What now?

by LITTLE BOY BLUE

IF, as the AFL keeps leaking to its media mates (not much into due process, are they?), Carlton does lose its top draft picks, it will certainly test the thesis that the annus horribilis of 2002 was mostly due to injuries. Without at least one top new player to take the field in 2003, it will be up to the squad of 2002 plus Barnaby French. That squad is now minus the productive Bradley and some discarded hacks but still with others (eg Fevola - if Pagan can get something out of him, he is a miracle-worker).

Of course, the injury thesis is crap. In the first game of the year, minus only Whitnall and Kouta, the Blues couldn't even beat St Kilda - who, for all the excitement of their momentous rise from last to second last, were (and are), let's be generous- ordinary. Maybe, with a full list, Carlton could have won a few more games, but at best it was still a bottom four scenario. If there are Blues fans who really think that the current squad is top eight material, it's time to adjust the medication.

Last word on the draft. How galling that one of the allegedly overpaid players is Stephen O'Reilly. Overpaid? He should have been paying the club for the right to wear the jumper. Still, it serves as a final reminder as to how ratshit the now departed board was at recruiting.

On the bright side, who would have thought that a grass roots members' revolt could have brought about a coup at, of all clubs, Carlton? Full marks to all involved for their courage, perseverance and hard work. A special accolade to Ken Hunter - as courageous off the field as on it. The message that failure won't be tolerated is an important one if the club is to remain a credible force - and for once, it was not just the poor dumb players who had to carry the can.

In the competitive world of AFL football within Melbourne, I suspect 35,000 members is almost the bare minimum required - and the board must start on that goal immediately. At least, the club will be able to market itself through identification with its players and (hopefully) its achievements, rather than having to cope with the negative identification with an outdated president. In this "market", anything not adding value is losing you ground.

The sustained applause for Lauraine Diggins' election at the members' meeting proved that Elliott never represented their views with his sexism and other outdated eccentricities. Like political parties, football clubs will have to project a minimal level of breadth and representativeness if they are to survive, let alone prosper. For the first time in living memory, the Carlton Board doesn't look like the male sub-branch of the North Carlton branch of the Liberal Party.

And that's a bloody good start!

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