The year was 1995 and I was stuck in Lygon Street on the very night the Carlton Football won their 16th Premiership, and the place was going ape shit. The air smelled of burning rubber as car after car performed ritual burnouts, the Blue Flags were everywhere, and total strangers were embracing each other, using the catchphrase, “Matttttttte, baggers, fully sick, matttttte”.
I tried hard not to indulge in the euphoria, as I had truly hated the Carlton Football Club since my Mum first dropped me on my head at birth, but then this feeling came “across me like a tidal wave” and I had one of the best nights ever – fully sick bro.
In that one brief, solitary moment I knew what it felt like to barrack for one of the big four clubs, but in the morning, I still hated the Carlton Football Club, and I would “till the end of my time… I swore I would hate Carlton to the end of my time”.
We All Knew What Carlton Did Last Century
Until the turn of the century, the Carlton Football Club were arguably the most successful club in the land since the 1960s. With their success came a sense of invincibility and arrogance, as the Blues bathed freely in their never-ending sense of destiny and immortality. They flirted with the rules, what am I saying, they knowingly broke the rules and won, and the accusations about brown paper bags were more than just an urban myth.
Carlton’s stars of yesteryear were larger than life. They played hard and partied even harder. The stories of mischief and trouble were legendary and they were bloody fortunate nobody was filming everything they did when it was time to party. If you played for the Blues or supported the Blues you strutted around town like you owned the joint, and it was expected you were treated as royalty.
Monday nights at Eddies Tavern or Bobby Magees, or later in the week at The Chevron, Chasers, The Palace, The Tunnel, or any of the other nightclubs along King Street witnessed many an incident from the Lygon Street Mob which over time have gained more and more notoriety over the years.
Further, the Blues never pretended to be the people’s club. They despised anything and anybody that wasn’t Carlton. Blues players and supporters wore the scorn of opposing clubs and for supporters, it was a badge of honour to be worn with pride. Success was their birthright and nothing less would do – go away peasants.
As a club at Board level, the men behind the scenes were ruthless, and they would garotte anybody who would even question their power and authority.
In 1979, favourite son Alex Jesaulenko was the Captain and Coach of the team that won the Premiership that year. At the end of the season, there was a dispute between Jezza and club officials that saw the club great leave the Blues and join St Kilda the following year.
Imagine that for a moment; a Premiership Captain and Coach was forced into a deadlock with the Board the same year as he won the flag, and he had no alternative but to leave the club.
Ruthless!
In 1995, it seemed Carlton still seemed destined to have unbated success. Success being measured by being ability to win at least one Premiership every decade. Nobody could have predicted the demise of the Blues’ dominance as a force on Grand Final day of 1995, but a dark cloud was hovering above. The Blues one ‘Last Night of the Proms’ came in 1999. The Baggers got close again when they made the dance, but it was a false dawn as a Carlton slipped into that dystopian existence.
At the end of 1999 we all partied like it was 1999 (because it was) ushering in a new millennium, a millennium which promised hope and new beginnings. Well, except for the Y2K hoax which had people believing planes would fall from the skies and had everyone checking their computers one minute into the new century.
For the Carlton Football Club, they had nothing to fear about the 2000s, but the 2000s would prove to be the beginning of the end.
Investigations about brown paper bags had begun with player payments under scrutiny, as well as jobs for the boys, and it would all culminate in the near collapse of the famous Navy Blues by the start of the 2002 season.
Somebody had thrown out the bathwater.
Pigs Arse and Presidential Blood Letting
Before I forget, one important variable left over from the last century was John Elliott. He left the Blues in disarray at the end of the 2001 season. There were allegations of serious salary cap breaches, under the table payments (insert brown paper bag). After investigations by AFL House, Carlton was fined $930,000 in 2001 and the Blues were stripped of early draft picks for the 2002 and 2003 seasons.
The sanctions had an immediate impact when Carlton won their first ever wooden spoon in 2002, to be followed up with wooden spoons again in 2005, 2006, 2015 and 2018.
