Why you're impressed with Carlton this year

[Beloved]

It's not neccissarily the fact that we're sitting comfortably on 5-6 halfway though the season, it's more the fact that we've won the real 'crunch time games' to get us there.

Think about it, Collingwood with our backs against the wall, down at 3/4 time against Freo (I know, no big deal), West Coast in Perth and now, down by 30 points against Port Adeliade in Adelaide! Personally, with wins like making up the majority of our wins, I think we're really starting to become a 'crunch time' team, and it just brings a grin to my face.

How about you, what have we done so far this year to impress you?

 

[Blueboys7]

Our young guys just all improving together and at a reasonably fast rate. really really happy with that!!

 

[true_blue_69]

finally getting some heart, spirit & guts back into the side.

The old Carlton Arrogance is on its way back....

and the young blood stepping up to the plate as well.....

finally, our recruiting has helped BIG TIME

 

[NavyGuns_2008]

I'm happy with the development of players like Grigg and also the fact Bentick is holding his own in a midfield with the likes of Judd, Stevens and Murphy. I wonder if Ratten likens Bentick to himself when Ratten played with the Bradley's, Williams, Kouta's etc.

 

[LemmingMaster]

Living in WA, I have seen my fair share of Judd in action. I actually really dislike the Eagles, more so than even Collingwood.

Judd was always a player I thought, whoa he is one player I would love to get into my team.

1. One of the best players, I've ever seen. Hard ball gets, goals and line breaking ability. All attributes you want from a midfielder.
2. Role Model - He is a role model in every aspect of his on field and off field life. Cousins and Buddy are two examples that come to mind which are wonderful players, just don't have the off field sorted.

Judd has the ability to make people around him lift, think Daniel Kerr.

Bentick I think is an example of a player potentially lifting from the addition of Judd. If Bentick can keep tackling and blocking for Judd and at the same time gather some hard balls, Carlton look good.

I know if I was a kid new to the AFL and had Judd in my team, surely there is no better player in the AFL to mold your game on.

I may be paying Judd too much praise for this years performances, but watching how the Eagles rookies played when Judd was around and Carltons, I'm starting to see some similarities, coincidence maybe...

Ratten also deserves some praise, he is playing kids and adding some pride into the Carlton side again.

Not to long ago, our backline was something to almost laugh at, now a bunch of so called "no namers" are starting to look good.

Anyway, enough with my rant....

Lets hope we beat the Pies this weekend, would be good to be 2 and 0 this year against them.

 

[Ole Gill]

There have been a couple:

That our recruiting is back on track - Browne and Armfield look like steals and Jamison, Bowyer and Grigg are all coming on nicely.

That skills are better (although not great)

That we're playing a better style of footy.

But the absolute standout is what EBIAC pointed out - that we're not giving up and are having a real go when things aren't really going our way. Freo, Port and WCE (after the comeback) - the carlton of Pagan would have folded.

 

[as0l0]

would this thread exist if we didn't win on the weekend?

but we did! so na, na, na!

 

[ThePine]

But the absolute standout is what EBIAC pointed out - that we're not giving up and are having a real go when things aren't really going our way. Freo, Port and WCE (after the comeback) - the carlton of Pagan would have folded.

Agree.

Also that we seem to have more then one game plan and the players want to play for the coach.

 

[I LOVE THE CFC]

Even with such a young team and without out best team due to key injuries, we still manage to fight and win.

PRIDE IN THE JUMPER...THANK YOU FOR BRINGING THAT BACK BRETT!!!!

 

[Andyt31]

We are no Longer used as Percentage Boosters and so far havn't ben belted by 100pts if we make to rd 22 with out losing by 100 dosn;t matter if We beat someone by 100 we owe a few
and since Port Was Runners up Last year was a bonus beating them
and over their. The Last time we won over their was v Adelaide crows
a few years ago. i wanna see what happens if we win next 3 would make
things really Interesting then a loss won;t hurt if we can win next 3
we can't slip to far down if we say lost this weekend. IF Geelong beats Port this weekend, and hope Fremantle beats North who are due for a win we'll move up into the 8 i'm going to barrack for fremantle to win. iIknow its a long shot but they been close every week. but they will be with out Heath Black who been suspended won;t help em .

 

[Quazza]

Pride shown by players, staff and supporters.


after years of horror, its a flipping great time to be Carlton through and through!

 

[krayfesh]

Thanks to awesome recruiting and good debutants, I'm finally able to start joining bandwagons again.

Armfield! Woo!

 

[jonoman89]

Personally, i've found the run we are now getting out of our backline to be fantastic. The last few years we've seen sides box the ball into our D50 for most of the game, with us unable to counterattack. Now with Bower, Thornton, Jamison and the rookies like Browne and Armfield, we really are getting the ball back into the middle a lot quicker. Very exciting, and makes our style look extremely attractive. In fact, i think that (when we do it right) our backline run is one of the strengths of our game now.

Plus, the midfield is really starting to shine. Judd + Bentick are providing great grunt around stoppages, with the others also chipping in and getting in and under.

Great times ahead.

 

[Marc Shmurf 3]

We are gaining respect from the competition again.

And we are respecting the jumper again.

Simple

 

[Dramoth]

The kids in the team are coming through nicely and we know that in 2 years we will definitely be playing finals football again after a couple of years all of us would rather forget.

We have someone in charge who loves the club and will do anything for the club.

