A bit worried about Wilson.
I think he should play rest of year, and if he shows no improvement, well, hes out of contract. We have too many kids on the list.

Flip side, he’s done well in VFL for a 20yo

Felt for Harry

Watched the game from midday today in Elafonisos island. Loved that.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Mark of the game for me wasn't King ..... It was Frankie out marking Mac Andrew ..... great effort all night Frankie

McKay couldn't buy a free kick

The game is over 4 quarters. Just need to balance it out.

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"IF YOU FAIL TO PREPARE, YOU'RE PREPARED TO FAIL" - Mark Spitz

No point playing Cincotta over Wilson, we need to play youth and see what they have. I don’t see it with Wilson either but need to try him for the last few games before making a call. You should what your getting out of Cincotta.

Young does he worry about contact. Looks like someone in a corner being bashed while he holds his head and doesn’t fight back. Infuriating as he does a couple of good things. But he is scary.

And what is wrong with Weitering, miles away from king all night. He needs to lose some weight and be a bit more athletic.

The game was almost a microcosm of our season: this time we got both the strong start AND the late surge of quality once the game was comfortably out of reach. But we didn't pick up a major injury so it wasn't a complete package.

Watching a bit of rezzies this year meant I wasn't shocked by Frankie's game, but it sure was nice to see him replicate his best on the big stage (maybe the 20k crowd helped!). Gotta love a player who can nail 45-50m set shots. The less said about someone else's set shots, the better.

Let’s not get crazy and talk about promoting Frankie yet though. Leave him on the rookie list to stay with that hunger till it’s shown regularly. He was amazing yesterday. But don’t want our judgement clouded by a few amazing games. We should be aiming higher and not just settling. I want to see it for a long time.

All things considered, not a bad effort.

I feel for Lewis Young, he's clearly not a defender, and he showed promise up forward, but injuries forced him down back again.

Fogarty is not a forward. We either find a spot for him in the midfield rotation, or he doesn't play. I don't recall ever seeing him play down back, maybe that's an option when he's not playing midfield?

Then again, Harry got over his yips, maybe Fog can too?

The best thing about this year is the kids
If blokes who have been there for a while want to go then just @#$%&! off
Even the Keogh meister has hope in the future

The difference is that H is a good kick that gets in his own head sometimes, while Fog is just a bad kick

I was really disappointed with Wilson, but I did see a few good signs in the last quarter, some good pressure and good decisions with handballs. Maybe he's just a bit overawed playing at AFL level and doesn't feel like he belongs, play him for the rest of the season and see if he settles in.

A few people saying we looked better when we "threw the game plan out the door", but from my memory the way we played I the last IS the game plan we practised all pre season.

Pros:

Competed and contested hard. Out tackled the opposition.
Evans, Lord, Harry.
Oli didn't use the ball well, but found more ball than he ever has.
Fogarty was pretty good, but absolutely butchered 2 easy opportunities from 20 metres out.
O'Keeffe showed a bit.

Cons:

Couldn't defend the ball out in space. Ball movement wasn't great either.

At this stage of this season, it is good to see a few good things. In this case, Lord's performances and Frankie.
Also it was great to see O'Keefe have some moments (although that ball-drop when he kicked his first goal was distinctly Kernahan-esque).
I thought Harry battled strongly all night. And Ollie has really come on this season. It is clear to everyone, I assume including himself' what he needs to work on over the summer. And I believe his work ethic will help him rectify his disposal. But ALSO, it would help a lot if he was kicking more to the advantage space in front of leading players rather than trying to pinpoint a largely static target. I think a better game plan will help with that. It is a big reason why some clubs look like all their players are super skilled while others, like us, look like we just draft unskilled players.

While I do accept the impact of all our injuries, it should be noted that we were playing terribly even when we had most of our senior players on the park. This year, and last season. I think it is largely a mental or cultural thing where we only seem to play to the level we think is required. So, against Richmand, we thought we'd done enough and took our foot off the gas. Last year, against the Giants... and then, judging by the public comments of some players, they seem to think we have it all under control. As if we are able to just flick a switch whenever we want.

Will White, the two Youngs, Durdin, Motlop, Fogarty and Wilson would be the bottom 15% of AFL Players, and that was a 1/3rd of our team. It's amazing we stayed as close as we did.

Cowan, Lord and Holland can all play with Moir a maybe.

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Go Blues

Yes there was no throwing out the game plan, we just squeezed up the ground more to apply more pressure when they got the ball and it also enabled Saad and Cowan to impact around the packs more. However it did mean we were more susceptible on the break but as long as you win the ball and don't turn it over then that is not a problem.

IMO, Rowell was the biggest difference in this game. We just couldn't contain him.
Both Hewett and Cripps couldn't go with him. I keep saying it but can't keep playing both these 2 in the same setup.
When Williams went on ball, he made a difference and really highlighted our Achillies heal. Need him centre and forward.
Weitering is a real concern.

Yes , Rowell belted the bejeezus out of anyone that touched him . Carried Goldy on his back . And I believe a Carlton supporter growing up . Wonder if he wants to come home one day .

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All my dangerous friends

Kicking back on the beach at Elafonisos, this post gave me great pleasure.
I feel the changing of the guard, but feel we have kept the best of a failed SOS era, and added a lot of good kids. Of the trades we have made it’s the cheap ones from good culture that we still reap dividends from: Newman Hewett Haynes…and from a depth perspective Pittonet.

PS any of my TC brethren loving the Greek Islands, ive discovered one, and I’ve been to a lot. Have family and friends who own resorts and hotels. They don’t interest me so much because too many tourists. However, before it goes off the Island Elafonisos on east coast of Peloponnesus is the bomb. The whole island is a sandpit. Simos is an amazing spot with its 2 bays either side of the spit, but the other side of the island, the quiet side is amazing.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Love your posts 17th but cannot agree one bit with the last paragraph.

We started the season with 13 out. We won every first half for half a dozen games we lost with those injuries. We lacked players who could play 4 quarters. Our depth was and is an issue as soon as we have 8 out injured.

No tam has won a game when they had 12, 13, 14 and 15 players out as we have endured. Injuries matter. No teams win finals or flags with an injury plagued year.

Yeah, you can blame game plan, but I think that’s guessing because we won all but one game when we had less than 8 out injured. Fact.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Depth is our downfall.

Too many kids….some will work out, but FMD, most won’t.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

I know the posters who like Fog, and defended him. I met him when he walked in the doors during covid….my mistake. I didn’t realise covid rules in Vic at the time.

I had written him off 4 years ago when it was obvious he lacked class to finish. Some said he could kick 50 metres. I said it back then, he could not be relied on from 30 out. Still the problem. Pointless holding him to his contract if we can replace him with a better cheapie….Evans? I’d like to improve on both in 2026

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue