Universal Love Welcome to Carlton Graham Wright

[El Topo]

SOS left late 2019. Happy to be corrected but pretty sure Austin was list manager in September 2020 when Williams was signed

2019

Not talking about SOS - remember when we sacked a CEO for interfering in the football department?

 

[BluesFanatic2025]

remember when we sacked a CEO for interfering in the football department?

Seems like an easy excuse

Saad, Cerra and the money and long term contracts given to our stars. Pitto, Cotterel etc. If Austin was sacked tomorrow what clubs would be lining up for him?

 

[TheBlueCampaigner]

another well credentialed person coming to Carlton with a shopping list of expectations. I really hope he makes the club better and greatly contributes to on field success. But at this point I’ve see far too many messiahs come through the club that are unable to leave that indelible mark that leads to ultimate success.!

This guy is a genuine football person and is ‘un-Carlton’. Feels like the perfect fit. If he can’t put us on the path then I fear we will be doomed to wander the football wilderness for eternity.

 

[jpfalvo]

SOS left late 2019. Happy to be corrected but pretty sure Austin was list manager in September 2020 when Williams was signed

Austin picked Williams and Saad in his first season as List Boss.

Said it then
Saying it now, shocking

 

[Blue_Fusion]

Williams was probably seen as the best available at the time.

If you discount 150k which seems to be around the premium you pay for a FA, his contract isn't that bad. Was quoted as about 6x850 at the time.

It's his inability to stay healthy that has soured the deal.

Not just that for me...

1. He turned up out of shape... for a guy being given that much faith by a club to be a mid that's totally unprofessional.
2. By the time he reached his 4th season with us, he has proven he can't be a mid and he can't be trusted in the back line either... so he's been repurposed as a small forward... not really showing much in that role either...

 

[Blue_Fusion]

Austin picked Williams and Saad in his first season as List Boss.

Said it then
Saying it now, shocking

Compounded by trading pick 8 for Saad too... who does that? He was in his mid-late 20's while we were a still struggling side at the time...

You go after those types when you're in the window. It was a move made way too soon.

The Williams contract has been a disaster...

 

[The Bighouse]

I agree with the points made in the article, but I can assure everyone - Zac Williams is nowhere near earning $900k (or a million, for that matter) this year.

That reference was lazy journalism.

TFFT!
Though always thought he has been overestimated. Contracted figure was with performance bonuses, wasn’t it?, something far from realised.

 

[jj1978]

This guy is a genuine football person and is ‘un-Carlton’. Feels like the perfect fit. If he can’t put us on the path then I fear we will be doomed to wander the football wilderness for eternity.

If he succeeds, he should get a statue at Ikon, be submitted into our HOF.

 

[TheBlueCampaigner]

If he succeeds, he should get a statue at Ikon, be submitted into our HOF.

I would personally volunteer to wipe off the pigeon poo.

 

[JJBagger]

Saad was AA in his first year under Voss. Stop rewriting history

 

[JK61]

Saad has been an excellent pick up. Has played 97 of a possible 105 games, AA and regular in top 10 in B & F. Definitely worth the trade imo.

 

[Beyond Blue]

Saad was AA in his first year under Voss. Stop rewriting history

I think it’s more a reference to the cost of trading for him. Pick 8 is steep but remember our attempt to split the pick was snookered by Essendon who had pick 6 and 7 and therefore were willing and able to make a better offer to stop us splitting the pick. Aside from that Saad didn’t cost a bomb in terms of salary and has been a very servicable player for us.

The bigger mistake was taking Williams and paying him midfield money without any evidence that he could actually play the position consistently well. Sadly we are stuck with him until the end of his contract unless Wright wants to pay his salary for him to play for another club. Wright obviously did this with Grundy and Treloar so it’s not completely off the table.

 

[Sector 7G]

Austin picked Williams and Saad in his first season as List Boss.

Said it then
Saying it now, shocking

Looking at that draft that was undertaken with virtually no intel, if you look at the picks from 8 onwards to 20 the only player I would wish we took instead of doing the trade is Holmes. * had 3 picks and who knows if the order would have changed with less picks . Zac Reid has played a couple of good games in 5 years and is injured again. Perkins is showing no real improvement and Cox after a promising start has been out of the side and now looks like Concussions might end his career. Picks especially, in that draft, are over rated

 

[COBALT BLUE]

We better strap ourselves in. This guy is going to totally shake up the joint, and will take no prisoners.
Cook was the stable hand we needed at the time. His job s done. We’re booming off field.
Now it’s Wright’s time. His ‘football first’ approach is exactly what we need right now.

