Your thoughts about bad wood

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An original post said the reason our list was so bad was that we had a lot of retirements in a short space of time. Yet people had been commenting on the age of our list for 6-7 years prior to that. Everyone could see we were going to be hit by retirements and didn't have the players coming through to replace them. Yet we tried to fill gaps with more old, past-it players instead of developing the next generation (McKernan, O'Reilly, Mansfield etc). At the time, outsiders were asking questions about that policy. Its not like our failure came out of no-where.

And you are right, we won a premiership in 2006. In 1999, we finished 6th, got walloped in our first final yet got through to a grand final thanks to a dodgy 'home' final and a fluked preliminary. This was the worst thing that could have happened to us because it made us think we were better than we actually were. The following year we made a great run, playing with confidence, but fell apart when we suffered a few injuries. That should have set alarm bells ringing - clearly our depth wasn't that great. Then as noted we filled gaps to try and win a premiership we were a long way off winning (no-one who saw the 2001 semi-final in which were eliminated by Richmond could think otherwise), and the rest of our demise is history... In hindsight, it was clear Elliot et al were trying to cover for their ineptitude by trying to buy on-field results - illegally as it turned out. Yet even now its apparent some supporters buy the line that we were just one ageing has-been away from a premiership...

The thing that should be remembered about the 2001 season is, yes we did have an ageing list, but the premiership was really up for grabs that year. We beat Brisbane by 12 goals at Optus Oval and beat Essendon both times we played them. Richmond beat us 3 times, but more by playing mongrel, scratching, biting type football, rather than outplaying us and in that semi-final we missed several gettable shots at goal in the 3rd quarter when we were still in touch.

The loss of Ratten in Round 22, SOS's virtual career ending hip injury and Kouta doing his knee in the semi-final meant we wouldn't have won the premiership with those injuries, but I suspect had Ratten, Silvagni and Kouta been up and running late in that semi-final we may have got over the line. Essendon were tired and sore and Brisbane were still on the climb. 2001 was probably not their best premiership team. It was a very wide open premiership and we may have fallen over the line in the same way that Sydney did this year.

 

[Blue70]

Thats right, we've already won 16 premierships - we shouldn't try to win any more. Nor should we ever criticise the club, no matter how stupid its decision-making is

Down periods - fine. I've been to just as many games during the down periods as the good periods, and I'll keep going. I'm a supporter of the club, though, not an apologist, and forgive me if I reserve the right to criticise the club for its poor decisions, or occasionally offer my opinion on a footy discussion board. The reason Carlton is in such a crap state now is that it had too many yes-men for too long, and alternative views were ignored.

Look I think everyone has made a valid point or 2 and btdg it is very clear that you are passionate about the club and cannot handle the lack of success - neither can I, however I just didnt like the questioning of "Character" for the players you have mentioned.

I agree Fev has some issues that need to be resolved (and quickly) but I can tell you he is not a "bad egg" that misleads the young players and gets into trouble (he had 1 incident years ago). He is actually the first player to take in the new recruits, always creates a friendly atmosphere, is always talking it up at training and genuinely wants Carlton to be successful. He has talent to burn and is still 24 years old. We need to try and get the best out of him and at the age of 27 or 29 we could be seeing an awesome player.

I think we all agree that some of the decisions made in the past were disgraceful - but that is why we all as voting members removed the board when we became privy to the situation the club was in at the time.

The current board have recruited as well as they could have recently (Walker, Russell, Hartlett, the O'Hailpin's, Saddington, Stevens, Scotland, McLaren, Murphy, Kennedy, Bowyer, Betts) and have made some good financial decisions.

I think we have all pointed the finger and vented our spleen for the last couple of years now and I think it is time to move on. We ALL have one thing in common and that is we want success, so lets all band together, be positive and watch our club emerge to be the power it once was.

 

[btdg]

Thanks Blue70. As you say, we all want success. I didn't really mean to question the character of those guys as such. For me, the best way to move forward would be to move them on - obviously others disagree, but thats the point of this board isn't it - to discuss all things Carlton? Perhaps my passion shone through a bit too strongly in my intial post...

And you are correct, the current people in charge have done a pretty good job in tough circumstances. I still don't buy some of the excuses and comments Carlton people put forward that suggest our current position is anyone's fault but our own, and I still think we tend to over-rate our own players a bit too much for a team that finished on the bottom, but at least things are looking a bit more positive, and at least there's still plenty of passionate fans out there supporting the club

 

[Blue70]

Thanks Blue70. As you say, we all want success. I didn't really mean to question the character of those guys as such. For me, the best way to move forward would be to move them on - obviously others disagree, but thats the point of this board isn't it - to discuss all things Carlton? Perhaps my passion shone through a bit too strongly in my intial post...

And you are correct, the current people in charge have done a pretty good job in tough circumstances. I still don't buy some of the excuses and comments Carlton people put forward that suggest our current position is anyone's fault but our own, and I still think we tend to over-rate our own players a bit too much for a team that finished on the bottom, but at least things are looking a bit more positive, and at least there's still plenty of passionate fans out there supporting the club

Very true btdg, the passion for our club is amazing and what has made it the strong traditional club that I know it. The good thing in my view is that we have been through the toughest period of our history (I suspect) and we are now on the way back. How sweet it will be when we next hold the silverware on the last day in September!