Carlton Football Club: 10 Reasons For The Horror

I bet a few of you are wondering now whether I am still sanguine about my team earning back respect and making an impact going forward (Carlton Football Club: Of Two Minds). Of course I still am. Just about every club has gone through a dark patch in their history. True not many of them were as dark or as horrid as Carlton's has been, but it doesn't change the fact that there is always an escape route. Regardless of whether or not the AFL lends a hand, the faintest of lights is always peeking through and the club is left finding a way to reach that light and make it stronger. Because surely, there is no chance in hell that the league would remove this club from the competition. We are talking about one of the most historically successful clubs with arguably the most iconic jumper in the game. The dormant fan base will eventually erupt one day and prove to the others that they have always belonged. And there is no denying that the experts want it. Footy wants it. Even the enemies are wanting the club to get back on its feet, all for a good contest. I myself, am never going to change my stance. Carlton will rise again one day.

But my goodness does it hurt now, watching the abhorrent display week by week. It gets tiresome. It has all asking the questions of 'When?' and 'How Long?'. I feel bad for the most passionate of supporters that throw most of their earnings away on matches and memberships, only to receive no thank you. I even feel sorry for the kids on those casual uniform days, especially those that encourage to wear our team's footy colours. It's to be expected that these kids may get bullied by others and laughed at after their own team humiliates them. It's like rubbing salt into the wound. Luckily I got to wear mine at a time when the team was half decent, because now I'd most certainly choose not to. Heck I'm not even wearing any of my Carlton gear out in public (at least for the moment). Just so you know, that's not me showing lack of passion by any means. It's me wanting to not stand out and look stupid. It's one thing to have my team losing and revealing to the nation what problems they have, but it's another thing to be belted by the fellow bottom sides for them to widen a gap between us and the rest of the competition. I don't think any supporter of other clubs can empathise with us as they have never witnessed a team worlds away from the seventeen other clubs. AFL is on Earth and Carlton is currently sitting on Pluto.

Right now, it's complete soul-searching. It's trying to find answers to the toughest of challenges. It's everybody feeding off the tastiest of breadcrumbs and wanting to know what truly is to blame for the massive plunge into a chasm. That's where I thought I'd step in and search myself. There look to be plenty of reasons for the club's abysmal year, but I found at least ten of the biggest ones to discuss. Ten that I feel need to be addressed over the off-season. They regard a lot of things from the list and employees to the coaching and administration. Because there is no denying the need for changes to be made. If Carlton is serious about wanting respect, they have to earn it by digging deeper and hearing us out as nothing will be coming to them on a silver platter. They have proven to me that they've changed, but they too have proven there is still some way to go. Not matter how tough the road may be, the blues must persist in travelling it with wisdom. Here are the ten problems I believe that are the cause for the nightmare that is 2018:

1. The Mentality

I think everybody knows that the club is currently starting over and building from the ground up again. But what happens when that gets into the players' heads? Do we think it's appropriate to tell the boys that we are years away from a flag and that they are to feed off whatever other positives they can find? This club in recent years has been accepting mediocrity as the standard for reward. Everybody at the club is getting a pat on the back and a gold star for an honourable ten or twenty point loss. I see it as the team accepting a limited performance when the truth is that they should be lifting above their weight and going hard at it. Rebuild or not, you'd be wanting the team to throw everything they have into a performance. You'd be wanting the belief that they can go all the way installed into them. The coach should be encouraging higher standards. He should be telling them that they can win the premiership. While reality says it most likely wouldn't ever happen, more reward will come out of this way of thinking. More wins come from greater expectations and harder work. Because when the bar is set lower and it still isn't reached, players just give up and more humiliation is faced. 

2. The Injuries

Everyone says that injuries aren't ever an excuse. Well how wrong they are! When you are in Carlton's position, injuries are absolutely an issue. It's not so much who is out (although I am about to discuss one particular player being a huge reason for our woes a little later), but simply how many are out. To have more than ten players unavailable every single week, has seen the blues continually walk into every match with an unsettled line-up and very little breathing space. It has also allowed for poorer standards on the field. When somebody hasn't been performing very well, they luckily get to hang around due to the fact that nobody is screaming out their name in the VFL team. The replacements have often found themselves to be on the sidelines with their own problems and those that are available haven't been showing much more to compete with the struggling out-of-form players. Liam Jones for one has more often than not failed to reach his best, but is still somewhat safe from omission as players like Alex Silvagni and Harrison Macreadie are out injured. Injuries have also seen players with greater deficiencies such as Cameron O'Shea and Aaron Mullett get more games than they should.

