Dark days

[JBs-Hawks]

Seen the best meme the other day, funnily enough it was before the Melbourne loss too.

Went something like

'Set foxtel IQ to record all the episodes of the Biggest Loser"

"It series linked all Carlton games"

[Vinny]

Its been awhile since I been around but I just thought I'd pop my head in and see how everyone is doing?

Fantastic, absolutely flowering fantastic. :(

[Ricochet]

Seen the best meme the other day, funnily enough it was before the Melbourne loss too.

Went something like

'Set foxtel IQ to record all the episodes of the Biggest Loser"

"It series linked all Carlton games"

haha yeh saw that one last week too. Classic

[Mat0369]

Vin, go back and read my response to the PM you sent me in November

[Vinny]

Vin, go back and read my response to the PM you sent me in November

Alright I'll try find it mate.

[Mat0369]

Alright I'll try find it mate.

I just read through it before and there are a couple things that stand out

[Vinny]

Wow, haha. You nailed quite a few things there man. Good read, reflecting even though it's Round 4. Gives us a pretty good gauge on where we are at and the reality of things.

Mick is a spastic.

I think you should coach Carlton.

[Mat0369]

I might copy paste some of it in to here if I can be F'ed

[Vinny]

Yeah do it man.

[Mat0369]

So Vinny pretty much asked me back in November about my thoughts on the club and the recruits since I have been pretty vocal all off-season with my displeasure of the Daisy signing. If you see any Duigan references, this was written before he retired.

I don't have a problem with the Docherty pickup, most outsiders thought he did enough to get games, that is the one recruit I do agree with as he should allow Walker and Simmo to rotate through the midfield more if he is used properly. I do have massive problems with paying a guy 700k a season to most likely sit on the sidelines. That money would make him the highest paid player on the list, that means more then Murphy, more then Judd, more then Gibbs, Kruez, Hendo and so on. Is he worth it? Hell no. Especially for 4 years, you have potentially crippled your salary cap meaning you are up shower creek in the years time. What the AFL have yet to learn is that FA is not the way to go about building a team. FA has existed in American sports for years now, the teams that are most successful in the NFL are the ones that build a team through the draft and draft well, not the ones that go out and spend huge amounts in FA. They are the teams that struggle for years and end up at the bottom because their big recruit busts and they are literally stuck with them. Go and read up about the 'Dream Team' Philadelphia Eagles or the Albert Haynesworth signing. Actually any FA signing the Redskins have had in the last decade. To sum it up, to spend 700 k on a guy with a bum ankle is flat out stupid management.


Also if Carlton are going to be a finals side, a guy like Everitt should not be in the 22. He saw extended time at the Swans last year with all the injuries they had and he was serviceable. To let a guy like Laidler walk that was elite in his position because you are so hard headed you won't play him and have his replacement be Everitt, bad management again. They spent to much time f'ing around on the Docherty deal that they missed out on Delaney and Bruce who could have come in and held down a key post allowing Hendo to swing forward. You also had Joey Montagna on the market and he would have been the perfect fit for us to push for a flag.


On the topic of Bell, he was smashing the VFL constantly last season and couldn't get a game. He was dropped in favor of Bootsma, Lucas and Cachia a couple of times. You might think that Malthouse is a smart guy that knows what he is doing, I don't. I think he is a senile dinosaur whose gameplan is outdated and can easily be shown up. Geelong exploited this gameplan in his last game as Pies coach in 2010. I will make a list of guys that were given extended spells in the VFL last year when their form warranted them a game in the 1's

Laidler
Bell
Duigan
Graham
Curnow
Hampson
Watson
Yarran
Robbo
Ellard

Guys like Boots, Lucas, Rowe, White and even Casboult at times were getting games while these guys were stuck in the VFL. Also for a guy that is supposed to know about player management he really butchered the Yarran situation. As soon as he got into it with Yarran, he lost Betts and Garlett. The three of them are really close and have each others backs, that was part of the reason for Eddie putting the massive pricetag on his head, he wanted out after the way the situation was handled.

Then forget about playing the guys out of position. You had Simmo playing deep back before he was finally given a license to push forward, when he did his form skyrocketed and he won a B&F, you had Murphy, Judd, Yarran and McLean spending extended periods deep forward. I know Judd is ageing, but he doesn't have the skills required to play as a forward. He isn't great overhead and his goalkicking is below average. Murphy is a good goalkicking option, but it has to be as a mid. That is how he had his big seasons, being in close winning the hard ball and then spreading forward to run in and steady. Not as a marking option. McLean is an in and under mid not a forward. So you have a coach that doesn't know how to use his cattle, to run an outdated gameplan and then when they end up behind he tells them to go play, they go through the middle and look infinitely better. A good coach molds his system to fit the players he has. When your best attribute is speed by foot and speed in moving the ball, you don't limit that by playing along the boundary. The best example of this was the final against the Swans. The wings were just about unusable in that game as it was like an ice rink, so instead of playing more direct and moving quickly through the guts, they continued to play along the dodgy wings and kept slipping over. Again that is dumb football and what does it say about the coach if he is instructing the players to play that way?

