Why do Carlton have the Blues?
Roar Rookie By sirnoob_51, 13 Jun 2012 sirnoob_51 is a Roar Rookie
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- AFL, Brett Ratten, Carlton Blues, Chris Judd
Carlton's Mitch Robinson in the NAB Cup (Slattery Images)
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Early this year, who would have thought the Blues would fall out of the eight? After starting the season in hot form, they have bounced back to earth and are now in the bottom half of the competition.
But why?
There are many contributing factors. Firstly, they have unfortunately lost a lot of good players to injuries such as Andrew Carrazzo, Marc Murphy, Heath Scotland, Bret Thornton and Jeremy Laidler.
It also doesn’t help that big guns such as Chris Judd and Bryce Gibbs are out of form.
But with the list that they have they should be doing better especially when they were considered as a premiership favourite at the start of the year.
At the start of the season Carlton showed that they were a force not to be messed with. After absolute demolitions of Richmond, Brisbane and Collingwood, they started showing signs that the form they were showing was wavering. Greater Western Sydney and Melbourne pushed them right to the last quarter before they finished the job.
They were then themselves demolished by St Kilda, Adelaide and Port.
Their performance against Geelong was heralded as better, but better does not win you games of football.
One big criticism of the Blues this season has been their ability to kick straight when it counted. When looking at the statistics, this criticism appears warranted. Against St Kilda they scored 14.14, with 15.20 against GWS and 11.19 against Geelong.
On all those occasions, if they had kicked straighter, it could have been a different result.
There are also doubts over Brett Ratten’s coaching ability. Much of the criticism has focused on his squad selections, with the likes of Bootsma and Bower getting a game over Ellard and Yarran.
Carlton has now lost four out of the last five games this year, with signs pointing to them further slumping down the lower rungs of the AFL ladder. They must also content with an unfavourable mid-season draw, such as West Coast at home and Hawthorn and the Pies at the ‘G.
It could be another dull month of footy for the Blues.
The Crowd Says (43) | Page 1 of Comments
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June 13th 2012 @ 1:19am
Johnno said | June 13th 2012 @ 1:19am | Report comment
Carlton are in a rebuilding year. just like the dies at Mebourne are a young team in a rebuilding year.
June 13th 2012 @ 9:25am
Macca said | June 13th 2012 @ 9:25am | Report comment
This articles statement that the blues “have unfortunately lost a lot of good players to injuries such as Andrew Carrazzo, Marc Murphy, Heath Scotland, Bret Thornton and Jeremy Laidler.” overlooks that they have also lost Henderson, Duigan, Yarran and Waite (with Kreuzer missing the Port game) for significant and overlapping periods.
As I have said previously it’s 2 of the best 3 midfielders, 4 of the best 6 backmen and their best marking forward, to right this off as simply “with the list that they have they should be doing better especially when they were considered as a premiership favourite at the start of the year.” shows a lack of understanding.
I would also point out that the likes of Luke Mitchell and Levi Casboult (2 promising key forwards) and Marcus Davies (a running defender who has played senior footy) have also missed large chunks of the season limiting replacement options.
If Carrazzo plays this week it will be a massive boost for the blues and make Judds life much easier and after getting Duigan, Yarran & Henderson back last week (which was a big part of the improved performance) gives the blues some hope this weekend.
June 13th 2012 @ 9:47am
Winston said | June 13th 2012 @ 9:47am | Report comment
Who’s their best marking forward? It’s certainly not Waite! I’ve always seen Waite more as a leading half forward whose role is to mark the ball around 65m out. Shaun Hampson was their dominant forward when they were on fire early this year. I think the problem is more that Hampson is now off the boil, so without a key target up forward, they’re back to having to rely on small forwards. Now that the season is halfway through, all teams are up and running in terms of fitness and structure, so it’s become too hard to simply rely on leading small forwards in attack. And I don’t see any of that changing even if Waite is back.
