It is easy to look like a bad player at Carlton right now.
The Blues players are not as bad as the team has been playing. Which is, in short, why Brendon Bolton is now no longer coach of Carlton.
Blues list manager Stephen Silvagni.Credit:Chris Hopkins
The team that played against Essendon was desperately young, but still playing, as one list manager said, like they have been coached within an inch of their life.
The players are so tightly wound they are perpetually second-guessing themselves. Is that the coach or just the accumulated, wearying effect of years of defeat? In the end, the coach takes the blame for that.
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So what list does the new coach inherit? Or when it comes down to it: how many players are playing beneath themselves right now? List managers think there are a few.
"There are big holes in it but they are not that bad," one recruiter said.
Another said: "The new coach is inheriting some building blocks but there are some gaps there.
"The hard thing is trying to rate them on talent potential and at the moment you watch a heap of blokes who look lost. They look coached to [within] an inch of their life."
Another recruiter observed there were more questions than answers about their list.
"They have high-end scope but there are more questions than answers about their list right now. You would not be sure what you are getting [as new coach].
"They have brought in players like [Matthew] Kennedy, [Darcy] Lang, [Jarrod] Garlett, [Tom] De Koning, [Alex] Fasolo and you would ask why? Most of those players had enough exposed form to know what you were getting."
The biggest key to their list for the new coach is they have built a spine to work with. Jacob Weitering, Caleb Marchbank, Patrick Cripps, Charlie Curnow and Harry McKay make up a solid goal to goal line to build a team around.
"Curnow has had a bad year but he is better than that. He is the big one, he should be much better than he has been playing but he has almost been playing like a player without a position, he doesn't know what he should be," a senior list manager said.
"McKay is a better player than Curnow. Cripps is elite. Marchbank should be better than he is but he has been injured and not had a run at it but he is also not that quick.
"Weitering is a hard one to get your head around. He has been OK but his best year was his first. He could still be a very good player."
The ruck is a problem. Matthew Kreuzer is still clearly the best ruckman by a long way, but he is so often injured he is hard to build around. The options fall away after that.
In the midfield Cripps is elite, their only proven A-grader. Sam Walsh is a very good player and potential A-grader. Marc Murphy is getting the type of injuries to be expected at his age.
"Paddy Dow has got good speed. We didn't think he was a bad kick as an under 18 but he has been turning it over [at Carlton]," one recruiter said.
Another observed: "They lack class on the outside. [Kade] Simpson is old and Sam DochertyRead More – Source
It is easy to look like a bad player at Carlton right now.
The Blues players are not as bad as the team has been playing. Which is, in short, why Brendon Bolton is now no longer coach of Carlton.
Blues list manager Stephen Silvagni.Credit:Chris Hopkins
The team that played against Essendon was desperately young, but still playing, as one list manager said, like they have been coached within an inch of their life.
The players are so tightly wound they are perpetually second-guessing themselves. Is that the coach or just the accumulated, wearying effect of years of defeat? In the end, the coach takes the blame for that.
Advertisement
So what list does the new coach inherit? Or when it comes down to it: how many players are playing beneath themselves right now? List managers think there are a few.
"There are big holes in it but they are not that bad," one recruiter said.
Another said: "The new coach is inheriting some building blocks but there are some gaps there.
"The hard thing is trying to rate them on talent potential and at the moment you watch a heap of blokes who look lost. They look coached to [within] an inch of their life."
Another recruiter observed there were more questions than answers about their list.
"They have high-end scope but there are more questions than answers about their list right now. You would not be sure what you are getting [as new coach].
"They have brought in players like [Matthew] Kennedy, [Darcy] Lang, [Jarrod] Garlett, [Tom] De Koning, [Alex] Fasolo and you would ask why? Most of those players had enough exposed form to know what you were getting."
The biggest key to their list for the new coach is they have built a spine to work with. Jacob Weitering, Caleb Marchbank, Patrick Cripps, Charlie Curnow and Harry McKay make up a solid goal to goal line to build a team around.
"Curnow has had a bad year but he is better than that. He is the big one, he should be much better than he has been playing but he has almost been playing like a player without a position, he doesn't know what he should be," a senior list manager said.
"McKay is a better player than Curnow. Cripps is elite. Marchbank should be better than he is but he has been injured and not had a run at it but he is also not that quick.
"Weitering is a hard one to get your head around. He has been OK but his best year was his first. He could still be a very good player."
The ruck is a problem. Matthew Kreuzer is still clearly the best ruckman by a long way, but he is so often injured he is hard to build around. The options fall away after that.
In the midfield Cripps is elite, their only proven A-grader. Sam Walsh is a very good player and potential A-grader. Marc Murphy is getting the type of injuries to be expected at his age.
"Paddy Dow has got good speed. We didn't think he was a bad kick as an under 18 but he has been turning it over [at Carlton]," one recruiter said.
Another observed: "They lack class on the outside. [Kade] Simpson is old and Sam DochertyRead More – Source
