Dodo sometimes you have to look past possessions accumulated.
Joseph played on and stopped Veszpremi, who i consider a very good and dangerous young player.
Continues to do his job does Aj, so for me is still one of the highlights of 09.
THE HUMAN GLOVE!!!
MB

_________________
Loooook OUT!

Pro
Houlihan getting 14 contested possessions. Can he do it again.
Second Half

Con First half

Pros
- great second half and we didn't take the foot off the pedal.
- nearly everyone made a significant contribution......well done to a couple of maligned players in Bentley and Fisher
- Jamison and O'Hailpin should return next week and Walker the week after. Good young players in Browne and Robinson also waiting in the wings. Plenty of Depth!!
- loved Yarran's goal and a couple of his touches oozed class. Be patient people as he has the goods.

Cons
- 1st half........I was a very frustrated man at half time.
- don't like to single players out but Hartlett was a real weak link for us today. Now in his 5th year and he won't get much better.

_________________
'The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule it'
H.L. Mencken

Pro: YARRAN
2nd half
More game time into Joey and Hammer
Kroooozer
How good is Judd? Unblievable.

Con: First half

Pro
Saw a win live!
Sat with some Blue Brethren
Shared thoughts with brethren in person for a change
Second half
Chris Yarran's goal assists and that goal!!
Team game from Fev
Great finishing from Murph, Gibbsy and Simmo
Proactive and "taking them on" second half.
Bring on next Friday night!
Bently gave so much to the stoppages, strong, solid.
Still plenty of room for Walks
Cons
Bloody woeful, and reactive first half
Taking shots for goal too far out and from pockets.
Poor match ups and midfield defensive pressure
Harts really struggling but also did some good things, all is not lost there just yet.
Bents skills still ordinary.
Scotland - for whom the bell tolls (is he 100% fit?)

_________________
"our electorate seeks less to be informed and more to be validated." Sad times.

Pros
Kruezer, to me at least he is going to be more important than Gibbs and Murph. AMAZING.
Simpson, Great game after missing for a while
Hampson, His taps are GREAT. Definitely setting himself up for keeping the 2nd Ruck spot
Hoops, Fisher, Good on them both bouncing back to have great and good games
Judd and Fev,

Cons
Hartlett, I'm all for being positive but surely he will be delisted after what has to be the single worst performance from one of our players for a while
Our second quarter, one of the main problems being Fev possession chasing again
Anderson, A must drop
Scotland, I'm a fan but i think the game is passing him.

_________________
#23: Lachlan Henderson

To me it looked like Fev's instructions were to go upfield and not chase kicks, but to drag defenders with him, and set up players like Fish closer to goal, which he did on several occasions.

_________________
And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

Pros:
Almost everything. Almost.
Fisher - great game, got us back into the contest, and propelled us into a nice lead. Showed the naysayers.
Houlihan - Contested possessions and delivery. Showed the naysayers.
Hammer and Kreuze combination with deft touches.
Simmo
Thornton
Bentley - a hard body, while not appreciated on this forum, would be by Judd et. al for the protection he provided.
Yarran - the glimpses show the future.
Gibbs - while didn't get 30 touches, which is viewed as a 5/10 on this forum, kicked 2. And had the honour of Kirk tagging him for periods.
First half - while there are those that would say we were ordinary, when a team plays an inferior opposition, in the football played today, the inferior team drops numbers back to negate the other team. Patience is required, and we showed it. To be 9 points down in the first half showed we weathered the storm, the third showed we had the temperament to fight our way back, and the last provided the evidence of hanging in there. For those who espouse Essendon* as the be-all-and-end-all, last night proved this. In front as half time, but the better side plugged away and won the contest. Lesser team have more recourse to stem the tide in today's game.

Con:
Just the one. While I don't post much, I have viewed this forum from afar for a fair while. The Thursday night comments after team selection are abysmal. If I tipped according to the comments of some, I would never tip us to win. Fortunately I have more sense.
Speaking of tips, here's one: if you have the username of an extinct animal, maybe you should follow it's lead.

Either way it wasn't a good move

_________________
#23: Lachlan Henderson

I thought it worked well in patches.

_________________
And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

I dunno, I noticed it mostly in the second and the only Mark forward i can recall was Kruezer which was still over two people. I may be being forgetful though

_________________
#23: Lachlan Henderson

edit

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

Winston Churchill

Pro: the trolls will find it harder to do their stirring, at least for another week

_________________

Setanta would have been handy.