Even if you go back to the season, I lost count of how many times teams just sat a loose on each wing to create a two on one as the players were instructed to go boundary. This resulted in constant marks from the opposition and a counter attack staight into the 50. It happened in round 1 against Richmond and it happened countless other times during the season. Malthouse's answer after the game is that even though Carlton dominated playing that style of football, that he wasn't going to play it that way. It isn't that we don't have the talent, because we sure as hell do, but it is frustrating to see as a supporter a gameplan that is so predictable that the opposition just picks it apart before the coach throws it out to only see them come back and either win or keep it within a kick. He is trying to fit a round peg into a square hole and he is so egotistical that he will continue to do it and Carlton will continue to struggle. The worst mistake that club made was firing Ratten to go after Malthouse. Ratts had a year to run on his contract, if they failed last season, they could have let him walk and gone after Roos. Instead he is now at Melbourne and we have a coach who would rather play favourites then pick players on merit.

Also Bootsma would be alright if we used him the way the Cats use Mackie or GC use Cannon. He is not a key defender.

Honestly I can't see us being successful with his gameplan, I think our older guys have 1 year left and he ended up cutting a bunch of kids we put a ton of development into so we don't have instant replacements. Carlton need to rebuild, but the rebuild can be done in 2 seasons if they used all the tools available to their advantage. They need to draft well, trade the spuds like Lucas for what they can get and develop the kids like Buckley, Graham and Bell to step in. I think he takes his 2 years, does nothing and we have a new coach come in and rebuild.


Vinny also asked me on my thoughts of the best 22 at the club

I can't get a best 22, its going to come mainly down to form if you are hoping your young guys push for games

If Docherty plays, you have to move Simmo and Walker into the midifield

You want 3 of your tall defenders to be out of Jamo, Watson, McInnes and Duigan. This is assuming they play Hendo forward, so you have those 3 with Tuohy who is a guaranteed  walk up start, then the other two medium/smalls are going to either be Walker (if he doesn't play in the guts or up forward), Yarran (if he doesn't play forward), Simmo, Docherty, Everitt, Gibbs and Scotty

The midfield rotation you have Murphy, Judd, Gibbs, McLean, Robbo (although you list him forward but he plays in the middle) and Carrots are your walk ups. You still have Simmo, Scotty and Walker to roll through there and you have Bell, Graham, Lucas, Curnow and Cachia battling for spots

Forwards you will have Hendo, Waite, Jeffy, Menzel, Armfield (defensive forward), the resting ruck so that would be Kruez or Casboult. Then you have to decide on Warnock and Kreuz or Kreuz and Casboult/Rowe. I personally don't like Kreuz forward so if I was playing both rucks I would try something a bit differently. If I went with Kreuz and Warnock I would play them both at the contest around the ball and use the other in a 3rd man up situation. It would give our mids a huge advantage.


Anyway looking at the guys we have

1. Murphy
2. Judd
3. Gibbs
4. Kreuzer
5. Simmo
6. Walker
7. Jamo
8. Hendo
9. Waite
10. Garlett
11. Yaz
12. McLean
13. Carrots
14. Scotty
15. Robbo
16. Menz
17. Tuohy
18. Dennis
19. Watson
20. McInnes
21. Warnock
22. Docherty
23. Curnow
24. Bell
25. Graham
26. Duigan
27. Everitt
28. Casboult/Rowe
29. Lucas
30. Cachia

So we are batting 30 deep and you have to pick players on merit and form through the season. So if McInnes as a young guy struggles you play Duigan, the same goes with the mids

[Vinny]

If you are thinking it's too long to read, don't. Read it, it's good stuff.

[kilbluff1985]

that's only some of it? :o

[Mat0369]

I cut out the irrelevant stuff, there was some things in there about a couple of past players and Dustin Martin.

[fidou]

Enjoyed the read Mat0369 especially the game plan stuff. I have also struggled to work out why we play the boundary over a direct route. Interesting what you say on the final against Sydney and the slippery wings. Was interesting in what you said about the 3 amigos.
Thanks for the write up.

[Ringo]

Thought this was a classic:

Mick Malthouse got caught 43ks over the speed limit.
Just shows he will do anything to get 4 points

also quoted in jokes today.  Been doing the rounds,