News When victory smells like a con job

[Jimthegreat]

One week we are criticised for beating top sides but falling over against sides we should beat. Now we smash an average side we're now flat track bullies. go figure.

Collingwood's won 2 from 5 but if they tried to get back on track with the same performance as we produced last night they'd be " right back on track flying towards a premiership".

We had a mid-season downer. even then, as ordinary as we were against Fremantle, a top 4 team, we lost by 9pts after playing average footy as well as being 1.12 5 seconds before half time. If we kicked 2 more goals we'd be praised for winning ugly against a top 4 side.

 

[agro]

Collingwood's won 2 from 5 but if they tried to get back on track with the same performance as we produced last night they'd be " right back on track flying towards a premiership".

That's fodder for the "bogans" & "no shows" Colllingwood masses to sell Herald-Suns.

Although for most of them it would be pinching newspapers or reading it off the newstands and putting it back down again.

 

[Cazbah]

The Hun is an emotionally attached girl who is always on a rollercoaster of emotions. When Carlton beat the best sides in the AFL the Hun bows down to us and kisses our feet.... When we lose or win not-so-convincingly, the Hun attacks us.

Although i do enjoy reading the Herald Sun most days, i know that half the stuff they put in there is bull**** or lies.

 

[HeziBarecket]

North, Essendon, Freo etc have all smashed us and we disappeared, it's a sad fact that at the moment we are flat trackers, Brisbane had most of their stars out we only had Kruz and Bower out.


.

Good point. We always drop to drek like those teams, it seems we get outcoached, Ratten seems to not be able to rev the players up when Judd gets tagged out or they drop numbers back into our forward line to expose obvious weaknesses in our defence.

The other thing that bothers me is when we lose to drek filth like the Bummers, all our supposed 'experienced' players like Thornton, Walker, Houla, Waite seem to lose the plot and that then freaks out our three Amigos. The other thing is we still need another forward like Betts to keep our forward line potent maybe Hendo next year, but I reckon Waite should be working harder, it's a shame we're missing him for the Doggies, he must feel like a total shlepper for getting reported the stupid way he did.

Maybe it is time to bring perennial shvitzer Wiggo into the side to play his only decent game against the Bullies in the way we used to bring Bannister in before we delisted him?

 

[Uhumagoo]

I often wonder if it's their way of trying to maintain balance in the commentary box given Wallsy's blatant bias.

10 have Walls, Lane and Radar just to balance out Quartermain's ramblings.

 

[Silvagnis]

Even though I hate to agree with the article, I think I have to, it made some vaild points, we have shown that when a team comes out and hits us hard we go to water. North, Essendon, Freo etc have all smashed us and we disappeared, it's a sad fact that at the moment we are flat trackers, Brisbane had most of their stars out we only had Kruz and Bower out.

Waite and Mclean were missing from our best 22.

Fremantle are a top four or five team.

Show them some respect.

The AFL is such a close competition that anyone can lose if they're off one per cent.

Everyone was saying the Cats were unbeatable, yet they lost to the Saints last week.

Even in the first quarter when the Lions put the heat on us we turned to water, we are just lucky Brisbane don't have the quality like North and Freo and a few other theams, we have a long way to go and I can see us being kicked out after the first final, if we make it.

But still we needed that win and the percentage to go with it, it gets us about water and hopefully we can improve in the run to the finals.

We were kicked out last year too.

What did you expect this year after both Fevola and Stevens left the building?

Our forwardline and midfield had to be rebuilt.

We were without Fevola and Waite this week, yet we won.

 

[Monkey King]

"CARLTON did what flat-track bullies always do - beat up a young opponent lacking in form and personnel."

An average age difference of 18 days between Carlton and their 'young' opponent last night AND Carlton averaged 5 games less experience; according to the Huns own gimmick - the Strength Indicator - the Blues were just 2% closer to full-strength than the Lions.

Why not just take a look at your employer's own website to see if the "young and inexperienced Lions outfit" angle has legs, rather than just discarding any journalistic integrity and deciding it sounds about right ... Idiot!

 

[starchamber]

We won with Bower, Waite, Kreuzer and McLean out, with Grigg and Hampson underdone in their first game for the year. There's enough to be happy with from last night regardless of who we were playing.

Yes we won with 3 of our best 18 not playing but they had no Brown and Fevola who are better together then those 3 when not injured.

 

[Jimthegreat]

I think the article was pretty acurate. Need to go and show some mettle against a top 4 club now...

Bring on the Doggies next week!

It was a pathetically stupid article. What part of the Geelong and St.Kilda thrashings did you and he miss.

 

[davis_756]

"CARLTON did what flat-track bullies always do - beat up a young opponent lacking in form and personnel."