3. The Medical Team

Hard to believe this hasn't copped any sort of scrutiny from the media, because us blues supporters can see right through it. The medical team is a shambles. For a team supposedly made up of professional doctors, they are sure making a lot of mistakes. Their failure to diagnose a concussion with Cameron Polson has led the club to a suspended fine of $20,000. This adds to a small but significant list of players that have returned to the field, only to re-aggravate the same issue they were coming off rehab from. Matthew Kennedy with an ankle earlier in the season. Matthew Kreuzer too missed out on a few games with an ongoing groin problem. Alex Silvagni with an Achilles. Tom Williamson with his back. Marc Murphy with his plantar fascia. Harrison Macreadie with a hamstring. Two of these players are now out for the rest of the season. Finally this may be a coincidence but one can think otherwise. Anybody find it bizarre how two different players come off early with the same issue of an elevated heart rate in consecutive weeks? Does it ever make you question if these players are being treated with something unusual behind closed doors? I suppose it's just terrible luck, but this seems far too strange to be true.

4. No Sam Docherty

I don't think there is a player more important to any club at the moment than what Sam Docherty is to Carlton. You hear people saying Lynden Dunn, but Collingwood has many that can play his role. You hear Joe Daniher, but Essendon seem to be doing okay without him. You hear Nat Fyfe, but players like Lachie Neale manage to keep Fremantle well away from total destruction. But taking one of any star player out of Carlton's line-up is like taking the bottom block from a tall stack. Just watch everything collapse. It happened in 2016 when Marc Murphy went down early. Only two wins for the rest of the year. Same thing with Patrick Cripps and Ed Curnow the following year with only one win coming afterward. Bryce Gibbs was traded with belief that the club could effectively cover his loss. But things were destined to go pear-shaped when Docherty's season was finished before it could even begin. Right now he seems to be enjoying a coaching role on the sidelines, but I'm sure everybody would agree that the team need him now more than ever before.

I tend to think an awful lot of people underestimate how important Docherty really is to the team. For the past two seasons, this man was the ultimate conductor, and was known for 'parking the bus'. He not only was a part of all thirteen victories, but practically orchestrated each one from half-back. He has a strong voice and knows how to organise structure and direct his teammates on the field. On top of all this, he is a passionate blues supporter and a potential club captain. Just listen to the way he speaks in interviews. Even go and watch the footage of him playing in the team. It's impossible to deny his heavy influence. Docherty is a man with a brilliant head on his shoulders. It can be argued that with him, the club would have probably notched two or three more wins by now. Carlton's 2016 John Nicholls Medalist and the only All-Australian over the past six years has undoubtedly left a massive hole. One that the club has no temporary solution for, which leads me to my very next reason.

5. The Depth

To be fair on Brendan Bolton, Stephen Silvagni and all responsible right now at managing the club, they walked in to Ikon Park with little to nothing of value in front of them. There was no depth at all. There wasn't even a decent looking full-strength 22 to admire. That's when the rebuild (or 'reset' to be exact) came into play. 42 list changes since, with the intent of not only building a list, but the depth to back it up as well. This year has so far told Carlton that there is still heaps more work to be done. The truth is what it is and everybody sees it. The blues are primarily made up of nothing but raw talent and club rejects, with quite a few of them not looking to make it. Yet, it's important to remember that some of these 'rejects' were only ever meant for the short term as they were making up for the seven years of ignorant and insanely bad drafting (only 6 out of 50 players from that period remain, with 2 or 3 of these 6 looking to be out the door by year's end). Even our incredibly large stock of defenders doesn't look good right now as the fatherless children (the father being Docherty of course) run amok without any clue. Still no depth as of now and it will take a little while longer to fix this.

6. The Midfield

Name the best midfielder in our team. Patrick Cripps at 23, no doubt about it. Now name the next best. Most would say Marc Murphy, then again you can make an argument for Ed Curnow given his strong work rate this season. Now who comes after that? There's your problem. Carlton not only have the shallowest midfield going around right now, but could just about have the shallowest midfield ever seen. The spaces are currently being filled up by a first-year draftee in Paddy Dow, a developing second-year player in Zac Fisher, a struggling battler in Sam Petrevski-Seton, a questionable recruit in Matthew Kennedy and heavily criticised gap-fillers Nick Graham and Sam Kerridge. To make things worse, Murphy has missed half of the season and has often been seen in recent years to work better on the outside. Ed Curnow is link-up player that is usually meant to be the fourth best mid rather than the second best, especially given his average level of decision making. And the rest haven't really cemented their position just yet (although Dow and Fisher are two definitely heading in the right direction). When people say that Cripps is carrying the team on his shoulders, they aren't wrong. More help for him is desperately required in the engine room.

