |
| HF: | Ainsworth | Kemp | Williams |
| FF: | Hayward | McKay | Moir |
| R: | Pittonet | Smith | Cripps |
| INT: | Carroll | Hewett | Cerra |
| Evans | E. Hollands |
- Oct 4, 2018
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Haven't yet given it much thought as was waiting for final list decisions on a couple of players like Elijah (assuming he goes) and McGovern (assuming he stays due to Buku not coming across) but off the top of my head...
FB: Cowan Weitering Haynes
HB: Florent Young Newman
C: O.Hollands Cripps Chesser
HF: Ainsworth McKay Williams
FF: Hayward Kemp Moir
FOL: Pittonet Hewett Walsh
INT: Saad Cerra Smith Cottrell Motlop
The KPF spot is my main concern. I like when Harry takes the 2nd ruck minutes and gets himself up the ground but just not sure HOK is ready yet for regular senior football. A good preseason may change that. So going quite small up forward atm.
I think they have done well with the Curnow compensation + the picks they got for JSOS and TDK etc..
It sets them up to attack the draft (all be it a compromised one)
I don't think they make finals next year with Voss however. Maybe 2027 when he's gone.
It sets them up to attack the draft (all be it a compromised one)
I don't think they make finals next year with Voss however. Maybe 2027 when he's gone.
This is just straight up insanity, they are no hope for the flag. Absolutely none and not even the biggest Carlton fan would say this.
They'll be down where they were this year and potentially lower.
- Apr 18, 2005
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People never said that about Melbourne before 2021, people never said that about West Coast before 2018 (except me), people never said that about Richmond before 2017….
Yeah, sure, I am going out on a bit of limb but I am also looking at a list that is laden with talent and has had some finals experience in 2023-24 but not been able to make it work this year.
I am sure in typical fashion the campaigners that exist on BF will do two things; troll me non stop if they don’t succeed or find reasons to say it was a fluke if they do.
- Mar 16, 2024
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Ball movement should improve.
List much more balanced.
Pre-pre season best 23... focus is on running power, leg speed and delivery by foot
B: Newman Weitering Cowan
HB: Williams Young Saad
C: Cottrell Cripps Walsh
HF: Ainsworth McKay Hayward
F: Evans McGovern Kemp
R: Pittonet Cerra Hewett
IC: O Hollands, E Hollands, Florent, Dean, Reidy
E: Smith, Haynes, O'Keefe, Lord, Carroll, Moir, Motlop, Acres, Fogarty, Chesser,
I think the squad is better prepared for an eight man long injury list
List much more balanced.
Pre-pre season best 23... focus is on running power, leg speed and delivery by foot
B: Newman Weitering Cowan
HB: Williams Young Saad
C: Cottrell Cripps Walsh
HF: Ainsworth McKay Hayward
F: Evans McGovern Kemp
R: Pittonet Cerra Hewett
IC: O Hollands, E Hollands, Florent, Dean, Reidy
E: Smith, Haynes, O'Keefe, Lord, Carroll, Moir, Motlop, Acres, Fogarty, Chesser,
I think the squad is better prepared for an eight man long injury list
They won't need to because there's zero chance of them getting a flag.
They don't have a list laden with talent at all. They would've accomplished something by now had they had the talent you seem to think.
They're coached by a potato that has managed to neuter a talented player like Sam Walsh.
Carlton don't have the talent of Melbourne 21, West Coast 18 and no where near Richmond 17.
If you project out over the next 5 years, and that's really as far as you can project for an AFL club given they can completely turn their list over in that time, I'd had Carlton and Melbourne (sorry) as the least likely teams to win a flag over that time.
- Feb 5, 2010
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Likely 8th-12th finish. The cultural broom will ultimately prove a positive, but not expecting much in terms of ladder position in 2026.
If there’s a repeat of our obligatory D-Day injury list then things look quite grim.
If there’s a repeat of our obligatory D-Day injury list then things look quite grim.
This is my review for Carlton for 2026 and where I see them. I think they will be improved and are a strong chance for finals however the top 10 sides are going to be fairly strong again I feel.
