Makes sense. Not that I ever liked Van Halen or David Lee Roth. And did you really read his autobiography?

Should have guzumped Port and snapped up Dean "the junkyard dog" Laidley when he and the kangas parted ways last year. No better tactician in the game.

this is more about strategy than personnel....
Its more about how we play.

There's no doubt we have Myriad Cracks - no doubt whatsoever. Problem is, we don't know they exist. That's what the summer months are for; get everything in order and then iron out deficiencies whether that be in NAB or Challenge Cup.

I liken the Carlton situation to Van Halen...yes - you heard me - Van Halen. During the 80's Van Halen did dozens of shows every year, and at each venue, the band would show up with nine 18-wheelers full of gear. Because of the technical complexity, the band’s standard contract with venues was thick and convoluted — David Lee Roth said in his autobiography that it read "like a version of the Chinese Yellow Pages." A typical "article" in the contract might say, "There will be 15 amperage voltage sockets at 20-foot spaces, evenly, providing 19 amperes."

Van Halen buried a special clause in the middle of the contract. It was called Article 126. It read, "There will be no brown M&Ms in the backstage area, upon pain of forfeiture of the show, with full compensation." So when Roth would arrive at a new venue, he’d walk backstage and glance at the M&M bowl. If he saw a brown M&M, he’d demand a line check of the entire production. "Guaranteed you’re going to arrive at a technical error," he wrote. "They didn’t read the contract…. Sometimes it would threaten to just destroy the whole show."

In other words, Roth was no diva. He was an operations expert.

At Carlton, I don't think we have an operations expert. I don't for a minute question Ratten and Riley's capabilities to understand the modern game and the modern footballer. However I think they're far to reactive - not proactive. If they were operations experts, they'd know pretty quickly how to move the chess pieces around to gain the upper hand. Like a lot of the boys on the list - the coaches are perhaps another year away from figuring out what Carlton's brown M&M is.

That's a ripper story and you're on the right track. There is no doubt Ratten is a coach who is learning on the job, but I'm going to wait and see what he has in store for the regular season. I'm not pleased about how we seem to avoid the corridor a bit much, but I very much doubt that is his to-the-letter instruction.

Well........................depends which way you look at it.

Saw the 2 NAB games at PP and the intra club. Cant say they filled me with any great confidence and after much backing of Ratts for the past 2 years......I'm slowly starting to turn against him. Beggers belief that we cant resolve our kick ins or defend them the other way

But then, ...............sure we lost Fev and Stevo( who did bugger all toward the latter years of his career ), but gained ..Warnock, who'll be handy, Brock ( although he's been sh1thouse so far ), Hendo ( who's there abouts ) and we get back a fit Jamo, Bower( who we lost late last year ), and Waite .....................BUT most of all we have the natural maturity of the bulk of our list by another year.

Despite what i've seen so far this year, I simply refuse to accept a season with less than what we achieved last year. Regardless of FEV and Stevo, the rest should make up for it.

I did say should.

We've gone from having questionable rucks to having a questionable forward line. Small forwards were an issue last year and that crisis was solved, so now really it's just the media assuming we can't deal without a clear focal point in our forward line, and that we have no one who can play such a role.

The former they may be right on, but the latter presents itself in one Jarrad Waite.

A Fox Sports pundit has us down to finish 13th, heavily referencing our pre-season form. Other write-ups suggest Johnson, Wiggins and other lesser-lights are key names missing from the mix at present.

If we do need an operations expert and I am not close enough to the coaching staff to know one way or another, we should admit it and be getting the best NOW whoever that may be.

What worries me as well, is Ratten & Co saying they are happy with our pre-season games.

How can you be? Surely the passion is there to win every game, and not just settle.

I would like Ratten to come and and see he is not happy when we lose, because we certainly are not as supporters especially with poor skills and lack of intensity.

This is a very pertinent point Jimmae, and goes against much of the doubters train of thought.
That is, what is Ratts actually trying to instill in the playing group?

I'm convinced that as a coach he is well aware of the difficiencies of the kick outs and also of the ease in which the opposition move the ball out of the back half, and I'm also convinced he isnt telling the group not to man up and not to create space and kick to advantage from the kick out!

As in all instructions and learning roles it takes time and we need to exercise patience.

myriad of cracks?

this is 'boys own manual' stuff ie not such thing as the perfect line up.

we have enough first and second round draft picks on the list, at least 13 or so that have played a season or more.

this year, particularly with the loss of Fevola, it must be amount committment, wanting to get best out of each other and a game plan.

there is no reason to expect we should go backwards in 2011.

Another pre-season under the belt, a message of discipline in the off season and start of the art facilities - more than balances any loss of one player.

Myriad of cracks? we should aspire to set a new standard this year.........one for all other clubs to compare against and indeed highlight the myriad of cracks existing across every other team. Stay tune for a new 'boys own manual' to be released for all dreamers.

You really are a born leader LB.

At least I can say, you know what you're talking about.

There's a lot of doomsdayers out there who say it as they see it....it's not their fault they don't know.

I know the Blues are coming...and I know how young they are too.

I thought we went into 2009 with the following cracks:

Backline - Jamison's durability; Depth
Ruck - Warnock's durability; Hampson's capacity to be more than just athletic
Midfield - too dependent of Judd, esp. for the hard ball; Hadley's durability; Walker's durability
Forward line - too Fev focused; query on Yarram's fitness; Depth

Coming into 2010, the queries are:

Backline - Jamison's durability (+1); Austin's durability; Depth while options develop.
Ruck - Warnock's durability;
Midfield - Hadley's durability (+1); Walker's durability
Forward line - potential lack of focus if Kennedy isn't ready, particularly given preseason did nothing to indicate Krezuer is the solution; Depth while options develop.

Walker and Jamo are always fine at this time of year. It means nothing till they prove differently.

My view is we're stronger through the Ruck and midfield than last year which will make us competitive in most games.

We're weaker in the forward line without Fev and there is an even bigger query on whether key elements of our defence will stay on the park once the sherrin is kicked in anger. There is actually some depth there for a change with Casboult, Tiller and Donaldson to plug in up forward and White, Davies and Dare down back. BUT, and it's a fairly big but, with the exception of TIller and White, none of those guys will be much use this season if we get a bad run of injuries.

In summary, we should start the year strongly, but if the injuries mount we could drop away quicker than expected. The structure is there, but the depth only exists on paper at this stage.

I think you mean Henderson. Well at least I hope you do.

What I have seen so far is a lack of intensity, and they are slow in moving the ball.

There should not be much difference due to Fev not being there. Our midfield has gone backwards so far for some reason. This was our strength last year. I think our backs are better, our rucks are better and technically our forward line should keep the ball in better this year.

Problem for mine. Midfield seems slow.

Agree to some extent and that is why the solution lies in the coaches box...we are in need of some ingenuity this year from the box....would love to see some pace played through the middle...ie. Betts and Walks for example. We need line breakers running through the guts much more than chuggers...