Training 2025 Pre Season Thread

[Golden_6]

I know it’s been a pisstake with saying can English play wing, but could Croft? Where’s he gonna end up?

Athletically he probably could with his speed & endurance but not sure if his skills and game nous would stack up.

We should be trying to turn him into a Darcy Moore type who also started as a forward himself.

 

[grassman75]

Thanks

Why did he leave?

They don’t need him when they have the greatest midfielder in the history of the game with two brownlows. Did you see how many votes Cripps got….

 

[stefoid]

Yes, I only know what's been in the media but seems that's right. Seems he wanted to play more inside mid so hope he doesn't get peed off if that doesn't happen

Snubbed Kennedy's nightmare season end revealed

After Blues urge him to find new home

www.nine.com.au

Basically the same situation as Macrae TBH - too slow for half forward and behind Libba in the midfield.

Makes perfect sense from a list management POV for us - but if he was looking for a guaranteed inside midfield spot, its a bit of a head scratcher.

 

[Mofra]

He’s the quickest 2m tall footballer I’ve ever seen. Raw but exciting! Good leap on him and has some campaigner in him.

Top 4 in the 2km time trial in the draft combine too. Insane endurance for a big guy.
His kicking makes football purists cry (especially for goal) but I really think he has gun CHB written all over him

 

[Mofra]

Basically the same situation as Macrae TBH - too slow for half forward and behind Libba in the midfield.

Makes perfect sense from a list management POV for us - but if he was looking for a guaranteed inside midfield spot, its a bit of a head scratcher.

He's a team first kind of guy according to plenty of Carlton fans through and he has played a bit of HFF (including defensive forward) They universally wish him well. He's locked into our best 22 given his B&F placing at Carlton and we've lost two senior running players at trade time.

 

[Fossie 32]

He's a team first kind of guy according to plenty of Carlton fans through and he has played a bit of HFF (including defensive forward) They universally wish him well. He's locked into our best 22 given his B&F placing at Carlton and we've lost two senior running players at trade time.

Yes finished 9th in their B&F and 16 goals. Also 3 years younger than Jack.
Hopefully he wont worry too much about getting more inside mid time after switching clubs but sounds suss that they would be ok with letting him go after his B&F placing. Maybe related to being subbed off when they were thrashed in the final ??

 

[adogsfan5]

I know it’s been a pisstake with saying can English play wing, but could Croft? Where’s he gonna end up?

I hope it’s CHB. Has all the attitudes.
No spot forward for him.

 

[VitalDread]

I know it’s been a pisstake with saying can English play wing, but could Croft? Where’s he gonna end up?

Winglish has been in the works for years

 

[threenewpadlocks]

I feel like a bit like Gardner and O'Donnell (don't shoot me) Croft is just a bit of a tall utility until we actually get him in the 22, then we'd place him on the field where most appropriate to plug holes or where the team balance or the tactics of the league put him.

Teams tend to do that with tall, athletic players that have extreme strengths - we can argue that Mark Blicavs has never really settled into one specific position but has nevertheless been a valued player for a long time for Geelong.

He played a lot of defence in the VFL simply because that's where injuries dictated that he need to play.

But he could be anything at AFL level.

 

[Northernsoul74]

Speaking to a Carlton supporter who's a bit ITK and they said he is a pretty good player and of / a good character as well

He’s a very very popular team mate. Great bloke.

 

[Mofra]

I feel like a bit like Gardner and O'Donnell (don't shoot me) Croft is just a bit of a tall utility until we actually get him in the 22, then we'd place him on the field where most appropriate to plug holes or where the team balance or the tactics of the league put him.

Teams tend to do that with tall, athletic players that have extreme strengths - we can argue that Mark Blicavs has never really settled into one specific position but has nevertheless been a valued player for a long time for Geelong.

He played a lot of defence in the VFL simply because that's where injuries dictated that he need to play.

But he could be anything at AFL level.

He's much more of a natural footballer than both, as you'd expect of a first round pick. He's not as good by foot as JOD though

 

[Mofra]

Dare I remind everyone that Matty Croft debuted on a wing...

 

[adogsfan5]

Dare I remind everyone that Matty Croft debuted on a wing...

And kicked a bag against Norf

 

[Dogs 13]

And kicked a bag against Norf

And a bag of 5 against the Tiges early in his career.

 

[Generation West]

He's selfless too. His teammates love him because he'll do the stuff off the ball that lets them shine.

Forward structure these days relies on all 5-6 players doing the team thing ('5' because we often push a high forward up to the contest).

Matt Kennedy played a lot of half forward for Carlton and wouldn't be in our first midfield rotation (surely head in our second) so it will be interesting to see how we structure our forward group this year. Macrae played their a fair bit too, and Daniel at times.

There may be some merit in this, as we love to play our 6th forward up at the stoppage. Not sure what Carlton do, but it may have been part of the enticement to play Kennedy in that role, so not necessarily starting mid, but often enough up around the contest where he does his best work.

