Yep, good points - we have been burnt by many of these players too many times.
The rest of the season will be very revealing in terms of whether the senior, mid-tier players can maintain the rage.
Indeed, cool heads need to prevail when list management decisions are made.
But the refreshing element of Saturday was the contribution of so many younger players and the continued emergence of a potential superstar.
Doesn't happen every day and Can't help but get a lil bit excited about that.

_________________
I just want my old club back ... (edit) maybe I have!

It still took us a while to work that out and in the meantime we kept on kicking it to him.

_________________
"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

My biggest concern is that we expend too much energy just to break even with mid table teams... and that a drop in intensity of say 10% may lead to a 5 goal "honorable" loss.

_________________
“I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned.” ― Richard Feynman

in the last quarter we almost got over run AGAIN (lucky) to win,but overall rapt we won and the tackling wow,other clubs do this as per normal .

As a bottom of the table team that energy is what is required to compete with mid table teams. You're right, if it drops off we'll get beaten, but that's why that level of energy should be a minimum expectation, not something to be celebrated. Barker seems to understand that and is preaching that to the players and media. The sign of whether he's a great coaching candidate is whether he can ensure that standard is upheld throughout the remaining 11 games.

_________________
@cecil_anderson

Yep, micky has done it all before
it's not mickys fault at all

yep not all poor mickys fault at it’s the players who pick and choose when to play
yep it's not the freedom they have been given to play
yep it's not the forward structures that have been missing for three years
yep it's not the multi tagging roles that have been relinquished
yep it's not the younger players that are allowed to develop their skills
yep it’s not the older players allowed to play their instinctive games
yep it’s not micky fault we can finally post a competitive score
yep it's the boards fault for hiring the alleged best coach to bring success to the club not micky himself
yep it's not the insipid game plan that we were forced to endure for over two years
yep it’s not the self indulgent arrogant and selfishness that has brought us to the state we find ourselves in after three years
yep it's not him surrounding himself with of his own under achievers
yep it's our lack of depth, youthful talent, recruiting and drafting that has suddenly emerged once micky became scarce
yep it's not even mickys fault that northern are finally playing a different, exciting and exuberant brand of footy that showcases their talents

yep, it's not mickys fault at all

http://www.carltonfc.com.au/video/2014- ... und-twelve
What's with the background music?!

SAKC!

_________________
Hope your footy team wins.

Let me put my hand up and apologise to John Barker. I've long been a critic of him (given his demeanor and overseeing our dysfunctional forward and back lines), but he's done a great job already of getting the players to enjoy themselves again and playing with some freedom and enthusiasm.

That said, for the love of God Carlton, don't give in to the media pressure and give him a blank cheque for next year onwards. Continue your process and find the right guy for the long-term, and if that reveals Barker as the man then so be it.

_________________
WADA medical director Dr Alan Vernec describes Essendon* FC drug case as biggest scandal in team sport the world of sport has seen. #WC2WB

#GUILTY

I think the one thing Barker is doing that Malthouse didn't is moulding a game plan around a team, not moulding a team around a game plan. Malthouse is a coach who has an undeniable ability to take teams to the top, but I think the Carlton team that he inherited was built on a vastly different philosophy of how to play footy than other teams he had coached.

_________________
the curse of hamill has been lifted

good coach's adapt and innovate
malthouse did neither = shit coach

I reckon that is unfair on Malthouse. He is a proven successful coach. His core coaching philosophy just didn't match our clubs players. It did however win three premierships with two different clubs.

_________________
the curse of hamill has been lifted

Not sure I've seen too many games where the tackling was that ferocious this year. That was a significant tackling display that would've shaken most teams.

Tackle like that and you can make any game plan work.

