The AFL Rover's rant: There's no excuse for Carlton's form, so stop making them

The Rover

The AFL Rover's rant: There's no excuse for Carlton's form, so stop making them image

I’m tired of a lot of things in football. I’m tired of Dermott Brereton. I’m tired of the price of pies. I’m tired of Hawthorn supporters. I’m tired of the term “lowered his eyes”. I’m tired of the quality of pies.

To be honest I’m not a big fan of pies to begin with.

But most of all I’m tired of Carlton’s excuses for why they’re no good.

I would have phrased that “tired of Brendon Bolton’s excuses”, but this week Stephen Silvagni and Mark LoGiudice joined in the insipid trotting out of the ‘we’re so young, give it time, we’re devastated by injuries’ line.

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Give. Me. A. Break.

The rebuild is going nowhere, you’ve brought in the wrong people, it needs to start again.

And when I say ‘brought in the wrong people’ I’m not talking about Jed Lamb and Andrew Phillips and Lachie Plowman, I’m talking about Brendon Bolton and Stephen Silvagni and Mark LoGiudice.

And Jed Lamb and Andrew Phillips and Lachie Plowman.


Carlton is good at one thing at the moment – making excuses.

It’s no good at recruiting. It’s no good at player management. It’s no good at designing ‘away’ uniforms. And, obviously, it’s no good at playing football.

Forget about the young list – it’s not a young list!

North Melbourne has a younger list and they’re doing alright.

Brisbane has a younger list and they’re looking good.

For Christ’s sake, Richmond’s list is an average of 11 days older and they’re travelling reasonably well.

The referenced media source is missing and needs to be re-embedded.


The killer for me this week was the big three (Bolts, SOS and the prez) all bringing up injuries, like a curse has befallen Princes Park. A curse HAS befallen Princes Park … but I feel I may be repeating myself.

The Blues have got 14 players on their injury list as of Thursday morning, but only Sam Docherty, Matthew Kreuzer and Jacob Weitering are in their best 22. Maybe Matthew Wright and Plowman.

Docherty and Kreuzer would be the only two guaranteed a game at any other club, and I mean ANY other club.

The other 17 sides have injuries too, and if you take the top three or four ‘outs’ at every other club I’m not sure any are less talented than Carlton’s.

North Melbourne, Richmond and Geelong aside I’d say everyone else is worse hit than the Blues.

You be the judge:

Adelaide: Brad Crouch, Mitch McGovern, Daniel Talia, Brodie Smith

Brisbane: Harris Andrews, Charlie Cameron, Luke Hodge

Collingwood: Mason Cox, Adam Treloar, Daniel Wells

Essendon: Joe Daniher, Orazio Fantazia, Jake Stringer, David Zaharakis,

Fremantle: Nat Fyfe, Aaron Sandilands, Matt Taberner

Geelong: Nakia Cockatoo, Harry Taylor, Lincoln McCarthy, Esava Ratugolea

Gold Coast: Sam Day, Aaron Hall, Tom Lynch

GWS: Jon Patton, Tom Scully, Zac Williams

Hawthorn: Grant Birchall, Shaun Burgoyne, Ben McEvoy, Cyril Rioli?

Melbourne: Jack Viney, Jake Lever, Jayden Hunt

North Melbourne: Ben Jacobs, Jarrad Waite, Mason Wood, Billy Hartung,

Port Adelaide: Paddy Ryder, Robbie Gray, Hamish Hartlett

Richmond: Nathan Broad, Daniel Butler, Reece Conca, Jack Graham

St Kilda: Josh Bruce, Paddy McCartin, Dylan Roberton, Seb Ross

Sydney: Dan Hannebery, Kieren Jack, Jarrad McVeigh, Callum Mills,

West Coast: Eric McKenzie, Nic Naitanui

Western Bulldogs: Marcus Bontempelli, Tom Boyd, , Tom Liberatore, Dale, Liam Picken, Matt Suckling

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