Preview Carlton v North - Sunday 18th March 1.00PM Visy Park - Squad post #63

[Ryan Dixon Webb]

Watson showed something up forward. He was moved their for the last quarter and managed to out body a North defender 1-on-1 to mark strongly and kick truly. He was playing against two defenders for much of his stint, but really looked promising.
Another who looked good in a different position was Paul Bower. He started the quarter on the wing and really provided something unique. I'm not sure how well he ran the quarter out, but it is definitely something to keep persisting with.
It was a bit disappointing to see Gibbs thrown into the backline when were desperate, but he really does play a required role with Duigan and Laidler injured.
Judging from yesterdays game I'd have our side looking a little like this for round 1.

B: Bret Thornton, Matthew Watson, Jordan Russell
HB: Chris Yarran, Lachie Henderson, Zach Tuohy
C: Heath Scotland, Mitch Robinson, Andrew Carrazzo
HF: Kade Simpson, Jarrad Waite, Bryce Gibbs
F: Jeff Garlett, Shaun Hampson, Eddie Betts
Foll: Matthew Kreuzer, Chris Judd, Marc Murphy
I/C: Ed Curnow, Kane Lucas, Dennis Armfield, Sub: Paul Bower

I feel we may just try to scrape a win and carry over some experiments from the NAB cup. I think the key/theme of this match will be versatility.

 

[LanceRomance]

Bower would make a good sub.

He is fast, tall, and x-factorish (to a point), and somewhat versatile.

Especially if they are going to put Watson on. He'd probably get subbed off after half a game.

 

[agro]

I had a perfect view of the pass from yaz to Davies it was a terrible kick, and from where I sat Davies got a pretty bad bounce and certainly should have received the free not had it paid against him, hense why the 50 was given for our player passing him the ball. I am not by any stretch a huge wrap for him but he was pretty stiff there..

Agree with all that, except the pretty bad bounce part, it may have bounced awkwardly but it bounced up at around waist height, Davies fumbled it terribly.

 

[Blue Ratts]

Robinson was our top possession getter till half time and then subbed off..it made a difference..just sayin

 

[agro]

Watson showed something up forward. He was moved their for the last quarter and managed to out body a North defender 1-on-1 to mark strongly and kick truly.

From where I was viewing the game he marked a wobbly kick (on his chest) which he just happened to be standing under that basically fell into his lap.

 

[The Old Dark Navy's]

Just watching a bit of AFL360 re Petrie and they showed 3 of his I50 marks. One, Russell was trying to stop him with Hendo outside the defensive 50 miles away, Thornton and Bower both unable to get to the contest. Another Thornton was clearly on him. Just want to highlight that delivery was pretty good and Hendo doesn't seem to be the predominant defender on him.

 

[agro]

Well lucky we have Setanta O'hAilpin as that back up tall defender - so we can have Henderson picking up Reiwoldt and then Setanta can pick up Vickery ........ oh hang on a minute.

 

[Blue Ratts]

Well lucky we have Setanta O'hAilpin as that back up tall defender - so we can have Henderson picking up Reiwoldt and then Setanta can pick up Vickery ........ oh hang on a minute.

Lucky we have you as a balanced pre season supporter.....oh hang on a minute

 

[agro]

Lucky we have you as a balanced pre season supporter.....oh hang on a minute

Dont attack me I am just making a balanced comment on our list.

 

[Uncle blue]

I can't guarantee you a top four spot. However, I can guarantee you a better season than when we won every meaningless pre-season game.

I understand we are going to be a good side this year.
I have just lost a little faith and maybe I am getting a little impatient.

Most of the sides that have been predicted to make the top eight or top four this year actually won a couple of pre-season games as you would expect.

I just like seeing the boys win every game they play.

 

[The Coach]

Some late quotes here but I needed a quiet Monday night to waste some time on

Hampson needs to improve his kicking for goal, but the rest is utter bulltish.

Watch his games against Port and Adelaide again.

Casboult is Cam Cloke Mk II.

Good mark and a thumping kick, but his recovery and kicking for goal are poor.

Rowe is still building his match fitness after injuring his AC joint.

I reckon Hammer might play one good game this year too

i believe the hampson experiment didnt work, it has been trialled all pre season, he is a ruckman, he can run, he is not a presenting forward. waite or rowe at chf and ff will do it, i reckon they should have just settled on a forward system today for the richmond game, see how it runs, not keep mixing, its the last game ffs.

also, worrying too much about petrie. he has his good days, but predominantly has his bad days, wouldnt expect thornton of hendo to ever take the biggest forward, jamo would have kept him quiet imo

thornton should stay free swing man

Hopefully Ratts can see that it is not going to work because there are others down there who can

The Hampson bagging is getting pretty tiresome.

