if we are to make the top 8 this year...

[Kmasn]

now before i start let me say i think us making the top 8 this year is a possibility, not an expectation. i realistically think we'll finish 9-12. apologies if this has been said 100 times already, but as i was watching the south africa game the other day it got me thinking about which areas of the list need to improve for us to become a legetimate contender in the future. looking at other lists most teams have the stars at the top, and most have solid contributors in their top 15 aswell, but its the players in that 16th-22nd best bracket which make a team. i think its this part of the list where we've been grossly insufficient in previous years.

we know what (if fit) judd, stevens and fevola can do, and we know simpson, fisher and scotland will be consistant. its how our other, mostly younger brigade of players perform this year that will determine how we do. certain things i think we'll need to happen for us to make the 8 this year are:

- hartlett holds down chf, even in a solid rather then spectacular way (ala hansen of wce)
-hampson plays 15-20 games and has more good then bad games
-murphy relishes not having a tag and has a standout year, becoming an arrived player as opposed to a rising star
-hadley performs the way he did at brisbane pre-injuries
-waite finds his niche as an attacking chb

im sure there are others ive missed people would think are equally as important to our chances, and i think the continued development of players such as gibbs, kruezer, grigg and co is important to our future premiership contending, but not so important to our top 8 chances this year.

wondering what other peoples thoughts are...

 

[Houli2Gumbleton]

I personally don't like carlton. (look at my sig). However, i believe u just have a few more things to do to ur side to become a great team.

- Draft more kpp defenders with first round picks. You should do this to allow Waite to play CHF because that is where he dominates. Thorton is a third tall. Jamison is getting better. Bower has a bad disposal. Draft a gun chb and that will be great. Hampson and Kruezer will be a pretty good combination for the future. Ur midfield is good as it is. U should stop drafting mids. U have judd, murphy, gibbs, carrazzo, scotland, stevens and simpson. Bentick too. Ur forward pockets need imprvement aswell. Fisher is a good third tall foward

 

[Bluebear]

To make finals, all that needs to happen is that Cloke and Hampson have good years (of course barring injuries to key players), allowing Setanta to settle in the backline.

The mids (rated equal first in the comp by Champion data) will get more than enough footy to make sure our forwards outscore the opposition forwards in 12-13 games.

To be a premiership contender then we need to adress the issues raised above.
Fev + Fisher + ??? one more potent option up forward - Harts? Kreuzer, Edwards

Jamison to improve, Bower to grow in confidence, Aisake to come in to CHB and release Waite forward........all possibilities.

I they are good enough to develop then we have the cattle already........but then again, there are 15 other clubs saying exactly the same thing.

 

[Big Bad Sammus]

To make finals, all that needs to happen is that Cloke and Hampson have good years (of course barring injuries to key players), allowing Setanta to settle in the backline.

The mids (rated equal first in the comp by Champion data) will get more than enough footy to make sure our forwards outscore the opposition forwards in 12-13 games.

To be a premiership contender then we need to adress the issues raised above.
Fev + Fisher + ??? one more potent option up forward - Harts? Kreuzer, Edwards

Jamison to improve, Bower to grow in confidence, Aisake to come in to CHB and release Waite forward........all possibilities.

I they are good enough to develop then we have the cattle already........but then again, there are 15 other clubs saying exactly the same thing.

I agree with you exactly....our younger, up & coming players need to have good years and step up to the plate so we can become a force. We have the stocks, it's just a question of time and when they will come through.

 

[Marc Shmurf 3]

for us to make the finals absolutely everything has to go right. no injuries to Fisher, Waite, Fev. Juddy has to play every game and we need to win games inter state. If one of those does not happen we will be finals bound in 2009

 

[Smell The Glove]

If are to make the finals, all of the following need to happen:

1. Fevola must play at least 20 games and kick a minumum of 70 H & A goals.
2. Judd needs to play somewhere near his best and play at least 18-20 games.
3. None of Stevens, Carrazzo, Waite, Fisher or O'hAilpin can miss more than 2 or 3 games. In other words, a blessed run with injury.
4. Wherever Waite plays, he has to have the best year of his career. If he plays back, he needs to win or draw more times than his opponents get the edge. If he plays forward, he needs to average probably 2-2.5 gpg.
5. Houlihan must be returned to the forward line. He isnt a bloody defender Denis!
6. One of our ruckmen needs to step up and average a decent 18-20 hitouts per game and at least be able to compete with the likes of Cox and Lade. We havent had a ruckman average more than around 15 per game for a while now.
7. General increase in aerobic fitness and kicking skills. Both have been very poor over the past few years.

