Opinion Our biggest problem.. Complacency

[aristeas]

Complacency: "self-satisfaction especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies"

Depressed after watching (and predicting) last weeks defeat against the Tigers, and thinking about Vossies' spray at 3/4 time the week before, I've been trying to find the right word for our biggest problem. And I think it's complacency.

We get a few goals ahead and think we've done enough, and ease off.
We start so slow and sloppy we give up an early 4-5 goal lead imagining we can easily make it up later.
We kick a bag in the 2nd and have to hang on in the last.
3 quarters of footy per game isn't enough.

Because we're complacent.

We think we're good enough, so we expect that whatever level of effort we put in will be enough. And it ain't.
I seriously doubt whether we'll make finals this year, with much of our defence on the sidelines and a tough draw ahead I think we'll be lucky to win four more games. And it isn't lack of skill, or talent, or plan, or even execution. It's complacency. Overestimating our efforts, and underestimating our opponents, when the teams below us are gearing up for a big surge to September. Tell me I'm wrong, or how we fix this.

Thoughts anyone?

 

[marleyblue]

Disagree - our biggest problem is the horrendous run of injuries

 

[Bletch]

I think complacency affects all teams from time to time. I don't see it as our main problem - and I don't see it as the main reason we lost to the tigs.

In Voss's first presser as Carlton coach, he said he wanted to bring three traits to Carlton: Consistency, reliability and durability.

Now, half way through his first season, how do you think he's going?

I think your "Complacency" really comes under the first item - "Consistency" - i.e. bringing the same level of performance into the game week-in, week-out. Largely, I believe Voss and his coaching team can call this a win. We are far more consistent both in-game, and from game-to-game than we have been in recent years.

"Reliability" I'll also call a win. You can see it in the way the team is working for one another. There's a level of trust that has been built up, that the team know each other can be relied upon to do their role. It's far from complete, but again, is a huge improvement over recent years.

And then we come to "Durability". It's been our bug-bear for years, and it still is. We're running out games a bit better than we have in the past, but our injury toll remains dire. And it's this that is costing us matches (bearing in mind we are still 9-4, but those 4 losses have all come on the back of significant injuries either in game, or prior). If Voss, Russell & co. can improve our durability in the way that we've improved in the other two factors, we'll be well in contention.

Still, two out of three ain't bad, right?

 

[thylacine60]

half the team out through injury........so complacent...........we're barely hanging on...........ridiculous suggestion.............

 

[Rustica]

Disagree - our biggest problem is the horrendous run of injuries

This.


This team has not had any form of consistency for the past 5-6 years. Every single week a player goes out/comes in, goes out/comes in.

I do understand it is a tough game, but it is usually our top or structural players getting hurt. I just want a season where the only ins and outs are due to form or minor injuries. Non of this 8-12 week stuff that completely ruin team continuity and chemistry.

It's starting to get real frustrating and will prevent us from winning a premiership if it does not improve imo.

 

[klompy]

As Vossy noted, it wasn’t our decimated backline that was the problem last week. Our last two games we’ve been smashed in the middle.
I think our biggest issue is that our gun midfielders are starting to look weary. Perhaps they are carrying injuries…but irrespective we look reactive and tired in the middle


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[Arr0w]

Don't think it is complacency at all. Most sides in our range/quality/maturity will encounter momentum swings either way.

Gameplan - A basic gameplan, contested structure was introduced, so the talent and composition of our list was more competitive, while we add layers to have more effective ways to attack and defend. Some of these layers have been added and we have seen, that we are finding other ways to score and defend, the challenge is being consistent with those structures for longer

List - Between having an unbalanced list, especially in regards to talls and the lack of foot skills across the park, this can be improved each year over the next 3 years. Health of list in-season is the number one reason for sides having periods of being more effective/competitive, which takes a downturn when losing important cogs

Attitude/Mindset - We need to play closer to the edge, as sides like the Tigers/Hawks have done during those flag years

My expectations from the start of the season to round 13, I think we are ahead of schedule, but we did catch Dogs and Port at a good time. Back half of the season might be harder to get the wins we believe are possible, but 4-5 wins and we play finals, again better than my preseason expectations

 

[T2B_]

Used to be, not so sure now.

