Lets not write off 2016

[BM123]

Can't see us improving too much.

I can see our midfield improving but Jamison and Rowe hardly give me much confidence in defense.

 

[P_Crippy]

Write off 2016? far from it.

We are experiencing a shift in culture thats possibly unparalleled since Barassi came to the Blues. We've kept our high draft picks for a change instead of frittering them off on speculative experienced discards, and we'll get Jack Silvagni who i personally rate highly. We've got a new coach from the Coaching Factory at Hawthorn. We've replaced the coach at the Northern Blues so hopefully our development program lines up with the senior side for a change.

We've got a fit Kreuzer, who if he can get a preseason in, I expect him to play out of his skin in 2016, alongside the likes of Murphy, Cripps and Gibbs - how can you NOT be excited by the prospect.

yes our forward line poses some concerns, but we've got the draft for that, and we've got some handy players coming through too.

I dont understand supporters that throw the towel in before we've even played a practice match/

Not enough likes for this post

 

[thylacine60]

Agree, P_C. I'm throwing a bag of yummy biscuits at it.

 

[Nori]

I have a reasonable level of confidence in the team's ability to be competitive but one or two of the talls must stand up in the forward line and have a real presence.

I read that Sumner should be good to go by the start of next season, but it's unclear whether that means good to train or right to play. Does anyone know if he is still in a moon boot after his op in Aug? How much of the preseason is he likely to miss?

 

[Blue87]

A bit off topic but i couldnt find a 2016 fixture thread on the carlton board. I'm actually pleased we dont have any friday night games next year and apparently a majority of them are afternoons. I have two young girls (both members of course) which means they will be able to watch them and we can make a few more trips over to melbourne next year. However, the AFL have set a standard now and if you dont perform them you dont play prime time, i hope this goes for all teams, i just cant see it happening.

 

[AB_Blue]

Oh God, we're Melbourne.

I said "at least" ffs [emoji6]

 

[ferrisb]

Write off 2016? far from it.

We are experiencing a shift in culture thats possibly unparalleled since Barassi came to the Blues. We've kept our high draft picks for a change instead of frittering them off on speculative experienced discards, and we'll get Jack Silvagni who i personally rate highly. We've got a new coach from the Coaching Factory at Hawthorn. We've replaced the coach at the Northern Blues so hopefully our development program lines up with the senior side for a change.

We've got a fit Kreuzer, who if he can get a preseason in, I expect him to play out of his skin in 2016, alongside the likes of Murphy, Cripps and Gibbs - how can you NOT be excited by the prospect.

yes our forward line poses some concerns, but we've got the draft for that, and we've got some handy players coming through too.

I dont understand supporters that throw the towel in before we've even played a practice match/

Sorry Wookster, but I respectfully disagree. I'm not a chicken little type, but I see a fairly bleak year ahead in 2016.

I agree with the factors you (and others) have mentioned, but don't think they will make a big difference next year (maybe down the track).

Forward line weakness - Yes we could draft a KPF or two. But they won't be hugely effective for at least a few years.

Ageing backine - JW and Plow help us to change the guard over the next few years, but I don't see us having anything like a top 8 backline next year.

Midfield - I am super excited by Krooz, Murphy, Cripps, Gibbs. It gets a bit thin after that IMO.

Gameplan - I think gameplan takes more than 1 off-season to really gel. It's not a crazy assumption that our gameplan will be a derivative of Hawthorn's. And we may not have the right cattle (yet) to execute that kind of play.

On the other hand, I think the biggest changes next year will come from

1) Less injuries - we have been more susceptible to injuries as we have had poor depth in last few years. Better run with injuries could make a huge difference

2) Better mental application - I hope a new coach with new ideas will invigorate the playing group. Generally speaking, I have not been a fan of the players' mettle for many years, but this year I think there was a serious 'we are not playing for this old bat' mindset amongst the playing group.