Note, from 1896 to 1999 the Carlton Football was arguably the most successful football in the VFL/AFL, and they had never had the dishonour of a wooden spoon during that period.
Presidente Elliott was forced out the door in 2002 after 20 years at the helm of the Carlton Football Club, along with Directors Wes Lofts, Kevin Hall and Barry Stone. However, no players were ever sanctioned or penalised concerning these payments
From 2002 to the present, the Presidency of the Carlton Football has been a poisoned chalice. Many Presidents, all promising success, have come and gone with little to no on-field or off-field success.
In true Carlton style, every coup since Jack in 2002 has been controversial and much blood has been spilled on the carpet in the Boardroom. Carlton Presidents since 2002:
Ian Collins 2002 -2005,
Graham Smorgon 2006-2007,
Richard Pratt 2007-2008,
Stephen Kernahan 2008-2014,
Mark LoGuidice 2014-2021,
Luke Sayers 2021-2025, and
Robert Priestley 2025 (current President).
Off-field instability has rocked the Blues since the demise of John Elliott 2002, and it doesn’t look like stabilising too soon, with Robert Priestley taking over from Luke (I nearly typed Leo) Sayers earlier this year in bizarre and controversial circumstances.
What had become of this once mighty and powerful club?
The Curse of 1999
Leaving the Gold Coast Suns out of the equation, which two clubs have not played in a Grand Final in the 2000s?
It is a rhetorical question.
Carlton and North Melbourne, the two participants in the 1999 Grand Final, a cursed Grand Final for both clubs to end the century.
While this article is about Carlton, the demise of the Shinboners has been just as dramatic since 1999, and it is food for thought for another article. Anyway, I digress.
Here is something to make a true Blue’s supporter blood boil. Fifteen different clubs have made a Grand Final since 2000, with eleven different clubs collecting the silverware. For the record, Hawthorn, Geelong and Brisbane have hogged the spotlight with four cups each, Richmond with three cups, Sydney, West Coast and Collingwood with two apiece, while Essendon, Port Adelaide, Western Bulldogs and Melbourne have all held the trophy aloft once in the new millennium. Fremantle, Adelaide, St Kilda and GWS have all made it to the dance, albeit without the ultimate success.
Carlton made the Preliminary Final in 2000 and 2023, but that is as high as they have gone.
For a club as proud as Carlton, with the most passionate of supporters, the lack of even a modicum of success since 1999 cuts right to the very core of their being and existence. There are valid reasons and some excuses, such as the penalties for the salary cap breaches, but beyond that it is inexcusable that such a powerful club could fall so low, and to rub salt into the wound, the Baggers, after so long of being immune to bottoming out, have the record for the most wooden spoons since 2000 – five in total.
Five lousy wooden spoons in 25 years and only two Preliminary Finals for a club that dominated the last century with arrogance and an absolute singled minded desire to succeed. It begs the question, what happened to Carlton’s ruthless culture?
In 1995 the euphoria was palpable, and given how strong and dominant the 1995 Carlton team was, it had many pundits believing it was the start of another Carlton dynasty.
Nobody, even in anyone’s wildest estimations, could have foreseen the bleak future ahead for Carlton.
Coaches Come, Coaches Go
David Parkin – Honourable Discharge
In 2000 David Parkin coached the Blues to a Preliminary Final, and gratefully departed, exit stage left, without any blood being spilled. Parkin’s legacy to the Carlton and Hawthorn Football Clubs is often understated, but he was the GOAT of his time.
Wayne Brittain – Chewed up and spat out
Wayne Brittain took over the coaching duties at the Blues in 2001. You don’t need to be dead to be stiff, but poor old Brittain was thrown to the wolves, as during his tenure as the Carlton Football Club was forensically torn to shreds both internally and externally. He didn’t stand a chance.