 

[thylacine60]

We get a few goals ahead and think we've done enough, and ease off.
We start so slow and sloppy we give up an early 4-5 goal lead imagining we can easily make it up later.
We kick a bag in the 2nd and have to hang on in the last.
3 quarters of footy per game isn't enough.

no-one who has been "true-blue since 76" can believe any of this............on what planet do our players think any of this? maybe planet 1970-80s........

 

[Robbo's my hero]

Surely an accusation of complacency can only be aimed at successful teams. Plenty of things to sort out before we reach the pinnacle of being self-satisfied.

 

[Michael Jezz]

I do not think we are complacent onfield. Thursday we played dumb football and there was no sign of in-game management to adjust by coaches and players.
The area at risk of complacency is recruiting
We have had 2 years of trading out draft picks
We need to take 4 draft selections and forget stop gaps.
These kids need to provide long term solutions to our lack of key positions
We also need to start preparing for a post cripps midfield. He is 28 next year

 

[I bleed Blue]

This was true for previous years. Not anymore. Not under Voss.

We are hungry. You can see it.

Just need some luck with injuries

 

[Arr0w]

I do not think we are complacent onfield. Thursday we played dumb football and there was no sign of in-game management to adjust by coaches and players.
The area at risk of complacency is recruiting
We have had 2 years of trading out draft picks
We need to take 4 draft selections and forget stop gaps.
These kids need to provide long term solutions to our lack of key positions
We also need to start preparing for a post cripps midfield. He is 28 next year

I agree that we did play dumb footy in the 1st qtr, overuse by hand, which wasn't effective in the conditions, but I disagree we didn't adjust in-game

The real, continual breakdown was either allowing them the +1 defensively and or bombing it long in the air to that structure, rather than a chaos ball into space which would not have drawn the +1 and allowing us to add better numbers to the next transition

 

[Cripps 'n' Blue Bloods]

Complacency: "self-satisfaction especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies"

Depressed after watching (and predicting) last weeks defeat against the Tigers, and thinking about Vossies' spray at 3/4 time the week before, I've been trying to find the right word for our biggest problem. And I think it's complacency.

We get a few goals ahead and think we've done enough, and ease off.
We start so slow and sloppy we give up an early 4-5 goal lead imagining we can easily make it up later.
We kick a bag in the 2nd and have to hang on in the last.
3 quarters of footy per game isn't enough.

Because we're complacent.

We think we're good enough, so we expect that whatever level of effort we put in will be enough. And it ain't.
I seriously doubt whether we'll make finals this year, with much of our defence on the sidelines and a tough draw ahead I think we'll be lucky to win four more games. And it isn't lack of skill, or talent, or plan, or even execution. It's complacency. Overestimating our efforts, and underestimating our opponents, when the teams below us are gearing up for a big surge to September. Tell me I'm wrong, or how we fix this.

Thoughts anyone?

I don't agree with it being complacency.
I do agree with some of your points though.

As far as 3 quarters of footy not being enough, no team plays a consistent 4 quarter game every week. 3 quarters of good footy should be enough to win most weeks. Just about every game will see at least one quarter where the losing side gets a bit of a run on, or has some momentum go their way, or makes a structural/gameplan change that works briefly.

 

[JustaBattler]

I disagree with the wet weather football analysis- the facts say that we missed our opportunities in Q1 - and there were plenty - whilst they converted everything.

EDIT oh and one other thing: Richmond are front runners any sign of pressure and they revert back to bogordinary.

 

[RedFury]

A bold statement by the OP.



(but I disagree with it.)

 

[aristeas]

Thanks to those vehemently opposed to the 'complacency' idea. I really hope you are right. I must admit I've been in shock for the first half of this season at the brilliant pressure football we're playing. It's a joy to see the high level skills of Fisher (for example) actually become useful in a side where his bullet passes from half-back to half-forward actually fit into something larger.

 

[Aphrodite]

Injuries!

 

[Ezayyak]

5 players have played every game, a further 8 have missed one.

Brisbane 13 players have played every game a further 5 have missed 1.

13 vs 18. Pretty much Brisbane has 18 unchanged every week out of 22.

Brisbane have used 33 players Carlton have used 37, only second to West Coast.

 

[4flagsin5yrs]

I agree that we did play dumb footy in the 1st qtr, overuse by hand, which wasn't effective in the conditions, but I disagree we didn't adjust in-game

The real, continual breakdown is either allowing them the +1 defensively and or bombing it long in the air to that structure, rather than a chaos ball into space which would not have drawn the +1 and allowing us to add better numbers to the next transition

The poor first quarter was more than the winning margin.....

