OUT:Thornton IN: A New Backline Structure

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Where were you sitting at the 79,81 and 82 flags?

I was there after sleeping overnight outside Princes Park as a kid on Brownlow night to get tickets.

So take up my counter-challenge TW - show us you are a reasonable, thinking supporter who is up to a challenge :confused:

Guess it is too easy to just log on every now and then and vent - being a buddy or just replying to buddy EVERY week requires committment, I know because it took some of my precious time to commit to AB last year. If you are so intent on having people take a close look at Thornton surely you are up for it :confused:
 
There is no other backman in the league that has had more to do than Thornton has had to do in the past 4 years.
Hardly any support and having to deal with forwards he would not have given the job on if the appropriate personnel were on hand.
With Jammo really coming on and Bower and Grigg on the flanks we will see a more comfortable and happier Thornton in years to come.

So let's support the lad. We will be glad we did.

Don't be confused. I support all our players each one of them that runs out. I just think he will be struggling for a spot in our best side as we near the top 4 and are gunning for a flag in a couple of years.
 

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I have enough faith in the Carlton coaching staff to conclude that Thornton will be phased out during the year. Towards the end of the year, Jammo, Grigg and Bower were assigned more dangerous players than Thornton. Thornton's role may have been to run the ball out of defence but as our kicking skills improve, it won't be long before the coaching staff finally realise he can't kick, is too slow and makes wrong decisions

No-one has yet successfully rebutted the following:
1. Thornton is too slow for the quick forwards
2. Thornton is too weak for the big forwards
3. Thornton is too slow to be a runner out of defence
4. THornton cannot drift forward and kick goals. How many has he kicked in his career?
5. There is no such thing as a third tall ie if you are in defence, you should be able to handle the most dangerous attackers
6. Thornton can't kick
7. Thornton has a bad attitude
8. Thornton played one good quarter all year i.e 2 fists against Jonathan Brown
9. Carlton's season turned out around after Thornton got injured Adelaide. i.e we played our best footy in years without a slow Thornton chipping around in defence

Thornton has been the biggest liability in our side for last 5 years

1/ Thornton has had great games on Didak, Nathan Brown, and other mid sized forwards that aren't jets. He has also smashed Mark Williams who has excellent pace. Footy nous counts for a lot.

2/ Thornton too weak to play on the big forwards - so is Chris Judd - agree will struggle, but will not be his regular role.

3/ If you look at his career he has been a great distributor, has great evasiveness and awareness, will benefit from having quicker players around him to dish off to. Very Very rarely gets tackled, just seems to know what to do to buy some space for himself

4/ See Darren Glass,max hudghton and Ben Rutten

5/ Sometimes he does handle the most dangerous forwards (eg Didak), but now we have other options when they are huge.
Plays better across HB and rarely takes the FF

6/ Thornton cant kick ? - utter rubbish. Has had a few more clangers in the past 2 seasons but is genuinely dual sided and one of the better kicks in the team. Usually chooses good options as well.

7. Bad attitude ? - says who....the only thing I ever see wrong is that he can have a go at a team mate who does not cover etc.
He developed this unfortunately while being part of a key back combo with the super spud Livingston. I could fully understand his frustration at Livo's lack of nous and he used to give him heaps.

BT had the worst win/loss ratio of any player in the AFL for years as he arrived at the start of our darkest days. He has had it tougher than most young backmen.

8/ Claims like this make you appear silly. You have developed a dislike for him and find it hard to appreciate his good performances.

9. Our best footy for the year was IMO the first win ( Rnd 4 or 5 ) against Cwood.
We played 4 qtrs of dominating hard footy and never let them in the game.
Thornton played on Didak I think and beat him nicely

Watch the video and get back to us
 
I think the idea that Thornton cant kick is blatantly wrong - its one of his strong points. Why else would the team use him to deliver out of D50? :eek:

However proving it is hard because the effectiveness stats are all kicks, and dont exclude the little 10-20 metre passes. I mean even Livo had good effectiveness stats with his 20 metre passes into the back pocket.
 