2a) - Better fitness - Following on from mental application, I could be wrong, but our team seems to have been in poorer physical condition compared to other teams in recent years. We seem to have had worse fitness and arguably less tough, strong bodies. Could be a biased perception of mine, but this doubt has has lingered for some time. Hoping better mental application and new fitness regime will fix this.

By no means am I saying we are screwed next year, that we won't win a game and we should throw in the towel now. Everything could click and we could rise up the ladder. It's certainly possible, but not likely the way I see it. IF we use the Hawthorn rebirth as a example roadmap, they finished 2nd last the year before Clarkson (4 wins), 3rd last in his first year (5 wins) and then made huge progress in the years after.

TLDR: I am loving the decisions the club has made in the last six months. But it's short-term pain for long-term gain. Next year has the makings of a very rough season.

 

[1981]

The best we can hope for is we recruit good kicks, and Bolton teaches the players a game style where we retain possession a lot better than we have in the past. We don;t have much of a forwardline at the moment so we will need to be patient and I think develop a possession style game to try and reduce the opposition scoring heavily against us. If we can do this hopefully we will be 'IN" a fair number of games and can eke out the odd win.

 

[Aphrodite]

A bit off topic but i couldnt find a 2016 fixture thread on the carlton board. I'm actually pleased we dont have any friday night games next year and apparently a majority of them are afternoons. I have two young girls (both members of course) which means they will be able to watch them and we can make a few more trips over to melbourne next year. However, the AFL have set a standard now and if you dont perform them you dont play prime time, i hope this goes for all teams, i just cant see it happening.

That's because it hasn't been released yet.

Only Round 1 has been released.

Two days to go.

 

[HBF]

Preseason fixture has been released. We play Hawthorn is Tas, Essendon at Princes Park and Sydney at Etihad.

 

[Aphrodite]

A bit off topic but i couldnt find a 2016 fixture thread on the carlton board. I'm actually pleased we dont have any friday night games next year and apparently a majority of them are afternoons. I have two young girls (both members of course) which means they will be able to watch them and we can make a few more trips over to melbourne next year. However, the AFL have set a standard now and if you dont perform them you dont play prime time, i hope this goes for all teams, i just cant see it happening.

Look now.

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/2016-fixture.1116349/#post-41776549

 

[Aphrodite]

Preseason fixture has been released. We play Hawthorn is Tas, Essendon at Princes Park and Sydney at Etihad.

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/nab-challenge-2016.1116344/

 

[HBF]

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/nab-challenge-2016.1116344/

Thanks Aph.
On my phone so i knew someone would put the link up.

 

[The_Wookie]

Sorry Wookster, but I respectfully disagree. I'm not a chicken little type, but I see a fairly bleak year ahead in 2016.

I agree with the factors you (and others) have mentioned, but don't think they will make a big difference next year (maybe down the track).

Forward line weakness - Yes we could draft a KPF or two. But they won't be hugely effective for at least a few years.

Ageing backine - JW and Plow help us to change the guard over the next few years, but I don't see us having anything like a top 8 backline next year.

Midfield - I am super excited by Krooz, Murphy, Cripps, Gibbs. It gets a bit thin after that IMO.

Gameplan - I think gameplan takes more than 1 off-season to really gel. It's not a crazy assumption that our gameplan will be a derivative of Hawthorn's. And we may not have the right cattle (yet) to execute that kind of play.

On the other hand, I think the biggest changes next year will come from

1) Less injuries - we have been more susceptible to injuries as we have had poor depth in last few years. Better run with injuries could make a huge difference

2) Better mental application - I hope a new coach with new ideas will invigorate the playing group. Generally speaking, I have not been a fan of the players' mettle for many years, but this year I think there was a serious 'we are not playing for this old bat' mindset amongst the playing group.