 

[Justnetime]

In the context of the season, nothing to do with complacency IMO. It’s structural, transitional and injury related. Over this season we have faced technical challenges. The first was transition from turnovers and half back. The second is now a simple weakness in our ruck (TDK) meaning weak midfields can now beat us at our strength (CBAs). We are a stop, start, mark side in comparison to sides like Freo, Pies and Tigers. When you take out our talls, and our quality talls like McKay/Weitering, our stop, start and outmark falls apart.

The boys by and large want to win every week based on their history of being so shit. The Freo, GC games were technical failures making the effort seem lacklustre. Both Darcy and Witts destroyed us. Maybe the players weren’t 10/10 in all of our losses but they did turn up. Check how hard it is for other clubs to be def con 5 ready for every single game of the season.

The Richmond game was an interesting one. This was a case that Carlton turned up to play but not in a smart way for wet weather footy. In that first qtr, we fumbled the slippery ball while Richmond tapped and kicked the ball forward without taking possession. Tigers had a smarter mindset. That and TDK couldn’t give us our CBA advantage. Nanky beat him. Credit to our boys for a close finish on effort.

I haven’t talked much about injuries..but don’t think we need to much. The talk of replacement soldiers works wonders to cover a couple of players. Not 9/10/11 players. Once a threshold is met, your group is just much weaker on quality.

 

[Bletch]

5 players have played every game, a further 8 have missed one.

Brisbane 13 players have played every game a further 5 have missed 1.

13 vs 18. Pretty much Brisbane has 18 unchanged every week out of 22.

Brisbane have used 33 players Carlton have used 37, only second to West Coast.

Also consider, the players we haven't used:
Mirkov & Akeui - development players, not "ready" for top level
Cuningham - injured
Honey - returning from injury, likely to get a run soon (maybe this week)
Hayes - just arrived at MSD

The only ones that have been available for a major portion of the year and not selected are Kemp (prob gets a run this week), Willo (has been sub, but didn't get on, and is now out of action) and Philp, who also had an injury-interrupted start to the year.

 

[Blue Reaper]

Don't think it is complacency at all. Most sides in our range/quality/maturity will encounter momentum swings either way.

Gameplan - A basic gameplan, contested structure was introduced, so the talent and composition of our list was more competitive, while we add layers to have more effective ways to attack and defend. Some of these layers have been added and we have seen, that we are finding other ways to score and defend, the challenge is being consistent with those structures for longer

List - Between having an unbalanced list, especially in regards to talls and the lack of foot skills across the park, this can be improved each year over the next 3 years. Health of list in-season is the number one reason for sides having periods of being more effective/competitive, which takes a downturn when losing important cogs

Attitude/Mindset - We need to play closer to the edge, as sides like the Tigers/Hawks have done during those flag years

My expectations from the start of the season to round 13, I think we are ahead of schedule, but we did catch Dogs and Port at a good time. Back half of the season might be harder to get the wins we believe are possible, but 4-5 wins and we play finals, again better than my preseason expectations

This captures it, I reckon.

And to reinforce the point on list health, the loss of a few ‘important cogs’ has had a compounding detrimental effect on the team. It’s actually astounding, and unexpected to me, that we’ve done as well as we have.

Blimey, gotta wonder what we’d achieve with a mostly healthy list.

I’m happy where we sit given the injuries and eager to see how the next month plays out.

 

[Jeremias]

Complacency has been an issue in previous seasons. Not this year though.

Our biggest problem is we haven't been able to keep our players on the park. There are other issues, but none of them come close in magnitude.

 

[Cripps 'n' Blue Bloods]

5 players have played every game, a further 8 have missed one.

Brisbane 13 players have played every game a further 5 have missed 1.

13 vs 18. Pretty much Brisbane has 18 unchanged every week out of 22.

Brisbane have used 33 players Carlton have used 37, only second to West Coast.

Not that it changes your point too much, but pretty sure it's 38 players now. I think it was 37 prior to Durdin coming in.
When you consider WC are at 43 and have been smashed by injury and covid protocols, that's huge for a 5th placed team who has spent a chunk of the season in the top 4.