Game Day NAB Challenge Wk 1 - Carlton v Hawthorn Gameday Discussion

[passmark]

We need a team to do a Port Adelaide 2004. Enough with Hawthorn already.

It might be Port Adelaide.

Their record against the Hawks is pretty good.

 

[thylacine60]

Didn't see shandog cheering Graham on at the VFL with us last year, just sayin'

In the rain, no food, wolves......

 

[BluesRule]

The Menzel<Kerridge<pick 28<GWS 4 heist will have the AFL integrity commission investigating us by round 10.

I half expect us to be fined by the AFL if it works out - and laughed at if it fails. Win-Win trade

 

[TooBlue14]

A few extra additions from attending last night.

Watching pre game warm up looked very different than usual, kick to kick in a line with kerridge paired up with curnow (seems like these two push each other in all sessionsas they are the standard for fitness at carlton ATM). They had rotating contests of a trainer laying off to a quick kick inside 50 with either gorringe/jones/cas marking and/or attempting to tap to a roving lamb for a quick snap at goal.

Didn't see a lot of this during the game bu whenever we had a mark around the 50 it was always a short top of the square pass on entering rather than going for goal. 2-3 times casboult marked in a position where he could of made the journey with ease but decided to lop it to the square. I even saw lamb and wright do this maneuver from the pocket about 25-30 out on a tight angle. I'm pretty sure it didn't work in any case except the deliberate out of bounds call that allowed Lamb to set up Casboult for the first goal.

Pre game midfield set ups looked great with quick handballs through congestion in a limited space from ruck taps, 5 v 5 which included kruezer and phillips. In the mix was wright, graham, kerridge, gibbs, curnow, basically all you saw in the centre square during the game. There were limited mistakes or fumbles which shows how far weve come with the pressure acts and working in tight spaces. This will get extremely better with cripps murphy and possible cuningham in there also. My only knock was that when in game and we were trying to get clear we seemed to handball to the next target which may or may not have been in a spot to be released when their were other options clear from congestion that we failed to see BUT where more difficult to get the handball to. I'm guessing that with the above mentioned to return these options may be used more effectively.

All in all i like what i saw. Some green shoots are definitely there, and with 78 v 134 rotations makes it more amazing.

 

[ShanDog]

Didn't see shandog cheering Graham on at the VFL with us last year, just sayin'

I like the guy - just not enough to jump on a plane for him! Heck, I barely do it for family...

 

[MrsEddieBetts]

I like the guy - just not enough to jump on a plane for him! Heck, I barely do it for family...

Priorities, ffs.

 

[thylacine60]

soft

 

[therubbernub]

Early days, but we had numbers at the ball carrier which didn't allow Hawthorn to chip away and link up from end to end for easy goals like they always do. That stood out straight away. Players were in the right position which tells me they are understanding Bolton's game plan already which is fantastic. It didn't feel like 22 v 10 like in the past.

Individually I thought Kreuzer was good. Does what he's supposed to and more. Would appreciate it if commentators stop talking about his injuries, makes me ruddy nervous!

Gibbs was physically bossing it up and set the tone early. Class above at times. Gonna have a big year. Maybe it's just me, but his shoulders looked huuuuugggeeee!

Nick Graham! How can you not love him! Was so upset when he got injured last year, but good to see him picking up where he left off. He's just so good. When he's got the ball in his hands I feel safe. Great goal kicker.

Whiley! Yessss! I was most excited about him from all our pickups last year and finally got to see what he is capable of. Looks wayyy bigger.

Boekhorst. THAT passage of play, you know the one I'm talking about, was silk. He seems so much more confident. Really exciting stuff.

Great to see so many fresh faces. Still getting used to them all so can't comment on them. Overall, just great to have footy back! Woooooo!!!

Graham, Whiley, Boekhorst, Cripps- gee that SOS fella has some big shoes to fill

 

[Cripps 'n' Blue Bloods]

I probably didn't view last night's game as positively as most, but there's definitely something to build on.

We stuck to the new gameplan for probably a quarter and a half and looked good, but then slipped back to the same directionless 'hit and hope' footy we saw for most of last year. Should see drastic improvement as players learn to stick with it across four quarters.

This bit will probably be unpopular but...
I know some people were a wrap for Whiley and Tutt, but they (along with Dick) have a serious lack of ability when it comes to composure, decision-making, awareness, and disposal, and they're all at an age where it will be very difficult to fix. The rate at which these three are squeezed out of the team will be a good indicator of our rate of improvement.

Kerridge looks like a good inside addition, but his kicking is a bit of a concern.

Daisy was very disappointing IMO. A lot of nothing possessions, very little hurt factor, and was poor defensively. One effort vs Sam Mitchell right in front of goal was especially lazy/disinterested and drew comments from the non-Carltonians I was watching the game with. Hoping he's just saving his best for the real thing.

Byrne was rusty, but I thought battled hard, and should slot into the back 6 long term.

CCurnow dropped some marks he could have held and probably didn't chase as hard as he could have, but that can be put down to first-game nerves and base fitness. Looks very likely and will be great with a few years under his belt.

Graham's game really puts it into perspective how badly he was treated by Malthouse. Will never be a superstar, but he's absolutely AFL quality, and best 22 every day of the week.

Docherty was typically solid, Simpson was probably trying a bit too hard and didn't have his best game as a result, Gibbs was Gibbs. Wright was handy and I suspect will be lining up in round 1.

Phillips looks like a steal and will be Kreuz's ruck partner for the year. Between him and Kerridge I'd say we're already ahead on the Menzel trade.

Boekhorst's piece of play on the wing was probably the highlight of the game. Looks set for a big year, and could be a star with some consistency.

Everitt had a poor game, White and Rowe both battled hard but showed their usual limitations. As mentioned elsewhere, Gorringe is a non-entity.