Yes good point essentially the club is healthy money wise with upgraded facilities to last....nice club,beaut ground,beautiful parkland setting..its good


AND we have seen improvement since rebuild since 2014 etc....
2023 was huge for blues..
2024 was ok.....
2025 we are looking a bit weaker after losing Jagga,kemp,Newman early......blooding c graders galore its not surprising
Almost looks a tank to me.....i think it is and Voss stays,maybe move on Lloyd or midfield coach...Voss should coach mids

Owies and Kennedy gone didnt matter that much....we missed Newman much more

Our forwards are a bit of a mess...e.hollands and Harry taking leave...gives us NO chance

our VFL is weak...........

Durdin-on return look ok....
Will White...looks OK......at times
Evans?
Carrol ?
Bins?
Hof?
Lord is still dear to play in the guts...maybe a bit better than Dow
Motlop fumbles around....has very little effecivness.....not afl......its too messy at moment
Raz...we need back to stabilise
We need e.hollands to consistently own being an excellent forward...
Charlie n Harry need bags every week

With All the bloods gap fillers we are playing.....WE ARE ACTUALLY DOING ok

Cause on paper right now we are weak......below average.....and cannot execure going forward

Can Raz play out a season......hmmm no

It is quite poor really......a lot of c graders just......
We need TDK and the rest to accept less money and work with Voss.....

It is the whole thing just a blues facade...too much easy money...no hard work....sucked in fans to a club that has money regardless....if g.wright makes too many changes blues will fall over....not a good idea..some changes yes
Need to address motlop issue....his got talent but just misfiring so badly its hard to watch....

Carlton needs to bolster the. VFL to top 6 or 8......and attain better fap fillers.....or at least coach them better...

We have improved .... Carlton is not far off the mark with a very uneven list talent wise..
Need club to sort this carefully...and it could improve as early as this tear definitely next yr....to me they need a few list fixes....we need another quality forward

 

[Markyd]

I really hope this guy is the messiah who will lead us to the promised premiership glory. Just feels like we a neck deep in sh@t barely keeping afloat. And the broader AFL community is loving it.

 

[Jimmae]

I question how Zac would be on a million a season a good six seasons after the trade.

... which is almost beside the point, really: why did we pay for a bloke who averaged 14 games a season - with three seasons of 8 having played all games, or at least nore than 20 - such a spectacular wage for such speculative prospects?

"He'll play midfield, he proved he can do it"; for a period of three games consecutively, not for an entire season.
"He'll revolutionise our ball movement from half back"; we already had Doc, and we brought over Saad in the same ****ing season; why did we need 3 rebounding half backs???
"We needed to show that we can get in the big trades"; to ****ing whom did we need to prove anything? It might be funny to laugh at Nth and the Aints for being unable to attract players, but get better onfield and it simply won't matter.

Honestly, I didn't agree with bringing any of Saad, Williams or Gov over. We didn't need them, and their contracts have been millstones for us. Acres was cheap, and so was Hewitt, but these two were opportunistic, which is what IMO trading should be.

You need to be able to develop your own players and let those who pop up happen when they happen.

But that's the problem, really: we didn't have the capability to develop in house at the time, and what we did have and could do we certainly didn't trust. And beyond that, we couldn't be honest enough with ourselves to reflect on why we actually went through with these trades, and thus low capability caused poor decisions.

I refuse to believe that Williams has received anywhere near $1m on the TPP, in any year. He's probably never cleared $700k at any point in his contract.

 

[The Bighouse]

I refuse to believe that Williams has received anywhere near $1m on the TPP, in any year. He's probably never cleared $700k at any point in his contract.

Here’s hoping..

 

[SurreyBlue]

Seems like an easy excuse

Saad, Cerra and the money and long term contracts given to our stars. Pitto, Cotterel etc. If Austin was sacked tomorrow what clubs would be lining up for him?

It’s a well known fact, our stars as you called them, took unders to stay. Every one of them was offered more elsewhere. We are really pushing rubbish re: cap and player payments. Just ajenda pushing and I’m not sure where it’s coming from.

 

[Wickzki]

Honestly, I didn't agree with bringing any of Saad, Williams or Gov over. We didn't need them, and their contracts have been millstones for us. Acres was cheap, and so was Hewitt, but these two were opportunistic, which is what IMO trading should be.

I didn't like the Saad trade. Thought we overpaid. Thought he had had his opportunity to come to us a couple of years earlier (2017 trade period). He chose * over us. Always been aware of the holes in his game. Appreciate the strengths but overall have always thought he was a dumb footballer prone to truly awful mistakes. Has proven that way at Carlton despite the cult following. Guaranteed to dump kick it a couple of times a game and have the ball come back over his head for a goal.