Carlton should improve, one of the teams biggest weaknesses is the the forward line. It's full forward and CHF have been elite players but the rest have been rubbish and in modern footy this makes you easy to coach against. Opposition know where the ball is going every time Carlton go forward so it's about getting numbers to Curnow and/or McKay. Easy.
Carlton's small forwards have been failed midfielders with no overhead game but that all changes now. Ainsworth and Hayward are genuine half forwards who are strong overhead. Moir is another and young forward/ruck O'Keeffe will provide a solid tall target. Kemp had also shown he can play there with a good start to the season and 5 goals against the dogs before a serious injury. So going forward, Carlton go from a side that lacks targets and pace to having a wealth of targets and good pace.
So it goes from 2 forwards who are strong targets to 5 or 6. So it's a very different skillset to what Carlton have seen in pretty much decades. Having all forwards strong overhead is very much the model Brisbane and Collingwood have had and they have shown the importance this adds to your forward line, ball movement and how it opens the forward line up and creates one on ones.
So Carlton go from having two strong forwards who were mostly unavailable in 2025 and being very predictable to a more even spread of targets. Dysfunctional to functional.
Blues will have a coleman medalist at full forward which is more than some of the better sides have had coupled with a few really good genuine half forwards from other clubs and some of their youth coming through. So structurally stronger and overall stronger up forward.
Carlton's backline has had a rebuild and that started two/three years ago. The Blues focused on the draft to do this by recruiting players like Cowan, Hollands, Wilson, O'Farrell, Charleson and Carroll with Harry Dean to come in this year. O'Farrell is a future gun and AA quality player but will miss 2026. Dean is highly rated and will play games early. Cowan struggled with injuries this season but showed good form late and Charleson was as good as you could hope for from a first year player in the VFL. Carroll was probably the exception, had an excellent season. Hollands going back has worked. Newman will be back this season who adds a lot and Haynes after a rough start had an excellent season. The Blues may have a weak spot at CHB and Young will likely fill that void. McGovern also likely gets the opportunity to stay and will likely fill a spot at times. The question also remains over Carlton's run. Will Saad be able to pick up his good form from a few years ago? Will Carlton's other running players like Hollands, Cowan, Carroll etc step up? Florent is also another who may play a role at half back. So questions remain about the defence. It should improve but we need to see this first.
The midfield is going to be much the same. I think Florent probably plays a wing role but could be at half back. Cripps, Cerra, Hewett are strong bodied players who lack the pace and agility of the better modern midfields but will dominate contested ball. Carlton will be hoping that Walsh and Smith remain fit to give the midfield much needed pace and agility. Ison is an academy player who could impact next year and Ben Camporeale will add inside midfield depth. Lord is an up and coming player who also adds depth and finished off strong last season. The big question is Carlton's pace in the midfield though. Chesser will play an important role in Carlton's side but I am not sure where. Wing or even on the ball. Carlton's midfield is one really good quick midfielder away from being a top tier midfield but at this stage it's lack of pace and mobility is a weak point.
Best 22 I am going with a similar side to this:
Carroll Weitering Haynes
Saad Young Cowan
Florent Cripps Chesser
Hayward Kemp Ainsworth
O'Keefe McKay Motlop
Pittonet Walsh Cerra
Newman Hewett O Hollands Williams Smith
Possible Reserves
E Hollands ? Boyd
Charleson McGovern Wilson
Acres Camporeale Camporeale
Evans Moir Cottrell
Hogg Ready Fogarty
? Lord Ison
Binns Monahan Duffy White Young Gresham?
OUT:
DeKoning - He will be a loss for the side but again he wasn't a dominant tap ruckman and did not have a secondary position so is not worth the money St Kilda threw at him. This was a similar situation to Collingwood letting grundy go.
Silvagni - Carlton only ever had him for 13 games in their entire history as a CHB. He was good, really good and if he can stay fit, St Kilda will be really happy. As for a loss, sure he is a loss but one that will be covered. Carlton will go into 2027 with Weitering, O'Farrell and Dean as key pillars in their defence which is a genuine luxury for them so the call was right.
