- Jul 14, 2005
- 18,723
- 29,560
- AFL Club
- Carlton
- Other Teams
- Chelsea FC
I read your other posts and you're balanced but with me you are oddly arrogant. I'm confused, did I do something to offend?
Just think of this, whilst Carlton is injecting another preseason into 16 sub 23 year olds
Everyone else is also injecting another preseason into high quality players. Bulldogs finished 7th-8th the past two years, you'll be trying to leap frog them and they get Adam Treloar and the No.1 draft pick.
Collingwood finished 8th and drafted five kids in the top 30.
Melbourne finished 9th and have a seasoned playing group that made top 4 a few years ago and could finish anywhere.
When I say Carlton could finish 12th - its not because Carlton is sh*t, its because the competition is tight and you'll need a lot of the attributes I listed to go right to get top 8.
A great start to the year helps, and it doesn't get easy for Carlton in Round 1 and Round 2. Could realistically start 0-2 against Richmond and Collingwood who are both very experienced teams. Your record against Richmond (0-10) and Collingwood (1-9) the last ten times would say statistically you'll start 0-2 ... it's the more likely scenario.
Then in Round 3 you're playing Fremantle in Perth and Round 4 the Gold Coast in QLD... and the GC early in a season is far more difficult statically than playing them at the end of the season. Round 5 and 6 you play the teams that finished 1st and 2nd in 2020.
The first month will tell us plenty about Carlton.
I've got you pencilled in at 1-5, I suspect you'll beat Gold Coast, but have you losing to Richmond, Collingwood, Port, Brisbane and Fremantle in Perth. Then the supporter backlash kicks in, the player disengagement, the panic and in Round 7 ... you play celler dwellers Essendon. Who the last 11 times? 5-5 and a draw lose that and finals are finished and then the media circus begins.
Round 8 and 9 - the 8 point games, Bulldogs and Melbourne and if the confidence and momentum is done at this point, might beat one and your record could be 2-7 or 3-6 at best. I just dont see Carlton playing finals.
One thing we certainly have going for us is we've had a reasonable record against a number of those teams that'll be projected to finish around the same range. We'd the wood over Freo, have had wins against the Bulldogs the past couple of years and even at our lowest ebb had good tussles with Melbourne, and won a couple of games.
Collingwood will drop out IMO. A bunch of underdeveloped rookies wont do much in year one, and the loss of Treloar and slowing of Pendlebury and/or Sidebottom will probably be the sticking point. Add in a tumultuous off season, and they could be set for a big fall.
Still lingering issues with lack of KP talent and depth.