Sadly, for Brits he will be remembered as the first coach to coach the Blues to a wooden spoon. Brittain was hung, dried and quartered at the end of 2002 as he was booted out the door with his wooden spoon in hand.
Denis Pagan – the Sacrificial Lamb
Brittain was replaced by the then-super-coach Denis Pagan for the start of the 2003 season. There was a renewed hope at the start of the 2003 season that the successful Premiership Coach of North Melbourne would be the Blues’ salvation. Like Brittain, Pagan didn’t stand a chance, as there were ongoing internal issues at the club, player disharmony, and the legacy of the salary cap breaches still lingering.
After 104 matches, Pagan’s coaching career at Princess Park was in tatters and well and truly over. Pagan was stabbed squarely in the back in July 2007 as coach, with a record of 25 wins, 77 losses and 2 draws, as well as two more wooden spoons. On the 23 July 2007, Pagan coached his last game in the AFL. It was a very public execution.
Brett Ratten – the Prodigal Son
With 60 wins, 59 losses and one draw, and a win/loss ratio of 50 percent between 2007 to 2012, Brett Ratten turned the fortunes of the Blues around from a wooden spoon in 2006 to a formable and competitive club during his tenure. A bit up and down, but the Baggers looked on the course to be in contention under Rats.
What Ratten didn’t know was the Board were courting Mick Malthouse (insert Daisy Thomas in here as well) to take the Blues to the next level – whatever that means.
Didn’t the Carlton Board learn from the Denis Pagan experiment that as good as these coaches both had been, it may not translate into success at Princess Park? Why did the Board ignore the coaching record of Brett Ratten? Why the need to replace Ratten with a shiny new toy?
The excommunication of Brett Ratten from the Blues, and the way it was handled, still cuts deep to the core for many Carlton fans to this day. The prodigal son left Carlton with a hatchet stuck in his back between his shoulder blades, put there by Stephen Kernahan and his desire to bring Mick Malthouse to the club.
There is a difference between ruthlessness and pure stupidity.
Mick Malthouse – the Beginning of the End
Mick Malthouse was a great coach, but he was no miracle worker. During his tenure,fresh new allegations emerged about Chris Judd receiving third party payments by being on the books of Visy Board. What impact the third-party investigations had on the playing group is debatable.
Mick Malthouse lasted two and bit seasons at the helm of the Blues, and under his stewardship the on-field performances rapidly declined. By the time Malthouse was sacked in 2015, the Blues under Malthouse won 19 games, lost 32 and drawn another for win/loss ratio of 38 percent.
The beginning of the end for Mick Malthouse was during the Essendon supplement scandal, when the Blues made the finals from ninth position. While they won the Elimination Final, they were slaughtered by the Swans the following week, and the club’s heart and soul was torn asunder when Eddie Betts departed the club for the Crows that year.
During Malthouse’s tenure, players started abandoning the Club like rats on the Titanic and, for a combination of reasons, the club reached its lowest ebb since the turn of the century in late 2014.
By Round 9 2015, the friction between the Board and Malthouse was playing out in the public arena, and Malthouse basically forced the Board to the point of no return. His services were terminated by then CEO Steven Trigg after Round 9 2015.
The departure of Mick Malthouse from the Princes Park was a full-on public spectacle, plunging the troubled club further down the mire.
John Barker – the Interim
John Barker coached out the 2015 season as an interim coach for the last 14 games of the season. For the record, the Blues won only three more games for the year, and another wooden spoon.
Run John run, and he got out of there as quickly as possible.
Brendon Bolton – Mr 20.8 Percent
Carlton was in total disarray post the Malthouse years, and in reality, Brendon Bolton was not the right choice as Coach. Carlton needed a moderator as Coach, somebody like Paul Roos, Mark Williams or Leigh Matthews, somebody who could breathe life back into the club and provide a strong, confident presence at the helm. I believe a couple of the aforementioned names were approached by the club, but graciously declined the offer, and Carlton were left with the inexperienced Brendon Bolton.