Curnow - He's the one who will be a substantial loss but the move was the right thing to do. If it means we can go from 2 targets to 5 or 6 then great, we improve.
Durdin - He had a good season in 2022 but since then has done nothing and is a fringe player replace by much better players.
Docherty - Has struggled for two seasons and was a really good player before it all caught up with him.
Lemmy - Tall forward who never really got going.
Fantasia - Limited forward who has been replace by much better players
Cincotta - Was fringe AFL and played some solid games.
IN:
Ainsworth - Adds a lot as a genuine forward
Hayward - Adds a lot as a genuine forward.
Florent - Adds much needed pace and skills.
Chesser - Former high pick with outstanding pace and skills who has had an ankle injury that took too long to amend. Will be a really good get.
Dean - Highly rated tall defender will come as a father son.
Ison - Highly rated midfielder who finished the season very strongly comes as an academy player.
*Smith - Highly rated midfielder who missed all of last season to a knee injury.
*Newman - One of Carltons better defenders and distributors who missed all of last season with a knee injury.
As for rebuild that has been mentioned. That started a couple of seasons ago and the club is well into it. It is also not a full rebuild which Carlton have seen in the past all too often in the Pagan, Ratten and Bolton eras. Good youth coming in the next few seasons Dean, Walker and Ison will accelerate things. The club will have a wide open salary cap next year as well and no doubt will be targeting types like Zak Butters and Bailey Humphrey. Having two first round picks in the next 3 drafts also helps with this.
Realistically Carlton should return as a contender in 2027 onwards however this is all dependant on how well the club develop youth and look after their older players.
Carlton should be mildly improved and should push for the bottom part of the top 8 in 2026 but they will have solid competition. 10th-5th unless hammered with injuries.
Carlton should improve, one of the teams biggest weaknesses is the the forward line. It's full forward and CHF have been elite players but the rest have been rubbish and in modern footy this makes you easy to coach against. Opposition know where the ball is going every time Carlton go forward so it's about getting numbers to Curnow and/or McKay. Easy.
Carlton's small forwards have been failed midfielders with no overhead game but that all changes now. Ainsworth and Hayward are genuine half forwards who are strong overhead. Moir is another and young forward/ruck O'Keeffe will provide a solid tall target. Kemp had also shown he can play there with a good start to the season and 5 goals against the dogs before a serious injury. So going forward, Carlton go from a side that lacks targets and pace to having a wealth of targets and good pace.
So it goes from 2 forwards who are strong targets to 5 or 6. So it's a very different skillset to what Carlton have seen in pretty much decades. Having all forwards strong overhead is very much the model Brisbane and Collingwood have had and they have shown the importance this adds to your forward line, ball movement and how it opens the forward line up and creates one on ones.
So Carlton go from having two strong forwards who were mostly unavailable in 2025 and being very predictable to a more even spread of targets. Dysfunctional to functional.
Blues will have a coleman medalist at full forward which is more than some of the better sides have had coupled with a few really good genuine half forwards from other clubs and some of their youth coming through. So structurally stronger and overall stronger up forward.
Carlton's backline has had a rebuild and that started two/three years ago. The Blues focused on the draft to do this by recruiting players like Cowan, Hollands, Wilson, O'Farrell, Charleson and Carroll with Harry Dean to come in this year. O'Farrell is a future gun and AA quality player but will miss 2026. Dean is highly rated and will play games early. Cowan struggled with injuries this season but showed good form late and Charleson was as good as you could hope for from a first year player in the VFL. Carroll was probably the exception, had an excellent season. Hollands going back has worked. Newman will be back this season who adds a lot and Haynes after a rough start had an excellent season. The Blues may have a weak spot at CHB and Young will likely fill that void. McGovern also likely gets the opportunity to stay and will likely fill a spot at times. The question also remains over Carlton's run. Will Saad be able to pick up his good form from a few years ago? Will Carlton's other running players like Hollands, Cowan, Carroll etc step up? Florent is also another who may play a role at half back. So questions remain about the defence. It should improve but we need to see this first.
