One Draft Away

[Louie22]

I think Carlton are only one draft away from being a wonderful side. Next season we will be in the bottom 3 but it dosen't matter there will be a hugh amount of improvement. I think the only thing we are lacking is a Big strong CHB.

 

[marcmurphy3]

I think Carlton are only one draft away from being a wonderful side. Next season we will be in the bottom 3 but it dosen't matter there will be a hugh amount of improvement. I think the only thing we are lacking is a Big strong CHB.

Yeah probably. I still think we need another hard ball getting inside midfielder.

 

[Blue Thunder]

I think Carlton are only one draft away from being a wonderful side. Next season we will be in the bottom 3 but it dosen't matter there will be a hugh amount of improvement. I think the only thing we are lacking is a Big strong CHB.

I expect us to finish higher than the bottom 3 next year. I would expect that Collingwood, Brisbane and North all to finish below us.

 

[AndyWalkersGirl]

Go away We are not finishing bottom 3.

We will always be another draft away... because we will always be looking to the next draft to restock and rebuild. That is footy. Always looking to pick up the next best available talent.

Carlton has used the past 3 drafts to start stocking up, and stocking up well. If you look at our list Louie22, the vast majority of players are under 24, with our average age of our team 21.5years.

It is not a matter of us being another draft away, for us to play finals footy. It is a matter of the young players gelling, and playing well together. Confidence (in yourself and your teammates), experience and determination make that, not another few draft picks.

I believe we have a great young group of players. Yes, for sure, with more drafts over the next few years, we will continue to build a young team of good talent (hopefully).

Originally posted by bluegal1983

Young kids - Russell, Murphy, Kennedy, Blackwell, Bentick, O'Hailpin along with Gibbs, Hampson, Grigg, Austin, Benjamin & Anderson.

Young kids with some experience - Walker, Simpson, Fisher, Waite, Carrazzo, Thornton.

Still young with more experience - Fevola, Stevens, Scotland, Whitnall, Houlihan.

And kids that we haven't even really tried yet with plenty of potential - Bower, Hartlett, O'Hailpin, Edwards, Flint.

Looking the goods

We can keep drafting good kids with talent. But only the experience of training and playing together will give them the confidence and desire to want to do well with each other.

We are not a draft away from playing finals footy. We have the talent now. We just need the right people in charge of looking after them. We have Ratts and Braddles, who are two wonderful additions, and the club will reap the rewards in a few years time.

And you just have to look at the kids too - our young ones have their heads screwed on properly, and the thing is, they want to do well for the Carlton Football Club. For them to come out, and to say that they have gotten together, and spoken about sticking together as a young core of players with the hope of bringing success back to the CFC is music to my ears.

I'm dreaming of finishing 8th next year... but dreams can come true

 

[NWTYRX]

seriously, we lost 6 games by 3 goals or less last season, so if we can't just get that killer instinct, i dont see we cant win more of the close ones

 

[audas]

14 wins. if we start kicking a few more goals, and stopping a few more goals, thats 14 wins.

14 wins.

 

[AndyWalkersGirl]

Gee i really like your thinking audas

14 wins is good. unrealistic, but good!!

ALl i know is that we will be better than what we were this year!

FINALS FOOTY NEXT YEAR! (Or the year after hehe)

 

[danzan22]

if carlton fin bottom 3, then they could pick up kruezer (i think his name is). great ruck prospect apparently.

 

[btdg]

We're almost certain wooden spooners next year. all the other lower ranked teams have more short-term improvement in them than we do right now. Hawthorn are just a year ahead of us in their rebuilding. Essendon will bounce back (dead cat bounce!) with Lloyd and Michael bookending the team. Brisbane have enough left in the tank, plus enough games at home to stay above us. Same goes for Port. The only real competition is North - and when it gets to round 14 and both teams are 2-12, their players and club have a lot more to play for given their financial state and they'll do enough at the end of the year to stay off the bottom.

Strangely enough I reckon we've bottomed out, will be better next year, and probably don't deserve the priority pick we'll get next year (thats just the lagged effect of the draft). But we'll take it - and end up with a midfield with the best young ruckman and 3 consecutive best young midfielders in the comp. Ouch! But we're definitely one draft, and 3 years, away still.

 

[C4[2]Yo`DooR]

if carlton fin bottom 3, then they could pick up kruezer (i think his name is). great ruck prospect apparently.

you've got that right .... 202 cm ruckman from the Northern Knights said to be better than Luenberger.

 

[roly]

bottom three next year is probaly right but players at times develope quickly and injuries can ruin a year dont want to kill discussion but its only november and we are allowed to dream...........and we will go blues

 

[blues4flag]

We can do better than bottom three - and probably need to. If we play well on field we'll look good off the field. That said, I'm hoping for a minimum of six wins next year, with 8 to 10 wins being a decent expectation. It all depends on how much our younger guys improve over the offseason, as I wouldn't be expecting much from this year's crop in 07, apart from Gibbs. A couple of the others should get games but their impact will probably be minimal. Our improvement depends on guys like Walker, Murphy, Russel, Blackwell, Kennedy, Bower etc. guys in their 2nd, 3rd and 4th years who we need to stand up. As we get experience and the team gels, we will get better, and hopefully by the end of 07 we will no longer be the laughing stocks of the AFL.

