I once read a story about a man who killed seven flies with a single flick of a tea towel. The man made a sash that read, ‘seven with a single blow!’ He then went on a journey wearing the sash and of course everyone assumed he was much stronger than he really was.

I think that’s about where we are at as a club. I think we keep wearing that sash, that seven with a blow! And we keep getting ahead of ourselves. Imagine thinking we could beat the Sainters with about 10 minutes of quality football. Now I know we got close, got within seven points of a team that had had the better of the contest for 2 quarters after we ruined what should have been a brilliant start. With some luck and skill with delivery we may even have edged in front.

That really is the point: With luck. If you are going to leave everything until the last minute and then come storming home you need three things. A high skill level and a side where everyone plays their part and you need luck. As yet, we do not have the first two, and this time, as against the Bombers, luck deserted us.

The team are bit like that man at the moment. We wait until all the cards have fallen, the odds are stacked against us - like waiting for the seven flies to all land and remain still for the time it takes to kill them.  We wait and then we go wham! Too often, though, a fly will move.  St Kilda moved, we missed and they ran away with the points.

We must stop this foolish idea that we can run over the top. We must start playing four good quarters of football, build the lead, build the momentum, earn the advantage of turning into the last in front and then killing them.

But no, our boys are wearing that sash, strutting the field with ‘seven in a single blow’ emblazoned across their chests. We need to forget the come from behind wins, and start working on leading a game from start to finish.

Some Observations:

We must develop options forward. Now I know this is obvious but still, it is what we must do, so why not choose a CHF – hopefully Harts will be picked but here is the thing, I’d ask Fev to play CHF and play Harts at FF. Toss the salad around, see what happens. I think we should keep our eyes on the development part for the rest of this year, and use the remaining games to develop the parts we think will take us forward. We know Fev can kicks goals, so play him up the ground, see how he goes and also, force others, like Harts and Fish, to kick the goals.

Get Russell’s goal kicking right. I have been very happy with JR’s development this year and the next step is to improve his set shots at goal so I’d instruct him to practise and practise, and for the team to help him get the monkey off his back. Give him several shots a game until the tension eases and he can kick for goal free of the doubt.

Play Hampson in the ruck. Play him game after game. Play Kruise in the forward pocket or rest him, but play Hampson. If he does not improve to take over the mantle of number 1 ruckman for next year then we will struggle again. So get games under his belt.

I think the defence has improved out of sight but we are still vulnerable to the small forward. We must rectify that. I wanted Waite at CHB but now, now I think he may be better on the wing or HFF. Release him and play Austin at CHB – get games into the lad.

Still, all in all, we showed some glimpses this game. Our first quarter was excellent, as was that burst in the last. Gibbs is a ripper and you can see his confidence growing week by week. Him, Judd, Murph and Stevo make an awesome foursome.

So on to this week and if the lads found the St Kilda swamp tough they’ll feel like the boy with his finger in the dyke against the Swans. So here are my thoughts on how to beat The Bloods.

First we must play the Hammer. We must negate Jolly at the centre and around the ground. If he is able to whack it down The Swan midfielders like King did for the Sainters then we all may as well go home. The Swans love the clinches, the only way to bust this up is to negate Jolly in the ruck and give our guys at least half a chance.

We must have multiple options in attack. If we go to Fev the Swans back-line flood will drown us in our own forward entries. We must hit Fish or Edwards or, please play him, Harts, and only go to Fev when he is one out. Make that a team rule. Pass to Fev only when he is one out.

We must run the whole game, if we role the dice and simply play a quarter or two of negating or ‘minimising the damage’ football then the Swans will smash us. We must play the whole game as if it’s that ten minute burst in the last. The only way to break the wall is to run through it. That’s what we must do. Run and run and run some more.

We must grab our opportunities. If we miss easy set shots again then forget it. It’ll be our blood on the hands of The Bloods. We’ve had our ‘seven at a single blow’ sash couple of weeks, where we have strutted and had our faces in the paper and what have you: Now its time to plonk the noggin down and get back to hard work.

I expect to win this week. I think we have the ability. To win we must play at our best for more than 10 minutes. If we can do this we may just win one that puts the seven to rest.

Fev for 1 but Edwards for 4
Gibbs bog
Eddie for 3

Blues by 17.

Go Blues!

Please Note: the views expressed in the above article are solely the opinion of the author and do not reflect the opinions of the Carlton Football Club or those employees of the Club. The Carlton Football Club would like to acknowledge the tireless work of those supporters who contribute to carltonfc.com.au.