Autopsy 2024 Rd 20 Loss to Port - Top 4 in jeopardy

Who played well for the Blues in Round 20 vs the Power?


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Unfortunately we may be out of the top 4 come Sunday. A loss to the Pies would pretty much end it for us imo.
I'm not too worried about where we are on Sunday, I still believe that we will be Top 4 at the end of the Home and Away games, it all depends on who we get back before then.
 

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Credit to the backline for absorbing so much in the third quarter. They could have kicked 7 or 8 goals with the amount of f50 entries they had.


A bit more rest, rehabilitation and we’ll be cherry ripe, we’ll get some players back. The bye between the last round and the finals will be a blessing - I foresee a 2016 Western Bulldogs run we’ll win 4 finals in a row - some away from home.
 
I'm not looking for excuses but trying to look for a theory behind the slump.

About a month ago the flu/illness bug hit * really hard. It was a pretty big story at the time.

Any chance that Ben or someone may have given it to Harry / another Carlton player and the same bug has gone through our team as well?

Was selecting Cerra and Cottrell straight in for me...

I think it sent a negative message to the playing group...

Tried to fix something that wasn't broken.
 
I'm not too worried about where we are on Sunday, I still believe that we will be Top 4 at the end of the Home and Away games, it all depends on who we get back before then.
I wish i had your confidence gab.
 
RIGHT!!!

Listen up all you doom and gloom and negative mofos!

If you can’t see that the first half was exactly the Carlton we know and love then so be it.

But if you also can’t understand how banged up we were and had the famous 5 day break that all the other clubs are coping at this time of year…. What’s that? They’re not getting 5 day breaks?

Whatever…

H was the tipping point and they fired all their bullets but clearly couldn’t go anymore.

Kicking goals is usually not a problem for us is it so when that’s dried up to nothing and the lead is coughed up with limited fight it isn’t a lack of care, heart or effort.

Our boys were shot.

They will ram the biggest navy blue toy so far up our Magpie friends ever!

This is not the end it is just the beginning!

Next message will be after I sober up in October….

Keep the faith my Baggers!

Love ya work and catch ya soon..
 
And he lasted about 25 minutes of AFL footy with one touch across two weeks!
That's just absolutely ****ing pathetic. Sorry for the swearing but seriously, im sick and tired of this club having these standards. You can't seriously tell me you hope to be a genuine premiership contender with injury prone players like Cunningham. What a joke.
 
I wish i had your confidence gab.
Whenever I start to feel that I'm losing hope I cast my mind back to the horror years between 2002 and 2019, so many times our finals hopes were over by round 5 or 6 of a season.

We are a much better Club and team now, as long as the season's still alive I have confidence that we have a chance of turning it around.
 
Okay, my anger has dissipated. I can now go and cry myself to sleep. Damn football. Why do I put so much of my heart in it?
 
Okay, my anger has dissipated. I can now go and cry myself to sleep. Damn football. Why do I put so much of my heart in it?
You're a glutton for punishment, just like the rest of us are :tearsofjoy:
 

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Cuningham
Marchbank
Martin
Williams
McGovern

Out of a possible 95 games they could have played season to date have played 39 combined. That includes Cuninghams “game” tonight.

Williams & McGovern account for 30 of those. The other 3 have combined for a total of 9

Add to that the back-up KPD Durdin playing 2 games in three years…..

That’s a hell of a lot of list spots to carry that simply don’t get on the park.

All of Martin, Cuningham, Marchbank & Durdin need to be exited at the end of the year.
Such poor list management to be still carrying all of those six after their respective injury histories.
110% and that's exactly what's holding us back, it's a flow on effect. Williams, McGovern are quality players, you can carry 2 or so talented but somewhat injury prone players, but Cunners, Marchbank, Martin and Durdin? That's amateur list building right there. It's also very unfair on the player's who aren't injury prone. If those 4 aren't cut next year, then forget it, don't expect this list to go anywhere.
 
Disappointed and not surprised with the loss after H Mackay out. Stopped our wing release outlet (out of defence) and we lost the second key forward. Zero planning on the loss of Mckay meant we played like he was out there. Coaches (dumb), and players (dumber).