I agree with the OP ..

LOL at people who thought he had a 'standout' season, he was very inconsistent and often had his colours lowered ..

He is similar to Joel Bowden in that he is king of the 'cheap kick' ..

Also don't forget this year he wanted to quit the club and play for Tassie ???
he's not the worst player in the league or at our club, but frankly I reckon he has a big question mark on his attitude and committment to the club, and if I think if he doesn't have a better season in 2009, the club and him should part ways.

He's on his last chance IMHO ..


LOL you turncoat.
 
It is no accident that we play our best football when Thornton is out. REcall we hit our straps for the first time last year when THornton went off against Adelaide

Aside from the first 10 minutes last night when we were butchered by the umpires, we looked extremely polished coming out of defence for the first time this year
*Bower's run was a highlight
*We moved the ball quickly
*We hit targets

All of sudden, our defence looked polished!

When the ball came into defence, Jamison, Austin and Bower held their own and I thought all had victories last night

We certainly did not miss:
*Thornton's chipping around
*Thornton's lobs in the air out of defence
*Thornton's berating of teammates

It would a shame for Austin or Bannister to make way for THornton
 
It is no accident that we play our best football when Thornton is out. REcall we hit our straps for the first time last year when THornton went off against Adelaide

Aside from the first 10 minutes last night when we were butchered by the umpires, we looked extremely polished coming out of defence for the first time this year
*Bower's run was a highlight
*We moved the ball quickly
*We hit targets

All of sudden, our defence looked polished!

When the ball came into defence, Jamison, Austin and Bower held their own and I thought all had victories last night

We certainly did not miss:
*Thornton's chipping around
*Thornton's lobs in the air out of defence
*Thornton's berating of teammates

It would a shame for Austin or Bannister to make way for THornton

Mate, you and Terry have another huge supporter on this thread! And you're right - the hack is only viewed through rose-coloured glasses by way too many. Always get the same spiel - he's played out of position, his stats are the best for marks, he sets up so much for us..........as Terry said at the start of the thread - just like Bowden and hasn't he been a winner!!!!!!!!
Some interesting research - list the defenders with the most goals kicked on them.
 
Now you are calling another player a hack (Stevo was sh1t) - show some control in your posts A lice. I don't think we need Thornton down back - other than for sweeping when required, as I have mentioned several times before, I would not mind seeing if he can take grabs up forward
 
Now you are calling another player a hack (Stevo was sh1t) - show some control in your posts A lice. I don't think we need Thornton down back - other than for sweeping when required, as I have mentioned several times before, I would not mind seeing if he can take grabs up forward
What I was thinking.

If indeed we can see a real future with Aussie, Bower, Jamo and Waitey (at times) down back then Thornton as a forward makes sense. Regardless of what you make of him he is a quality player. Strong, can take a mark, contested one at that. Would provide headaches for opposition backmen as long as he gets on the front foot.
 
Now you are calling another player a hack (Stevo was sh1t) - show some control in your posts A lice. I don't think we need Thornton down back - other than for sweeping when required, as I have mentioned several times before, I would not mind seeing if he can take grabs up forward

sorry if I upset you, V, I was showing control!!! As for him playing forward, I have no doubt that'd go the same way as with Houlihan - not tough enough to cope with the physical pressure and would go missing too often. It IS pleasing to hear that not all our supporters wear those same glasses though!!
 
It is no accident that we play our best football when Thornton is out. REcall we hit our straps for the first time last year when THornton went off against Adelaide

Aside from the first 10 minutes last night when we were butchered by the umpires, we looked extremely polished coming out of defence for the first time this year
*Bower's run was a highlight
*We moved the ball quickly
*We hit targets

All of sudden, our defence looked polished!

When the ball came into defence, Jamison, Austin and Bower held their own and I thought all had victories last night

We certainly did not miss:
*Thornton's chipping around
*Thornton's lobs in the air out of defence
*Thornton's berating of teammates

It would a shame for Austin or Bannister to make way for THornton

Didn't we win the previous two games with Thornton in the team? In fact he has been in the team for every win we have had this season.