 

[audas]

yeah, look bottom is almost ridiculous call. If that happens you can kiss the club good-bye and watch em move to NZ as part of the national expansion.

The payers we pick up this year are the cream that takes us to the flag in in 08 or 09 and beyond. As mentioned its the players like Murph (who we hardly had last year) kennedy, Russel, Wiggins, Walker, Bower, Hartlett, Blackwell, Eddie, WIATE, FISH, who need to really put their hand up and show us something great. If they don't , even with the new kids we wont be going anywhere in 09 and beyond.

If we see big years out of Waite, Fish, and the rest mentioned above, expect to see us making up the numbers in the bottom of the 8. Big call and hard to see for a lot of us i know, but expect it. No, demand it.

 

[audas]

NZ is a state isnt it ?

 

[HBF]

you've got that right .... 202 cm ruckman from the Northern Knights said to be better than Luenberger.

Perhaps not better than Leuey C4, but certainly very hard to split them.

 

[HBF]

I agree, we probably do need an inside mid, certainly to round off our core midfield group. There are a couple of kids that will be available in the PSD that would certainly fill this role for us:

Leigh Adams
Caolan Buckley

 

[C4[2]Yo`DooR]

Perhaps not better than Leuey C4, but certainly very hard to split them.

shhhh !!! I really need this ! lol

 

[Gibbsrightboot]

Looking at our fixture, the first half of the draw has alot more winnable game than the second half of the draw

We need to get a run of wins early to build the confidence within the team similiar to what Collingwood did this year and then who knows really what we can achieve. I for one didn't expect Collingwood to make the finals in 2006 and they could have easily finished top 4.

If however we are 2-9 come half way then expect to finish last again with an extra priority pick in the ND.

 

[Blue_4_Life]

I think we'll finish bottom 4 again, however I'm not overly fussed as long as there is some improvement from the younger blokes and we are more consistent.

We need to play more games where we're competitive for the full 4 qtrs, and avoid huge losses.

If we can win 5-6 games, whilst maintaining a consistent output in the games we lose, I'd be happy.

 

[Jimthegreat]

We're getting a terrific group of players together, we just lack a head coach, which, again will hold us back. You don't lose 67 from 88 for nothing

 

[Jeremias]

We're getting a terrific group of players together, we just lack a head coach, which, again will hold us back. You don't lose 67 from 88 for nothing

Yes you do-you lose that many due to a crap list.

We are in the process of fixing that.

 

[Blue_4_Life]

We're getting a terrific group of players together, we just lack a head coach, which, again will hold us back. You don't lose 67 from 88 for nothing

Pagan has proven himself to be a great coach in the past, and IMO he has copped a lot of crap which is unjustified.

We had one of, if not the worst list in the competition when he took over, and he tried to fix it with recycled players and young kids. What else could he have done? It's not as if we had anything of value to trade for ready made players, nor was the club an attractive proposition sitting at the bottom of the ladder? We also lost our top picks due to the ineptitude of the previous administration.

Rebuilding is a slow process, one we are not used to, yet we are now finally going to reap the rewards, and people need to give him and the young blokes a chance.

 

[Bluebear]

We're getting a terrific group of players together, we just lack a head coach, which, again will hold us back. You don't lose 67 from 88 for nothing

I feel like I'm at an PBA meeting (Pagan Bashers annon)...........Hi My name is JTG and its been 33 days since my last Pagan bash............

Can't blame you for having a crack in a thread that has been about new and young players thus far.......the shivers.......the night sweats..........just bash him and sit back in your chair to feel that comfy feeling again.................soothes the pain.............


Switch back on topic now.
Agreed that we are a few years away from being competitive with top 4 teams BUT
as pointed out earlier, I belive our immediate success hinges on two older players. Waite and Fisher.
If these guys start presenting AND slotting goals, with the delivery they are likely to receive from Murph, Gibbs, Stevens, Simo and co then we will beat most bottom 8 sides. The development of the ruck, backline and hard ball winners will take us the rest of the way IMHO.

 

[The Grover]

As long as we improve, don't put the improvement on no of games won. All the bottom sides may improve, we could end up with 6 wins & finish bottom.

Lets just see positive attacking footy, not this crap where we kick 2-4 goals in a half.

Lets see Braddles improve some players kicking skills, and Ratts make us more competitive in clearances.

If we happened to win 4 or less games next year ( really hope we don't ), do we get a priority pick prior to 1st & 2nd rounds.

 

[AndyWalkersGirl]

I refuse to think negatively

We will win more than 5 games next year. We will not finish bottom 2.

Waite, Fish, Kennedy, Betts, Murphy, Gibbs, Blackwell, Simpson and Kouta will all kick more goals next year than they did this year.

Our defence will only improve - because it has to.

Barring injuries, we will be a better team next year, and will finish maybe 13th/12th.

But anything can happen in sport, and we may even play finals