Marc Murphy is awarded a free kick for hands in the back in the centre square. He kicks it long into the Blues’ forward fifty.
Troy Menzel, promising all night, is pushed as he leads for a mark. The ball filters to the back of the pack where Patrick Cripps runs onto it, steaming towards the goal. He decides to handball to Dale Thomas who is surrounded and loses the ball.
Geelong counter attacks with Joel Selwood kicking a goal two minutes later, directly in front, following not one but two 50-metre penalties.
Carlton’s season has been a reflection of poor decision making. Not only by the players on the pitch but by years of mistakes from the Carlton board. The lacklustre performances we have seen so far this season cannot be blamed on injuries, a tough draw or any other excuses. All involved with the Carlton Football Club have some serious thinking to do.
The facts do not lie. Carlton sacked Brett Ratten and brought in three-time premiership coach Mick Malthouse with the intention of winning a grand final in the near future. Things have not gone to plan. After coming close to a preliminary final berth two seasons ago, Carlton are now 1-7 and battling to stay off the bottom of the ladder.
Looking at Carlton’s leading goalscorer from 2010 reveals where the club has made some disastrous mistakes: 2010 Eddie Betts (42), 2011 Andrew Walker (56), 2012 Eddie Betts (48), 2013 Jeff Garlett (43) and 2014 Jarrad Waite (29).
Only Andrew Walker still remains at the club, now playing in defence when he is not on the sidelines nursing an injury. Carlton’s willingness to allow Betts, Garlett and Waite to leave the playing group have ultimately left the side with almost no reliable upfront targets. Carlton should have offered Betts the extra cash. Carlton should have replaced Garlett with another exciting, quick small forward. Carlton should have given Waite a two-year contract.
Last week hurt Carlton fans. Betts kicked six goals for the Crows, Garlett bagged three for Melbourne, Waite grabbed a handy two for North Melbourne and to top it off Mitch Robinson kicked three goals for the Lions.
The issue for Carlton is that they have not replaced these goal kickers with an unstoppable tall forward. Liam Jones is still young and needs time to develop while Levi Casboult’s goal kicking ability is laughable.
In the 2005 AFL Draft Carlton picked Marc Murphy with their first pick. Bryce Gibbs went number one in 2006. Matthew Kreuzer followed the same path in 2007. These players were seen as Carlton’s future on which the club would deliver their faithful fans their first premiership since the 1995 win over Geelong.
Now, Murphy (27) is still in the prime of his career but with a side around him that cannot find the hunger to win a game of footy, let alone push for a grand final. Gibbs, after a few disappointing seasons, looked good last year and was awarded with his first John Nicholls Medal, but needs to have a serious look at where his motivations lie after struggling to find form this year.
Carlton’s next seasons rely on Gibbs and Murphy’s leadership. Matthew Kreuzer needs to get back on the pitch before his future at the club can be properly reassessed after having an unfortunate run with injuries.
The Carlton board must be rebuilt before the playing squad is. The CEO Steven Trigg, president Mark LoGiudice and list manager Stephen Silvagni need to be on the same page as the Carlton coach, whoever that is next season. At the moment they clearly are not and this is being reflected by the players on the pitch.
Carlton need leadership. They need a clear path for the future, one that the players will trust in and find motivation in. One that the fans can believe in and start singing again at Carlton matches.
Until then, it is going to be much of the same for this once dominant club.
Sean Wales
Roar Rookie
very well said mate, thanks for the input completely agree :) Carlton President just released a message to the members, looks like Mick is gone during the bye week
micka
Guest
While I would find having Bomber Thompson as galling as having Collingwood Malthouse at the helm of the blues, that Essendon Carlton game would result in a shower of sparks. I'm not a massive fan of him but I think he has something to prove and would generate a bit of fire.