You are such a troll & you really bring nothing to this board. It is more than just a coincidence that you only post on here after a Carlton loss. Do us all a favour & stay away permanently, not just after our wins.
 

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If indeed we can see a real future with Aussie, Bower, Jamo and Waitey (at times) down back then Thornton as a forward makes sense. Regardless of what you make of him he is a quality player. Strong, can take a mark, contested one at that. Would provide headaches for opposition backmen as long as he gets on the front foot.


Warsaw

Joel Bowden can do all the bolded well too. I don't think anyone is denying that Thornton reads the play well and can take a mark.

What is being suggested is that we would have a better TEAM without him. And that's what everyone on this board is about, no matter the differing opinions.

Thornton would have been a great player in the 80's, similar to Michael Sexton maybe, but in this modern game his slowness and indecisiveness when in possession of the ball kills our rebound. And decisive rebound is all important, especially when we rely on Fev as much as we do and require an opener forward line.

Thornton continually second guesses his first thought when he has the ball and then resorts to a chip. He cannot run the ball out of defence. He also continually calls for chips when other backmen have possession.

And his attitude and mouthy treatment of his fellow (young ) defenders is appalling.

Our backline looked a positive young unit last night with plenty of upside and are ready to go......UP.
 
What is being suggested is that we would have a better TEAM without him.
What I suggest is that anyone who suggests that is an idiot. We covered his absence much better than I expected, but there is absolutely no doubt we would have been better with him. In particular we would have setup rebounds better with him kicking out of defence than most others.
 
Didn't we win the previous two games with Thornton in the team? In fact he has been in the team for every win we have had this season.

You are such a troll & you really bring nothing to this board. It is more than just a coincidence that you only post on here after a Carlton loss. Do us all a favour & stay away permanently, not just after our wins.

Of course he was there for every win we had this season - he has played every game except last night!

Fact is we played our best footy for the year by a mile last night and Thornton was out. last year, we started playing our best footy in 5 years from the moment Thornton left the ground

I have been complimentary to other players in my posts. The reason why I am prominent on anti-thornton threads is that he is a massive liability and am simply trying to point that out to other posters who see him through rose coloured glasses. By pointing this out, myself, Terrywallet, alice and other anti-thornton supporters are actually contributing constructively, as opposed to other people on this forum that spend their lives trawling through and quoting useless statistics

Heck, Thornton has barely kicked any goals in his career (I think less than 5) and people are already calling him the answer to our forward line problems
 
sorry if I upset you, V, I was showing control!!! As for him playing forward, I have no doubt that'd go the same way as with Houlihan - not tough enough to cope with the physical pressure and would go missing too often. It IS pleasing to hear that not all our supporters wear those same glasses though!!

see below

What I suggest is that anyone who suggests that is an idiot. We covered his absence much better than I expected, but there is absolutely no doubt we would have been better with him. In particular we would have setup rebounds better with him kicking out of defence than most others.

I don't know that I missed his speed (ie lack of) when it comes to moving the ball but we definitely missed his courage as a sweeper in front of Riewoldt
 
We covered his absence much better than I expected, but there is absolutely no doubt we would have been better with him. In particular we would have setup rebounds better with him kicking out of defence than most others.


That is your opinion...and that is fine.


And i won't resort to calling you an idiot.
 
Heck, Thornton has barely kicked any goals in his career (I think less than 5) and people are already calling him the answer to our forward line problems

How many games would he have played as a forward :confused:

Simple Q - can he take a mark
Could that translate to being a useful 3rd tall Forward

Answer - worth a look unless you happen to have a vendetta against the guy :rolleyes:
 
How many games would he have played as a forward :confused:

Simple Q - can he take a mark
Could that translate to being a useful 3rd tall Forward

Answer - worth a look unless you happen to have a vendetta against the guy :rolleyes:


Five, wouldn't it be a good idea to let him play a few games for NB in the forward line to see IF he can actually play as a forward?

Give him a month as a forward and see how he goes.
 
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