No Oppo Supporters 2022 Season - Season in review

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Were Buddy & Roughead in their prime when the Hawks were making and winning finals in 2007 & 2008?
No, and nor am I suggesting that we will only win finals when they are in their prime.

Thé comment i was responding to was that mckay and curnow are in their prime, which they aren’t. That, however has nothing to do with us not playing and winning finals , which we should be.
 
So we won more games than we lost for the first time in how long?

We used 40 players this year, wasn't by choice and had double digit injuries for most of the year.

We have a practically entirely new coaching panel who have been given less then a year to rebuild an absolutely broken culture and playing list after the Teague era.

We saw the extremely successful returns of long injured C Curnow (who won the Coleman), Doc who is a chance at all Australian and Marchbank finally got back on the park stringing together good games late in the season. Plus the return to form of Cripps.

For the first time in a long time I can honestly say a significant number of players improved for a change. I'm excited for our future and it isn't because of what might have or potential. It's now because of what I know we can do with another off season of strategic development and hopefully a fitter list next season.

We didn't win the flag. I didn't think we would. We didn't play finals, we probably should have but we didn't earn it. But considering where we have come from in no way can I say the season is a failure.
 
Can’t believe how many “failures” I’m reading. Take the emotion out of it, take a step back, and assess it for what it is.

Our team has been utter s**t for 11 years. You don’t just come in as a new coach and teach them how to come up against the best after one pre-season with them.

We just amassed our most wins since the 2011 season. It’s also the first time since that season that we’ve finished the season with more wins than losses.

It was our lowest total ‘points against’ since the 2011 season as well.

11 ******* years and we’re finally relevant again, in our coach’s first season, and that’s a failure?

Am I disappointed we missed finals? Yes. However finals aren’t overly important (in terms of development) if you’re just making up the numbers, which we would’ve been. Demons 2020 (9th). Richmond 2016 (13th). West coast 2017 (8th). All won the flag the following year.

Im proud of what they achieved this year. Disappointed in how it’s all ended, hurt even, but damn proud. It takes time to weed out bad habits that have been engrained in a team for over a decade. You can’t just un-do that overnight. But we witnessed great progress this year after only 1 pre-season under a new coach.
We finally have a system which is proven to work, we simply had an interrupted run at executing it with injured cattle. Another pre-season under Voss and I think we’ll be right up there next year.

Things to fix heading in to 2023:
  • Fade-outs during games
  • Faster transition of the ball from BL to FL
  • F50 entries & locking the ball in

Go Blues 💙
Quoting this coz I wouldn't change a single thing.

Top post.
 

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At the start of the year I rated a Pass as winning more than losing.

I revised this after the first half of the season to making finals (which at the time was a pretty conservative expectation).

Therefore, FAILURE.
 
It's a pass from me.

Main things I hope we address this off-season is delivery into F50, leading in F50, and chain of possession/moving the ball out of congestion (not stoppage).

We get massive F50 entry numbers but woeful efficiency. And when we pick up the ball around the ground and there's a bit of heat, 9/10 times we bomb it long without looking. Early games this year we would work hard, use skill and find a player in the corridor, or honour player running past with the field Infront of them. Teams shut us down too easily and we simply accept this and look for long bombs down the line.

Fix these things and it won't matter how many "blocking" free kicks umps call against us.
 
Probably a loss will be better for us in the long run...despite how shit it felt. If ever Voss needs ammo to get them up next year he only has to bring them back to this game.
And if we are honest with ourselves, we all know that with our injuries and tired sore bodies, that we wouldn't be a threat in the finals.
Bring on the preseason and 2023
 
We missed our benchmark of finals but I don't believe the season was a failure. Decimated with injuries and a new coach, new game plan.

8 wins in 2021, 12 wins in 2022.

If we improve our season by 4 wins again in 2023, we finish with 64 points and in the top 4.