Following on from that, they only have a plan A but no plan B. Plan A is to get the ball in the middle, spread hard and spot up a leading forward. If the opposition is defending properly and that becomes too hard, they can’t use Plan B ie bomb the ball in fast and hope someone takes a mark. They can’t do that at all.
That in turn means they have to rely on 1 or 2 superstars to stand up and get them through. With Murphy out and Judd out of form, that option is gone too.
I think the key to them turning it around is having either Hampson or Kreuzer step up inside their forward 50 to give their mids a target and also to take the heat off Betts and Garlett.
June 13th 2012 @ 9:56am
Macca said | June 13th 2012 @ 9:56am | Report comment
Winston – Have a look at Waites Stats Averaging around 10 marks a game and 2 goals a game this year. Judd described him as the blues most important player.
He does lead up higher than Hampson or Kreuzer but as anyone who know anything about football knows taking marks around 65m out is very important, it gives the defenders an option coming from defence and creates good inside 50 entries. He also takes contested grabs inside 50.
I would alos suggest that having Waite in the side means that he gets the number 1 tall defender which makes Hampsons job much easier, hence Hampson performed better when Waite was in the side.
June 13th 2012 @ 10:46am
Winston said | June 13th 2012 @ 10:46am | Report comment
Well that’s your opinion. If I was opposition coach I wouldn’t even put my best defender on him. He only takes marks on the lead but not in a pack situation nor a test of strenght type situation. I would consider putting a medium sized quick defender on him rather than my strong fullback. Eg no need to waste Dustin Fletcher on him.
I’m not saying it’s not important to mark the ball around 65m out, but what you also need is someone to then mark it inside 50 as well (or at least provide a strong target).
Anyway, my criticism was not supposed to be on Waite but more on Hampson and Kreuzer. Not only have they been not taking marks but definitely not enough contest to bring the ball down to the smalls. As a result the mids don’t know what to do as soon as the opposition is structured up defensively.
June 13th 2012 @ 10:59am
Macca said | June 13th 2012 @ 10:59am | Report comment
It’s not just my opinion the stats back it up, Hampson played better when Waite was in the team and Waite was averaging 10 marks a game and 2 goals a game over the first 5.
No need to waste dustin fletcher? When was the last time fletcher took the number 1 forward? The blues generally play Robinson as a defensive forward on him.
I agree the “test of strength” situation is not Waites go, but pack marks he takes quite a few where he can jump.
Also look at last weekends game, the blues played Henderson forward in the Waite role, which allowed Kreuzer and Hampson to play deeper and the crumbers were able to rove the contest. TIm Watson “really liked” the forward strusture and the way it worked. Henderosn wasn’t quite as good as Waite though.
Having said all that if Kreauzer and Hampson were to “step up” it would obviously make a big difference.
June 13th 2012 @ 10:51am
brendan said | June 13th 2012 @ 10:51am | Report comment
Carlton lack quality players between 193 -198 cm and it is starting to hurt them.Waite has been injured but most sides have two or three frontline key forwards and a similar ammount of key defenders.Losing Kennedy and Fevola within a few years of each other really affected the clubs future and there recruiting staff hasn’t done enough to counter this problem.Maybe they should have offerred someone like Dean Galea a rookie spot as he is probably the best key forward in the Vfl.I went to fridays nights game and the inaccuracy in the last quarter was pure and simple bad football , many of those points were low percentage shots that required an element of luck to succeed.Judd turns 29 this September and on current form the Blues wont feature prominently in the finals so he will be in his thirties before he gets a shot at playing for a flag in a Blues jumper.
June 13th 2012 @ 11:12am
Macca said | June 13th 2012 @ 11:12am | Report comment
The blues players over 193cm are as follows, Warnock 206cm, Hampson 201, Kreuzer 200, Sam Rowe, Luke Mitchell, Levi Casboult 198, Pat McCarthy, Lachie Henderson 196, Matthew Watson 195, Waite 194, Jamison 193.