The midfield is going to be much the same. I think Florent probably plays a wing role but could be at half back. Cripps, Cerra, Hewett are strong bodied players who lack the pace and agility of the better modern midfields but will dominate contested ball. Carlton will be hoping that Walsh and Smith remain fit to give the midfield much needed pace and agility. Ison is an academy player who could impact next year and Ben Camporeale will add inside midfield depth. Lord is an up and coming player who also adds depth and finished off strong last season. The big question is Carlton's pace in the midfield though. Chesser will play an important role in Carlton's side but I am not sure where. Wing or even on the ball. Carlton's midfield is one really good quick midfielder away from being a top tier midfield but at this stage it's lack of pace and mobility is a weak point.
Best 22 I am going with a similar side to this:
Carroll Weitering Haynes
Saad Young Cowan
Florent Cripps Chesser
Hayward Kemp Ainsworth
O'Keefe McKay Motlop
Pittonet Walsh Cerra
Newman Hewett O Hollands Williams Smith
Possible Reserves
E Hollands ? Boyd
Charleson McGovern Wilson
Acres Camporeale Camporeale
Evans Moir Cottrell
Hogg Ready Fogarty
? Lord Ison
Binns Monahan Duffy White Young Gresham?
OUT:
DeKoning - He will be a loss for the side but again he wasn't a dominant tap ruckman and did not have a secondary position so is not worth the money St Kilda threw at him. This was a similar situation to Collingwood letting grundy go.
Silvagni - Carlton only ever had him for 13 games in their entire history as a CHB. He was good, really good and if he can stay fit, St Kilda will be really happy. As for a loss, sure he is a loss but one that will be covered. Carlton will go into 2027 with Weitering, O'Farrell and Dean as key pillars in their defence which is a genuine luxury for them so the call was right.
Curnow - He's the one who will be a substantial loss but the move was the right thing to do. If it means we can go from 2 targets to 5 or 6 then great, we improve.
Durdin - He had a good season in 2022 but since then has done nothing and is a fringe player replace by much better players.
Docherty - Has struggled for two seasons and was a really good player before it all caught up with him.
Lemmy - Tall forward who never really got going.
Fantasia - Limited forward who has been replace by much better players
Cincotta - Was fringe AFL and played some solid games.
IN:
Ainsworth - Adds a lot as a genuine forward
Hayward - Adds a lot as a genuine forward.
Florent - Adds much needed pace and skills.
Chesser - Former high pick with outstanding pace and skills who has had an ankle injury that took too long to amend. Will be a really good get.
Dean - Highly rated tall defender will come as a father son.
Ison - Highly rated midfielder who finished the season very strongly comes as an academy player.
*Smith - Highly rated midfielder who missed all of last season to a knee injury.
*Newman - One of Carltons better defenders and distributors who missed all of last season with a knee injury.
As for rebuild that has been mentioned. That started a couple of seasons ago and the club is well into it. It is also not a full rebuild which Carlton have seen in the past all too often in the Pagan, Ratten and Bolton eras. Good youth coming in the next few seasons Dean, Walker and Ison will accelerate things. The club will have a wide open salary cap next year as well and no doubt will be targeting types like Zak Butters and Bailey Humphrey. Having two first round picks in the next 3 drafts also helps with this.
Realistically Carlton should return as a contender in 2027 onwards however this is all dependant on how well the club develop youth and look after their older players.
Carlton should be mildly improved and should push for the bottom part of the top 8 in 2026 but they will have solid competition. 10th-5th unless hammered with injuries.
Last edited:
You need to look at Carlton from an opposition coaches perspective.
The fundamentals of beating Carlton are to crowd Curnow and McKay and get numbers to those spots.
The other fundamentals are to keep the ball out wide at stoppages. Keep it in close and Carlton's big bodies come into play, if you can get the ball out into space or get a bit more range on it from the hitouts it becomes a pace and agility game which Carlton have failed at.
Carlton's recruiting has been all focused on taking the two main weapons opposition coaches have against them.
Carlton are going to have a lot more pace on the outside so getting the ball out wide into space is a tactic which is going to be less effective and will even the game up for Carlton.