We're all very disappointed right now but we shouldn't be too discouraged. All premiership journeys have heartbreaking moments...

Let's hope for a successful, injury free offseason and get ready for a wild 2023 season. Go Blues.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk
 
Seasons a fail... Has to be
Goal at start of the year from our President, CEO & Coach was finals and we missed it...

First half of the year 8-3 equal 3rd on the ladder (A+)
We were playing great team first football, had belief in ourselves and got results with large number of players missing...
Had the football world back in love with the blues again...

Second half of the year 4-7 15th on the ladder (F)
Game plan fell away, we inherited out of nowhere a panic bomb and hope game style and our young guys started getting tired...
Last two games against top 4 Pies and Dees... We went back to our first half game style and surprise, surprise we put ourselves back in winning positions...
Laughing stock of the football world, AGAIN...

Positives
Cripps - Got his mojo back in first half of the year and finished strong...
Curnow - Got through the year injury free and got a Coleman Medal and probable AA honours...
Docherty - Got through the season after having cancer pre season... (this man is the heart and soul of the club)
Saad - Brilliant year and probable AA honours...
Young - What a bargain basement find and had a great year...

Negatives
Injuries - While injuries are no excuse, we seem to have the most every bloody year...
2nd half of year - Change in game style, lack composure, bombing the ball at every opportunity...
Fitness - 2nd half of year, we were flat and lacked run...
Midfield and Forward - lack of connection and cohesion...

Hansen - Highly rated and possible * coach... Needs to pull his finger out and get our star studded forward line, leading, creating space and having our small forwards being creative and dangerous...

Players/ Coaches/ List Management need to step it up this off season...
 
Calling it a failure by judging it purely on a finals metric...seems pretty basic.

They took all the right steps, played in a manner for most of the season that was inspired.

Injuries piled on, ran out gas, got shook in the crucial moments in the final two games. Gameplan and some players will need to be tweaked/replaced.

But this feels like the footnote to what should be the start of a very promising rest of the decade.
 
Failure. Should have made finals.

Interestingly injuries cost us badly yet also generated some terrific learnings. How good was Setterfield on De Goey? He was forced to play on ball due to the injuries and he did well on Oliver too. His intensity has gone through the roof.

Lewis Young was brought in early to replace McDonald and many of us (Inc me) thought “oh Lord”. Btw it was Pittonet not chasing Cox (who was rucking at the time) in the last. Young wasn’t in him rhen.

We know we can throw Doc on ball. I think wing is a genuine option for him next year.

The injuries to Martin forced us to play Motlop and he’s shown he’s an afl player.

Losing Williams for the year made us try Boyd and we saw enough to know he gives us what we need in the backline - pace and kicking.

Overall so much progress. So many of our players improved.

Injuries were cruel. It was a cruel end to the year. But those last two games confirmed for me that we have what it takes. Only tweaks now and better injury prevention.
 
Calling it a failure by judging it purely on a finals metric...seems pretty basic.

They took all the right steps, played in a manner for most of the season that was inspired.

Injuries piled on, ran out gas, got shook in the crucial moments in the final two games. Gameplan and some players will need to be tweaked/replaced.

But this feels like the footnote to what should be the start of a very promising rest of the decade.

Was the game vs Adeladie 'inspired'?. Or vs Gokd Coast, St Kilda, or Brisbane, or Geelong, or Freo, or our first game vs Collingwood, or...

Why is this the start of anything? Why is it anything other than a cruel joke, the ultimate footnote on two decades of rubbish? Why would we assume we are getting better than this? Two Coleman medallists, Cripps could still win the Brownlow this year, Docherty back to full fitness... meanwhile the salary cap cupboard is bare of young players and we've been trading draft picks out for 3 years. There's no more cavalry coming... this is pretty much it and we were found our mentally and physically whenever it mattered.

4-7 in the second half of the year with this list is an abject failure, and I can't see how anyone accepts otherwise.
 