Warnock 25, Hampson 24 & Kreuzer 23 are still developing and are 2-3 years off their prime as ruckmen, Rowe 25 was their Galea I suppose and unfirtunately has cancer, Mitchell 20 has missed large chunks of this season and last with shoulder issues and is only now making his way through the 2′s. Casboult 22 has a knee injury, McCarthy 20 is only 84 kg’s and needs to develop, Henderson 23 is becoming a great key postion player, Watson 20 is showing he can play at this level and Watie and Jamison are key players although Waite is injured and Jamison missed a lot of pre season through injury.
So as you can see they have plenty of options but key position players take longer to develop and a lot of them have been battling injuries.
This is also where a lot of people fail to understand just how far back the blues are coming from, when they got Murphy in 2005 they just didn’t need to get a good midfielder they needed everything, so they had to build a midfield first then work on key positions. It is also why I think their premiership window is just about to open up.
I did wonder about the blues picking up Galea last year.
June 13th 2012 @ 12:03pm
brendan said | June 13th 2012 @ 12:03pm | Report comment
Macca you didn’t read my post properley i dont doubt the depth of the players over 197 cm it is the players between 193 and 197 cm i am referring too.Carlton’s rucks are as good as anyones ,onballers first rate and flankers are up to scratch but there is a glaring deficiency of mid size talls.Collingwood have Reid ,Cloke ,Brown and Dawes in this range, Geelong have Hawkins, Taylor, Podsiadly , and Lonergan and West Coast have Lynch , Kennedy .Brown and Schofield around this size.Carlton’s game plan relies on a full list of players at there peak with the crumbing forwards feeding of the tall key position players.That doesn’t happen all the time and sometimes you need a mobile tall in the forward line to drag the side across the line and the Blues dont have that player.
June 13th 2012 @ 1:15pm
Macca said | June 13th 2012 @ 1:15pm | Report comment
Brendan I read your post corrctly and pointed out that the blues have numerous players in the height range you sugeest (or 1cm taller) it just a matter of them developing and staying fit.
If you were to compare the list you provided of collingwoods with carltons I would suggest Reid and Jamison match up evenly, Brown and Henderson, Dawes and Waite they are just missing a Cloke (but really who isn’t). But that is right now. Mitchell and Casboult are both potential big key forwards and wit Hampson and Kreuzer are developing still. They recruited Rowe to cover the gap while they developed and he got cancer.
My point is what you are pointing to as a weakness could be remedied by as early as next year with nothing more than development of the current list. It’s no so much that the blues don’t have that player it’s just they haven’t developed them yet and a lardge part of that is due to injury.
June 13th 2012 @ 2:33pm
brendan said | June 13th 2012 @ 2:33pm | Report comment
The weakness has ben there since you gave up Kennedy for Judd and the club hasn’t drafted anyone to remedy it ( Rowe hasn’t played and Henderson is part of a trade).I dont think there is much at the Northern Blues so if these young blokes aren’t in the ones now there years off.Judd might be retired before he has a target to kick to and Murphy isnt far off free agency so who knows what the future holds.You talk in if and buts too much and after three consecutive final series there are no excuses and if you accept this mediocrity the once feared ” Blue Baggers ” are a team of the past.
June 13th 2012 @ 2:46pm
Macca said | June 13th 2012 @ 2:46pm | Report comment
Brendan Check your facts before making statements.Have a look at the blues recent draftee’s, Watson, Mitchell, McCarthy, Casboult and Rowe plus McInnes at 191cm. It isn’t the blues fault Rowe got cancer, Mitchell has had 2 shoulder reconstructions, Casboult was knocking on the door of selection before he did his knee pre season and Watson is currently playing well. Add in Henderson who you exclude because he “was part of a trade” and you can see that there has been a concerted effort to get big men. If you want you could add in Bootsma who is 190cm.
