B: Carazzo, Thornton, O'hAilpin
HB: Scotland, Waite, Bower
C: Simpson, Stevens, Wiggins
HF: Whitnall, Kennedy, Gibbs
F: Koutoufides, Fevola, Blackwell
FOLL: McLaren, Walker, Murphy
INT: Lappin, Houlihan, Russell, Bryan
EMERG: Bannister, Fisher, Betts

I think we might struggle a little bit with rebounding defenders, if this was our forward line.

I am hoping by the end of 2007 that the likes of Lappin, Houlihan, Kouta, Waite, Carazzo , Fisher , Deluca, Bryan and Bentick are fighting to maintain their place in the side and are not auotmatic selections .

When that happens you will know we are on the up and up

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

Fair point. I noticed this myself after posting. Perhaps we will have to swap Lance and Waitey, but it would be nice to try it the other way. How about we get the ball more than the opposition and then it won't hurt so much?

B: Hartlett, Thornton, Russell
HB: Bower, O'hailpin, Scotland
C: Simpson, Blackwell, Walker
HF: Gibbs, Kennedy, Waite
FF: Whitnall, Fev, Betts
R: Mclaren, Stevens, Murphy
IC: Renouf (pick 17/19), Lappin, Kouta, Wiggins
Emerg from: Houla, Bentick, Fisher, Carrazzo, Jackson, Edwards, Pick 17/19 (Connors/O'brien/N Brown/Sellwood ) etc....

Starting to look a bit classier than what we've been used to recently and depth is looking better as evidenced by emergencies.

Fingers crossed for the following blokes really cementing their place in the team, ala Simmo in 2005 and Setanta in 2006:

Hartlett, Russell, Bower, Blackwell, Kennedy. IMO, these guys hold the key for us making inroads in 08. Time for real progress from our Croweater/Sandgroper young contingent.

Our biggest exposure is ruck as rightly highlighted by Molsey. In fact the situation there is actually embarrassing. Where is our Ben Hudson?

I really like Jenx's team. I know this is going to sound harsh, but we're never going to contend with a bloke like Carrazzo in the side. I love his endeavour and his effort, but he turns it over too much and lacks polish. As sad as it was to see McGrath go, I think the M-C probably felt the same way about him. It's time to take a punt and get games into games like Bower, Russell, Hartlett, Jackson, Edwards, etc to see if any of them could be 150 gamers. Also agree that if O'hAilpin continues his ascent, I would play Lance upfront.

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I send an SOS to the world

jenx wrote



This is driving me crazy.

We've got DeLUca, McLaren, Bryan (?) and Aisake (rookie).

We need to possibly take a chance with Aisake and promotr him in the hope that with a good preseason and a biy of confidence he may be picked to fill our BIG void.....or....attract a ready made player in the DSD (like Sandilands). Picking Gibbs and Renouf (1 & 17) isn't the answer for 2007...we've got to give Renouf a year to adjust, strengthen up and settle into AFL reserves footy, let alone seniors.

McLaren and Bryan are too small. Bryan may not even survive the cut. Sad to say, but the only player qualified to play the position is 202cm DeLuca.

DeLuca's advantage is the 6cm in height and 6cm in reach...that's 12cm advantage...we've got no other choice. We can bag DeLuca for his two grabs phenomena but how many marks does McLaren or Bryan take in a match? It's less than DeLuca.

So regardless of what the perception is of DeLuca, we have to settle with the fact that he's the one; by default.

I don't want McLaren in any centre bounce. It's asking for centre square damage before the ball is bounced. At least DeLuca can negate the ball and give us a 50/50 chance in that centre set up.

My advice on DeLuca is to really work hard in the gym this preseason, like he's vever worked before, because like it or not he's the only one, at this stage.

Aisake may really step up in the second half...and I expect to see it...but if he isn't promoted, then we would have to count on a LTI exchange to get him in the seniors...and that's no guarantee.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Pass by him on the way home from work each day....nice suits but he doesnt fill them out that well and is very lean....my view is he will never be a No 1 ruckman even though he is 202 cm.
Doesnt use his body well enough and has no idea about palming the ball...
I dont mind his general football skills and he can be useful up forward but not in the ruck....

Bryan has a big body, can take one grab marks, boot the ball out of sight but is erratic and not smart enough to make it as AFL footballer....waste of talent but if you dont have the smarts at his age you will never have them..

Mclaren palms the ball well and has good ruck skills but isnt big enough and doesnt do enough around the ground...handy third string ruck though and has his moments but needs to be in a backup role like he was at Brisbane...