Bolton was in a no-win situation. The golden boy, Chris Judd retired midseason the year before, Eddie Betts had abandoned ship, as well as a fistful of other players seeking a more stable workplace. By Round 11 2019, the Blues had a solitary win to its name, and it came as no surprise Bolton was sacked by the Board, effective immediately.
A mere 16 wins out of 77 games was never going to cut it at senior level, and Bolton was put through the mincer, and sadly he will be remembered as the coach who has the worst win/loss record in the club’s history.
David Teague – the Miracle Worker?
When David Teague took over from Brendon Bolton in 2019 the Blues were sitting last on the ladder and staring another wooden spoon square in the face. As an interim coach, David Teague lifted the Blues off the bottom of the ladder – it was a miracle of sorts.
David Teague’s reward for avoiding the wooden spoon was to be appointed senior coach in 2020.
Teague coached the Blues through the Covid years and under his tenure the Baggers started winning a few games and climbing up the ladder, but apparently not at a rate acceptable to the Board. With a win/loss ratio of 42 percent, and considering where the club was at when he took over, Teague was travelling okay, but the Teague Train was brought to sudden halt at the end of the 2021 season.
It is only a personal opinion, but Teague brought the faithful back to the club, and he was invested in giving the club and its fanbase hope.
Teague left the club in a better condition than when he took over.
Teague, like Ratten, was very unlucky to be sacked.
Michael Voss – the Second Coming
In 2022 a late Collingwood resurgence broke the hearts of the Carlton fans when they lost the last home and away game of the year by a solitary point, and as a result, missed out on the finals. It was heartbreak for new Coach Michael Voss, his team, and supporters, but it did bring a genuine hope that the future was looking good.
Come 2023 and the Carlton resurgence was in full swing, as the Carlton army plundered their way to a Preliminary Final (their first since 2000) only to be beaten by the Lions at the Gabbatoir.
Most Baggers anticipated the next step to the big dance in 2024 was in the cards, but this is Carlton.
For the majority of the 2024, the Blues were well on the way to another serious crack at the big time, only to lose form in the second half of the home and away season and just fall into the finals. Brisbane, the eventual Premiers, knocked the Baggers out of contention in the Elimination Final.
Michael Voss has been the most successful coach of Carlton since the halcyon days of David Parkin and John Elliott, and his win/loss ratio is still well over 50 percent, even allowing for the four losses to start the 2025 season.
Those four-straight losses to start the 2025 season has Voss’ job under the pump, but it shouldn’t.
Carlton must stay the course with Voss and not sack him as a kneejerk reaction to the club’s current position.
In 2006, Bomber Thompson, and 2016, Damien Hardwick were both nearly sacked for subpar years, and the public outcry at the time was strongly suggesting they be sacked. Both Geelong and Richmond stayed the course and backed their coached in. And as they say in the classics, the rest is history.
A tinker here, and a tinker there and the Blues may still be on track under Voss to get to the promised land, whereas a change of coach now would just be replicating the past 25 years of failed decisions and delusional thinking.
David Teague gave the Blues it’s current foundations, and Voss now has nearly all the tools at his disposal to finish the job.
Was Chris Judd a Mistake?
Before I get hung and quartered, I want to make this clear – Chris Judd is one of the greatest players of the modern era and in no way am I suggesting he was anything but, but was he the right fit for Carlton? Carlton sold the farm (and then some cardboard) to get Judd to the club and from day one he became the face and voice of reason for the Blues. Yes, the Blues rose up the ladder for a couple of seasons, but they were locked into a Judd contract that didn’t leave much wiggle room for other players, and for the second time in a short span of time Carlton’s salary cap was again challenged.
Visy Board were paying Chris Judd $250,000 in extra income alongside his contract with the Blues, and in 2012 it came to a head when the AFL ruled this payment should be included within the Club’s salary cap. It was a strange decision by the AFL, as they had known about the third-party payments for the first five years of Judd’s six-year contract.