He is ridiculously over-scrutinised at the moment. Had a couple of peanuts behind me at the Bulldogs game who were groaning and sighing when Hammer dropped a couple of marks early, pretty much bagging the shit out of him for the entire first quarter, who were then strangely quiet when he pantsed Lake in the second quarter.

FFS he is learning how to be a forward. He isn't going to be Nick Riewoldt overnight. I am very pleased with his progress to date and although he will no doubt have some shockers this year, I am confident there will be days when he proves a match-winner too.

Hammer with a bit of luck will pass as a 2nd ruck

Ratten is happy with their pre season efforts according to the post game interview. Mmmmm.

Ratts will have to careful - he often seems like a graduate of Terry Wallace's School of Medicine. His spin almost always clears him of any blame.

A lot of what you say is fair enough but I haven't sensed any serious anti-Ratts sentiment as yet.

It is only pre-season but I would not put a counterfeit note on us to beat Richmond on exposed form/trackwork

 

[mediumsizered]

Yeah i though whilst Petrie was great with 7 goals, I didnt think it was a dominant 7 goals, or that he monstered our defence. I reckon 2 of them were from North breaking our zone, with Drew left virtually alone in the Roo's 50. One was a freak soccer goal, which was pure talent. One as ODN mentioned, was a high ball mark opposed to Russell. Granted he played a blinder, but wouldnt be too concerned.

Waite kicked 2.4 & one out on the full. He kicks straight, the result is different & Petrie's 7 goals have similar value to Riewoldt's 6 goals in Round 1 last season.

Round 1, Waite comes out & kicks 5-6 goals, Petrie kicks 2.4 for the Roos & Carlton beat Richmond, Essendon beat North & the question will be "what pre-season?"

 

[Stamos]

Just watching a bit of AFL360 re Petrie and they showed 3 of his I50 marks. One, Russell was trying to stop him with Hendo outside the defensive 50 miles away, Thornton and Bower both unable to get to the contest.

I haven't seen the replay, but I'm sure Petrie had his arm around Russell's head in that marking contest too?

 

[thylacine60]

Waite kicked 2.4 & one out on the full. He kicks straight, the result is different & Petrie's 7 goals have similar value to Riewoldt's 6 goals in Round 1 last season.

Round 1, Waite comes out & kicks 5-6 goals, Petrie kicks 2.4 for the Roos & Carlton beat Richmond, Essendon beat North & the question will be "what pre-season?"

Ifs, buts and maybes. Even your usual solid take on optimism is sounding flaky, msr.

 

[BlueYoss]

Positives:

- Pretty sure we won 3 of the 4 quarters, a rarity for us in the pre-season

I'm still optimistic about the season ahead. We still won 3 out of 4 quarters yesterday...

Which 3 quarters did we win??

 

[Silvagnis]

Well lucky we have Setanta O'hAilpin as that back up tall defender - so we can have Henderson picking up Reiwoldt and then Setanta can pick up Vickery ........ oh hang on a minute.

Dont attack me I am just making a balanced comment on our list.

Your poor post deserved to be attacked.

Setanta isn't a defender's arseh*le.

Love how every untried kid or average player suddenly becomes great or quality once they leave the Blues.

The chicken littles multiply like mogwai once the post match tears and sweating starts.

Just don't feed them after dark.

 

[HARKER]

Can't believe you'd draft someone with that lack of foot speed no matter how good a kick he is. You can teach a kid to kick but there's only so much you can do to develop pace in a player if they don't have the physical tools there in the first place.

You can't teach a kid to kick like Watson.
There's probably no value in constantly bringing his name up whilst leaving McCarthy's behind.
Both need at least an extra year before we see what value may be presented.
Mitchell though..

 

[HARKER]

Putting the injuries aside, let's be objective about the players that will most likely represent the CFC through the bulk of the season:

Backs:
Jamison was in line for AA last year. Should hold form.
Henderson: Looked great at training and expectations for him to be used to his position and to step up.
Duigan & Laidler: Great soldiers. No reason to expect them going backwards.
Tuohy & Yarran: Young and expected to improve.

Mids:
Judd and Murphy: Wouldn't expect a drop off
Scotland, Carrazzo, Simpson: Status Quo will do.
Robinson & Gibbs: Both looked better this pre-season than last. Expecting a step up from both.
Curnow & McLean: May be a reach for McLean, but will have to see whether Curnow can recapture last years form.

Forwards:
Waite will be a bonus after missing him most of last year.
Walker had the best pre-season of any player
Garlett and Betts are in terrific form.
Thronton: More of the same from last year will be fine.