2a) - Better fitness - Following on from mental application, I could be wrong, but our team seems to have been in poorer physical condition compared to other teams in recent years. We seem to have had worse fitness and arguably less tough, strong bodies. Could be a biased perception of mine, but this doubt has has lingered for some time. Hoping better mental application and new fitness regime will fix this.

By no means am I saying we are screwed next year, that we won't win a game and we should throw in the towel now. Everything could click and we could rise up the ladder. It's certainly possible, but not likely the way I see it. IF we use the Hawthorn rebirth as a example roadmap, they finished 2nd last the year before Clarkson (4 wins), 3rd last in his first year (5 wins) and then made huge progress in the years after.

TLDR: I am loving the decisions the club has made in the last six months. But it's short-term pain for long-term gain. Next year has the makings of a very rough season.

The team losing doesnt make for a bleak year so much as people writing the club off before we've even got to the year. its like reading Talking Carlton in here at the moment.

 

[Aphrodite]

The team losing doesnt make for a bleak year so much as people writing the club off before we've even got to the year. its like reading Talking Carlton in here at the moment.

 

[Aphrodite]

So much doom & gloom and the ball hasn't even been bounced yet for Round 1!

 

[Dramoth]

So much doom & gloom and the ball hasn't even been bounced yet for Round 1!

All the negative posters must be loving the offseason after the shit season we just had... they can hang shit on the club all they like about next year...

But I think that a lot of us other posters are being optimistic and looking forward to the future after a fantastic trade period.

 

[Doro]

I don't see that much negativity, expectations are quite low for a number of posters- that will soon change if we win games early. The changes the club have introduced are a genuine reason to be positive.

 

[ITCHY EYEBALLS]

Without a doubt we will win 6 - 10 games in 2016
We just need a decent run with injury and consistency of our better players.
The standard has been set, give 100% to the team or bye bye.
New coach, new enthusiasm,new game plan, new recruits

I think we will surprise a few

 

[therubbernub]

are we forgetting that we were fringe 8 in 2014. Then for some reason we had Yarran and Henderson go severely off the boil in 2015. We would have been better off if they had been injured- at least they would not have been taking up a spot in the side. Another shocking run of injuries as well.
We will have replaced Yarran and Henderson with players that at least will give their 100%.
I see improvement in our list coming from

Cripps - continued improvement
Kreuzer- consolidating his return and injury free
Murphy enjoying the pressure being taken off with the tag
Walker - giving us an injury free year and play forward
Gibbs - returning to 2014 form
Buckley- will become more consistent
Boekhorst- will find his feet
Byrne - back from his hamstring will cement his place
Graham - to cement his place in the midfield
Rowe- will be much more effective with a competitve midfield and new teammates Weitering and Plowman beside him
Sheehan- back from his OP will cement his place across half back
Docherty - will move into the midfield
Thomas will come back fit and firing
Tuohy- will really show his quality and improve on 2015
Kerridge- will add much needed run and toughness
Plowman- will add some class to the backline
Weitering- will add some talent to our backline

 

[ImBlue]

So much doom & gloom and the ball hasn't even been bounced yet for Round 1!

Na, just realist's. Exciting to watch the new talent come in though. We'll take the pain knowing there's light.

 

[one eyed bluey]

Points of optimism.
-the Bolton factor
-Our top 4 picks, weitering will have an immediate impact,8,11,19 should have good talent and make solid cameos throughout the year.
- players like Holman, Graham, Boekhurst, Jaksch, Buckley, Plowman, Sumner, kerridge, get another pre season and should step up a level.
-We know what Murphy, krooz, jammo, Simpson and Cripps will give.
-The missing x factors, Gibbs, walker, Thomas, these guys will be a huge addition when fully fit.

 

[rp84]

Your comments do nothing to dispel the drug culture rumours.

This.

 

[athensblue]

Seeing we have no Friday night games next year, we'll have 6 less losses.

Makes sense.

 

[RAPPA]

Expect the worst; exceed bleak expectations; consider the season a marginal success