Its not as simple as success/fail.

Did we make big strides from last year - yes. We have a proper style of play and the players buy in and we have pretty consistent effort week in week out.

We also chocked - I think this is borne out of the rebuilding years, its hard when we basically had 5 years from 2015-19 telling the players it didn't matter if you won or lost as rebuilding game them all an out. Things actually changed under Teague 2nd half of 2019 as we no longer played like a development squad amongst 17 other teams.

So basically all of our leaders and best players have played at least 60% of their careers where the message was "green shoots", "we are rebuilding" etc. Now I am all for looking for positives, but each of 2015-18 we collapsed in a heap and barely strung together a competitive performance beyond about R11 of any of those seasons.

Quite simply this year of high intensity football to the last minute of the season was something none of Cripps, Doc, Walsh, Weiters, Charlie, Harry, Fisher, Marchy etc. had ever experienced before, and it showed.

So the year on its own from where we were is a fail, in that from 12-6 we should have been able to win another game to play finals.

How this season will be judged in hindsight though. If we go onto bigger and better things next year, or basically if we win a flag at all with this group of players, this season and its ending will be seen as necessary in order for us to get better.

If we go nowhere, it will be seen we just didn't have a good enough side at all who were tough enough, and didn't have good enough leaders.
 

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Dees won 2 finals and played in a PF in 2018.

Tiges made the finals in 2013/14/15.

Eagles played in the in 2015 GF.

Our blokes have done nothing.

And how tf are we 'finally relevant again'?

By finishing 9th? :rolleyes:

If comparing to Melbourne it’s probably more similar to them missing out in 2017.
 
Seasons a fail... Has to be
Goal at start of the year from our President, CEO & Coach was finals and we missed it...
You sure about that??
“It’s what you do, not what you say. The members won’t judge us until they see how we perform on and off the field,” Cook said.

That might explain why he didn’t join new president Luke Sayers in declaring finals an expectation for the Blues in 2022 before the Blues appointed new coach Michael Voss on a three-year contract. When asked about Sayers’s comments Cook chuckles with the surety of someone who has been in the caper for a long time.

“I do admire his optimism, I love it. I am not going to be talking against the president on this one. I admire what he said and good on him, he is optimistic,” Cook said.

“To me, it is about being ultra-competitive and taking a step-up in the competition, improving, hopefully winning more games than we lose, and getting respect from all the other clubs.

“Everyone wants to hear the ‘F’ word, but I am not sure I will [be] saying a lot on it.”
 
I was lucky enough to see 5 Carlton flags, 1979 1981 1982 1987 and 1995. I want nothing more than this generation to see us win a flag. Given how poor we have been for the past 9 years I see this year as the foundation for a dynasty over the next few years. Sure we are shattered about how we finished this year and the way we lost the past 2 games but believe me, this will be a huge motivating factor for the team over the pre season. We now have the right coaching staff, management etc and although we need to make some tweaks to the playing list, the cattle we have, together with the recruitment of a couple of new players is excellent. Bring on 2023.
 
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  • Martin missed 10 games
  • McGovern missed 15
  • Williams missed 13
  • Marchbank 18
  • Pittonet 14
  • Cuningham season
  • honey we barely got him going before he did a calf
  • Weiters missed 5 and was not the same when back
  • Saad clearly hampered. Walsh the same
  • Hewett missed 7
  • Kennedy missed 5
  • Boyd missed the last 8
  • McKay missed 3 but was hampered before and seems to be having shoulder problems again
  • Newman missed the last 4 (went off first half v Adelaide)
  • stocker and TDk missed months of the preseason (and it showed)
  • Cerra missed 4 games

Compare that to Pies
  • 16 guys played either every game or close to
  • Adam’s missed 5
  • Grundy missed most of the year
  • de Goey missed 6
  • Elliot missed 6

That’s it. Very close to their best side was on the park all year. No overlap in injuires to Elliot and De Goey. Only 1 game overlap in injury to De Goey and Adams. Full credit to their fitness crew. And professionalism of players.