Longtimeblue
Guest
Well written and spot on Sean. Malthouse has not worked, end the pain now. I'm sure he has some very fine coaching attributes but facts are facts....he let Waite, Garlett and Eddie go and replaced them with a hope and a prayer. From the outside looking in, it appeared to me from the get go that all three of these players did not fit MM's vision of the ideal player in a MM created team (throw Mitch Robinson into that put as well) especially in terms of how they conducted themselves on the park and how they carried themselves off it. MM won't tolerate acts of individualism, and remember we are talking about someone who has perhaps a warped sense of what constitutes acts of individualism (warped may be a bit strong..let's say he has a very old fashioned mindset in this area) and all the players mentioned above in one way or another displayed signs Mick didn't appreciate....Eddie's after-goal celebrations (adored by all CFC fans mind you), Garlett's seemingly apathetic body language during games, Jarrod Waite's...well there are too many to list here so let's just go for his obligatory brain-snaps that would lead to weeks spent donning the CFC tie watching his team mates from the stands. As for Mitch Robinson. he didn't stand a hope of lasting longer then a season. Mitch plays on pure instinct regardless of the collateral damage to his body. Realistically, telling MM a load of porkies about a night spent on the turps just made the whole thing a lot simpler and cleaner. Now MM knew that by getting rid of these players he would be knee-capping his own team's ability to score goals..in a way he was unfortunate that the players involved (sans Robinson) just happened to be the club's three best goal scorers... but that doesn't in anyway mitigate the disastrous situation that the club finds itself mired in presently up forward. MM knew what he was doing. It was MM's way or the highway and he backed his own tried and tested (?) methodology. Well it failed, big time. The game has moved on, society has changed rapidly in the past 20 years. Subsequently so have young adults and those in there mid to late teens. Mick hasn't. The stark reality is that MM was unable to successfully coach these players to bring out the best of them... he was unable to allow them some leeway so that they could be themselves...all the players mentioned above needed to be handled slightly differently....it required some flexibility, some lateral thinking, some empathy...it required the ability to recognize that players are individuals and not all of them are going to fit to one person's set pre-deposition. Brett Ratten understood this and that's why when his CFC teams were rolling at their peak the football was beautiful to watch and the score attendants always had busy afternoons. Every true CFC supporter understood this as well.....and they accepted it, Sure it was frustrating when Waite would needlessly sling an opponent into the fence after the ball was OOB and subsequently miss the next couple of weeks....but it was a small price to pay for the games that he lit up when on song. As for Betts and Garlett, well few CFC players were cheered more or loved more by Blues fans...Eddie especially. The decision to refuse to shell out another couple of 100 grand (at worse) to keep him a Blue was unforgivable and stupid in all senses...football wise, morale wise, economically wise... there were some I'm sure who would attend games due to the enjoyment and entertainment Eddie alone provided. I severely doubt those fans have seen a Carlton game live for a while now. Mitch was the same... he was insane, all Blues fans knew it... and loved it. His ferocious and kamikaze head first charges at the ball or at the opposition were inspiring and warmed the souls of us true Blue fans. These players all possessed certain qualities that are uncommon to all but exist in a few....attributes that all great or even all successful teams have throughout there playing list. The Blues current list is bereft of them all. MM very clearly and very obviously had a methodology he believed would be successful at CFC. It did not work. It had failed in any way you wish to judge it. Some, even a majority of Blues fans will tell you that it was always going to fail. It just isn't CFC. We do things our way...unique to CFC...for good or for bad. To exemplify this, I think back to some of our past champions and to those who played in past successful CFC teams and wonder just how long they would have lasted in a MM coached era....hmm let's see....the likes of Mark Maclure, Diesel Williams, Nicho, Percy Jones, Glenn Manton and of course, the Duke, Earl Spalding.I could name dozens more but I think the point is made. If anymore proof is required that MM has passed his use-by date I proffer the following list of bizarre