Carlton Supporters Club

It's interesting, this idea of the psychology of the sporting mind. It's something of a dilemma, because you can't tell the players that our best team is not on the park, we have a few players out, therefore just try your best etc. But on the other hand, that's precisely what we, the coaches and the players are know perfectly well. There are very good reasons why clubs chase the top draft picks, why Cripps gets paid way more than Lewis Young. You can't tell the players injuries to A grade team mates are an excuse, but we all know those players are first choice for a reason. You can't keep winning with too many stars out. I didn't see our players lack effort last night. But they looked disorganized and tired, and you end up with an untenable situation where the B and C graders are not quite up to the mark, and the A graders try to overcompensate. At least that's how I see it. 

Cerra has been a bust since his injury.

He's had enough time to turn get up to speed.
I don't expect to see an improvement over what Cerra gives us, but it might be time to reward Binns with a game who is in white hot form in the 2's.

Totally understand, Pauly. That's why game day mindset (and training) is so critical - to condition our mind to step over those life realities and focus relentlessly on excellence, and all it asks, for two hours. And as you rightly point out, some do it better than others - enter the Vossy's, Crippa's, Jezza's... sheesh, any star you can think of... they have the natural talent combined with a mindset of ruthless persistence toward excellence. But there are many players not blessed with sublime natural talent who developed a mindset of sustained excellence... to get the very best out of themselves and do succeed at the highest level, although only a B or C grader, talent wise. That's what we need, especially, from our 'bottom 6-8' on game day.

A reasonable example would be Young. He has a degree of natural talent but appears not to have the mental discipline. And boy doesn't it show when the heat comes. Kade Simpson might be an example of the opposite, capable skills but boy what mental discipline and application. I'm sure most of us could come up with a huge list of blokes who weren't blessed with talent to burn or  a huge, strong body yet they were so mentally tough that they shrugged aside any limitations.

I'd have to say I have no idea who is mentally tough and who isn't. I wouldn't even know where to begin.

I'd have to say I have no idea who is mentally tough and who isn't. I wouldn't even know where to begin.

Of course we look at it from a distance, so it's not an easy task.
But there are certainly signs that may suggest a level of mental toughness.

A player who lifts his game when his team is in trouble and has a 'follow me' type of presence probably has a fair degree of mental toughness. I reckon our captain shows signs of that.

A player whose game goes to pieces after an early mistake probably lacks a mental toughness. On the other hand someone who comes back and gets on top of his opponent after an early setback probably possesses a degree of mental toughness.

Someone who is given an opportunity after being out for some time and just doesn't take that opportunity probably has questionable toughness.

It's also probably fair to say though that talented players don't always possess mental toughness and under the pressure of big games sometimes go missing.

But identifying mental toughness is not always an easy task...note how often I used the word 'probably' in this post.
It's hard to be definite.

A player whose game goes to pieces after an early mistake probably lacks a mental toughness. On the other hand someone who comes back and gets on top of his opponent after an early setback probably possesses a degree of mental toughness.

Last night was pathetic. First 10 mins of the third quarter we should’ve just put it beyond reach but farted around, couldn’t hit a target in our f50
And showed no composure for a supposed grand finalist.

Our last month has been crap - last weeks win was unconvincing.

I thought this was our year, it felt different. Unfortunately the last month has a familiarity to it - not in a good way.

Back to my old  mantra, Losers lose because they lose, Winners win because they win.  At the end of the first quarter against GWS you could see the self satisfaction in the players. The Club has played in one Preliminary Final in twenty-five years and one final series in twelve years and they talk about what their identity is. They have a losers identity and they will keep that identity until they create a winners identity for themselves. The players say they love the passion the supporters bring but the love is not reciprocated by them otherwise they wouldn't put up what they have in the past four weeks. I thought we had turned the corner but it looks like it is another blind alley.
Since the Geelong game I do not understand the selection policy. You pick seven forwards, seven backs and eight midfielders, you have key forwards, key defenders and a ruck. Injuries and illness can disrupt this process but it appears the Club has been experimenting with the team's structure and we are paying for it.
Kemp at this stage is not able to play on gorillas and the other clubs have worked it out. I believe we need to commit to Young. Last year Collingwood won a Grand Final with Billy Frampton and whatever Young's short comings are he is a far better player than Frampton.
In Jack Dyer parlance,  Sam Walsh is going to where the ball aint. He either needs a rest or a rocket.
Under pressure our decision making and skills let us down. We dropped so many marks twenty metres out in defence which adds to the pressure. Players are not running and spreading because they don't trust their team mates so when someone wins the ball in defence their is no one to kick it to. In the last minute when Hewitt couldn't hit Cripps with a twenty metre pass was representative of our skills. We are being out tackled and smashed around the ball and too many players are trying to make the Hollywood play, like Cottrell did in the second quarter rather than trusting the game plan and the skills. So many times the players just didn't seem to be on the same page, took too long to make a decision which drew pressure, or simply played selfishly.
We have the team, and I think we have the Coaches and the Club is being managed well, so it must be the attitudes of the players, both individually and as a collective.

I'd think about Lemmey as well.

Agree, last week vs Nth didnt impress me and set us up for the debacle vs Port imo. We are not the second best team in the comp and got ahead of ourselves and Brisbane deserve second place given their form compared to ours.
Lucky our draw isnt as challenging in the run home and we might still steal second place but Im not seeing anything that makes us strong  contenders other than most of the other teams in the eight apart from the Swans and Lions are as equally up and down in form and a Bradbury team like the Bulldogs could even sneak their way through to the prelims .

Actually our draw is the Pies on Pendlebury's 400th, Hawthorn, the form side, St.Kilda, who are suddenly flying.

I'm hanging my hat on the fact the Pies lost R20, 21 and 23 then won the flag. Then praying for the best.