The game against the bottom team is one where, well, we should have won, or should we? Expectations directed towards Carlton and even Adelaide for that matter showed that the outcome was, well for the most, a given. Carlton would win and keep their finals hopes alive. But let’s be a bit honest here, it was a goal that was just a tad out of reach in this season. All pieces of a complicated puzzle, had to be in place for us to make it to the top 8, and well for season 2020, it was not going to happen.
Social media has taken a few “nuffy” pills given the comments made leveled against not only the coach but players and even supporters. To state the coach should be sacked, is well, showing a level of understanding and footy knowledge lacks any credibility or validity. The comments made against Murphy and Simmo in carrying off a person who is one of their closest friends, after that player, who played his heart out for Carlton, Bryce Gibbs, announced his retirement, is well downright the opposite of what their actions were – a show of great sportsmanship.
The somewhat idiotic blasting of how terrible Carlton is and to some on social media always will be, shows once again how they don’t seem to get it. Let’s take off those rose-colored glasses and understand the season for Carlton this year.
Carlton was going to be the team that finished near the bottom of the ladder, according to most, and it was either last or second last. We had no hope of rising slightly. So, what did we do this year? Well, we climbed. From being a team that finished 16th in 2019, we are likely to finish either 11th or 12th. That signifies that the team in 2020 has not gone back to what it was in previous years but has grown, maybe not the speed that some believe we should have, but they have grown.
Without a doubt, there were some players on the weekend that didn’t step up, and there is no point naming them because I’ll leave that to others, as this is not my focus in this blog. The focus is to look at the team and the club as a whole. To discuss how, after years of mishandling, we need to see growth in the players under a coach who understand what it will take to make the club successful again. He has done it as a player and will do it as a coach. Because this year, we have seen growth in the team.
We are all “long-suffering” supporters of a great club that has been through really, well shit times, but for the first time in a while, I can see growth in the team and the club. Indeed, there are gaps in our playing group that need to be “plugged”, and through the draft, we will get players that can seal those gaps.
We need to “calm-the-farm” down! We need to look at the bigger picture. We need not feel despair because we did not finish in the top 8 this year when there was always going to be too many factors conspiring against us to do that.
We have achieved more than most thought this year, and in season 2021, we will achieve more again. I believe this wholeheartedly because if you watch the games and watch how some players are growing and developing, we have the talent to get us there.
We will get there, but this constant barrage of disparaging the coaches and the players achieves nothing and gets nothing. Understand the progress, understand the growth and then you can understand where we are at in terms of setting us up for season 2021 and more.
#ALLOFUS
P.S. Some have also come out and made comments about Gibbs and his decision to leave Carlton. No matter his reasons, to lay blame when you don’t have the real truth, is tantamount to bullying. No matter what decision a player makes for their lives, their family, it is theirs and theirs alone. Gibbs loved Carlton and still does. Enjoy your next journey sir!
SPORTZ 