_________________
#DonTheStash

Poof.

Was just reflecting how nicely Hammer is going. Still a lot to learn, of course, but he's going alright.

_________________
Click here to follow TalkingCarlton on twitter
TalkingCarlton Posting Rules

Pro:

Dwayne Russell didn't mention once how GIBBS should be playing in Adelaide.

_________________
And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

Amazing hey

_________________
"The ability to speak doesn't make you intelligent." Qui-Gon Jinn 15-05-2005

"there’s more chance of me becoming the full forward for the [Western Bulldogs] than there is of any change in the Labor Party." Julia Gillard 18-05-2010

PROS
-Kreuzer (as always). he does everything. We really need to make it easier on the lead with better weighted kicks.

-Gibbs: As soon as Walker comes back I NEVER WANT TO SEE HIM GIVEN VAGUE HALFBACK POCKET SHADOWING ROLES EVER AGAIN - we have wasted his talent FAR too much already in his short career. He is ridiculously sublime in the guts and forward of centre - took the pressure off Judd tonight for once.

-Simpson: Not a perfect game, but worked his ass off

-Yarran: Was inevitable that he broke out and showed the knockers why they are Bichmond-esque trolls. Daniel Rich who?

-Hammer: As always he persists, and persists, and competes. The longer the game went on the more he got away from Jolly's professional scragging, and his stamina allowed him to get on top of Roberts-Thompson. That moment in the 4th (3rd?) when he tackled him over the line in the pocket was INSPIRING!!!! Remember that he is a soccer/basketball background - his tackles and ground work are really starting to shine.

Houla - Can't ever remember seeing him lock up the ball in a pack as many times as tonight. Great effort. 14 (?) contested possessions I think

Johnson - I know he has a lot of haters, but i thought he showed a lot of courage tonight despite being relatively quiet

Carrots - A gun. Once again showed the AFL how to play an attacking/blanketing role. Turned the game for us (along with Gibbs). WELL DONE CARRAZZO!!!!

CONS
-Anderson: Everytime he touched the ball it was disappointing. I know he has a lot of supporters out there, but he was awful tonight. The only saving grace was that he chased hard and tackled very well. But offensively his performance was Bullants-worthy. Sadly i think he needs another spell in the 2nds.

- Hartlett: yes he can kick long, but his disposal and positioning is average. I was very positive all game, when others around me were abusing him - he tried all game, but he is what he is. Will always be in the Cloke/Wiggins/Bentick club. Just average and filling time till someone more talented comes along. Not sure what game people were watching to justify him as "Sublime". Only one of his long kicks really had any effect. Probably had just as many clangers

- JR: Again another 50/50 typical Jekyll/Hyde game. Thought he tried hard, but definitely a step down from his performance the last 2 weeks. Still seems to get ignored by teammates, and when he wrests control of the ball he seems to stab it - resulting in a clanger. Needs to regroup

- Scotland - Tried hard, but WTF was his role? Not sure what Ratten had in mind



Overall I think it was a success given that Ratten finally seemed to be able to overcome a bogey team's gameplan and shake them off.
However it seemed to take an agonizingly long time for him to figure them out.

Also don't underestimate the effect of Jamo and Setanta being out. We were really up against it, and despite his shortcomings I think Harts battled hard. And it goes without saying that Kreuzer put in 175% effort. Was worth 3 talls on the night - Amazing.


The most pleasing things tonight were the percentage,
and Yarran.
GO YAZZ! PROVE THOSE MONGA RICH-LOVING TROLLS WRONG!

Decision making was 50/50, he kicked long a few times when he could have handballed or spotted up a free player in the corridor. But young players are prone to that. Cause they don't appreciate how much time they have they tend to look long down the field and nowhere else.

He was also prone to ball watching a bit. At one point he put a fantastic spoil on, recovered quickly to his feet, and then stood there staring at the loose ball on the ground a couple of metres away, rather than going and getting it and clearing it or putting a shepherd on so someone else could. Again, not an unususal trait in an inexperienced player.

But I think both of those things can be improved by staying in the firsts and getting a better feel for the pace of the game and the requirements. I'd certainly keep him in the team over Armfield for the meantime. Dodgy disposal (Armfield's issue) can really only be worked on in the slower paced Ressies IMO.