I reiterate the point I made initially, the blues at the end of 2005 were terrible they had to completely rebuild and they started in the midfield andthen moved to key positions. They nwo have a great full back in Jamison, an emerging CHB in Henderson plus a great third tall in Laidler(who has beaten him this year), 3 of the best young ruckmen in the comp and a number of young players who could develop into key forwards plus Waite. I would say this is pretty good all tings considered.
June 13th 2012 @ 3:26pm
Macca said | June 13th 2012 @ 3:26pm | Report comment
Brendan I don’t know what you want the blues to have done, they had a very weak backline 2 years ago so they got a mature age player in Duigan, drafted Watson, traded for Laidler from the cats and shifted Henderson down back and now have a very solid back 6.
They are lacking a key forward and have drafted 3 young blokes over 196cm and another who is 191 plus a mature age recruit who is 198.
The fact of them matter is Geelongs and Collingwood are more advanced that carlton (the cats won the premiership in 2007 carlton won the spoon) and yes Geelong getting Stephenson, Pods and Taylor are all great but they have been great because they stayed fit. If Pods got cancer as soon as he was recruited, Taylor had needed 2 should reconstructions in his first year and Stephenson had done his knee the story would of been different.
June 13th 2012 @ 12:02pm
Winston said | June 13th 2012 @ 12:02pm | Report comment
Brendan, I agree with you. As much as Macca is arguing the contrary, I don’t think they have enough good big men. It’s not just about being big, it’s about good as well! And your point about most of their shots being low percentage must also be contributed to by their lack of big quality target. They can’t go directly in but have to rely on leads to pockets way too often.
June 13th 2012 @ 1:18pm
Macca said | June 13th 2012 @ 1:18pm | Report comment
Winston – look at the ages of these big men. Brendan points to Hawkins & Kennedy, how many years did it take them to develop?
As for the inaccuracy, have a look at the tape from Fridays game, watch where Judd, Kreuzer, Garlett, Yarran and many others missed from, I’ll give you a tip they weren’t kicking banana’s!
June 13th 2012 @ 3:12pm
brendan said | June 13th 2012 @ 3:12pm | Report comment
More if and buts Macca.Geelong covered there weakness in the forward line by recruiting a 28 yr old called Pods and this year Orren Stevenson.Collingwood had injury problems last year but still made the big one.Geelong lost an All Australian CHB to injury in 08 and replaced him with a 21 yr old from fremantle who took contested marks in the last qtr to help sink the Blues namely Harry Taylor. Incidentially Mitch Brown has had numerous injuries but the Cats dont look for excuses they find solutions.The only fact worth checking is that in a generation the Blues have won once and IMO haven’t adapted to the demands of modern football in terms of developing sustained success.
June 13th 2012 @ 12:53pm
The Cattery said | June 13th 2012 @ 12:53pm | Report comment
Big injury list over at Carlton, still in the mix, but it’s fading quickly.
They remain in the top four average attendances for the season so far:
Collingwood 57,501
Carlton 49,541
Richmond 48,724
Essendon 46,735
but the tiges are a very good chance to catch them if they can string a few more wins together (and not fall in a heap they minute they are favoured to win a game).
June 13th 2012 @ 1:25pm
Macca said | June 13th 2012 @ 1:25pm | Report comment
Carrazzo back in this week, plus the backmen back last week and I think the slide will halt soon, maybe not in the next 3 weeks given the opposition but soon enough to make the finals.
If they blues lose the next 3 and are 6-8 after 14, they then have North and the Bulldogs which they should win, to go to 8-8, followed by the Tigers and the swans in Melb both winnable, Brisbane (in Melb) which should be a win, Essendon which is a who knows with those 2 teams history, Gold Coast which is a win and St Kilda. That should give them 10 wins and having to win 2-3 of the Tigers, Swans, Essendon & St Kilda games to make it I would suggest. especially given they play 2 of the teams that are trying to take their spot.
