Round 3 vs Carlton is a BIG game.

[mjp]

I'm exhausted by conversations about players who aren't playing and those who could maybe be playing in 2026.

Meanwhile - back in the world of the game played on grass - we are playing Carlton on a Friday night. It wasn't long ago our club would have dreamed of this exposure.

So far this year:

- Carlton:
Lost to Richmond despite have + 25 inside 50s.
Lost to Hawthorn - the expected score for the game had them winning.

Basically, we are playing against a team that is playing WELL but hasn't won yet and is being attacked in the media.

Our situation? We still have a lot of injuries...and despite a loss last weekend everyone is saying that we played tremendously well and were robbed by poor umpiring.

In short - I'm not loving this narrative at all and my concern right now is we're going to head out on Friday night and get rolled by an oppo that has been primed all week to be desperate...and we wont be able to match their intensity as we bask in the glow of a 'GOOD EFFORT'.

Anyone feeling the same?? Am I getting this wrong??

[EasternWest]

I like your thoughts.

I'm hoping our guys will use our "valiant effort but just missed out" as fuel rather than as a pass mark to half arse it this week.

I really liked that we were resolute last week, and I'm desperately hoping that's the new normal.

[Rusty12]

I don't think the playing group is distracted by who isn't there (Just us fans) or will be happy with a good effort last week.
I think we will meet the Blues head-on, and if we lose, it will be execution or moments, not intensity.
Agree, Blues are still doing a lot right.

[Bornadog]

I am worried about this game, as I rated the Blues a lot higher at the start of the season.

Having said that and watching the last quarter of the Hawthorn match, they don't seem to move the ball very fluently and there is a lot of kicking to contests. Cripps gets a lot of the ball but is not dangerous and not impacting games. He needs help and he doesn't seem to have much. They have two big forwards, assuming Mckay plays, but their smaller forwards don't exist and their backline is very very shakey.

[mjp]

I don't think the playing group is distracted by who isn't there (Just us fans)...

Totally agree with every part of this...I'm just so tired of the narrative is all...

I want to talk about the footy!!

[GVGjr]

I am worried about this game, as I rated the Blues a lot higher at the start of the season.

Having said that and watching the last quarter of the Hawthorn match, they don't seem to move the ball very fluently and there is a lot of kicking to contests. Cripps gets a lot of the ball but is not dangerous and not impacting games. He needs help and he doesn't seem to have much. They have two big forwards, assuming Mckay plays, but their smaller forwards don't exist and their backline is very very shakey.

Did you rate them above us?

[Rocco Jones]

Totally agree with every part of this...I'm just so tired of the narrative is all...

I want to talk about the footy!!

I am pretty sure at least some of our players (particularly Bont, who isn't playing I guess) are distracted but yes, at the very least, the Marra narrative is exhausting.

I was probably more pleased than most with our win vs Norf, I think they will be okay.

We had about as honourable a loss as it gets last week. I think we are doing a lot of things right with selection, systems etc.

Looking forward to our test vs Blues. Hopefully we learn some good things. Winning + a week closer to having Bont and the cavalierly back would be great.

[Bornadog]

Did you rate them above us?

No until the injuries.

Here are my predictions

First Four Rounds - No Bont, Treloar, Marra, etc, What will be the results?

02-03-2025, 03:20 PM
What are your predictions for the first four rounds:

North - Win
Collingwood - 50/50
Carlton - Loss
Freo - loss

Hopefully I am wrong, but it is not looking great.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

I don't look at anything but Carltons record and know there's no way they'll go 0-3.

[Sedat]

We currently have a personnel problem - not ideal but will be rectified when we get the troops back.

Carlton has a system/game plan problem. They are playing a game style (and have recruited as such in the Voss era) that has quickly been superseded by a different game plan altogether. They are getting torched on the spread and also from D50 to F50 transition, and their "long bombs to Snake" into F50 are consistently getting picked off.

They brought huge effort last week and Hawthorn handled them pretty easily after half time. I think we are a good chance to get the points this week.

[doggies ftw]

Carlton have won 2 from their last 12! They’re not that scary. Carlton are a bit like us 12 months ago - they just haven’t realised their weaknesses to make changes yet like we have.

They are HEAVILY reliant on a few aging stars, their depth makes ours look unbelievably good. They’re slow as shit, Curnow is injured, Walsh is basically a plodder these days, game plan and ball use is stagnant

Not saying we can afford to not take them seriously, you can’t be off your game at all in modern AFL and they will come at us and have a crack - as they did last week and they’re under even more pressure now. As will we though, half this side is playing for their careers or at the least spot in the side, we know how important this is and we’ll be ready for them. Even with our injuries we’ll be too good

[Happy Days]

I think we match up pretty well against them and feel much more confident than I did against Collingwood. Their midfield doesn’t have the genuine pace to trouble us, Curnow isn’t fit and their ball use leaving D50 is woeful.

We’ll win this game for sure.

[jazzadogs]

They've got very little out of McKay (only played r1 for 1.1), Curnow (only played r2, for 5 touches and 0.0) and Walsh (25 touches r1, 22 touches r2). Hewett has been really strong in their mids, Weitering doing his usual thing and TDK in career best form.

Im more confident about beating Carlton than I was about Collingwood. We need our less consistent guys to stand up, particularly Naughton (big battle against Weitering, who is exceptional at taking away his leap and using his body), English (TDK got that dawg in him, and has the mobility to match/beat Tim) and the small forwards.

If we can continue to limit their scoring (averaging 65 points for), then we can score more than that and win (we're averaging 90 for over two games).

[Mofra]

We currently have a personnel problem - not ideal but will be rectified when we get the troops back.

Carlton has a system/game plan problem. They are playing a game style (and have recruited as such in the Voss era) that has quickly been superseded by a different game plan altogether. They are getting torched on the spread and also from D50 to F50 transition, and their "long bombs to Snake" into F50 are consistently getting picked off.

They brought huge effort last week and Hawthorn handled them pretty easily after half time. I think we are a good chance to get the points this week.

Exactly why I want us to go taller in defence this week.

Some teams win "small", and some teams win "tall". Curnow & McKay are their keys to victory, with Silvani & Kemp swinging forward & back. If we can free up Khamis/JOD as the third to provide that chop-out on long entries, we can make it very hard for them to kick a winning score.... a team that has kicked 17 goals cross 2 games.

[Scott2016]

To win we have to kick 15 goals. If Darcy kicks 6 where are the other 9 coming from? If Darcy dont kick 6 where are the rest coming from? McKay and Curnow will get their lick of the ice cream this week. They have Silvagni and Williams as their next 2. I rate them ahead of our 3rd and 4th forwards. So we need someone to have a big night