An average age difference of 18 days between Carlton and their 'young' opponent last night AND Carlton averaged 5 games less experience; according to the Huns own gimmick - the Strength Indicator - the Blues were just 2% closer to full-strength than the Lions.

Why not just take a look at your employer's own website to see if the "young and inexperienced Lions outfit" angle has legs, rather than just discarding any journalistic integrity and deciding it sounds about right ... Idiot!

This is what annoyed me, beat up a young side? If we were playing north/wc or melb sure, but no one else is younger then us then these 3 sides.

 

[mediumsizered]

Yes we won with 3 of our best 18 not playing but they had no Brown and Fevola who are better together then those 3 when not injured.

This is part of the misconception that Ralph, among others, is peddling.

Carlton went into last night's game with a forward line consisting of KP forwards O'hAilpin & Henderson & then the 3 amigos & Houlihan, with Hammer also spending some time in there. Brisbane's forward line consisted of KP forwards Brennan & Cornelius & occasionally Clark, as well as Sherman, Banfield & Buchanan.

The rucks saw first round draft picks Leunberger & Clark pitted against rookie pick Jacobs & project ruckman Hammer. The respective midfields were led by two of the greats, Judd & Black respectively, with Carlton having Murphy, Scotland, Carrazzo & occasionally Betts, Grigg, Robbo as back ups, while Brisbane had Rischitelli, Rich, Power, Polkinghorne, Rockliff supporting Black.

Brisbane's defence included Merrett, Patfull, Staker, McGrath, Johnstone, Sheldon, while our defence was made up of Jamison, Thornton, Walker, Russell, Gibbs, Armfield, Joseph.

Looking at the teams on paper, Carlton had a slight edge in the midfield, the respective forward lines were similar in experience, although our 3 amigos are extremely dangerous when up & running & the Lions definitely had the edge in experience in defence.

Realistically the teams were evenly matched, although are at different stages in their development, with the average age being exactly the same for both teams, whilst Brisbane had a marginal edge in average games played. Whereas Brisbane have been able to call on Brown & Fevola for most of the season & yet only managed 5 wins for the season, we have been winning games with far less exposed talent available to us & as pointed out by The General, without our leading goalkicker of the last 7 seasons.

For all intents & purposes Brisbane should be as competitive as us, even without Brown & Fevola. We are fielding most weeks a team that is not a lot different in experience to what Brisbane fielded last night, including not having power forwards like Brown & Fevola, & yet we are winning more often than we are losing. We are either over-achieving or Brisbane is under-achieving. I would suggest that we are over-achieving given the current balance of our team, so a 9 goal win over a team of similar make-up to ours is a damn good effort. Those that suggest otherwise are letting Brisbane off the hook.

 

[Alpha1]

Look I am happy with where we are at the moment, we need to improve on a few things, a few important things at that. Next season is where we will find out exactly how far we have come, Garlett, Yarran, Hendo, Lucas etc will have another good pre season under their belts and we will have a new recruit in Kruz as well.

 

[TheKITC]

We won with Bower, Waite, Kreuzer and McLean out, with Grigg and Hampson underdone in their first game for the year. There's enough to be happy with from last night regardless of who we were playing.

And conveniently forgot to mention our victories over Geelong and StKilda so far.

Not sure how we can be criticized for not performing in high pressure finals when we're coming off the worst period in our history. We simply just haven't been there and have a different make up already to the team that played finals in '09.

I agree that we need to prove our worth as a good side consistantly, no doubt. But I just think this just another negative Carlton article which seems to appease a lot of fans but adds very little to any genuine footy discussion.

We're still a young team finding our way as a good side trying to become one of the best sides. It's no panic stations for me, you don't get anywhere by having unrealistic expectations.

 

[Silvagnis]

Murphy wasn't too happy at being called flat track bullies.

Marc mentioned the wins against Geelong and Saints to shut the journos up.

Jury out on Voss strategy

From Carlton’s point of view, the decision to trade Fev was also significant. Currently sixth on the ladder with eight wins, they are performing above expectations. The fact that they are the fifth highest-scoring team with a good spread of goalkickers is even more intriguing.

Jury out on Voss strategy

Luke Darcy > Jon Ralph.

Or should that be Jonralpha1?

 

[Sin City]

Yes we won with 3 of our best 18 not playing but they had no Brown and Fevola who are better together then those 3 when not injured.

God you're a half wit. It's 4 of our best 18, possibly 5 if you include Lucas and those two guys you mentioned can't fix Brisbane's terrible lack of leg speed all over the ground. 58 inside 50's to their 38.

