Interesting the criticism of Murphy and Gibbs given Murphy was on a limited pre season last year and Gibbs played at half back.

North have had a horrible run with injuries this pre season.

Same with Fremantle.

Melbourne still don't have someone up forward who they can kick long to.

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"You are being watched. The government has a secret system. A machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I know because I built it." - Finch

Some years are harder than others. We won less games than in 2009, but I thought we had an overall better year. As there were no teams tanking. And a few teams really jumped up out of the box.

Leaving aside whether we improve all that much (and I think we will), I expect 2011 to be an easier year for us. When I look at most teams, I don't see much improvement. In fact, most teams I think will be weaker this year.

weaker:
Adelaide: good young players, but lost a bunch of outstanding senior champion players.
Brisbane: for obvious reasons.
Fremantle: over-performed last year, had some big injuries over summer.
Geelong: lost Ablett, another year older.
Melbourne: will be good in the long-term, but will really miss Frawley early in the season. Really struggling at the moment. Also lost some important senior players.
North Melbourne: over-performed last year, had some big injuries over summer.
St Kilda: good players another year older. Disrupted summer. Losing the tactical advantage they've had.

improved, but still no good:
Port Adelaide
Richmond
Gold Coast Suns
West Coast Eagles

improved:
Essendon*: definitely better, but will struggle when Fletcher inevitably goes down with injury.
Collingwood: probably better, despite losing Nathan Brown.

unsure:
Hawthorn
Sydney
Western Bulldogs

who cares what the bozos think?.........being a football journo isnt rocket science

if, we deliver against our best, we will top 4 at least. if we perform below our best 8-9th should be realistic.

what bozo connolly fails to recognise, is that our depth this year has improved significantly. i thought the HUN captured this yesterday in their review....subsequently positioning us around 4 to 6.

it's now in the hands of a CFC squad that great potential and a coaching panel that is significantly improved on 2010.

who cares what the bozos think?.........being a football journo isnt rocket science

if, we deliver against our best, we will top 4 at least. if we perform below our best 8-9th should be realistic.

what bozo connolly fails to recognise, is that our depth this year has improved significantly. i thought the HUN captured this yesterday in their review....subsequently positioning us around 4 to 6.

it's now in the hands of a CFC squad that great potential and a coaching panel that is significantly improved on 2010.

Journos are entitled to their opinion. The record books show they are mostly wrong.

Remember after the NAB Cup last year? It was the Bulldogs who were going to challenge for the flag with......Geelong and St.Kilda.

None of them mentioned Collingwood last year.

Even in '95 we were 5th favourite for the flag at the start of the season.

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“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.

THIS


always wanted to do that, not that I know how it started.

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Between our dreams and actions lies this world

Carlton have been at there best early in the season in the past two years (apart from Ess round 3 last year) so it is safe to assume that we'll beat either Collingwood in round 3 or break our 16 year draught at the SCG against Sydney in round 6.

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You heard it here first!

Just give us the CUP............!


kindest regards tommi

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that'siti'mnotchangingthistagain......!

If we back up the talk with the walk then Rohan is way off the mark.

5-2 at worst come the first bye if we are serious about improving in 2011.

we are not top 4, lets be realistic and its 1 mans opinion so settle down peeps, when did we start listening to rohan as gospel, i have us finishing 5-8 hopefully with a home final.

There's usually 2 teams every year that come out of the previous year's eight to make way for two teams that didn't make it the previous year.

It's fair to say that of last year's 8 finalists, we look as vulnerable as anybody.

I see us as still a 5th-8th team in 2011. But of course anything can happen - we might jump up and surprise the competition and finish top 4, or we might have a nightmare with injuries & close losses and finish 9th-12th...

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It's never as good as it looks and it's never as bad as it seems.

His top five will be: Collingwood, WB, St Kilda, Geelong, Sydney.

Sydney were very ordinary at times last year and no doubt the Bulldogs will make the prelim then bow out.

Personally I would put the Hawks ahead of the WAnchors and the Swans.

We had 11 to 7 scoring shots against Collingwood
Against Geelong 15 mins into the last quarter we hsad 9 more scoring shots
And we beat Adelaide and Richmond
I know it's only pre season and teams have players out, but that's a good form line
Inability to kick set shot goals in the last quarter when you're 20-25 pts ahead and slow starts is something the coach and players need to sort out, but other than that the signs are we have improved, defensively and also with multiple targets up forward

Spot on.
If your a football writer discussing Carlton you must mention our reliance on Judd and our poor defence. It`s like a mantra.

Agree. Complacency appearing by some in here towards our round 1 match has me very nervous.
Hopefully within the club, we are more aware of the focus they have had on us over the preseason and the passion and desire they will display come round 1 towards us. We need to be ready especially with the AFL doing us no favours with our round 2 clash! Premiers round 3 and top 4 bummers (according to Ross - genius - Lyon) in round 4, isn't it?

I was reading in the paper the other day that Richmond will smash us because Jamison is out and Riewoldt is in after playing his first practice match and Henderson is underdone because he has played 1.5 practice matches.

Worrying times.

We lost alot of close games last year - and havent started this season all that best in that regard.

If we win over 60% of close games then we will be top 4 if not 9th is a real possibility.

Assuming an average year with the "uncontrollables" such as injury etc I reckon he's well
off the mark. We were good enough to finish eighth last year and if you go through the list
there's a lot more players that you would expect to be better in 2011 than worse, (based on
age and games played).

I'm putting us in the top 4-5. If we get lucky with a recruit or two maybe higher. Of course if
injuries cruel us then all bets are off.

Oh, and I could handle the "one man team" thing a bit with Fev, as he did kick most of our goals,
but as good as Judd is, we're not exactly a rabble without him.

So that's how some people post things twice.

Really, who cares???

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TC suffers from the social media illness - the death of respect and constructive discourse by keyboard.