As part of the Judd deal with West Coast, the Blues gave up a more than handy forward, named Josh Kennedy. It is debatable who got the better deal, as Judd won a Brownlow in 2010, while Kennedy won a couple of Coleman Medals, and a Premiership Medal in 2018.
The Blues made the finals a couple of times under Judd’s captaincy, but they were never really close to making the big dance. I’ll put this another way, and it is not just about the Judd era – Carlton’s modus operandi since 1999 has been to have a lot of nice glittering players at the top end of the Club, while ignoring the bottom end – the engine room players who make up the starting 22 players. It is as true now as it was when Judd came to the club.
Top end talent aplenty, but at what price?
Chris Judd was the captain of a very successful but troubled West Coast Eagles team, with the ramifications of that culture being felt to this very day, so it has always troubled me how or if Judd was oblivious to what was happening around at the Eagles, or did he just put his head in the sand? We will never know the answer, but as great as Judd was at two clubs, when he left the Eagles and the Blues, both clubs spiralled downwards after his departure.
In Round 10, 2015, Chris Judd suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in his left knee and subsequently retired shortly thereafter. For the record, Carlton won the wooden spoon the same year.
The Carlton Judd era was an exciting time for Blues fans, and it is open to conjecture as to whether the Judd experience was successful, and how with 18 teams (soon to be 19) is success actually measured. The mere presence of Judd in the Navy Blue brought a renewed hope to Princes Park and a spike in membership, so if success can be measured by tangibles other than just a Premiership Cup, then the Judd years were a success.
For diehard Carlton supporters, success is only measured by silverware.
John Nicholls Medal Winners
Current Carlton Captain and dual Brownlow Medallist, Patrick Cripps, heads astar-studded list of very talented players who have played for the mighty navy blue since 2000, including Marc Murphy, Sam Docherty, Sam Walsh, Jacob Weitering, Kade Simpson, Chris Judd, David Teague, Lance Whitnall, Anthony Koutoufides, Corey McKernan and Brett Ratten who have also won the John Nicholls Medal since 2000. Amongst all that class, not one of them has worn the famous navy blue at the MCG on the last day of September this millennium.
Carlton has never really been short of top end talent, and it has used its early draft picks to secure the big names, and just stars who win a John Nicholls Medal in their career, but stars nonetheless, and herein is one of the Blues major problems. I must mention HB Meyers here, as he pointed it out to me that Carlton have great top end homegrown stars, but they haven’t struck much gold with later picks in the draft. They haven’t really grabbed a late draft gem since Ed Curnow back in 2012. In regard to their trading, this is particularly evident with the current group. They have not traded for an A-Grader in a fair while.
Currently, Cripps, Walsh, Tom De Koning, Curnow, McKay (when available), Weitering, Docherty are walk-up starts for selection, and all are A-Listers. Further, all these players started their careers at Carlton, and they are Carlton through and through – blue blood runs through their veins.
The next eight players would be automatic selections (most weeks), George Hewett, Nic Newman, Blake Acres, Oliver Hollands (homegrown draft pick 11), Brodie Kemp (homegrown draft pick 17), Matthew Cottrell (homegrown SSP) and possibly Adam Cerra and Jack Silvagni (father/son rule). They are a mixture of B grade and C grade players and, they all tend to perform their tasks week in and week out.
It can be argued that Hewett and co are very consistent, but they don’t seem to have another gear in them to take over a match if Cripps or Walsh are having a bad day. Very consistent, honest players but not match winners.
Jesse Motlop, Will White, Lachlan Cowan, Cooper Lord, Ben and Lucas Camporeale, Jaxon Binns, Jagga Smith and Ashton Moir make up a good list of young players who are being nursed along nicely as they get games under their belts (or recover from injury), but they will drift in and out of the team depending on how quickly they develop and form. Having a few kids coming through is always healthy, and not something the Blues have necessarily concentrated on since 2000.
