Carlton to stick on rebuild course: Bolton

Quite a few over reactions throughout Friday nights game. "Carlton’s latest hammering won’t sway Brendon Bolton from his course to rebuild the club, the coach insists."- This is Carlton's only hammering to this point, every other game we have been competitive in. If we had kicked straight in the first half it might have been a different story on the scoreboard. Not sure where the author gets his information from. "“We don’t get too high or too low,” he said. “That is really important, particularly with a young group. We look at what worked, what didn’t, why and why not."- The media wants Carlton to get too low or too high (more the first), but in doing to it won't help the team win games, it will only make things worse. Most Carlton fans are going to make excuses because we played so many teenagers, but I am not because I am a realist. We played terrible on Friday night and even though that was a game we were destined to lose the decision making with the ball especially in the first half was terrible. Early on we were second to the ball and completely outplayed, if Port had kicked straight themselves we would of lost by more. It isn't for the media to go sticking their heads into the journey we are going through. The players know they were dreadful, but in previous weeks they have proven (yes the young kids) to the supporters they can play good footy. That is why it is important they don't get to low. We beat Essendon, should of beaten Melbourne and 1 poor quarter against Gold Coast stopped us from potentially beating Gold Coast. After Friday, I would expect the players to be fired up against Sydney at the MCG this week and come very close to winning. Yes football is defined by winning, it always has been at Carlton since I remember, but laying the boots into a team won't help them at all.

you live a pathetic existence

For a club suffering from an identity crisis 3 or 4 games at princess park would be welcomed.

Yep. I agree with some of that, sans the anti-carlton stuff. I'm not asking for the AFL to conjecture artificial means to allow my side to win; I'm asking for my side not to be unfairly prejudiced by the draw for our only Friday night fixture of the year, thereby destroying any use of the night in terms of marketing or support. Surely that's not too much to ask, is it?

Welcome to the world of every struggling club since forever. Sounds like the club is getting a long overdue reality check. Carlton reminds me of the actress from Sunset Boulevard - delusional and living on faded memories and past glory. Friday night against Port was about as disastrous a close-up as Carlton could have hoped for.

Would be happy to never play night games ever again. Better still go back to playing home games at Princes Park.

Yeah, cheered on by his media buddies. If Malthouse was getting hammered it would be all the coaches fault. They have not found the players yet.

I was only joking about the Slater and Gordon bit.

He has certainly become more damaging with his disposal post Ratten. All that chipping around in the back line as Rattts 'quarterback' was a waste of his talent and has alot to do with underachieving reputation he doesn't seem to be able to shake

As a Carlton forward he hasn't had the ball kicked to his advantage too often. I think it's pretty simple though, we drafted him as a backman, play him as a backman. I think Weitering's development as a player should come before meeting the teams need for a forward. He looked so comfortable as a backman last year, this year as a forward, one game aside, he has struggled.

I a man sure the blues are looking at a Riewoldt Koutafides cross.

True but the stats show he tackled put on pressure and a lot of his possessions resulted in a Carlton score - he was trying

If he is going to play mid, I would like to see him dropping into the forward line when he gets the mismatch. He should be sat down and forced to watch every game that Nick Riewoldt has ever played

AFL stats are incredibly flawed when it comes to gauging a players actual influence on a game. Gibbs is a great stats player. When it comes to his influence on a game he has become a very good player He does get judged harshly, but that's because of the yet to be met expectation that he could be a great player, a few seasons ago under Malthouse I thought we were starting to see . He was one of our best on Friday.

As a forward he has more control of how he engages, he gets the ball kicked to his advantage and if he gets out marked it doesn't lead to an opposition goal a plus Casboult is taking the biggest defender. All that said I see his future in defence and once MCKay forces his way in I thinkWeitering will go back, I just don't think it's a disaster to let him develop up forward - playing on some handy key defenders will be a good learning experience as well

He want best in ground but he was definitely one of the blues best and the confidence he gets from that game should be a catalyst - if he was not impacting the game in the middle I would agree but while he is he may as well learn as much as we can this year and set us up for the future.

That's about the size of the guys he's playing on as a forward. I'd rather see Rowe start forward and Weitering back. If he is getting monstered, then we can swing them.

I liked what I saw from him on Friday, buts let's not get to carried away he wasn't that good. Making the jump to AFL is hard enough, i think it would be an easier transition for Weitering and Curnow if they spent more time playing in the position's that are more natural to them.

I ink Cuningham will get in before Graham - his burst of speed around the contest looks to be a real weapon.

Also Steve - it is a bit hard to say playing Curnow in the midfield is a mistake after his performance Friday night