 

[Testekill]

A kid as tall as Crofty shouldn't move as well as he does. I'm still very much on the make him a CHB bandwagon.

 

[House_of_Dahl]

They don’t need him when they have the greatest midfielder in the history of the game with two brownlows. Did you see how many votes Cripps got….

A few injuries down and Carlton could find themselves really missing Kennedy. Just like the Dees would have loved Harmes back in after losing Petracca and (effectively) Oliver.

 

[grassman75]

And kicked a bag against Norf

Everyone kicks bags against Norf

 

[threenewpadlocks]

A few injuries down and Carlton could find themselves really missing Kennedy. Just like the Dees would have loved Harmes back in after losing Petracca and (effectively) Oliver.

And Baker, and Jordon...

Though to be fair, I don't really dismiss the idea of trading down your depth to get your best 22 right anyway. If building a premiership team you have to assume you got to that point with some injury luck. Our chance of winning the flag massively reduces if Bont got injured, for example. It doesn't make sense to plan for a 2025 flag in a circumstance that Bont is injured for the whole year, adding to our midfield depth, or whatever. Much better to plug holes in our injury-free team.

 

[BWFC]

And kicked a bag against Norf

I was pretty young but I seem
To recall him kicking a bag at a practice
Match at skinner reserve? Anyone
Else remember that?

 

[WalshistheGOAT]

A few injuries down and Carlton could find themselves really missing Kennedy. Just like the Dees would have loved Harmes back in after losing Petracca and (effectively) Oliver.

From what we as fans can gather the clubs put a huge amount of faith in Cooper Lord, a young kid we picked up in the MSD this year who's played just the 2 games and dominated the VFL. Then obviously Jagga Smith too. Lord plays a fairly similar role in terms of playing that half forward/mid rotation but a bit different in terms of physical make up.

He's a far far better runner than Kennedy but nowhere near as good above his head and not as big/strong. Probably a bit similar to my boy Luke Kennedy in terms of being that sound defensive midfield option with neat skills. Bam Bam is more of a crash and bash beast who's just awesome to watch when he's moving well.

Blues have had issues in defensive transition and spreading from the contest for a while as most opposition fans would know, so I think they want to see Lord take Kennedy's spot in there as well as some other kids we have lined up for some midfield minutes to hopefully help with that a bit. Unfortunately with Cripps at the club playing Kennedy and Hewett together too was a bit of a disaster in terms of defensive run.

Here's a bit of a snip up if you weren't familiar with him and need a couple of names for supercoach/fantasy. Hopefully has an alright season this year in Bam Bams place but I think the club underestimated how much we as fans loved Matty.

 

[Doggies7]

A kid as tall as Crofty shouldn't move as well as he does. I'm still very much on the make him a CHB bandwagon.

Seems to be an excellent mover and endurance athlete already at such a young age, plus has proven to have the football ability and smarts also through juniors so is a very exciting prospect. Can see why he had 1st round pick buzz as "project" KPF.

I'm very interested to see what position he ends up as probably leans more natural mobile Key Forward at this stage, but due to our list requirements, may be given more of a look down back early on. Not to dig up the Jamarra stuff, but if he were to leave at the end of the year or something happen with him, theoretically we have a really nice replacement ready to go and start getting a run at AFL level with hopefully his 3rd pre-season under his belt going into 2026.

 

[JohnnySteel]

If Croft can develop as that tall utility on game day. That’ll be a huge advantage for us.

 

[Pencil case]

From what we as fans can gather the clubs put a huge amount of faith in Cooper Lord, a young kid we picked up in the MSD this year who's played just the 2 games and dominated the VFL. Then obviously Jagga Smith too. Lord plays a fairly similar role in terms of playing that half forward/mid rotation but a bit different in terms of physical make up.

He's a far far better runner than Kennedy but nowhere near as good above his head and not as big/strong. Probably a bit similar to my boy Luke Kennedy in terms of being that sound defensive midfield option with neat skills. Bam Bam is more of a crash and bash beast who's just awesome to watch when he's moving well.

Blues have had issues in defensive transition and spreading from the contest for a while as most opposition fans would know, so I think they want to see Lord take Kennedy's spot in there as well as some other kids we have lined up for some midfield minutes to hopefully help with that a bit. Unfortunately with Cripps at the club playing Kennedy and Hewett together too was a bit of a disaster in terms of defensive run.

Here's a bit of a snip up if you weren't familiar with him and need a couple of names for supercoach/fantasy. Hopefully has an alright season this year in Bam Bams place but I think the club underestimated how much we as fans loved Matty.

I think Carlton are really going to struggle this year, especially if the Curnow rumours are true.

Their midfield aside from Cripps seems to be a weakness.

 

[grassman75]

What are the Curnow rumours? I’m not across them