Jones... His tackling showed he's trying, but he simply isn't up to it. Bad running patterns, can't mark, awful leap timing, no new info there though. In future years this trade/contract will be the reference point when discussing Malthouse's desperate and complete failure to build a team at Carlton.

I think another thing that's been missed, is that we were too tall for this game. It doesn't matter much in the grand scheme of things and having an extended bench eased it a bit. Jamo, Rowe, Everitt, Cas, Kreuz, Philips, Gorringe, Jones and Charlie (and maybe even White at 190cm).
Having Jones in there hurt our forward structure and I think it impacted negatively on Everitt. There were a couple of contests where Jones crashed the pack and actually ruined the contest.
I don't want to over-analyse it and find too many negatives, because overall I think it was a good result. I'm sure we won't go that tall during the season with a normal sized bench and a cap on rotations, and I'm sure that Jones will slide out of the side once Bolts knows his limitations.

 

[Funk]

How can Boeky be described as a 2015 bust? First year on an AFL list, got some game time over the journey & in the latter part of the season displayed some of the fancy footwork & ball use that attracted the recruiters' attention in the first place.

I would have thought his 2015 went exactly how you would expect a first year to go.

If Boeky is a bust - how would Ralph describe Ahern?

 

[Funk]

Grandstand's review a complete opposite to The Age effort. So negative - even the headline.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-...arly-hope-against-hawks/7182394?section=sport

What a load of crap that was!

Quote "Hawks ran the ball through defence with relative ease".

If it was so ****ing easy they would have kicked more than 8 goals dipstick!!!!

 

[T2B_]

I admit I still get nervous when Whiley has the ball at the moment but I dare say he's been watching the likes of Crippa at the coal face because some of his contested and extracting work reminded me of Paddy. Doesn't have Paddy's vision to get handballs to the best spot, but I can see there's something to work with IMO.

 

[AceAndy]

I like the guy - just not enough to jump on a plane for him! Heck, I barely do it for family...

Priorities, ffs.

soft

Definitely need to LIFT Shan

 

[ShanDog]

Definitely need to LIFT Shan

Mate I lift hard bro! #gymlife #selfietime

 

[Funk]

What struck me most in the first half in particular was the way we protected space, compared to last year.
We seemed to have more men on the ground than Hawthorn did, which wasn't evident at any time last year.

Just think that Casboult will now be play solely forward and there's little reason why mobile ruck-men in Kreuzer & Phillips can't co-exist.
Kerridge a definite starter and has the body we'll need through the middle along with Whiley to support Cripps & Gibbs.

Very happy with Gibbs last night also. Looked boss to me.

Spot on Harks.

For those that didn't see the game and can watch a replay - a great example of "protecting space" was in the second qtr when Hawks had ball on the near wing.

Ahead of them was an almost perfect grid of Carlton players evenly space with absolutely no "holes" for a Hawk player to lead in to.

Well organised team defence - a credit the players and the coaches.

 

[Moe B]

Mate I lift hard bro! #gymlife #selfietime

I can honestly say that I couldn't imagine that ShanDog is a Gym junkie, don't know what it is, maybe your avatar?? Maybe...

 

[Funk]

Didn't get to watch the game last night and only just watched the highlights on AFL website so really havnt seen much. Nice to hear that there were some players putting on a good show early on. All you want out of pre-season games is no injuries and a bit fo confidence and reckon we got that last night.

Have heard about Gibbs being in great physical shape and set for big year. However still saw a trait of his that stops him from going to elite level and that is work ethic. On the play that simpson drops a mark and hawks kick a goal through bruest, Gibbs was one stage level with bruest but just lazily followed along and was hoping someone else would 'do the work'. he needs to work hard and want to be more physical to impact plays that are 50-50 or 30-70.

Noticed the same. Daisy also did similar.

 

[MrsEddieBetts]

Mate I lift hard bro! #gymlife #selfietime

Don't forget leg day brah

 

[ShanDog]

Don't forget leg day brah

Pfft legs dont look good in a singlet

 

[ParapMarkets]

Also I have to say, as someone who doesn't see many live games, how much of a treat it is to see Levi in action. On TV you don't really appreciate just how much running and chasing that man does. And when he goes to fly for a mark it's a thing of beauty.

Casboult was very good last night, even on T.V

 

[MrsEddieBetts]

I can't wait for real footy

 

[ShanDog]

I can honestly say that I couldn't imagine that ShanDog is a Gym junkie, don't know what it is, maybe your avatar?? Maybe...

OK I admit I'm slowly but surely heading into dad-bod territory, but I'll just call it my loading phase.... which might last 3-4 years...

 

[LordLucifer]

If Boeky is a bust - how would Ralph describe Ahern?

I was highly critical of the decision to take Boekhorst over Laverde but that anger has waned a little now. If they both turn out to have careers around the same level then the decision was a good one.

Based on the last few games of 2015 and some glimpses last night, Boekhorst may end up being a solid contributor for us across the wing and half-forward, he seems to improve just a little more each time I see him.

 

[LordLucifer]

OK I admit I'm slowly but surely heading into dad-bod territory, but I'll just call it my loading phase.... which might last 3-4 years...

 

[LordLucifer]

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/a...m/news-story/252e982ae15310d2caf219d6a3bace15

One of the more honest & accurate articles I've read in that paper :

On Thursday night the AFL’s worst side of 2015 emerged transformed after a summer of toil.
A side that last year lost two games to Hawthorn by a combined total of 195 points has finally given its supporters some hope.

But despite that all Carlton thrust itself forward as the story of the night.
A side that last year blundered and stuttered without real system at times hunted in swarming packs, switched with real intent, tackled to hurt and had a game plan befitting modern football.