Rucks:
Warnock is an unknown as no pre-season behind him.
Kreuzer is back to old form and then some. Looks like this will be the year that the rest take notice.
Hampson, for some of his failings will also be a bonus for us this year.

Others:
Lucas has had a good pre-season and needs more game time to get back into the swing of things.
Collins has also looked good and may be considered at some point in time.
Russell has been average. A lot more expected from club, fans and himself.
Rowe: Unproven.
Armfield, Joseph and Ellard. All had good pre-seasons and should form handy back-ups.

Upshot:
30 players listed there and all being well we shouldn't need to go back to the well if we can curb the spate of rolling injuries we've sustained.

 

[Kades_Dad]

Well lucky we have Setanta O'hAilpin as that back up tall defender - so we can have Henderson picking up Reiwoldt and then Setanta can pick up Vickery ........ oh hang on a minute.

He's actually injured and he isn't a defenders arseh*le, but apart from that your theory is great.

 

[T2B_]

Robinson was our top possession getter till half time and then subbed off..it made a difference..just sayin

You may have a point. Pre-season or not, Robbo's attack on the ball would be no different. He may quite a barometer for our side.

 

[Silvagnis]

Not a big wrap for Watson, but couldn't get over how slow the bloke is. Many others in my section of the crowd were making similar comments. He made Brock look quick in comparison.

Can't believe you'd draft someone with that lack of foot speed no matter how good a kick he is. You can teach a kid to kick but there's only so much you can do to develop pace in a player if they don't have the physical tools there in the first place.

It would be harder to teach Atley to kick than it would be to get Watson into AFL shape.

Or Bower to kick like Watson.

Watson isn't the finished product at the start of his second season. One look at the size of Watson's legs tells you that he needs to build his motor and trim down to improve his agility. Most talls are the exact opposite. Watson will have to lose this bulk whilst maintaining his core strength. Has the potential to hold his feet and read the play that Bower lacks. Showed good body work to bump Butcher under the ball. Great reading of the play to go back with the flight and mark in the same NAB Cup match.

 

[Blueboys7]

Well KPP tend to mature quicker than midfielders and smaller players so I can see why everyone is giving up on Watson.

He should be well established in the seniors by now and it is a total disgrace that we wasted a first round pick on him.

We don't have time to waste development on him.

Delist at years end.

Spot the sarcasm.

 

[agro]

Your poor post deserved to be attacked.

Setanta isn't a defender's arseh*le.

Love how every untried kid or average player suddenly becomes great or quality once they leave the Blues.

The chicken littles multiply like mogwai once the post match tears and sweating starts.

Just don't feed them after dark.

Setanta may not be a defenders arseh*le in your opinion, but he has certainly done the job in the past, and his versatility would have been invaluable.

I still want to know who is going to play on Vickery come round 1 if Henderson picks up Jack Reiwoldt.

We got rid of our best contested mark (O'hAilpin) during the last few weeks of the 2011 season - and replaced him with an average mature age player SANFL (Rowe) using our second round draft pick (which we should have used on the best available under 18 talent eg. a Jordan Murdoch).

Our list was atrociously managed in that we had to use a second round draft pick on Rowe - when we could have used a third or fourth round on him.

My post is fine - your personal attack isnt.

 

[40yearBLUE]

Setanta may not be a defenders arseh*le in your opinion, but he has certainly done the job in the past, and his versatility would have been invaluable.

I still want to know who is going to play on Vickery come round 1 if Henderson picks up Jack Reiwoldt.

We got rid of our best contested mark (O'hAilpin) during the last few weeks of the 2011 season - and replaced him with an average mature age player SANFL (Rowe) using our second round draft pick (which we should have used on the best available under 18 talent eg. a Jordan Murdoch).

Our list was atrociously managed in that we had to use a second round draft pick on Rowe - when we could have used a third or fourth round on him.

My post is fine - your personal attack isnt.

Which you of course know for a fact, having had direct contact with every other recruiting manager, so you know for a fact no-one else was thinking of taking him..........what........wait..........you dont have direct contact with and furthermore the confidence of EVERY other recruiting team????

Another armchair expert, we woulda shoulda coulda-ing his way into BF starchamberdome.

 

[agro]

Which you of course know for a fact, having had direct contact with every other recruiting manager, so you know for a fact no-one else was thinking of taking him..........what........wait..........you dont have direct contact with and furthermore the confidence of EVERY other recruiting team????

Another armchair expert, we woulda shoulda coulda-ing his way into BF starchamberdome.

And of course you know that as a fact - but of course what would I know I have only been a member of Carlton for 39 years, 11 months and 30 days.