You are joking right??

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Circumstance has no value. It is how one relates to a situation that has value. All true meaning resides in the personal relationship to a phenomenon, what it means to you.

Look, he's a very tall boy.

He has put on lots of muscle in the last 2 years

There's just a lot of body to fill for the perfect image for some.

There's plenty of muscle and strength there; it just doesn't look like there's enough.

He'll be right in a KP role.

Moves well.
Reads the play.
Baulks well.
Passes put hand and foot well.

We've got a good one and he's right for 2010.
Don't you worry about that.

Henderson marks the ball from a beautiful lead at about 45m out.
Kicks the ball....GOAL.

You don't need more than that if there's already a defensive side in your game, and he's got that.

He's a footballer with great athletic attributes.
Isn't that what we've been after for a long long time.
Well we've got them in Hendo and Kreuzer

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Confirmation from Mark Riley on radio interview today that Hendo has had minor knee trouble. Had the 2 weeks off and was running indoors today - didn't participate at all in the match simulation session. Bomber said he didn't think it would impact him greatly - but didn't sound too confident in his answer.

we're rooted.

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This might sound extreme in the context of alleged sexual assault, drunken violence and a drug trafficking charge...

The last year or 2 has seen a big improvement in player rehabs compared to before that. I'm confident the rehab people will get him right without any of the stuffups we used to see.

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There's so much I could say...

Thanks Doc...did Riley have much to say about the match simulation/who has been impressing on the track?

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"You are being watched. The government has a secret system. A machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I know because I built it." - Finch

Yep, i'm quite confident in saying that we're no Richmond.

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"I will rejoice in their anguish, delight in their failure and revel in our success"

We are Carlton, @#$%&! the rest !!!!!!

Effes. I listened to the SEN interview (David Schwartz, Francis Leach, Mark Robinson) and Riley was most impressive. Essentially everyone is flying of course but these were a few key points:

1. Henderson as above. Minor knee issue. Just taking it easy at present. Ran on indoor track today

2. Brock McLean. Judd and Walker have been the elite running athletes at Carlton, but McLean now beats both of them at times and is the fittest he has ever been. He said at Melbourne as a teenager when Neal Daniher was coach that he was a star in 2 finals, testimony to his talent and mental capacity, and that for various reasons never fulfilled his elite potential while there. Is expecting huge things this year

3. Chris Yarran and Jeff Gartlett. Said they were combining exceptionally well and reminded him on the Krakouer brothers. Yarran has never been a star performer running around cones, but once he gets a football in his hands he lights up. (direct from the Aboriginal stereotype manual)

4. Matthew Kreuzer. Riley still wants him to play in the midfield rather than up forward, but suggests various formulations are under way in regard to the game plan and this will determine where Kreuzer plays. Says he is an amazing aerobic athlete in tip top shape and they dont want to lose this capacity.

5. Riley deflected provocative questions from Robbo about which Carlton player was handcuffed to Levi Casboult by saying he (like Robbo) was on holidays and wouldnt know. (Robbo is a dead set goose)

Thanks Rick

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"You are being watched. The government has a secret system. A machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I know because I built it." - Finch

yer, heard that ...

he said that henderson had a "grumble" with his knee and that he's had a fortnight off.

when asked by the SEN dudes whether it was serious he gave a frank response which came across as like "well, we don't think so but we're not entirely sure ... "

btw, thought riley handled the SEN boys well. seemed well prepared for the focus of their questioning and gave a very "daniher-like" performance.

some of what he said was:

- brock mclean joined us with a bee in his bonnet to prove a point. played well as a teenager under daniher in finals but got lost with the combination of injuries and demons youth emphasis. he hasn't missed a beat and all his stats returns show that his running / endurance are elite level (judd and walker level)

- yarran is flying and skin folds really good. at training today yarran and garlett reminded him of the krakouer brothers.

- bomber described kreuzer as a gift from the gods. amazing tank for a 19 yo. bomber, as the midfield coach, would love to have kreuze in the midfield but he may be required to pinch-hit up forward.

- hampson started pre-season a little restricted due to a patella injury. he was used today in a FF leading role from the square and given his amazing pace + height combo could be a real handful.

- warnock is in full training. good skills and covers the ground well for a big man.

- jacobs is also training well. riley stated that all 4 rucks are "training the house down".

- new facilities are FANTASTIC!! went into a little detail but i got caught behind a tram in brunswick and the static made this bit hard to hear.

- sounded really excited about the post fev carlton forward line. indicated that our challenge is to create multiple structures to kick a winning score. inferred that we will be much less predictable and that we will be a more difficult team to score against. seems they're looking at 13 goals as the game winning total, as opposed to 16 when fev was there.