Never understood so much of the confidence going into this game. Win or lose, this game was not going to be easy as 1) it was a 5 day break, 2) they owe us revenge and Kenny owes Vossy a smack and they have suffered at our hands recently, and 3) they have Sydney next week and if they lose to us and Sydney their season is done. This was always going to be a final type game for them.

What I noticed...
  • I really did think we were out on our feet from 2nd half onwards. Given ports commitment to this game and a high pressure rating we were going to run out of legs and needed a lead. We couldnt get enough of a lead or sustain the effort. I would say this was a brutal cop for us to take on an important match.
  • It's funny, GWS and Doggies missed key players but their system held up to beat us. We drop a few key players and our system of moving the ball ends up shit. Once we get a bit tired, the transition plan fall over. Harry missing meant we didnt change one thing despite losing a key fwd and an outlet mark / competing on the wing. We played exactly the same and got absolutely MUGGED on the wing and up fwd after half time. Dumb (coaches) and dumber (players) didn't change any of the process.
  • I'm most disappointed in Pitto who got smacked after half time by close to the worst ruck in the AFL. Pitto im annoyed at as he is fresh. But he cant run out a game. The previous good form he had was in qtrs 1 and 2 with his hit outs to adv. Every time after half time he collapses letting us down. Sweet is a ruck potato.
  • Given the 5 day turnaround Pitto, Cunners, Cottrell on freshness were the players i expected most from. Cottrell disappeared again when we needed him. Got lost, got ineffective. When we are dominating he gets loose in the fwd 50 and goals. He is not a skier in mentality as he is blue collar, but he is a skier in output.
  • Kempy. Poor ****ing guy. I blame the MC but he was involved in most of Port's goals. Austin, you didnt see this. It's costing us now as every key forward not taken by Weitering is kicking 2-5 goals every week. And lets not miss they are taking Weitering away from the contest it is that easy. What is the point of having the best 1-2 fwd punch in the league if opposition potato fwds can score just as many goals per match.
  • Ollie needs a break. Trying his guts out but he is cooked midway through the third qtrs. Over doing it early in games.
  • Charlie is a freak. Leads every goal list but not one goal is easy.
  • Didnt understand the butters release and Curnow back with no outlet option on the wing..Pitto somewhere lost. Where was the coaches instruction here.
  • I cant be bothered. Another disappointing weekend. We are faltering...

This is spot on pretty much all of what you said. Most people don’t want to hear it because they’ll trot out the line ‘we’ll win the last four and still finish top 4’. Maybe we will and maybe we won’t. But top 4 isn’t enough this year with it looking like interstate travel. It needs to be top 2 or its going to be a tall ask.

We have weaponry in our team but don’t use it. It’s a luxury most teams don’t have and we don’t utilise it.
  • We need to free up Saad and let him run, bounce and carry the ball. He can defend one-on-one pretty damn well but he needs more attacking drive and mindset.
  • We need to stop losing our attacking mindset and chip kicking sideways into the D50 pocket and then long kicking down the line when we lose momentum.
  • We need a second tall to contest down the line as the bail out. We lack aerial presence as Curnow gets held then the oppo take virtually an uncontested mark. At least bring the ball to ground. Yes this was hurt with McKay out but it happens even with him in the side.
  • We need to rotate the midfield mix more and not run the same 3 or 4 into the ground. Cripps 22 centre bounce attendances, Walsh 18, Cerra 3, Kennedy 2 etc.
  • Walsh is struggling hard with the new holding the ball rule. He can’t break tackles and his best asset is his run. With Acres out he could have been used on the wing and Cerra more centre bounces for example.
  • When we move the ball quickly from D50 to F50, Curnow leads up at the ball and gets the space to do his thing. He’s super damaging then. When we slow play he gets scragged, double teamed and his output is nullified.
  • Young should have been on Esava and Gov forward. Kemp battled hard but conceded too much size again.
  • Frustratingly, a lot of this is simple fixes and structural changes. But it’s also a mindset and IQ thing and we need to rediscover that attacking flair. But not all out attack if they look down the field and see we haven’t set up properly. We need the intelligence to pick the right times to attack.
 