 

[Ole Gill]

For mine, the number 1 barrier to us making the 8 is the lack of a ruck brigade. I think our defence will ultimately be serviceable enough to scrape by, but without someone bringing down the ball to our on-ball division we are stuffed.

So if Hampson has a year like Leunberger did, and Cam Cloke/Aisake etc can hold their own, we might make the 8. But it's dependant on that.

 

[Pie_squasher]

You've all made good points but I think there is one key to us making the 8 this year and that is simply for the Defence to hold up and give us the ability to defend a score.

Our mids will do the job and I believe there is enough talent in the forward line to score freely. Ruck will also need improving but may not be as important to dominate - rather compete!!!

 

[Kmasn]

I agree with you exactly....our younger, up & coming players need to have good years and step up to the plate so we can become a force. We have the stocks, it's just a question of time and when they will come through.

we definately have the stock to become a major force in years to come, its just a matter of how well and quickly they develop. i also think though that we have enough talent and skill in the players aged 24+ group, that if certain younger players can perform a little above expectation this year, we can make the 8 with a team that wont necesarrily have the same players that will be in the side when we ultimately become a contender

 

[Bluetopia]

Its good to start the year off optimistically but you have to be a realist and say that we just dont have the depth to challenge for the 8 this year. If we get struck down with a few key injuries we may struggle!

Go BlueBoys

 

[judd5]

Got to agree with most of that. You can have all the stars on your team on the field but you do need to have great depth. This along with defence is where we have struggled in the last few years however i think that things are starting to look up and i think that the 16-22 are as you said is much betgter than it was a few years ago.

 

[lopezz]

1. A big year out of Hampson, Cloke and Aisake in the ruck.
2. A solid year from Hartlet at CHF.
3. Development of Murphy and Gibbs.
4. Total commitment from all players on a consistent basis.
5. Bit of luck on the injury front

 

[jonoman89]

1) We need to get out of the bottom 4 "points against" bracket

- Waite needs to become a very solid CHB, otherwise he is being wasted and would be better for us at CHF
- Setanta needs to become more dependable on stopping guerilla forwards such as Lloyd and Brown etc. (this will come with experience)
- Bower needs to REALLY improve his disposal
- Jamison needes to get games under his belt (he could become a good FB)
- One of Pfeiffer, Browne, Armfield or Hadley needs to fill a similar role to that of Scotland

2) Ruck needs to work well

- Hampson/Cloke need to step up

3) We need a VERY GOOD injury run

- Stevens, Judd, Murphy, Scotland and Carrazzo in particular need to play 19 games minimum
- Fevola and Fisher must play 20+ games each

4) Forward line must take advantage of improved midfield delivery

- Fevola must kick minimum 75 goals
- Fisher must kick 45 goals
- Betts must kick 30+ goals
- Houhlihan must kick 35+ goals

5) No 70+ points losses - they destroy confidence

6) Need to win 4-5 of our first 10 matches - gives confidence for later rounds

 

[blue gunslinger]

Its good to start the year off optimistically but you have to be a realist and say that we just dont have the depth to challenge for the 8 this year. If we get struck down with a few key injuries we may struggle!

Go BlueBoys

Agree
I think we need to be patient for a little while yet, but it will happen!