So where do the rest of the players come from?
(since 2000 this has been a historical problem at Carlton – their mid list players)
So, between the A-Listers, the consistent week in week out players, and the youngster players being nurtured, Carlton’s recruiting of players to fill the void between has been woeful.
Some blame Stephen Silvagni, but this was occurring before SOS, while fingers point in other directions, but whoever or whatever is retarding Carlton’s list growth needs prompt attention. As I implied earlier, a Grand Final appearance is within range for the Baggers, but lessons need to be learned and amended accordingly and quickly.
Carlton’s Very Soft Underbelly
In the 1980s and 1990s Carlton fielded teams with stars on ever line as well as backup players who had it drummed into their heads when it was their time to go, they had to go. Weakness was scorned, and players who failed the test were quickly moved on. The 1980s and 1990s Blue Baggers were utterly ruthless at every level of the club.
Mind you, the external incentives meant Carlton attracted the best players to their club.
Nothing about Carlton from the 1960s to 1999 could ever be described as soft, you played hard and partied even harder – arrogantly and utterly ruthless to the core.
I will use Milham Hanna, Glen (the Bolt) Manton, Adrian Whitehead and Ang Christou from the 1995 Premiership winning team as examples of how Carlton’s underbelly was rock hard. In a team that had stars all over the field, the above four players are now part of Carlton folklore, not because they are stars, but because they would literally die on the field for their club. All four had a moment in the Grand Final which gained recognition from their more illustrious teammates because they played the Carlton brand of football.
I forget how good the 1995 Carlton side was, but I’m sure every supporter who was born then would have that team etched in their memory for life, and now they yearn for more of the same 30 years later.
What happened to the mystique of the Carlton culture?
Why, since 2001 is Carlton seen as soft? (being in a bottom team does not necessitate softness)
30 years on, it is interesting to compare four modern day players to the four named players from 1995.
I’ll start with Adam Saad, a great player when he is on, but he is inconsistent, especially when the chips are down. Saad is comparable in ability to Milham Hanna in talent, but that is where the comparison ends. Hanna milked every ounce of ability and poured it into the team, while I am still waiting for the day Saad puts his team on his shoulders and leads the way.
If only Mitch McGovern were Jeremy McGovern or even had the heart of Ang Christou. Mitch McGovern probably has more ability Ang had, but Ang extended his talents to the limit and by the end of his career there was nobody saying, “we never really saw the best of him”. Mitch reminds me of Bambi, he can almost take a great mark, he can almost be an intercept beast, he can almost stick a pass on the chest of his teammates. But really, he is just a deer. They freeze in the headlights.
Jacob Weitering at times is a lone wolf up back for the Blues, and he should be demanding more from McGovern. Former Carlton greats were never backward in telling a teammate directly what was expected from them. Weitering he needs to take a firm control of the back six and just demand more. He leads by example, but I want to see a fired up Weitering demanding more.
Last year I reviewed a Dockers game the same week Matt Taberner retired, and while I acknowledged he had a good career, I further acknowledged he never hit the upper limits of his potential (except for one stellar year). I’m throwing two Carlton recruits into this category of players who may end their careers without realising their full potential, Zac Williams and Nick Haynes (who just doesn’t look comfortable in a Carlton jumper).
Right time, right place, but the extraverted Glen (the Bolt) Manton got more out of his career and then some for the ability he possessed. He was a real grunt player with a bit of flair. Like Hanna, Manton left it all out on the field by the time he retired. Zac Williams and Nick Haynes are both potentially very talented players, but the vibes they put out on the field have many questioning where their heads are at this point of their careers.
I have cited Williams and Haynes on purpose as they have the ability to be the missing links that help harden up Carlton’s soft underbelly. Personally, I like Zac Williams as a footballer, so the criticism may seem harsh, but he could be to this team what Glen Manton was to the 1995 Carlton team. Ask me about Haynes after the midseason bye and he has a chance to settle into the club.