 

[Alpha1]

Well no one expected us to be still in the running for a finals spot, we were written off and smashed from pillar to post at the start of the season, I know I get upset when we get beaten, but that is because in our losses it is the effort of the players that upsets me. We have to bring intensity to every game, we are improving hopefully now after the break we can really make a strong push to the finals.

 

[DamianBis]

Or should that be Jonralpha1?

or Spudralph?

 

[Bluebear]

Yeah, we're a middle of the road team, but then so is Sydney as is Hawthorn and as are Freo and possibly even the Bulldogs right now.
We ebb and flow just like the aforementioned teams, but our best is as good as anyones also.
Tapping, and then holding onto that best though is the true test for Ratten and the boys.

I reckon we've hit our lows for this season and will start to power on from here on in.

Hawthorn haven't been ebbing much for the last 2 months.

Until we win 4 in a row, let alone 3, I wouldn't mention us in the same breath as Hawthorn.........I think currently on 7 in a row.

 

[HARKER]

Hawthorn haven't been ebbing much for the last 2 months.

Until we win 4 in a row, let alone 3, I wouldn't mention us in the same breath as Hawthorn.........I think currently on 7 in a row.

..... and lost five put of an opening 6.

With 8 rounds left we may get back to our best as much as Hawthorn may slump back to their worst, unless you know better

Who would have picked Richmond to win 4 out of their last 5, so if it's O.K. with you, I'll choose to be able to talk about Carlton in the same revered way you do about Hawthorn.

 

[Bluebear]

..... and lost five put of an opening 6.

With 8 rounds left we may get back to our best as much as Hawthorn may slump back to their worst, unless you know better

Who would have picked Richmond to win 4 out of their last 5, so if it's O.K. with you, I'll choose to be able to talk about Carlton in the same revered way you do about Hawthorn.

Tut tut.......

you can talk about whoever you like however you like.

I reserve my right to disagree and point out glarring errors of judgement where I see fit.

 

[HARKER]

Tut tut.......

you can talk about whoever you like however you like.

I reserve my right to disagree and point out glarring errors of judgement where I see fit.

and fair enough

 

[HeziBarecket]

Just because there are teams that have Premiership players, doesn't mean those players are actually that good when comparing sides - look at West Coast, Port and now Sydney...

But Brisbane do have a talented list but they are a one-man-team like alot of other sides (us even with Judd). No Brown and Brisbane are a bottom 4 side.

Anyway its' FANTASTIc to see Danny 'Golden Boot' Rich show nothing this season, and Yarran's beautful skills emerge. Him and Garlett are the reason we are travelling better than expected, no doubt.

 

[Faz 2000]

I still fundamentally think it's a bit ass-about that the discussion is about how disappointing the Blues were... when we won by 9 goals and pretty much doubled our opponent's score. No, we were not super-impressive. But the other mob, who topped up in the off-season and were 4-0 "top of the world, ma" a few months ago are a freakin' train wreck. I'll take disappointing 9 goal wins all year thanks.

 

[Blue since 72]

The article is essentially a piece about whether we're pretenders or the real deal, particularly as to whether we will have any meaningful say in the finals. However, the title of the article and the reference to flat track bullies is pretty disrespectful to the players.

They played the team that was presented to them and kicked their arses.
What ifs, who coulda played, who shoulda played, who was fit and who wasn't is irrelevant.

If we had lost the article may have had some more relevance.

For mine, yet another filler stating the obvious (yes we're a work in progress and who knows what we'll achieve in September).

What'll we get from the media after this weekends game?
'Blues show September form', 'Blues the real deal' or 'Blues have been found out', 'Blues still have a long way to go'.

PFFT, other than giving us something to talk about while we wait for the weekend; take with a pinch of goat shit comes to mind.

 

[40yearBLUE]

Reminds me of a scene from a Kevin Spacey film (the name of the film escapes me) but he is escaping a trouble past in the storm ravaged port town of his childhood and is training to be a reporter by the owner of the small town rag. The owner looks out to sea and sees a storm on the horizon and tells him the byline that he could write for the paper that day could read "Storm threatens town", he asks what happens if that harmless storm passes on by, and the owner retorts "Storm spares Town" or words to that effect.

The press changes bandwagon according to whichever team gets up that week. A few weeks ago almost the entire football writing community was writing the Saints out of the 8 because of the loss of Roo.

4 weeks is a lifetime in footy this season, have a look at who was where 4 weeks ago and where they are now and you have a guide to how much bandwagon jumping there has been. 4 weeks from now we could be entrenched in the top 6 knocking on the top 4's door or we could be teetering on the edge of the 8 or out of it. I think only the top 3 is settled right now, and even 4th will be tough to steal from 2 games adrift.