We have a coach who bleeds navy blue for the club instead of watery blue and white for another team.

The opposition is starting to fear us again...

 

[Jezza U Beauty]

We have finally started to show some improvement that should be sustainable. On and off the field we're kicking goals - almost every news story coming out of the club is a positive one.

 

[I_was_there_in_87]

Because we are carlton

 

[pumped]

Was rapt with the win against Port. Really saw for the first time an example of where we could go. The main positives for me this year have been the solidity of guys like Bentick, Jamison, Bower, Cloke, Judd, Murphy, Kruezer and of late Gibbs. Carlton has been crying out for some hard committed leaders who give everything no matter what the score or pressure and I think these guys are it.

 

[gbatman]

1. Loads of young talent, especially in first year players.
2. Constant improvement in players, if we were to play out round 1 side we'd smash them.
3. Young players winning games (Special mentions to Murphy, Gibbs, Kreuzer, Jamison).
4. The developement of a solid backline and good tall defenders.
5. Improved tackling.
6. Super performances by our recruiting department, they seem to have used early picks well and equally as important used late picks well (Browne is a ripper and Armfield looks the goods too).



Im hoping to add to this list, better forward line structure, hoping to add 3 good tall marking forwards to this list, Kreuzer looks like a potential with Fevola but I don't think the 3rd is at our club, Hartlett is the nearest thing but I think we will have to get one. Fisher is a medium sized forward...

 

[Murph is baby Judd]

above all else, P R I D E
theres almost too many positives to list, which doesnt really surprise considering were coming from absolute rock bottom
but ill do a mini review of some of our young boys (which will probably still be pretty long)

judds leadership off the field is more important to us than what he brings on it (conveniently, he brings a bit on it as well ). it might sound stupid, but its a bit like the old give a man a fish, or teach him how to catch one thing
i know murphs had it rough last year with tagging and no support, but i had concerns about his development after doing his shoulder
this year hes not only benefiting from teams having to tag judd, but the spotlight has well and truly moved onto the krueze, hes stepping up with anonymity which is fantastic for him and the club
people forget how immensely talented he is. hes the standout of the 05 draft
enjoy this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgyx-_WNQtQ
his body is slowly getting bigger, saw him bulk up considerably during the preseason and automatically expected big things, thus far hes delivering.
expect him to be in the absolute elite group after a couple more preseasons, especially now that hes got juddy showing him how its done, and how much you have to put in to be a superstar. it doesnt happen by accident

im also a massive fan of young browne, seems to have everything required to turn into one of the best pick 30somethings for a long time. looks like a dog and plays like one. this time next year could be one of my fav players at the club. gives nothing and i love it

krueze showing heaps of potential as a running big man (think goodes) but way too early to make anything of him, hopefully see a lot more of him up forward and not getting battered in the ruck for the next 11

gibbs has been consistently good whilst not great. the shutdown of the chad was obviously the exception, but i dont want him tagging. has incredible poise/vision/smarts but lacks size and a big enough engine to run round the middle all day which we'll obviously look to develop.
how many people realise he was the youngest player in the draft last year? hes exactly 30 days older than rhys palmer at freo but has a whole season of afl footy and an extra afl preseason behind him
has as much natural talent as anyone ive seen, but were probably still 2+ years away from seeing what hell become

bower im immensely impressed with. never saw much of him before he was drafted (nor his first year) but hes one of our best improved. has matched everyone hes played on for pace and gotten to every contest whilst still being damaging with good disposal going the other way. sure hes made some mistakes, as have many of our other youngins but they're mistakes that have to be made early in their careers and corrected before they turn into bad habits of older players. love his willingness to take players on
one thing that always sticks in the back of my mind is the 06 draft when the bombers took gumbleton at no.2 and somebody in the media asked whos the toughest player hes ever played on, he wasnt in any doubt who it was
pity bout the backline curse, hopefully see him back later in the year

hampson looking ok in the ruck but hes still only a shade over 20, and most rucks dont stand out till theyre 22-23, which isnt a mental/skills thing, purely based on how quickly their bodies can be built into machines

armfield looks like he was well worth the punt from what ive seen thus far, but only played a few games so its hard to tell. watch this space after rd22

bentick, while not as young as the rest, (hes turning a whopping 23 in a couple of days) has cemented his spot in the squad, its great to see him developing, does put in a bit of effort. is eerily similar to his current coach
has a real determination about him, how many people get their rising star nomination and 3 brownlow votes in the same game?
EDIT: hows this for a stat? http://www.pro-stats.com.au/psw/web/player_rankings?yr=2008&sp=SE&rt=LA&fc=E6
EDIT: and another http://www.pro-stats.com.au/psw/web/player_rankings?yr=2008&sp=SE&rt=LA&fc=G5
they're two of the most important columns for a mid, and hes up there with the best in the afl in both at the moment

the two things i see us as still lacking are another big forward, and flat out pace off half back/through the middle
1AW is the answer to the second problem and hopefully we'll see some of those turf burning runs out of the backline later this year but im not sold on kruezer being the answer to the other after one good qtr (get back to me in a month or two)

should get another top 10 draft pick this year which im sure will go towards said issue. would love to take a big/agile forward if theres a good one on offer

 

[HBF]

Because of what the kids have produced this year. Just so many positives. Murphy, Grigg, Gibbs, Bower, Jamison, Kreuzer, Browne and Armfield all look to have promising futures at Princes Park.