I dread the sakc Barker threads when the players decide to switch off... again

_________________
“I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned.” ― Richard Feynman

great, maybe we should be looking to get reimbursed from them for his superannuation because he did SFA with us

sorry he did

he made us into embarrassing laughing stock
and a sugar club for his cronies

He has been a very successful coach but even the best have a use-by date and can't keep up with a changing game. Barrassi ended with uninspiring stints at Melb and Swans, Jeans at the Tigers etc. At Carlton Malthouse's weaknesses - his ego, prima donna nature, need for vengeance against the Pies, self importance etc were far more evident than his strengths. He took it on for the wrong reasons and we paid huge money for yesterday's man. The only good thing that can come of it is that we finally have a process and can select a good young coach. What JB does for the remainder of the year may be relevant if he can articulate it as such during the selection process. If he comes through a rigorous selection process on top I am happy, but whoever we get needs to be the best we can find and we need to make a really good judgement.

but is it?
being totalitarian, (as we've since learnt) and inflexible are not valuable assets in a head coach are they?

He may have been good at some period,
but with us,
he was s-h- i- t-e.

_________________
That’s not a political statement — it’s a harsh reality, and we must act,” she said. “He is a clear and present danger to the things that keep us strong and free. I support impeachment.”

Robert Walls made a very astute comment over the weekend prior to the Port game. He said that what Carlton needs to do is to spend less on a senior coach and invest more in (among other things) better assistant coaches, as we had the worse in the league.

While I was willing to give Mick a chance (and I'm now the first to admit it was a monumental failure), when we signed him up I was nervous that it was another Carlton quick-fix. Once our assistants were being announced this fear became even more real, as one thing Mick had while at Collingwood was excellent people around/under him (say what you want about Neeld, Brad Scott and Buckley as senior coaches, but they were a very good team under Mick). Clearly the brains-trust at the club thought that Mick = flags (much the same way that Pagan = flags), without giving any thought to the big picture, and their surprise at how pear-shaped the whole affair went speaks volumes.

Clearly Mick on his own just couldn't cut it, but in their infinite wisdom the club gave him carte blanche to do what he wanted because they thought he alone was the reason for Collingwood's success, and that Carlton supporters were too stupid/impatient to accept a young untried coach (unless he was one of ours to begin with, like Ratts) with a good team around him, versus a Messiah with a big name.

So while Mick turned out to be a dud for us, and he's deservedly held responsible for what our team has become, I'll forever lay full responsibility for this disaster at the feet of our board. My fears were realised, and the club was once again shown to be uncreative, reactive, impatient and completely out of touch with the game and the people that support this football club. That decision cost us millions of dollars, thousands of members, and some of our most talented players. If that alone hasn't caused them to navel-gaze and realise they're not the smartest guys in the room, then God help us all.

_________________
WADA medical director Dr Alan Vernec describes Essendon* FC drug case as biggest scandal in team sport the world of sport has seen. #WC2WB

#GUILTY

We made one of these worst assistant coaches in the league our head coach.

_________________
dane's trolling again

All things being equal, maybe the reason about the change in mindset is a simpler one

Malthouse style was autocratic - his way or the highway, you either worked to his rules or you weren't selected which was necessary for younger developing teams. (i.e. early West Coast, Collingwood era) The more senior "leaders" in the Carlton ranks just didn't seem to respond to it (maybe because decision making was taken away from them in the transition from Ratten) and it showed through lack of intensity which then set the benchmark for the rest of the team. (I'm not excusing it mind you)

From what I have seen on Saturday, all that I can tell that Barker has done has put the onus back on the senior players to work within the capabilities of the team on the park, for the players to have a bit more freedom to lead ON the field rather than being dictated to from the side lines, to marshal the troops and set the example. Barker has provided a clear and uncomplicated freer flowing game plan but its being driven on the field rather than from the box.

Long term is a different story, effort gets you so far, if he wants the permanent gig, then he needs to present his overall playing strategy and plan to the selection committee that shows the level of insight and forward thinking that takes the club from continuing to flounder in the mid-tier table towards persistent finals contention.