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The Carlton Football Club is Australia’s most successful AFL club historically. They have been traditionally been a part of the big ‘four’ clubs, hold the record for the most premierships and was the last Victorian club to win a wooden spoon.
But since the turn of the millennium times have quickly changed. All the hard work put into making Carlton such a power and force over the first 100 years quickly evaporated with new and unseen mistakes which are now a common theme of the Carlton we see today.
As we see it Carlton has now become a laughing stock with four wooden spoons in the last 14 years and the club’s reputation is quickly fading. The current membership campaign of ‘Bound by Blue- A past to celebrate, a future to embrace’ just shows Carlton are desperately trying to sign up members based around the past success and not the current Carlton. But it is about time these blues started to write their own history.
After years in dismay and salary cap penalties handed down by our wonderful friends the AFL commission, Carlton quickly sent about rising back to the top.
As we gained number one draft picks in Bryce Gibbs, Marc Murphy and Matthew Kreuzer.
It seamed Carlton was finally on their way back to the top. Steven Kernahan had the right idea, he wanted to bring back the Carlton swagger and arrogance that had so badly been lost in the past decade.
Him pulling the famous pin of “We are Carlton, f..k the rest” in the 2009 best and fairest was proof. We played in finals in 2009, 10, and 11. In 2011 we were a kick away from a preliminary final with a heartbreaking loss to the West Coast. But Carlton quickly started talking up a top four finish in 2012.
After beating Collingwood in Round 3, the Blues were premiership favourites. Then everything went downhill. Injuries hampered the Blues for the rest of the season and captain Chris Judd was suspended for that famous chicken wing tackle.
Legendary coach Brett Ratten lost his job as the Blues missed the finals after talking up top four all preseason or even a premiership. I suppose it was Stephen Kernahan trying to show that arrogance that John Elliott and George Harris used to show, but we were in the wrong period of time for that.
Our list was overrated. Players regarded as stars were just ordinary players in truth. They had just been playing with confidence. Mick Malthouse arrived and memberships started to rise. Surely a flag was just around the corner? In three years Malthouse would be gone, Kernahan would be gone and we would be last. It is a great lesson in footy.
Now you may think I am just giving a historical lesson, but to find out where we are now you only have to look back at what we gave up. Eddie Betts to Adelaide, Sam Jacobs to Adelaide. Jarrad Waite to North Melbourne, Josh Kennedy to West Coast. Jeff Garlett to Melbourne.
These players are all playing well. Brendan Bolton is the right coach, he would have been able to get the best out of these players like Ratten did.
It was just the wrong appointment in getting Mick Malthouse. Now we are undertaking a five-year rebuild. This is something not seen at Carlton for a long time.
They are trying this because the quick fix didn’t work. It would have worked if a few small mistakes hadn’t been made.
Carlton fans are not traditionally patient and most I know are very upset to what this football club has become. Some say they may not be alive to see their Blues win another flag. Who knows if this rebuild will work? What if we just keep going around and around in this cycle? What if the kids are no good?
We will just have to wait and see. If we had a stronger president in the Elliott mode we know we would be seeing something quickly. We should of kept four interstate games at Princes Park. Then we would have kept an advantage not many clubs have.
We shouldn’t have pulled down the Heatley Stand, we shouldn’t have traded all these players. We have made so many mistakes. But I just hope they are over and the rebuild works to plan, even though I have another bad feeling.
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