If they win 1 of the next 3 I would think they are safe.
June 13th 2012 @ 2:17pm
Redb said | June 13th 2012 @ 2:17pm | Report comment
I don’t know but long may it continue
June 13th 2012 @ 2:21pm
Macca said | June 13th 2012 @ 2:21pm | Report comment
The bombers form hasn’t been great of recent weeks REdb when was the last time you won a game in June?
June 13th 2012 @ 3:45pm
brendan said | June 13th 2012 @ 3:45pm | Report comment
Macca,West Coast won the spoon in 2010 and rebounded so that argument about how far back they were is redundant.I find it astonishing that the most powerful club of my youth today cant get it right.Take it as a backhand compliment but the microscope should be put on that club particularly its Coach and recruitment.Every year we hear some new slogan ie do you know what were cooking or proclamations from the coach like unless we make top four we have failed and they just dont deliver.My main point is you dont have the right mix of players for the modern game and until that is rectified IMO Carlton will be a mediocre side.
June 13th 2012 @ 4:01pm
Macca said | June 13th 2012 @ 4:01pm | Report comment
Brendan – The Eagles, the Cats collingwood they all started from a much better position from the blues, when the blues bottomed out they then got smashed with draft penalty’s this left them with an absoultely terrible list at the end of 2005.
Since then the have rebuilt a midfield into one of the best in the league, rebuilt a defence and are currently rebuilding a forward line.
You say the can’t get it right in recrutiment but what mistakes have the made, Murphy Gibbs Kreuzer all top notch, they got stick for taking Yarran before Rich but its seems to be the right move now, they got Garlett, Jamison & Carrazzo off the rookie list, Watson and Bootsma seem to be the real deal, Duigan as a mature age recruit has been great, trading fro Henderson, Laidler & Warnock have been big winners, even McLean is starting to pay off. The judd & Armfield for Kennedy & Masten seems to be a win win.
So I’ll ask again what would you have Carlton do differently?
And additionally if Mitchell and Casboult emerge in 2013 as key forwards what area would the blues be lacking in then to justify the statement “you dont have the right mix of players for the modern game” rather than just saying you need a key forward to develop.
June 13th 2012 @ 4:29pm
brendan said | June 13th 2012 @ 4:29pm | Report comment
Three ruckmen cant all be played in the one side so i assume Hampson will have to be traded.Yes your three no 1 draft picks have been good players but it is a waste of a pick if they dont play at least 100 games.You cannot play six to seven sub six foot players in the one side in the modern game Betts,Garlett,Murphy,Yarran, Armfield, Curnow,Scotland , Simpson and Ellard all are in this category and give height and weight away to there respective opponents and whilst individually these players are quite good collectively there lack of height makes it easier for the opposition.The lack of quality key position players is the biggest hindrance to your club Waite aside , who is IMO injury prone , there doesn’t seem to be another target( I dont consider players who are in the twos as options Geelong has another three key position forwards in the seconds but there not options yet), who else can finish off the work of the onballers.Jamison is a good player who may have played his best football and Henderson doesn’t strike me as a world beater.So all in all IMO Carlton are going nowhere and should replace the coach ,scour the state leagues for talent and be prepared to be very active at trade week.
June 13th 2012 @ 4:58pm
Macca said | June 13th 2012 @ 4:58pm | Report comment
What do these players have in common, Stringer, Selwood, Motlop, Wojinski, Chapman & Stokes. They all played in Geelongs team on Friday and are all under 183cm. Geelong also have Varcoe, Bynres Simpkin, Bews, Hogan, Eardley, Sheringham, Schroder & Mcarthy under the magical 6ft, Essendon have 9 under 6ft and all of them have played senior football and I am sure if I wemt through other lists I would find similar results so I don’t buy your argument that the blues have to many small players.