The forward tactic is also something which will be done with as well. You can kill Carlton's ball movement and generate turnovers by crowding Curnow and McKay. Curnow is gone and has been replaced by a forward line which will have 5-6 really strong overhead targets and smaller leading forwards which sides like Collingwood and Brisbane have proved works best with modern football. The Blues will also have quality get out of jail targets with McKay and O'Keeffe.
The other tactic teams use against Carlton effectively is to block and target Walsh. Being the token quick onballer he's the one opposition worry about. They worry less about the others who are slower accumulators as it only takes a good setup structure and pace around the contest to apply pressure onto them. To beat this I was hoping to land Butters but that was not possible. We will have to be using Smith in there a bit but also some of the others as rotations like Ainsworth, Hayward, Williams and Chesser.
So out of the three big weapons opposition sides use to beat Carlton. I would say that one has been taken away and two have been half taken away. To me this is an improvement.
As for other weak areas. The depth issue is one which will be resolved. Carlton will have a lot of AFL capable players and be less injury affected.
The fundamentals of beating Carlton are to crowd Curnow and McKay and get numbers to those spots.
The other fundamentals are to keep the ball out wide at stoppages. Keep it in close and Carlton's big bodies come into play, if you can get the ball out into space or get a bit more range on it from the hitouts it becomes a pace and agility game which Carlton have failed at.
Carlton's recruiting has been all focused on taking the two main weapons opposition coaches have against them.
Carlton are going to have a lot more pace on the outside so getting the ball out wide into space is a tactic which is going to be less effective and will even the game up for Carlton.
The forward tactic is also something which will be done with as well. You can kill Carlton's ball movement and generate turnovers by crowding Curnow and McKay. Curnow is gone and has been replaced by a forward line which will have 5-6 really strong overhead targets and smaller leading forwards which sides like Collingwood and Brisbane have proved works best with modern football. The Blues will also have quality get out of jail targets with McKay and O'Keeffe.
The other tactic teams use against Carlton effectively is to block and target Walsh. Being the token quick onballer he's the one opposition worry about. They worry less about the others who are slower accumulators as it only takes a good setup structure and pace around the contest to apply pressure onto them. To beat this I was hoping to land Butters but that was not possible. We will have to be using Smith in there a bit but also some of the others as rotations like Ainsworth, Hayward, Williams and Chesser.
So out of the three big weapons opposition sides use to beat Carlton. I would say that one has been taken away and two have been half taken away. To me this is an improvement.
As for other weak areas. The depth issue is one which will be resolved. Carlton will have a lot of AFL capable players and be less injury affected.
- Mar 16, 2024
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Well I havent got Harry OFarrell which puts Young with Emergencies. He won't be back till June/July.
Cottrell is way too underrated as a wingman/half forward. Williams disposal by foot is better than Ollie Hollands so put him back in his preferred as running half back now that we finally got players with half forward craft.
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- Apr 18, 2005
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The list is full of talent. It’s unlocking that which is the issue. I think they’re stacked with ability. Anyway, we will see.
I'd actually have both far ahead of Collingwood.
Both teams have made moves to change their long term outlooks that will hurt in the short term compared to Collingwood who have sat on their hands and done nothing while everyone else is making moves.
LOLOL.
Melbourne and Carlton are miles away from finals, let alone thinking about contending for premierships.
Pies have contended for flags in 3 of the last 4 years, and all we need is a bit of luck (as all teams do) to contend again in 2026.
Which Carlton players will be genuine All Australian contenders next year?
Weitering, and if his back is magically healed, maybe Walsh. Their very best seasons are likely in the past though.
I don't think Cripps or McKay will be All Australian again even if they are still good players.
- Apr 18, 2005
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McKay
Walsh
Weitering
Cerra
Hayward
Cripps
Key issue is fitness. Get that right, get good players playing and develop external run into a more dynamic forward line without Curnow and they’re a chance.
LOL!
Luck? You need Brisbane, Gold Coast, Geelong, Adelaide, GWS, Fremantle etc to fold to be a remote chance. More chance you missed finals completely.
You lost your second leading goal kicker and replaced him with an unknown, your list is as old as the hills.
Fadge, pull your head out of your ass for once.
