Over the past decades we have been blessed with key forwards who went about their business of kicking goals to the envy of every other club.

Kernahan, McClure, Walls, Jezza, the Buzz, Dominator were all the best in the league during their time.

It used to be so easy to be smug...

Now, we seem to be investing our money in a three ring circus in the goal
square. Each week the crowd oooohs and aaaaahs at whether he will topple over or jump up to save the day...

I used to delight in the same circus act happening at Richmond. Get Richo to lose his wick early in the match and sit back and laugh for the rest of the afternoon. Mark Jackson was the same.

Suddenly, the circus has rolled back into town - but this time I'm not laughing...

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"...that's the thing about opinion - you don't have to know anything to have one..." Andre Agassi commenting on Pat Cash 2004
"...the less you know - the more you believe..." - Bono 2006

leave him alone, you dont kick someone who is down

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"I can't wait to win a premiership with this club" - Fev

point taken to a certain extent,

it's just easy to isolate a talented ff when his team is crap and the mf in particular

opposition defences have time to zone off, knowing our m/f will not dominate and the ball will generally come in under pressure

been said a squillion times before but how would fev go as the weagles ff?

You're right....you just pay him $20,000 per match for the next three seasons.

Hey, that's more than what he could get in Circus Oz!!

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"...that's the thing about opinion - you don't have to know anything to have one..." Andre Agassi commenting on Pat Cash 2004
"...the less you know - the more you believe..." - Bono 2006

Fevola isn't a pack marking forward, he's a fast leading player. Our midfield in the most part struggles to deliver it to anything remotely resembling Fev's advantage. Opposition sides simply play an extra backman or two in Fev's space so that he's forced to go one out, or more often, one on two with the ball lobbed on his head. With the way the umpires currently treat him it means he's either completely scragged and isn't paid the free, or he's completely scragged yet has a free paid against him. When he's being pretty much our only avenue to goal it's obvious that if you shut down Fevola you shut down Carlton.

With Fisher back in the side, and if Longmuir and Waite can build on their game up forward today hopefully opposition teams will have more than just Fevola to worry about in our forward line. Opposition backmen won't have the luxury of double or triple teaming Fev if we've got other targets.

If we're able to assemble a midfield that is able to deliver to advantage, have Fev get over his groin injury (which he clearly aggravated again early today), have a couple of other targets up forward to demand opposition defender respect and if the umpires start giving him a fair run then jump up and down all you like if he's still not kicking goals. Until then at least acknowledge that while he does need to work on his attitude he's got a lot of stuff working against him that is entirely out of his control.

On the money as usual Wojee

Tell me that Fev's backchat last week didn't effect how the umpires treated him today.... Spot on Wojee....

Our midfielders also lack an "option B" - ie who to kick it to if Fev is blocked off. We also have no-one who can take a contested mark in the pack.

With Fisher back we have improved that situation, but we really need a tall target for the high ball, because Fev just isn't tall enough.

Deluca is still a big question mark, Setanta is an unknown quantity. Maybe Bryan could be an option if we can recruit another ruckman. That bloke Koshitzke from the Aints would be alright too

As it stands though, the opposition backman no to drift towards Fev when the ball comes down because they know our guys will go straight to him every time.

Well, if he's getting 400K a year he better be one!

If our senior midfielders are on 400K a year each they'd better be able to hit him on the tit on a lead.

Our senior midfielders should grab a tape of todays game and forward to the last quarter where twice Fev ran down the wing in front of the southern stand and twice kicked the ball perfectly to the Carlton players ADVANTAGE, which resulted in surprise, surprise, two Carlton goals.

They might actually learn something.

Say you go away on a short holiday for three days and there are no neighbours or friends that can feed your pet dog, so you leave the dog three bowls of food for three night's meals, but the dog sees all the food and eats it all on the first night.

The next day the dog sits on its' bed for the whole day with a complete bloated stomach then on the second morning it looks in its' bowls which are empty and mopes around for the next two days completely starved without anything to eat until you get home.

This pet dog is like Brendan Fevola on a $400 000 a year contract for three years.

This is a heartless analogy, but the club won't be able to blame Fev if he doesn't perform, the club were the one's that left the food.

If the bloke is injured I take this back, but pagan emphatically denies he's playing injured.

Perform in 2006 Fev or you're out the door.

He is worse then Richo - Richo kicks goals. Fevola has had six years to show what he is capable of - six years to pull his head in but he stills carries on like a two year old. I laugh at the posters that criticise the old administrators for locking in players on big money long term contracts. And cant wait to see the post on this site towards the end on next year when Fevola and Stevens are being referred to as soft cocks that are sucking up the salary cap and not showing any leadership.

1.2 million on Fevola - Over 2.0 million on Pagan - Lets all wait and see if it is money well spent

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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

For all this talk about Fev can't kick goals because our midfield is so weak...

Weird how nobody has suggested that instead of paying a fortune to Fev we invest the same money into the midfield...Bingo - problem solved!!

It's the difference of playing with a "golden goose" or just a goose...

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"...that's the thing about opinion - you don't have to know anything to have one..." Andre Agassi commenting on Pat Cash 2004
"...the less you know - the more you believe..." - Bono 2006

The "fortune" we're paying Fev isn't such a fortune compared to what's being sunk into the midfield.
Add up what Kouta, Campo, Stevens etc are earning at the moment.

A forward that is held, scragged, prevented from making a legitimate contest for the ball with 2 arms, by defenders who are allowed to get a away with murder (all defenders except Bret Thornton and Luke Livingston) - If that makes Brendan Fevola the new Matthew Richardson well then you are spot on the money.

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

Winston Churchill

WW there's no point reinventing the wheel, so just read the first paragraph Wojee worte in this thread.
Fev is one of the few genuine match winners on our list, albeit inconsistant.
That's why the club has taken a punt on him.
The previous Carlton forwards you mentioned were all champs, but have a look at other players in their teams. ie the centre lines and on ballers that delivered the ball. Many more champs.
Yeah Fev gets paid a lot, what's his value? I don't know.
But unless delivery to our Full Forward improves we may never find out how good he could be.
Regards Pedro.

Stupid me I didn't realise that it was the umpires fault that our 1.2 million dollar man hasn't kicked any goals in the last two games

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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

Stupid me - I shouldn't have taken issue with "Stupid You" - didn't realise you had such a close view of the past few games from Double Bay.

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

Winston Churchill

Yeah you're right, he's the next Richo. He's useless. Let's just get rid of the guy. Delist him outright. You're crap Fev. I mean really, who do you think you are playing at Full Forward and not kicking goals in the shittest team going around??? What's wrong with you? Can't you mesmerise that ball so that when it's kicked to you it comes in properly? Can't you force your teammates to look for other options instead of kicking to you when you have three men on you? Can't you mark the ball while the defender is holding your arms behind your back??

Yeah Fev, you're shit. Let's see if West Coast wants you, I'm sure we might have to twist their arm, but if we offer you cheap enough we might just be able to convice them. Over-rated player that you are.