- Dec 31, 2018
- 710
- 1,960
- AFL Club
- Hawthorn
Some have unkindly called Carlton ‘irrelevant’ in the 21st Century.
But it was Oscar Wilde who famously said ‘the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about’.
And we love talking about the Blues. At the time of writing there are no less than 14 Baggers threads on the first 2 pages of the main board. To misquote Anthony Hudson, ‘14!’ The AFL is a huge entertainment industry and Carlton are box office, no question. In pondering the why of this it’s worth first summarising those threads.
There’s the comparison with other clubs threads:
The enormously popular ‘Who will be better in 2025? Carlton or Collingwood’.
Plus ‘Have the Crows gone past Carlton?’, ‘The rebuilds of Carlton and Fremantle and their prospects’, the draft swap-inspired ‘Who will be better in 2025? Carlton or Hawthorn?’ which is a particular favourite of West Coast fans, and one of those ever hopeful historical comparative threads, ‘Carlton 2025 = Richmond 2016’. And holy Cow, there’s even more on the third page with comparisons to North Melbourne and Brisbane too.
Now, aside from the Collingwood comparison thread, which speaks to the most storied rivalry in the history of the game, I find these other team comparisons a little niche and weird. Which isn’t a criticism, I also find Morris Dancing a little niche and weird but I get that some people are really into it - more power to them and to readers of these threads I say.
Then there’s the Michael Voss threads: ‘Carlton and Michael Voss - where to now’, evoking a sense of a troubled partnership lost in time and space, the Muhammad Ali-inspired and deeply sentimental ‘Voss could be the greatest’, and the critically-acclaimed ‘Carlton under Voss’. Not to mention Voss playing a starring role alongside Ken Hinkley in the always compelling ‘Who will be the first coach to be sacked’ thread.
Now I get it, a coach under pressure is a soap opera we’re all here for but I think the Voss story stands alone. You have a tough no-nonsense Aussie everyman, a ranga who makes citizens arrests, with a touch of Dirty Harry about him. And that’s before you consider that he was arguably the best player of his era, is in his second coaching job having already ‘failed’ nobly in his first, with stints in the media of variable quality in-between. He’s met with those imposters, triumph and disaster, just the same. It’s such a captivating roller coaster story that I can see why Patrick White’s novel about Voss is considered by many good judges to be Australia’s greatest.
Finally there’s the others:
The almost profound ‘Are Carlton on the verge of greatness?’, the ‘5 minutes past midnight and I’ve turned into a pumpkin again’ angst of ‘Has this Carlton list already peaked?’, and the touchingly hopeful yet biologically questionable ‘Can Sam Walsh be the GOAT?’
Which leaves just one more, the one that speaks to me the most:
‘Why Carlton have been promising so much yet delivering so little for so long’. This really is the question. What has become of the hated rival of my youth? The Carlton of The Dominator, The Buzz, Kernahan, Bradley, Rhys Jones, John Elliot, the team that would sometimes thrash even the greatest Hawthorn sides of the 80s. Why do I now actually feel sorry for them? It’s weird and unsettling.
So which one’s your favourite and why?
But it was Oscar Wilde who famously said ‘the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about’.
And we love talking about the Blues. At the time of writing there are no less than 14 Baggers threads on the first 2 pages of the main board. To misquote Anthony Hudson, ‘14!’ The AFL is a huge entertainment industry and Carlton are box office, no question. In pondering the why of this it’s worth first summarising those threads.
There’s the comparison with other clubs threads:
The enormously popular ‘Who will be better in 2025? Carlton or Collingwood’.
Plus ‘Have the Crows gone past Carlton?’, ‘The rebuilds of Carlton and Fremantle and their prospects’, the draft swap-inspired ‘Who will be better in 2025? Carlton or Hawthorn?’ which is a particular favourite of West Coast fans, and one of those ever hopeful historical comparative threads, ‘Carlton 2025 = Richmond 2016’. And holy Cow, there’s even more on the third page with comparisons to North Melbourne and Brisbane too.
Now, aside from the Collingwood comparison thread, which speaks to the most storied rivalry in the history of the game, I find these other team comparisons a little niche and weird. Which isn’t a criticism, I also find Morris Dancing a little niche and weird but I get that some people are really into it - more power to them and to readers of these threads I say.
Then there’s the Michael Voss threads: ‘Carlton and Michael Voss - where to now’, evoking a sense of a troubled partnership lost in time and space, the Muhammad Ali-inspired and deeply sentimental ‘Voss could be the greatest’, and the critically-acclaimed ‘Carlton under Voss’. Not to mention Voss playing a starring role alongside Ken Hinkley in the always compelling ‘Who will be the first coach to be sacked’ thread.
Now I get it, a coach under pressure is a soap opera we’re all here for but I think the Voss story stands alone. You have a tough no-nonsense Aussie everyman, a ranga who makes citizens arrests, with a touch of Dirty Harry about him. And that’s before you consider that he was arguably the best player of his era, is in his second coaching job having already ‘failed’ nobly in his first, with stints in the media of variable quality in-between. He’s met with those imposters, triumph and disaster, just the same. It’s such a captivating roller coaster story that I can see why Patrick White’s novel about Voss is considered by many good judges to be Australia’s greatest.
Finally there’s the others:
The almost profound ‘Are Carlton on the verge of greatness?’, the ‘5 minutes past midnight and I’ve turned into a pumpkin again’ angst of ‘Has this Carlton list already peaked?’, and the touchingly hopeful yet biologically questionable ‘Can Sam Walsh be the GOAT?’
Which leaves just one more, the one that speaks to me the most:
‘Why Carlton have been promising so much yet delivering so little for so long’. This really is the question. What has become of the hated rival of my youth? The Carlton of The Dominator, The Buzz, Kernahan, Bradley, Rhys Jones, John Elliot, the team that would sometimes thrash even the greatest Hawthorn sides of the 80s. Why do I now actually feel sorry for them? It’s weird and unsettling.
So which one’s your favourite and why?