decisions made in recent times: The decision to replace Jamieson with Warnock; The decision to replace Carrazzo with Warnock; The continuation of the Woods/Warnock combination in the same team; The decision to leave undersized and inexperienced defenders on dominating and much bigger opposition forwards, regardless of how many times they get toweled up in a quarter; The decision to tag an opposition champion with a player playing one of his first 10...and then to leave the tag as it all game to somehow teach the youngster something they needed to know....regardless of how such a match up costs the team as a whole and how badly it may affect the youngster themselves; The bizarre 'in and out' selection treatment of Troy Menzel, Dylan Buckley and Nick Graham; The bizarre continuing faith he shows at the selection table with the under performing David Ellard, Dennis Armfield, Mark Wiley, Liam Jones and Robbie Warnock. The decision to swap pick 7 for pick 19 in return for 2 GWS cast offs...GWS don't give up quality players for a pick 12 places higher in the draft....as has proven to be the case. The Blues need every single place in the Draft, we cannot afford to be throwing away a #7 draft pick. Looking back and being able to say 'I told you so' is pointless so let's just do what we can do now and for the immediate future and that should be obvious to all.... 1. Ask MM to retire gracefully sometime before the Bye weekend and if he refuses to do so, make it happen....ensure Robert Wiley goes with him. What we didn't need in our Assistant coaches was someone of the same mindset and age group as MM. 2. Replace him with Barker or Laidley or whoever (but not Robert Wiley), hell, appoint them both as joint coaches for the rest of this intolerable season but just make sure they are picking the team that is in the best interest of the CFC in the following seasons....that is, play the youth and give them some games to allow them to show everyone what they are capable of..if they are capable of it. If not, well then at least you know. 3. Keep all back office affairs out of the public arena...no strategy announcements from the CEO for example. 4. Ensure that those responsible for the list for 2016 and beyond are working in synch and have a plan not does not entail any of the mistakes made in the past 20 years (Pressure is on you SOS!); 5. Appoint Mark Thompson ASAP...regardless of what it takes. He is the man out there that is capable of picking our club up and restoring it to point that at least has Blues fans wanting to see our team play. He has not past his use by date and I get the impression he would be hell bent on showing those at Essendon they kept the wrong club legend. Even if initially, that only meant beating the Bombers...right now I would take a season when we missed finals but were able to win at least once against the Bombers or Pies.... things are bleak let's face it but sheesh at least get the team in a position to be able to beat these most hated of foes...I can't take another season where we are soundly beaten by them both twice over....not many true Blue fans could I don't reckon. Over and out...)
Sean Wales
Roar Rookie
Thanks a lot for your comment with this being my first article, appreciate it :) I just think Carlton should have looked at their tall options up forward before letting Waite go, definitely was too unreliable though
Sean Wales
Roar Rookie
Appreciate the comment on my first article, cheers :) Agree with what you're saying completely, especially about the specialist coaches. Why was Sav Rocca brought in to fix Casboult's goal kicking ability in April this year when it has clearly been an option for a couple years now? Big changes needed soon
GD66
Guest
Agree with most of your points about this rather-hammered topic, but I don't think they should have given Waite an offer for two years, considering in the last couple of years when he wasn't injured he was in constant danger of being reported for bewildering brain-snaps, and wasn't really pulling his weight as a contributor. Has calmed down a bit this year at Norths though.
Greg
Guest
Some points. Forwards are there to kick goals. As a forward, Casboult and Jones are laughable. How long does Jones need to develop? Gibbs is too, too soft. Gets good soft stats. Murphy and leadership are mutually exclusive. The whole list needs to be looked at and no one on that list should be immune from trade. They are not delivering for the club so trading should be an option. The Board and Football department and recruiting need a big overhaul - agreed. SOS is a start. What about the specialist coaches? I cannot see what the club has them for judging by on field performances. An absolute joke at the moment. I wonder how a loose cannon affects the next lot of TV rights. Not to mention the drug takers at Windy Hill.