Was selecting Cerra and Cottrell straight in for me...

I think it sent a negative message to the playing group...

Tried to fix something that wasn't broken.
Yep.

The team was absolutely humming before we did this. And both have been pretty damn ordinary since their return. With how well the team was going, I don't mind making players earn it through the two's. There are definitely exceptions in match-defining players like Cripps, Weitering, Curnow. But not someone like Matt Cottrell.
 
I feel like we need to go back to basics in doing the team things. We have lost that a bit.

I saw an incident on the wing directly in front of me tonight that illustrated that. Not picking on the player involved, but a symptom of the bigger issue.

Two Carlton players running at the ball, one of them was Walsh. Port Player in desperate pursuit. Walsh had the ability to shepherd so the other player could safely pick up the ball, indeed myself and about 4 Carlton fans around me were screaming for it. Instead he peeled forward for the handball receive - which never arrived because the desperate Port player reached the contest and forced it out of bounds.

Get back to working hard for each other, Blues. Then the rewards will come naturally.
 
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On a positive note.

1994

We fancied ourselves as premiership favorites (or certainly contenders).

Season fell away and ended with the heartbreaking loss to half a Geelong side out at AFL Park.

We then drafted Scott Camporeale.

We came back the next year, went 20-2 and flogged Geelong in the grand final.

2024

We fancied ourselves as premiership contenders

Season fell away..

We will subsequently draft two Camporeales.

We will come back in 2025 and... History is in the making.

We were stretched too thin tonight. Cerra is wasted in defence, but with Boyd out, Cincotta now a tagger, Williams now a forward and injured anyway, he's needed to plug a gap.

Kennedy was one of our best, but playing him forward means he's not there to contribute in the midfield.

Pitto was very disappointing. The 5 day break is irrelevant for someone who didn't play last week.

Kemp was repeatedly outmarked, but more than once he was simply done by a lack of height.

Elijah can hold his head up, his first half in particular was very good.

Doc and JSOS have been big outs all year. Imagine Doc running around on Ollie's wing, adding hardness and experience. JSOS adding grit to the forward line, delivering inside 50, taking some ruck time & freeing up Kennedy for other roles.

Things can change. I'm not writing the season off just yet. Even tonight our second quarter was pretty decent. But a disappointing game overall.
We had our 5 best mids out there and lost contest and clearance.
 
Carlton goals per quarter - 1-7-1-0

Dear God, when I prayed for Carlton to play a good second quarter tonight, I think the Almighty may have misunderstood..

Monkey paw curls...
 
I feel like we need to go back to basics in doing the team things. We have lost that a bit.

I saw an incident on the wing directly in front of me tonight that illustrated that. Not picking on the player involved, but a symptom of the bigger issue.

Two Carlton players running at the ball, one of them was Walsh. Port Player in desperate pursuit. Walsh had the ability to shepherd so the other player could safely pick up the ball, indeed myself and about 4 Carlton fans around me were screaming for it. Instead he peeled forward for the handball receive - which never arrived because the desperate Port player reached the contest and forced it out of bounds.

Get back to working hard for each other, Blues. Then the rewards will come naturally.
I noticed this on TV and thought the same myself. The right play was obviously to block

I'm not sure if it's a symptom of a bigger issue, though, as later a player put a shepherd on for Weiters well in a situation. Though Weiters did call for the shepherd from 20m away, still, it was put on without hesitation.
 
We had our 5 best mids out there and lost contest and clearance.
MJ you do realise Kennedy and Cerra weren’t playing as midfielders last night which might explain why Kennedy (one of our best players) had 0 clearances and Cerra 1 clearance.

Trying to cover the loss of McKay with Kennedy takes away from our midfield contest.

Also no TDK reduces our clearance ability even more. The last time we played Port, TDK managed a team high 4 centre clearances (Walsh the next best with 2). Last night Pitto had 0 centre clearances.

The loss of Acres was not really well covered.

Bring in Harry, Acres and Boyd and play Kennedy and Cerra in their usual positions would make a huge difference to our team.
 

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Autopsy 2024 Rd 20 Loss to Port - Top 4 in jeopardy

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