Say It Ain't So.... Deja Vu 2006

[Caracas]

At the Dome on Saturday, as I suffered through North's display of slow-motion, lethargic football, a nagging thought kept going through my brain. This was all very reminiscent of our 'annus horribilus' 2006. A couple of months back we heard all the talk about our super new NFL-style training regime. At the time I expressed reservations because it sounded a bit too close for comfort to the approach we adopted pre-season in 2006. I was convinced by a few noteworthy BigFooty eminents that this was not the case - that the new regime was not just focussed on strength alone. I, happily, bought this line even though it still didn't sit particularly well with my gut feeling.

Now after sitting through the debacle live on Saturday night, the nagging doubts have returned big time! Every player (except Ziebell & Anthony) appeared slower and more sluggish than their Carlton opponents. However, in tight, we appeared to win the ball first and then lose it immediately due to lack of time and finesse - hallmarks of a musclebound approach!!?? Wells appeared to be the only player to escape unscathed... he appeared stronger but slower than usual - still fast enough to get away, however.

I have to say that I refuse to accept the scenario that I have outlined above, as it doesn't bear contemplating. I reckon, as Laidley says, we are in the middle of heavy pre-season training and we'll be right for Round 1!!! We've never, in my memory anyway, suffered such a defeat in the pre-season comp. Maybe, that's a good thing. We'll see. However, if the worst case scenario transpires, you would have to imagine that heads would roll pretty quickly!

 

[Urmoe]

Mate i think you were watching the wrong game.....

 

[Zvim]

We had a tough early draw in 2006 so lost a lot of games against good opposition, had a few road trips early and dropped some close games, we started to win a lot more games as the draw got easier and had we not lost that game against the Lions and then operated on everyone we would have still been a show for the finals.

I think our early draw this year is pretty good, a few tough games but a lot of winnable games.

We can't afford to play shit footy, like we did against the blues but we gave the blues about 6 or more goals from substandard basic disposal errors, if we pull the finger out we have massive room for improvement.

The problem with North is there is a massive difference between our good and bad footy. I think we will drop a lot of winnable games this year because of that, and because we can't play consistent footy over four quarters and from week to week I struggle to see us getting anywhere come finals.

 

[Caracas]

Mate i think you were watching the wrong game.....

How do you mean? I know I felt like I'd turned up at the wrong game as I watched the guys on Saturday night. I fully expect it to have been an aberration.

 

[franjon]

We had a tough early draw in 2006 so lost a lot of games against good opposition, had a few road trips early and dropped some close games, we started to win a lot more games as the draw got easier and had we not lost that game against the Lions and then operated on everyone we would have still been a show for the finals.

I think our early draw this year is pretty good, a few tough games but a lot of winnable games.

We can't afford to play shit footy, like we did against the blues but we gave the blues about 6 or more goals from substandard basic disposal errors, if we pull the finger out we have massive room for improvement.

The problem with North is there is a massive difference between our good and bad footy. I think we will drop a lot of winnable games this year because of that, and because we can't play consistent footy over four quarters and from week to week I struggle to see us getting anywhere come finals.

Laidley mentioned after the game that Carlton got 12 goals from our turnovers. 10 of which were under no opposition pressure. In any language that is just utterly ridiculous football. But the positive is it is also a sign that we're terribly rusty, and that will dissipate with time.

 

[Zvim]

Laidley mentioned after the game that Carlton got 12 goals from our turnovers. 10 of which were under no opposition pressure. In any language that is just utterly ridiculous football. But the positive is it is also a sign that we're terribly rusty, and that will dissipate with time.

I think the problem is we tend to do a minimum of 5 or 6 per match where the top teams are lucky to do 1 per match. We will improve on that performance but I have no confidence we will improve significantly enough. Watt gave Port 5 goals from poor unforced turnovers in the first half alone against Port in round 22.

You just can't be giving sides 5 or 10 goal head starts.

 

[Event Horizon]

How do you mean? I know I felt like I'd turned up at the wrong game as I watched the guys on Saturday night. I fully expect it to have been an aberration.

I think Urmoe was eluding to your references to the game on Saturday night, while the game I went to was on Friday night.

BTW, I take it you haven't been following the club back in 1993 if you think this was the worst preseason loss you've seen. And if I remember correctly there was a pretty ordinary loss to West Coast in Perth a few years ago in the preseason - that was the game where Laidley first saw the "star player" McConnell who we traded for the year after.

Wonder what the mood would be like around here had Carlton kicked another 4-5 goals in the last to make the margin even less respectable. That would have been much harder to hose down, even allowing for February.

 

[Caracas]

I think Urmoe was eluding to your references to the game on Saturday night, while the game I went to was on Friday night.

BTW, I take it you haven't been following the club back in 1993 if you think this was the worst preseason loss you've seen. And if I remember correctly there was a pretty ordinary loss to West Coast in Perth a few years ago in the preseason - that was the game where Laidley first saw the "star player" McConnell who we traded for the year after.

