Well last week, and the ensuing dribbling of McChin and a thousand lost magpie souls, have convinced of two things. Firstly, what a ripper young Marc is. That mark sums him up. Shame he missed the goal but I think his life was still flashing before his eyes. The second thing is that Collingwood supporters are the biggest whingers on planet earth!

Has anyone told them they won? I know when there is sunshine, a large crowd and the bluebaggers they expect to lose, but, seriously, they won. You wouldn’t think so with all the talkback bleating and wobbling of that famous, ugly chin.

Didn’t see them complaining last year when Diedacks took out Scotland but this year, honestly you’d thing Fev went at him with a chain saw, a Mack truck and Gary Lyon newspaper article. The thing that irks me most is that it was Diedacks who elbowed Carrots as they were walking off that started the whole thing. But unlike the black and white downpipes, we keep it in house, and just keep working at the things we need to get right.

Imagine if they had have lost. Fev would have public enemy number 1! I guess it’s hard to have a decent perspective when everything is in black and white. Come into the new millennium magpies, come and see the bright colour of the world!

Congrats to Setanta for his rucking efforts, to Murphy and Carrots and to Scotland. We flew the great navy blue flag for three quarters but the legs turned to jelly and we hadn’t anything left in the tank.

This week it’s the Roos, everyone’s second team (them or the doggies ) and I expect Denis & co to take a punt and either pick young Hampson who came to my son’s team and impressed the lads or to elevate young Aisake and turn it into a game of Hurling. The Rooboys will enter the packs and the O’hAilpin’s will hurl them back out! Come on Carlton unleash the Irish!

I hope young Clokey ,mends well, I have enjoyed his efforts this year. I admit I had my doubts about picking him up but he gave us his all, that’s all any of us ask.

The Roos are chock full of confidence winning the last four weeks and our boys must be doing it tough, the problem with bad years is that the accumulated baggage wears you down. How hard it must be for them to keep their chins up and just keep playing the brave, free flowing stuff they have shown so far this year. To help I’d pick the Irish rookie and I’d add Benjamin if he is fit enough. Has a dash does young Benjamin. Add in Blackers who should never have been dropped and the young blood might just give us the spark we need.

At this point in the year it’s as much about self-belief as it is the opposition. Give the team a spark with some new blood. Not sure who to drop, I’ll leave that up to Denis & Co but please, try some new things and see what may be.

The Roos are not that fast but they win the hard ball. So it’ll be a big week for Bentick and Kouta, who must break even around the clearances if we are to have a chance. Fev needs to play a full game for a change and bag ten. Fish played well last week and I hope this week we look for young JK for more than about 25 minutes of the first quarter.

We looked good when we honoured his leads but then we forgot ourselves, as young teams are wont to do, and became Fevcentric. It makes it too easy for the opposition when all we to is bang it down on Fev’s head. Hit him on the chest or look for the other leads. Drag the extra player off him by going through his man.

Murph to have a biggie and its time to play Gibbs in the forward line - have him as another target. It’s time to play around a bit with our structure. I expect another biggie from Scotland and hopefully T-Bird will be back, adding his cool head to the defence – which reminds me, nice game for Saddo last week and I hope he builds on it this week. We need the win or this season could quickly turn into a free fall. Still, even so Denis, play the kids, play the kids!

So it’s the bluebaggers by 15 points thanks to a bag from Fev and three from Gibbs.

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.