We need another two ruckman and Aisake to keeping developing....
two out of Michael Griffiths, Renouf or Jacobs would do me for now and you would look at Kruezer etc for the following draft...Gibbs to be taken as 1st pick and pass on Leuenberger...

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"When you have the attitude of a champion, you see adversity as your
training partner."
- Conor Gillen

You have to go for Gibbs.If we dont pick him on the 25th Novt hen Talking Carlton will light up New York.

Pick up someone young in the draft and maybe someone in the pre season draft.

Jetta Leroy is hopefully still available at pick 17

I would love Leroy Jetta to be there at 17. He is awesome. Quick and works hard.

B: O'hAilpin Hartlett Houlihan

HB: Lappin Thornton Scotland

C: Simpson Murphy Walker

HF: Waite Kennedy Whitnall

F: Fisher Fevola Betts

R: Bryan
R: Stevens Gibbs*

Int: Kouta Renouf* Blackwell Bower

Emerg: N.Brown*, Edwards, Russell, Houli*

based on who i think Carlton will select in the draft

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Back like a raging case of pubic lice

For what it's worth, I'd be expecting our first 3 picks to be in our starting 22 next year.

B: Carazzo Thornton O'hAilpin

HB: Stevens Whitnall Walker

C: Scotland Bentick Simpson

HF: Lappin Kennedy Blackwell

F: Betts Fevola Fisher

R: McLaren Gibbs Murphy

INT: Kouta, Bower, Houlihan, Deluca

Emergencies: Bannister, Wiggins, Jackson

(Young) midfield- Murphy and Gibbs to act as goalkicking mids, with Bentick the more defensive in-and-under clearance specialist, to switch with Kouta. Blackwell to get a fair go in the middle as well.

Forward line- Fev the obvious go-to man, with Lappin and Betts with the small forward role. Kennedy to present further up the ground, leaving a lot of the forward 50 to Fev and Fisher.

Backline- Similar to this year. I think we should persist with Setanta, and hopefully Bower will play as close to 22 games as possible in 2007. T-Bird should generally get the best forward, Stevens will play loosely off half-back (as a defensive minded mid), and Walks will provide us with plenty of rebound 50s. Carazzo gets an occassional run in the middle.

Bower to play 22 but starting on bench while carrazz gets a run??? bower should eb in before carrotts......blackwell on a forward flank??? back flank MAYBE....Stevens on a back flank??? dude, what are you smoking....

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Back like a raging case of pubic lice

Bower still has to prove himself in the seniors to be selected ahead of Carazzo- Blackwell's just there to pretty much as an extra winger, and Stevens played half-back for the last part of this year.

Why is Scotland on the HBF in your team?

Whitnall forward? Lance has played about two good games up forward in the past five years.

The same stuff Pagan was late in the season apparantly.

I would like to see Setanta play at CHB for the majority of the year.

We certainly don't need him up forward and he has shown that his best football is down back. The development of his game -- his poise and run -- was phenomenal in the second half of the season and I think that the match committee will let him settle in a constant role down back.

He is tall enough and big enough to match it with power opposition forwards and he also has the capacity to burn them off with his rebounding run.

Big thumbs up to everyone who has the Irishman at CHB.

..boys boys boys..

..what-ever yer packin' yer bongs with, pass it around, don't be greedy.. ..seriously, why so many ppl are putting in players like bower and hartlett into their starting 22 is a joke.. ..they're completely unproven at senior level, the odd game they've played notwithstanding.. ..and quoting setanta's improvement.. .i don't think so.. ..he looked like he made a big improvement because he was sooo bad to begin with.. ..not a crack at him, but he's an import, and can only improve.. ..but it's relative, in his case, relative to how bad he was.. ..and putting in the 1st draft pick in the team too..?.. ..now yer throwing in complete unknowns.. ..lookit, we've swapped experienced hacks from last year with unexperienced wannabe players for next year.. ..buy yer shite by the kilo next yr, it will help ease the pain..

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..if you can't be good, be good at it..

I agree with some of what you say Kahuna Burger, Setanta is hardly someone we can rely on to win or save us games. He has shown some signs, but let's be honest, it was in games where we were pantsed and you could argue that the opposition was toying with us.

As for Hartlett and Bower, I think Bowowowower needs game time over Carrazzo as he just doesn't cut it in a top 8 team - I think Bower will.

Hartlett needs game time to discover if this 21 YO will make it or not because we can't play Lance at CHB and expect to beat any other teams in the comp.

If Harts isn't good enough and we know it now, pick Hansen because that's our biggest hole atm.

If Murphy is a guide to #1s then whoever we pick should slot in and take the focus off the other youngsters - he's the future so needs immediate gametime.

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