It meant they got to practice in game situations all year. We need to determine how to get there with our list. THAT is the biggest gap by a mile.
 
Exactly.
Same if you 2nd , 3rd, 4th or 9th.
Premiership is the success.
Everything else is failure in this sport.
The overall season was vast improvement on the team from last seasons s**t show.
We showed we capable of anything really and no side in the league looks like we cannot overtake them in short space of time.
Disagree that 2nd to 4th is a failure. Sure a premiership is the only real prize. But getting yourself within 2 wins from claiming that is as much as you should ever expect. We know as good as anyone on the day late outs or early injuries etc. can have a huge impact. Doesn't make the other 24 weeks redundant imo.
 
Firstly my personal prediction has nothing to do with the goal of the group. Success or Failure really is wether you reach top 4. The President in the beginning of the season and Voss today said the goal was finals. Ultimate success is a premiership
Secondly once a team is 8-2 the bar rises. From 8-2 Carlton failed by not making finals. The inability to win 1 of the last 4 a failure and to choke in the last weeks a failure.
Thirdly the supporter base should demand wins and success.
The gradual, improvement philosophy leads to complacency and mediocrity.
7 years since the rebuild begun and Carlton can not claim 1 finals series or place in the top half of the ladder = Failure.

Again, nothing to do with my post, or what your expectations were at the start of the year

As for the statement by the club at the start of the year, delve a little deeper
 
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The aim of the game is to win a premiership. There is no prize for second. There is no magic or value in being a "finals team". Its not worth money. It doesn't guarantee any future success. At the end the year, 7 finalists will be no different to the other 8 teams that missed finals. Only one team succeeds.
The only question is whether this year we made meaningful strides towards being that one team in the coming years. Unequivocally Yes in my opinion. We made huge progress this year. We are chalk and cheese to the team under David Teague. The whole club is. Clearly there are deficiencies...and these were not going to be patched up in one year. This was never going to be our year. This was a year about progress.
In terms of finals experience, the last two games were as good as the real thing. Yesterday's game will deliver more benefits that a final in Brisbane. And we stood up for most part. We probably did enough to win both games.
I believe next year....barring injuries...we should be aiming for Top 4 and an assault on the flag.
We are on track.
 
Disagree that 2nd to 4th is a failure. Sure a premiership is the only real prize. But getting yourself within 2 wins from claiming that is as much as you should ever expect. We know as good as anyone on the day late outs or early injuries etc. can have a huge impact. Doesn't make the other 24 weeks redundant imo.
There is not one season where we finished 2nd, 3rd or 4th where I have not felt it was a failure to win the flag.
That's football. Premierships are not easy to win but that is really the only success that counts to me.
 
So we’re allowed to have threads about sacking the coach but Andrew Russell is off limits. Until someone starts talking about it nothing will change (Voss brought it up in his press conference).
 
Was the game vs Adeladie 'inspired'?. Or vs Gokd Coast, St Kilda, or Brisbane, or Geelong, or Freo, or our first game vs Collingwood, or...

Why is this the start of anything? Why is it anything other than a cruel joke, the ultimate footnote on two decades of rubbish? Why would we assume we are getting better than this? Two Coleman medallists, Cripps could still win the Brownlow this year, Docherty back to full fitness... meanwhile the salary cap cupboard is bare of young players and we've been trading draft picks out for 3 years. There's no more cavalry coming... this is pretty much it and we were found our mentally and physically whenever it mattered.

4-7 in the second half of the year with this list is an abject failure, and I can't see how anyone accepts otherwise.
This reads like you expected them to win the flag.

Can't relate to feeling this pessimistic about the team. The absurdity of feeling this way is that it more or less hinges on a 1pt loss.
 

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No Oppo Supporters 2022 Season - Season in review

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