Also who says all three ruckmen can’t play, Kreuzer is quite mobile, Hampson is one of the quickest on the list and Warnock is going very well. It worked reasonably on Friday and against Melbourne (where Hampson could of had 5 goals had he kicked straight).
At 26 Jamison is hardly past it, in fact he is just soming into his prime and Henderson has beaten every opponent he has had this year including Cloke & Hurley and is only 23, his best is in front of him.
So yes the blues need a key forward especially with Waite injured but I don’t understand why young players in the 2′s aren’t options especially given the injuries they have suffered. In this modern game you can’t just buy a team you have to develop one and the blues are doing just that.
June 13th 2012 @ 5:02pm
Macca said | June 13th 2012 @ 5:02pm | Report comment
Collingwood 12 under 6ft
Adelaide 12
Sydney 12
Gee how are these teams in the top 4?
June 13th 2012 @ 8:47pm
Redb said | June 13th 2012 @ 8:47pm | Report comment
The June thing is a myth, but in any case they use to say the same thing about Collingwood.
June 14th 2012 @ 9:11am
Macca said | June 14th 2012 @ 9:11am | Report comment
How is it a myth, they haven’t won in June for a long time. Whether it is just coincidence and is completley irrelevant to how they will perform this week is another thing.
June 13th 2012 @ 5:38pm
brendan said | June 13th 2012 @ 5:38pm | Report comment
How many are regular players? Believe what you will but your Blueboys are going mowhere fast.Who won the most recent flag a team that plays tall and strong.
June 14th 2012 @ 9:07am
Macca said | June 14th 2012 @ 9:07am | Report comment
Yeaah Geelong won and look at how many under 6ft players they have? 15 on the list and Selwood, Motlop, Wojinski, Chapman, Stokes & Varcoe would all be in the best 22. That is 6 so I am not sure how your theory of not having 6-7 under 6ft players goes.
And on that team how long did it take Hawkins to mature? What were the so called experts saying about the team and coach back in 2006?
And you said “Yes your three no 1 draft picks have been good players but it is a waste of a pick if they dont play at least 100 games” Murphy has 134, Gibbs has 123 and Kreuzer has 78 so I can’t see how you think they are a waste of a pick?
June 14th 2012 @ 9:19am
Macca said | June 14th 2012 @ 9:19am | Report comment
just Checked the Geelong premiership side from last year, 6 under 6ft (Varcoe, Selwood, Stokes, Christensen, Chapman & Wojinski) Plus James Kelly who is 6ft. Seems to me that having 6-7 6ft or less might be perfect rather than a hindrence!!
June 14th 2012 @ 10:58am
brendan said | June 14th 2012 @ 10:58am | Report comment
Geelong did have the players you mentioned but that was balanced out by Ling and Corey over 190 cm and Bartel at 187 cm.Carlton have one to many talls ,two too many smalls and are missing two key position players.Your entitled to your opinion but you argued for the retention of Ratten last year and perhaps he was fortunate Essendon had the bye the week before the finals or the result might have been different and this year the clubs gone backwards.Carlton talk the talk but dont walk the walk and Ratten’s comments re the Eagles worrying about playing after the bye are stupid and only fire up the opposition.You can dissect any argument you like Macca but the cold hard facts are this century Carlton are a shadow of the club they once were.
June 14th 2012 @ 11:12am
Macca said | June 14th 2012 @ 11:12am | Report comment
Brendam you like to talk facts but none of them support you, you say you can’t have 6-7 players under 6ft while Geelong won a premiership with just that, you say Carlton haven’t drafted any key position players when they have 4 kids plus a mature age player plus trading Henderson. You say Carlton haven’t been creative in fixing their deficiencies like Geelong getting Pdosiadly and Taylor when the blues have picked up Duigan and Laidler to fix their backline.
And now you say Geelongs 6-7 under 6ft are offset by Ling Bartel & Corey without mentioning Judd 189, Gibbs 188, Carrazzo 187 or even Walker at 190.