Finally, Adrian Whitehead is probably a name almost forgotten over time by most, except for the diehard Carlton supports and his 1995 Premiership teammates. For Orazio Fantasia and Lachie Fogarty I will repeat that, Adrian Whitehead is a Carlton Premiership player. Orazio and Lachie, look up to your leaders on the field and follow them in action and deed, and off the field follow them around more and just keep learning from them.
Carlton’s On Field Leaders
This article is taking on a life of its own, so going with the flow, while talking about Carlton’s soft underbelly it became apparent that there is a divide between the Carlton’s stars and the rest of the team. Carlton before 2000 was seen as a team, however since 2000 the focus had been on the star players of the team.
Don’t jump on me yet.
I am not suggesting the stars are selfish, not at all, but something became apparent when I was talking about Jacob Weitering. I have never seen Weitering demand effort and results from his back six in a similar manner that Kernahan, or Bradley, or Koutta would do back in the day. The last of the true on-field Mohicans was probably Brett Ratten, but at lot has changed in society since then.
No Carlton team since David Parkins’ team of 2000 has commanded the level of respect both within the club and of the wider footballing public in general, since he left the club, and the exploits of John Elliott were exposed. Chis Judd was a superstar, but as great as he was, he seemed rather insular, and I get the feeling he just expected others to follow the same way the players did at West Coast.
Marc Murphy… poor old Marc Murphy, he played over 300 games for the Blues during its darkest years, and to be honest he held that team together pretty well all things considered.
Patrick Cripps, Sam Walsh, Jacob Weitering, Sam Docherty and Charlie Curnow are all recognised champion individuals of the Carlton Football Club, and rightly so, but they would feel like they have carried the team on their shoulders for a considerable period of time, with only limited success in 2023.
Patrick Cripps is the ultimate team player, to the extent he puts his hand up for ruck duties. Fair suck of the sav, but the only thing that can come from Cripps rucking is injury. Further, he is more use to the team being at the fall of the ball. If Tom De Koning is not on the field at the time, then it is up to Cripps to call a player in to ruck. I would love to see Cripps demonstratively demand more from his midfield group on the field one day, and to call them out. The same goes for Jacob Weitering in defence and Sam Docherty, while the time has come for Charlie Curnow to have a Wayne Carey-like presence in the forward half and be the General of that group.
Carlton cannot afford to lose Tom De Koning, as he is rapidly becoming the most important player in the team.
Summary
In the intro I expressed a hatred of the Carlton Football Club, which is probably unhealthy, but it was based on the strength and arrogance and the kill or be killed attitude of the Blues. Over the years I have come to have sympathy for the Blue Baggers, such has been the sad demise of the club.
That’s not what you want – a side that exacting pity is the precise place a club nevr wants to be.
I have more than one friend or a hundred who are Carlton to the core, and I have watched over the years as they have seen hope come, and hope disappear again. When Carlton win, the radio switchboards light up, and when they lose, the radio switchboards cannot cope with the number of Baggers just wanting to vent their anger.
It makes for good listening, win or lose.
By 2000 Carlton had become a casualty of its own success, and they deserved their time in the wilderness for some of the underhanded trickery that took place. The Judd years help raise hope for a while, but even that was tinged with another salary gap investigation, but that was over ten years, and should be well in the distance in the rearview mirror.
There is a word that I cannot use in this article, but suffice to say, Carlton as a whole, being Board, club, players, sponsors, members and supporters, needs to find its inner mongrel again, and become the arrogant ruthless beast that made Carlton so easy to hate.
A friend of mine, Trish, recently said Patrick Cripps deserves a Premiership medallion, and maybe she is right, but a lot has to go right for that to occur.
Trish, Deano, Robyn B, Sandro, Mum W, Oriana, Phil J and the many Carlton supporters I know, enjoy the reunion of the 1995 Premiership team. One day, I hope there is more joy for you than celebrating something that happened 30 years ago.