- got hammered re booze cruize, esp from robbo, but acquitted himself well and sold the message that while people make mistakes it's all about what you learn from it. made sure SEN were aware that while the booze cruise revelations were very disappointing, the overwhelming majority of players on the list behave in exemplary fashion on the majority of occasions.

- henderson has a really good footy brain on his young shoulders. good kick and knows where to run.

- laughed off the grigg marriage garbage and pointed out that HUN made that "story" page 3 while haiti earthquake tragedy was on page 5 that day.

- robbo is on a mission to find out which player was handcuffed to casboult ... riley played a straight bat by saying he was on annual leave in "god's own country in WA"

i'm sure there's loads of stuff i've forgotten, but i felt riley performed well ...

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... an eagle flew out of the night. he was something to observe, came in close i heard a voice, bending stretching every nerve, had to listen had no choice ...

oops ... double post ...

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... an eagle flew out of the night. he was something to observe, came in close i heard a voice, bending stretching every nerve, had to listen had no choice ...

I'm going to against the grain here, I thought Riley was an awful speaker, too many stutters and stammers. He even trailed off a couple of times.

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You want the flame? Give us the marbles!!

Talked up Hadley also. Said he is having his best pre season ever.

Thought he was great. You could tell he was going to be all positives from the word go but he did it well. Very dramatic and passionate with his discriptions. Sounds like a footy commentator from the 60's and 70's.

Your average joe blow carlton fan would have heard that interview and got pretty pumped. Other team fans would have been bricking it.

He was rubbing his hands together at the thought of not being so predictable going inside fifty which was good to hear but hinted (like Ratts has) that we will be very defensive this year. Be prepared for loads of flooding and zoning.

yer, wasn't a great orator as such ...

but felt he was confident and comfortable. came across as an uncomplicated, home-spun country lad a-la daniher. has the ability to say nothing without making it seem like it. reckon ratten would've tensed up under their predictable "wild pre-season" focus and come across as being bitter and secretive.

remember that it wasn't until 2/3 into the interview that francis leach called a halt to the "bad boy blues" questioning by announcing "ok, let's get onto football matters ..." i mean, imagine being in riley's shoes and being asked about the grigg "marriage" ... ffs ...

i don't usually listen to ox and leach (can't stand the ox) and would be interested to know if adelaide and brisbane also sent out an assistant to field the queries or whether their head coach handled the interview. i do know that the lions told SEN that they have set themselves for a top 4 spot so reckon voss was at the helm there ...

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... an eagle flew out of the night. he was something to observe, came in close i heard a voice, bending stretching every nerve, had to listen had no choice ...

Ratts was on 3AW Sports Today (after 7.00pm) - didnt hear much of it was coming home from cricket practise. So obviously our media department sent our first string (Ratts) to deal with Dwayne Russell and our second string (Riley) to deal with Ox and Leach.

Thanks for the info everyone. I've heard Riley at Melb & Carlton and he's always impressed me. No frills and he's considered as our best tactical and development coach by many keen onlookers.

It's great to hear that our people are out there spruiking with a positive pitch.

The more we hear from CFC people about the CFC footy, the less we'll be hear propaganda.

We DO have a fantastic story of youth, class, determination, retribution, improvement, State of the Art Facilities, developing players, potential positions, pb's etc etc

"4 ruckmen training the house down". Music to my ears.
Now if they're doing that and they can play, maybe all of them are in the best 22.

Ruck/ Forward: Hammer
Ruck/ CHF: Kreuzer
Ruck/ Forward: Warnock
Ruck/ Forward: Jacobs



Who says we don't have enough talls. One of those 4 is going to miss when they could be 1st ruck at most other teams.

There's enough of them to allow Hammer to develop into the leagues best CHB if we wanted to. Plenty of time for that. I just hope we can keep the 4 on the list for then next decade.

It's great to read we are on track and improving on the track.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Reading what Riley had to say makes me even more excited for the 2010 season. Can't wait.

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Premierships: 1869, 1871, 1873, 1874, 1875, 1877, 1887, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1914, 1915, 1938, 1945, 1947, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1987, 1995.

"GIBBS."

I listened to the interview and have to say Bombers response re Hendo was a little worrying - when asked how bad is it he said 'well we think its not to bad, but'

Also he went into a bit of detail re our game plan saying we may become a more defensive unit pushing up the ground and kicking over or into space when attacking and instead trying to kick 16 goals a game we can kick 12 and win.

x2 aido, on both points.

Two other points which MR touched on in his interview:

-When pre-season started Waite was said to be ready round 11.. then it was 7.. now it is ready for round 1. Said he is training very well and involved in full training. Also said that he will play forward and he thinks could kick 40-50 goals.

- Jordan Russel is his pick for most improved.. said he was flying (Talking Carlton may become vvvvvvvverrrrryyyyyyy quiet this year if he keeps improving!!!)