And which 2 key positions are they missing? Full back and CHB are more than capably filled, Waite coming back will tack one key forward spot so we are talking 1 key forward. If Watson can take a key back spot Henderson could come forward, Mitchell and Casboult are being developed so as I have said numerous times there is a deficiency but as early as next year it could be resolved through development of the current list.
June 13th 2012 @ 7:56pm
sirnoob_51 said | June 13th 2012 @ 7:56pm | Report comment
One thing that I have always felt the blues should do to boost their forward line is scrap having 3 ruckman. It certainly doesn’t help their cause have Hampson, Kreuzer and Warnock all on the ground at the same time. What the blues should do is scrap having Warnock in the ruck and train him to be a tall forward he has the hight and the strength if they trained him to play in the forward line and keep both Kreuzer and Hampson in the ruck and only use Warnock if either one gets injured or is on the bench for a spell. Also an interesting move last week from Ratten is to move Tuohy to play as a midfielder, i think it was a great call by Ratten and would like to see more of him their.
June 14th 2012 @ 9:09am
Macca said | June 14th 2012 @ 9:09am | Report comment
sirnoob – what are you talking about, Warnock is the best ruckman they have, he is alos the worst key forward! And you say he should they shouldn’t play three ruckmen but then say Kreuzer and Hampson should play in the ruck and Warnock should play forward, that is still 3 ruckmen!
June 14th 2012 @ 12:34pm
sirnoob_51 said | June 14th 2012 @ 12:34pm | Report comment
Truly Kreuzer is their best ruck this season not Warnock. Agreed im still saying that they have 3 ruckmen on the field but dont use all 3 of them in the ruck I suppose I should eat my words about Warnock because they have always really used him in the ruck. What Carlton need to do is have one of them playing a Quentin Lynch like role at West Coast were he isnt a true ruck but they use him when both Cox and Natanui are having a spell and have only 2 dominant ruckmen. Shaun Hampson sort of plays this role already but if they used one of them in more of that type of role they could have a clear marking target up forward. Also I base the fact they should use Warnock up forward more on that Shaun Hampsons goal kicking this season has been atrocious.
June 14th 2012 @ 1:08pm
Macca said | June 14th 2012 @ 1:08pm | Report comment
Warnock is a much better tap ruckman than Kreuzer and is about 2 inches taller, look at the hit outs and hit outs to advantage Warnock has had since getting back into the side,. If anyone is going to play the Lynch (who is only 192cm by the way) type role it will most lilkey be Hampson, he has by far looked the best as a key forward this year.
Hampson hasn’t been atrocious kicking for goal, just patchy, at one stage he had kicked something like 8.1.
June 14th 2012 @ 6:24pm
sirnoob_51 said | June 14th 2012 @ 6:24pm | Report comment
Hampsons most accurate game was against Richmond in round 1where he was the leading goal kicker that night with 3.1. Hampson is sitting on 14.2 for the season.
He has been averaging around 1 goal a game and if he were going to play in a Lynch like role and average 1 goal a game the blues are not gonna win many.
What the blues need is a forward line set up similar to St Kilda’s where they have 2 short crumbers aka (Millera and Saad also Steven Milne) and 2 talls Kozzi and Riewoldt. The Blues already have amazing crumbers in Betts and Garrlett but their missing the talls. Fevola was a huge loss for them and thats the sort of forward they need to push them from being a top 8 side into being a top 4 side. They did draft Sam Rowe as a Marque forward but unfortunately he has had a cancer scare. Hopefully he does return next year. But the are just missing that one key player that can provide a tall marking target up forward.
June 16th 2012 @ 11:08am
hamleyn said | June 16th 2012 @ 11:08am | Report comment
Carlton’s injury list pails in comparison to Collingwood’s. Plus Carlton won’t win a premiership without a good consistent key forward who doesn’t get injured all the time (i.e. not Jarrad Waite), a stronger backline (might take a bit of time but guys like Henderson and Duigan are showing a lot of promise) and a better overall gameplan. I know Blues fans will love Bret Ratten, but I sincerely doubt whether he has a good enough gameplan to win them a premiership.