 

[audas]

now before i start let me say i think us making the top 8 this year is a possibility, not an expectation. i realistically think we'll finish 9-12. apologies if this has been said 100 times already, but as i was watching the south africa game the other day it got me thinking about which areas of the list need to improve for us to become a legetimate contender in the future. looking at other lists most teams have the stars at the top, and most have solid contributors in their top 15 aswell, but its the players in that 16th-22nd best bracket which make a team. i think its this part of the list where we've been grossly insufficient in previous years.

we know what (if fit) judd, stevens and fevola can do, and we know simpson, fisher and scotland will be consistant. its how our other, mostly younger brigade of players perform this year that will determine how we do. certain things i think we'll need to happen for us to make the 8 this year are:

- hartlett holds down chf, even in a solid rather then spectacular way (ala hansen of wce)
-hampson plays 15-20 games and has more good then bad games
-murphy relishes not having a tag and has a standout year, becoming an arrived player as opposed to a rising star
-hadley performs the way he did at brisbane pre-injuries
-waite finds his niche as an attacking chb

im sure there are others ive missed people would think are equally as important to our chances, and i think the continued development of players such as gibbs, kruezer, grigg and co is important to our future premiership contending, but not so important to our top 8 chances this year.

wondering what other peoples thoughts are...

Walker

 

[walshy93]

Good Ideas everyone...thats just about it!

 

[disconorman]

Fitness. Fitness. And a little more fitness.

As much as I hate to say it, I think we will fall just short of finals this year. One more solid pre-season under the belt and we'll kill it. The majority of our list are still very young, and it takes time and experience to get the mature body and mature head to match it with the seasoned teams.

 

[franklinstein23]

seriously, why are u even mentioning the word finals?
the carlton board should be discussing ideas on how to use their next wooden spoon!
all of you need a good pair of glasses, coz ur all too blind to realise that u guys are the worst team in the AFL by a MILE!!! absolutely no chance of finishing above 14th. look at the list, hardly a quality player on it, except fevola. judd wont play. and by making him your captain after hes been there for 3 months, just shows how weak your club really is

 

[judd5]

seriously, why are u even mentioning the word finals?
the carlton board should be discussing ideas on how to use their next wooden spoon!
all of you need a good pair of glasses, coz ur all too blind to realise that u guys are the worst team in the AFL by a MILE!!! absolutely no chance of finishing above 14th. look at the list, hardly a quality player on it, except fevola. judd wont play. and by making him your captain after hes been there for 3 months, just shows how weak your club really is

Alright, where were you guys this time last year???
I think that maybe you should be worrying about some of the problems at your club before you worry about ours. And i think that your name includes one of the major problems.
So we have one quality player??? You are a muppet. If you don't consider Judd a quality player then your team has no quality players, and he would have been captain at your club too if you had have picked him over Luke Hodge.
Tasmania anyone???

 

[Blueinblood]

hawthorn fans are queer... i mean tasmanian fans....... and btw stewie jew is still fat...

 

[franklinstein23]

where were we last year? icanse you have forgetten, we played in a semi-final, although u probly wouldnt have seen that because your footy brain switches off in mid-july when u realise the mathematical chance of finishing about 12th is gone! judd is a quality player, although i dont think he'll play alot this year. as for franklin you say...wouldnt u just LOVE to have a guy like franklin in your team, u would trade any player on ur list to get franklin, and it eats you up inside just knowing u cant have him. im not even going to divolge into fevola's society role-model status because i rate him as a good footballer and thats it, even though hes terribly ugly and hasnt got a brain, hes a gun footballer. but keep your hopes up u bandwagon jumper, maybe in 6-8 years the likes of o'hailpin, murphy, simpson, walker, fisher, carrazzo, and gibbs will lead the bullants to a finals campaign. mwaaa

 

[judd5]

I'd take a gun footballer who is ugly over a drug addicted d**khead any day.

 

[Blueinblood]

franklin will be kicked out of the AFL in the next 2 years for being a druggo..... and by the sounds of it your smoking something if you think hawks are going places......i mean the may flowers AHAHAHAHAHA

 

[franklinstein23]

typical carlton supporter, ud take fevola over franklin hahaha
ever thought of becoming a commedian? u can hold your events in the optus oval carpark, and serve spaghetti for dinner thats cooked using fresh wooden spoons. seasons greetings blindy!

 

[Blueinblood]

hahah franklin kicked 11 behinds in one game..yep thats good! His kicking for goal goes almost as wide as stewie dews guts *** face