Yes it’s part players and part coaching but it’s also part list management, part development, part injury management, part head of football, part everything. What can we confidently say the club is doing well?
Playing group? Has talent but still holes everywhere. Barely any of our delisted players end up at other clubs last 4 or so years. Most of our bottom 6 on the weekend wouldn’t play in any of the top 8 sides. No killer instinct within the playing group to stand up in big moments. Defensive running and intent not there. Poor tackling team
Coaching? Our whole setup is amateur hour. First time coach surrounded by John Barker and a number of other assistants that would likely struggle to get a gig elsewhere. Longmire sat on the bench last week as he had Cox and Pyke in the box. Imagine Teague leaving Barker in charge in the box. No discernible defensive structure. Have seen little ability to motivate the players to play with a hard edge. Baffling team selection (Casboult every week etc)
List management? Big $ contracts to McGovern and Williams and to a lesser extent Martin and Saad. 3 of those should be good players but hardly worth the money paid to them. About 4 first round picks tied up in SPS, Dow, LOB, Kennedy and Setterfield. Only one is getting a game at the moment.
Development of players? See above re SPS, Dow etc. IMO this might be the biggest issue at the club.
Injury management? Hard to tell how much is staff and how much is players just breaking down. But how often do we start Rd 1 with a massive injury list.
Head of football Brad Lloyd? Failed to change even one assistant after last year when it was clear to everyone some change was needed. Ticked off on senior coach appointment and big $ contracts referenced above. All of a sudden after a few losses brings in Woosha as a consultant after failing to shuffle assistants at the end of the year. Reactive, not proactive
These are some of the reasons that we are, as Frank put it in another thread, the most disappointing team in the AFL

And yet not one "expert" commentator had us in the eight. Maybe the expectation of us "blue diehards" was simply fantasy.

The positives are against the top four sides we were really competitive and could have won a couple of them with a horrid injury list playing sides at full strength at the time.

The negatives are despite being competitive and putting ourselves in winning positions just can't or don't want or not capable or not hungry enough not ruthless enough to get over the line and win the game.

Still havent rectified five goal swings against after 12 months. But not finishing games strongly and winning them is disgusting. The players need to concentrate more and get the job done.

We have to own up. Teague, the coaching group and whomever influences direction.

We stated we had finals aspirations.

We stated we’d back our offensive style to win more than lose. We stated that’s what our fans want.

It’s not working.

We can wax lyrical about being competitive against top sides. We’re learning the gap is about 4 goals......which is about +25% more than we’re scoring.

We have enough talent. Time to take responsibility and ‘own’ our predicament.

And yet not one "expert" commentator had us in the eight. Maybe the expectation of us "blue diehards" was simply fantasy.

I agree, but there's a question that always pops up.

If Charlie, Gov, SOS, Martin, Fisher weren't missing for most of the first half season, cou;ld we have kicked an extra 25 points per game.

Still think its a midfield problem, along with what you alluding to, not enough focus on the defensive side of our game from the coach, and coaching group.

Every team has injuries, some worse than ours. Martin fisher and SOS were all there in round 2 against Collingwood. What difference did it make?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Every team has injuries, some worse than ours. Martin fisher and SOS were all there in round 2 against Collingwood. What difference did it make?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

No team can handle 5-6 key players injured especially us. Charlie, Marchbank, Newman, Cripps having back injury, Jack didnt play he was injured. Say whatever you want about Charlie and Marchbank but they are key players for the team.

Having said that, was one of the worst performances from a Carlton outfit in years,

Jake I think the injuries have had some impact as we have had a lot of talent on the sidelines for long period of times.
However I think we can give the team coach and administration an easy get out if we attribute too much to injuries.it isn’t solely injuries and is never one thing
The lack of effort demonstrated by the whole team against Collingwood in the second round cannot be attributed solely to injury.
The lack of turning up in the second quarter of Brisbane game isn’t injuries

The lack of grit in the contest against Port giving them a heap of uncontested possession is not due to injuries.

The fade out against the dogs after being 26 points in front in the third quarter isnt injuries solely

The ridiculous TDK H Casboult and Pittonet selection isn’t due to injuries this was the dumbest selection for awhile only to be beaten when we played in the past Warnock Hampson and Kreuzer