At the moment, the Blues lack a definitive structure, which is what it takes to be a top four team. Look at Collingwood, Geelong and West Coast as an example. All three teams have a strong team structure with pre-defined rolls which are drilled into every player on the list. As a result, when they get injuries, they have guys ready to step up and fill the holes in the structure. Carlton, on the other hand, relies far too much on their top-end player talent. So when that talent gets injured and goes out of the side (a la Carrazzo, Scotland, Murphy, Laidler, Kreuzer and Yarran), they have to rely on unproven guys with limited skill or experience at the top level, hence the drop in performance.
June 18th 2012 @ 9:54am
Macca said | June 18th 2012 @ 9:54am | Report comment
Hamelyn – I agree Collingwood have had a bad run with injuries but the whole point is that they are more developed, ie have built better depth. Plus look at where they havehad the injuries, Brown, Keefe, Tarrant and REid all play the same 2 spots, so while all of them have been injured 2 of them have been fit at the same time so the damage is limited.
On the other hand the blues only last year improved their backline through the additionof Laidler & Duigan plus playing Henderson & Yarran in defence, all four of these players missed games at the same time. Carrazzo and Murphy are A grade midfielders and not to many teams can lose 2 of of them for extended periods and not see a drop off. Then you have the key forward slot where the blues are already vulnerable, they lose Waite and have Mitchell & Casboult (the 2 most promising young players) injured for most of the season so far.
It isn’t so much a case of Carlton relying on the top end stifling the development of the younger players as you allude to but a case that after the salary cap penalties the blues were so far behind everyone else they have only just built a solid top 22-24, they are still building 24-28.
June 18th 2012 @ 10:18am
Macca said | June 18th 2012 @ 10:18am | Report comment
I forgot to mention Sam Rowe, another key forward, who they recruited as a msture age player but got cancer, Simon White and Marcus Davies who wold be replacements for laidler and duigan.
So the count is 4 of the best 6 defneders plus 2 of the most likely replacments, 2 of the best 3 midfielders, and the best marking forward plus the 3 most likley replacements.
Is collingwoods really worse?
June 19th 2012 @ 9:36am
hamleyn said | June 19th 2012 @ 9:36am | Report comment
Can’t say I have much sympathy for Carlton seeing as they were responsible for breaching the handicap but you make a good point there. Can’t agree with you on the point that any 2 of Brown, Keefe, Tarrant and Reid have played every game this year. Didn’t happen against Adelaide at AAMI and the Pies were still able to win.
As for Waite, please. You can’t expect Jarrad Waite to be your winning goal kicker every week. You guys play without him more than you play with him, you should be used to it. Jarrad Wait is not the answer to your forward woes. Just as well you guys have the bye this week so you can rest up and get Judd back to full strength because you’re going to need it in the second half of the season.
June 19th 2012 @ 10:29am
Macca said | June 19th 2012 @ 10:29am | Report comment
So I missed 1 in 11 games, hardly the same as the number of games the blues have missed 3-4 of their best back 6.
As for Waite yes he has missed a lot of footy but the first 5 games this year he was averaging over 10 marks a game and over 2 goals a game, that’s pretty handy. And as I have said they recruited Rowe to give them another forward option but he got cancer, they have Mitchell who has missed the last season and a half with shoulder issues and is just coming back now and Casboult who was kn ocking on the door for selection at the start of the year before he didd his knee, so they have taken steps to address the problem, they just haven’t had much luck with injuries.
June 25th 2012 @ 5:14pm
Wayno said | June 25th 2012 @ 5:14pm | Report comment
Poor Carlton, my heart bleeds. Serial cheats, ahhhh Karma, isnt it wonderful.