Wonder what the mood would be like around here had Carlton kicked another 4-5 goals in the last to make the margin even less respectable. That would have been much harder to hose down, even allowing for February.

You see how the performance affected me! I even forgot what day/night it was. Yeah, you're right, I was overseas at the time Adelaide (was it) walloped North in 1993. That was the game that brought in Pagan - right? I was a North supporter at the time but the internet wasn't really in full swing then, so I didn't pay much heed to the pre-season results. Losing to West Coast in Perth wasn't really as bad as Friday's loss though. Usually, we front up fairly well in the pre-season comp. You'd expect a bit more movement from the guys. One thing I did notice was the amount of handballing we attempted. Maybe, this was a skill honing exercise for the team. It didn't work well on Friday but, maybe, we'll benefit over the long haul.

 

[Ghostwriter]

Saved yourself there EH by ending your post with the word February.

 

[Ghostwriter]

...but, maybe, we'll benefit over the long haul.

Please define long haul?

 

[__aria__]

i hope ur not right caracas

 

[Caracas]

Please define long haul?

In this instance, I'm hoping the long haul means ready for Round 1 and a slicker approach throughout the season. It's a big ask I know. However, it's the only way I can make sense out of Friday night's display. I'm assuming that we could have opted for our usual "kick it long" to the talls strategy and been more competitive against Carlton. Going for the handballing approach brought us out of our comfort zone. However, we know we have to be slicker if we're going to take the next step up. I'm prepared to live with Friday's flogging if that was the plan. I hope it's not wishful thinking.

 

[mark73]

With regards to your concerns re the training, some of the new player pictures are in on the website, and unless it's the angle that is deceiving me, the players look to have fined down, if anything. In 2006 we were under the guidance of a guy who we probably got because he was all we could afford. I've seen Turk, and heard him interviewed, and I certainly couldn't see him allowing something like 2006 to happen.

 

[Salad dodger]

We were beated out of the middle because we were SLOW

We turned the ball over around the ground due to pressure because we were SLOW

We were playing from behind because we were SLOW

I don't know about you but I can see a common thread here.

Teams always look outclassed when they are chasing, I hope Laidleys excuse of tired legs is right or it will be a long season. However I fail to understand why we would run the team so hard pre game when a successful NAB cup campaign is so vital to our membership, talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

 

[Zondor]

And if I remember correctly there was a pretty ordinary loss to West Coast in Perth a few years ago in the preseason - that was the game where Laidley first saw the "star player" McConnell who we traded for the year after.

C'mon it was accepted as fact that McConnell was going to be the "Find of the Ages". Yah can't blame Laidley for that. Yah just can't

 

[NICK_ROOBOY83]

We were beated out of the middle because we were SLOW

We turned the ball over around the ground due to pressure because we were SLOW

We were playing from behind because we were SLOW

I don't know about you but I can see a common thread here.

Teams always look outclassed when they are chasing, I hope Laidleys excuse of tired legs is right or it will be a long season. However I fail to understand why we would run the team so hard pre game when a successful NAB cup campaign is so vital to our membership, talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

You can also look SLOW when your just reactive instead of being proactive.

To me, it seemed like we really didnt want to be out there on Friday night.

 

[Caracas]

Bump. I was reminded about our Gridiron training by somebody's response to another thread. I know it's a bit of a long bow but, jeez, things have not changed one iota from that Carlton game. And why are you players falling over left, right and centre this year? In the past, we haven't been too bad on the soft tissue side of things. However, this year we seem to be getting a stack. I suppose the Harvey, Ziebell & Warren types of unavoidable injuries make it look worse.

 

[muttley45]

Bump. I was reminded about our Gridiron training by somebody's response to another thread. I know it's a bit of a long bow but, jeez, things have not changed one iota from that Carlton game. And why are you players falling over left, right and centre this year? In the past, we haven't been too bad on the soft tissue side of things. However, this year we seem to be getting a stack. I suppose the Harvey, Ziebell & Warren types of unavoidable injuries make it look worse.

good bump,get rid of the gridiron crap,it aint workin

 

[DarwinRoo]

Just curious but is 'annus horribilus' latin for ugly arse?

 

[Henry Yoghurt]

No, annus means year.

 

[Giveadogabone]

No, annus means year.

He knows.
The football field: The only place in the world where one man can say to another that they are hot without outing himself.

 

[big_e]

Looking back from the vantage point of the first twelve rounds, that was one hell of a thread. Couldn't have picked it any better. Unfortunately.

 

[DarwinRoo]

He knows.
The football field: The only place in the world where one man can say to another that they are hot without outing himself.

 

[Giveadogabone]

nice mullet

 

[Mr Reliable]

Good thread Caracas.

What can we expect in the second half of the season? I may go and just sit out the games in the bar.