I understood the Williams acquisition and was excited by it at the time. I never liked the money involved. Was always concerned with the health issues. Thought otherwise it was a free hit for someone who would impact either in the midfield or off a flank either end of the ground. Unfortunate that all he's given us is years of pain.

I was on board with McGovern. I saw a forward who had learned to play in a system with multiple other tall forwards. I thought he'd go a long way to ensuring the development of Curnow and McKay. I thought the opposition would be forced to put their first or second defender on him. It would free up Charlie. Disappointing that between 2019-2021 (his first 3 years at the club) coincided with Charlie was basically sidelined with his knee injuries and he effectively missed a full season of footy in that span too. Then he played just 7 games in 2022. By the time he got healthier for 2023 his body was shot so instead of playing him forward he was pushed as a defender. It defeated the entire purpose of his acquisition.

As much as the natural talent was obvious I was never convinced about Jack Martin. I'd been a Suns member from 2016, first full season after moving up here from Melbourne, so I got to see Jack 4 seasons of footy before he joined. He was already struggling with the soft tissue injuries by the time we got him. 2017 was his best season but the Suns were rubbish (7-wins) that it almost didn't matter. He'd had two interrupted years in 2018 and 2019 when there were concerns over his professionalism and his wanting to be there (played some QAFL).

Of the four moves, however, none of them were real needle movers. Williams and Martin may have been had they realized their ceiling but the chances of that were low regardless of injury. Saad and McGovern good solid players in roles that we needed but both with flaws in their game at their best.

Between them and the long line of draft busts it amounts to a failed build. It's no real surprise that we are where we are. When we're good, we're great but anything less and we're in a hole too deep for the lack of depth to dig ourselves out of. Our midfield too one paced, despite the individual quality of players, and leaks too many goals.

The groundwork between SOS and Zac had already begun, and Austin simply inherited those discussions. No idea if the financial terms had already been agreed upon.

I've always been of the understanding that Zac Williams was an Agresta selection. Likewise Hewett.

 

[SurreyBlue]

Wickzki - you can add Hewett in your review. Unfortunately a good player but another one paced midfielder we didn’t need and can’t play another position. We just haven’t recruited to assist the group.

 

[Wickzki]

Wickzki - you can add Hewett in your review. Unfortunately a good player but another one paced midfielder we didn’t need and can’t play another position. We just haven’t recruited to assist the group.

There have been times when Hewett hasn't been a particularly favored player of mine. Further, if not for Hewett then in all likelihood, we still have Kennedy who I'll always love.

However, he may be the midfielder in our current 22 that gives the most consistent effort. Tireless worker. He also came across for a smidge under the average AFL salary.

Unfair to lump him in the group of McGovern, Williams, Saad, and Martin who all got paid well above average wage.

I'd put Hewett in the same group as Acres. We could have done with more of those signings and less of the big money group.

 

[Stamos]

Between them and the long line of draft busts it amounts to a failed build. It's no real surprise that we are where we are. When we're good, we're great but anything less and we're in a hole too deep for the lack of depth to dig ourselves out of. Our midfield too one paced, despite the individual quality of players, and leaks too many goals..

To me this is a system problem much more than it is a list one.

 

[DangerousD]

Compounded by trading pick 8 for Saad too... who does that? He was in his mid-late 20's while we were a still struggling side at the time...

You go after those types when you're in the window. It was a move made way too soon.

The Williams contract has been a disaster...

The only thing wrong with the deal was the price we paid, getting good players through the door is great business, Saad has been great for us and we should have been challenging more whilst he’s been here.

Cerra the same.

Williams has been a mess

 

[Wickzki]

To me this is a system problem much more than it is a list one.

It's both. There is no system or when there is it's an insufficient and inefficient system. There is no depth to the list for a/the system to work (this season). Too many flakes and too many kids.

 

[DangerousD]

It’s a well known fact, our stars as you called them, took unders to stay. Every one of them was offered more elsewhere. We are really pushing rubbish re: cap and player payments. Just ajenda pushing and I’m not sure where it’s coming from.

It’s not a well known fact at all, it’s a general consensus that most believe. I believe our big players could have got more elsewhere, but that doesnt mean they aren’t overpaid.

TDK has supposedly been offered $1.7M per year at the Saints, if we offer $1.1M and he stays, people will say, oh he’s taken unders, that maybe true but he’s still overpaid.