7. The Skill Level

I always like to say that I'd take 22 hearts over 22 minds, and I still stand by that. Effort is a non-negotiable and is always to be expected by supporters of any club around the country. But that's not to say proper footy nous isn't important. Sometimes skill level can speak for whether or not a player looks bothered to be out there and in this case it certainly does. I've recently noticed how often the blues players are making the silliest of mistakes with their ball use. When no pressure is to be seen, the blues are dropping the easiest of chest marks in the driest of matches. The kicking always seems to be at a teammate's disadvantage. The players are treating the ball like a game of hot potato, juggling it around and throwing it on their boot hoping for a teammate to do the rest. The blues have just about lost every single 50/50 contest in the past fortnight and when an opportunity from a turnover comes their way, they are quick to abuse it with their own series of blunders. And who can forget missed easy set shots for goal. Countless of these unforced skill errors and endless turnovers have provided many of our opponents over the year with an array of scoring opportunities. Remember that these players (some of them are in fact repeat offenders of poor ball use) are labelled as professionals. A term I believed is thrown around quite loosely. I don't think I have ever seen a team use the ball as badly as Carlton have this year. It sometimes leaves me wondering whether I would do better if I was out there playing for the club.

8. The Game Plan

They say defensive low scoring keeps the blues in the game, but I beg to differ. I'm watching every other game on weekends and noticing the attack on the footy, the determination to get it forward, the eagerness to rectify mistakes and the hunger to hit the scoreboard as much as possible. The likes of Richmond, Sydney, West Coast and even Brisbane are all about showcasing agility and quick thinking. On the other side of the fence you have Carlton. Kick backwards, chip kick sideways, chip kick back, go a bit forward and then kick back again. No wonder fans get restless and start booing the players. And no wonder Carlton hasn't kicked a 100+ score for 49 consecutive games. This slow defensive game style does not make a lot of progress and seems to do more harm than good. It's slows down the players ability to make effective decisions as space gets closed down. The weight placed on the backline intensifies and before you know it, one defender is pressured into making a huge mistake that leaves the entire team stunned.

The slow kicking and lack of energy to move around the field widens a gap in the level of pace between Carlton and the opposition. It's a live interpretation of the tortoise and the hare. Evidence was shown to me through the match against Adelaide earlier in the year, when veteran small forward Eddie Betts ran full pace to intercept slow chip kicks across Carlton's half back line. This happened approximately three times during the match, having nearly led Carlton to conceding a few goals as Betts was successful each time fisting it deep inside the forward 50 to his advantage. If that doesn't prove the difference in speed and taking the game on then I don't know what does. Another problem with the defensive minded process is that it does certain players injustice. Small mid-forward types like Zac Fisher, Jarrod Garlett, Sam Petrevski-Seton, Jarrod Pickett and Cameron Polson, look to thrive more in open space. An attacking game plan allows these players greater opportunity to use their evasiveness and make proper decisions. Almost every time these players get near the ball now, they are always under pressure and more often than not fail to hit targets. It's because of the slow paced game plan, they are not even given the time to blink. If these few kids are given the chance to attack, push forward and take risks, then us supporters will certainly be catching glimpses of a new mosquito fleet.

9. Media Pressure

Leading into the season, the words from journalists were that Carlton had to start 'attacking'. They had to bring an attacking game plan and had to kick high scores. The media were constantly getting on Brendan Bolton's back about it prior to the opening match against the tigers. While that is a preferred style of play among most fans of the footy, it would have been right for people to let the blues ease the offensive strategies into their plan as they went along. But the season so far has told me that the pressure was too much for them. They rushed in the strategies so quickly that hey got tangled in their own web, now not having any clue of what their game plan really is. It's said the clubs usually block out external noise, but this time Carlton didn't. They completely gave into the whining from numerous so-called footy "experts". Long story short, Carlton were being sentenced to death by the media and they did nothing but agree to it.

10. That Clash Guernsey

I know this one is a bit of a joke, as it doesn't really have any impact. But come on, you have got to admit that clash guernsey is horrible. Silver, grey or whatever you call it, it does not fit well with the 'navy blues'. Sure, clubs have to find ways in making revenue. However, you'd be wanting Carlton to keep within the four walls of tradition. These guernseys like most are saying, look like they have been mixed with the darks in the washing machine. They look dirty, slimy and almost as bad as Hawthorn's old power ranger kit. It makes me miss the baby/sky blue guernseys from seven years ago. If we are to have a clash strip, then ensure it's just white with the navy blue monogram. Otherwise, look for different shades of blue because grey doesn't cut it. Not even Patrick Cripps or Charlie Curnow can make this kit look good. I wish to support the club as much as I can but whoever came up with this idea, they need to hang their head in shame. Then again, I guess it goes well with the club's form.

Travis "TJ" James