Rating: C+ We should have won it, but for some panic at the end. Disappointing, but that is how it was.
Votes: [6.5] Sam Walsh [3] Charlie Curnow [1] Blake Acres [1] George Hewett [1] Patrick Cripps [1] Harry McKay [0.5] Zac Williams [0.5] Nic Newman [0.5] Matthew Kennedy
Explanations: [6.5] Sam Walsh: Our best by kms. BOG hugely. What a game on his return. [3] Charlie Curnow: On top. Pity his kicking wasn’t. [1] Blake Acres: Not his best game kicking, but he worked hard and won his spot. [1] George Hewett: Kept his opponent relatively quiet and had 7 tackles and 5 clearances. [1] Patrick Cripps: Not his best game at all, but he had 8 tackles and 7 clearances. [1] Harry McKay: His kicking wasn’t quite there, but he was dangerous. [0.5] Zac Williams: A relatively solid game. [0.5] Nic Newman: Not as good as he has been, but did his job. [0.5] Matthew Kennedy: Got a fair bit of the ball and 10 marks.
Honourable Mentions: Marc Pittonet: Worked hard in the ruck Brodie Kemp: Good job in defence, but his kicking …
Carlton V Port Melbourne Backs: [61] Tyson Sruk, [25] Jaxon Binns, [63] Kristian Ferronato Half Backs: [31] Harry Lemmey, [45] Alex Mirkov, [34] Rob Monahan Centres: [39] Alex Cincotta, [40] Hudson O'Keeffe, [67] Aiden Mills Half Forward: [43] Ashton Moir, [50] Zavier Maher, [51] Heath Ramshaw Forwards: [52] Liam McMahon, [54] Ned Cahill, [55] Lachlan Young Rucks: [57] Luke Nelson, [58] Michael Lewis, [59] Tom Phillips Int: [60] Blake Kuipers, [64] Archie Stevens, [77] Will White, [79] Jack Lefroy, [80] Bailey Lambert, [74] Logan Prout, [71] Callum Verrell Emergencies: [70] Darcy Hogg, [56] Flynn Riley, [76] Lachlan Swaney, [68] Jess Gedi
Very good to see Mirkov named. He is probably a way short of a gallop, but having him on the field is a bit plus. The other thing is that he gives our mids a decent look at the ball. O'Keefe did pretty well last week, but he doesn't give our mids the sort of service that Mirkov can when he's up and about. Nice to see Tyson Sruk named for us. He was like Ferranato, considered stiff not to be drafted. He gets a lot of the ball from half back. Ferranato was OK last week, but clearly needed a run.
Interesting to see Darcy Hogg and Flynn Riley named as emergencies, Hogg because I want to see him play, Riley because he is a 206 cm tall ruckman. Does that mean our seniors are going to have ruck issues? I have no idea, but it bodes poorly.
Nice to see Lachie Swaney named as well. He is one of our VFL leaders, when he can get on the park. He is an assistant coach for the girls and appears to be highly regarded. But, like Maher, he has been cruelled by injury.
Backs: Lachie Cowan Jacob Weitering Brodie Kemp Half-backs: Zac Williams Lewis Young Nic Newman Centreline: Ollie Hollands Patrick Cripps Blake Acres Half-forwards: Matthew Cottrell Tom De Koning Elijah Hollands Forwards: Charlie Curnow Harry McKay Matthew Owies Followers: Marc Pittonet Sam Walsh George Hewett Interchange: Jordan Boyd Jack Carroll Corey Durdin Orazio Fantasia Matthew Kennedy
Emergencies: Jaxon Binns Alex Cincotta Hudson O'Keeffe
In: Lachie Cowan, Lewis Young Out: Adam Saad (hamstring), Mitch McGovern (hamstring)
[1] I can live with 2 rucks. Tom struggled against Briggs last year. Pitto shouldn't. [2] How did Cincotta miss out? He has to add more than Fantasia and Corey Durdin. And he has shown he can play in the middle: I'd be trying something different there. [3] Our midfield has been smashed this year. Can we change it somehow? [4] Ollie Hollands?
I looks at this side and I am uninspired. I guess Cowan is playing well enough, but Cincotta was excellent in his only showing.
AFL 2024 Rd 4: Carlton vs Fremantle We were lucky to win, but the way we kept scrapping was very good. Pity we can't kick straight.
Trends: [1] There were 14 voters this round, a solid number of start the year. I'd like more, but...
[2] The rating was a 8.98, which is an B. Fair enough considering that we won, and that we dominated significant periods of play.
[3]16 players managed a mention this week, which is one up on last week. Everybody contributes when we win.
[4] The average vote this week was 31.
[5]5 players managed 100 votes or more again this week. This is becoming the norm when we win these days, and I am not disappointed in the least. May it continue!
[6] Jacob Weitering managed 333 votes to be BOG this week. Tom de Koning was second while Cripps and Saad were tied for third.
[7]No player managed votes from everyone this week. This is a rarity. Weitering, Saad and de Koning missed from one voter.
[8] None of our youngsters stood out this week, which is disappointing.
[9] Our defenders generally dominated the votes this week.
Votes: Weitering, Jacob 333 de Koning, Tom 212 Cripps, Patrick 176 Saad, Adam 176 Curnow, Charles 131 Cerra, Adam 96 Kemp, Brodie 93 Cottrell, Matthew 64 Hewett, George 32 Owies, Matthew 6 William, Zac 6 Boyd, Jordan 6 McGovern, Mitchell 3 Acres, Blake 3 Newman, Nicholas 3 Carroll, Jack 3
Progressive Voting: Patrick Cripps 971 Harry McKay 854 Tom de Koning 563 George Hewett 527 Mitch McGovern 434 Jacob Weitering 414 Charlie Curnow 380 Adam Saad 310 Adam Cerra 231 Brodie Kemp 143 Blake Acres 130 Nic Newman 96 Lachie Fogarty 68 Matt Cottrell 65 Jack Carroll 64 Jordan Boyd 59 Elijah Hollands 59 Lewis Young 55 Zac William 52 Matt Kennedy 26 Matt Owies 16 David Cuningham 13 Ollie Hollands 7
Lost by a point. With the talent we had out there today, that was a pretty good effort.
Sowans and Binns had 22 possessions, Binns only 7 after half time. Second game in a row he has run out of juice in the second half. Lewis Young has probably played himself into a senior spot: his best game in a while. O'Keefe has a long way to go, but he tried hard in the ruck. He needs to put on about ten kg of muscles and work on his tank. Other parts of his game show promise. Lemmey is still very much a work in progress. He wasn't bad as a defender, but he doesn't have the attack on the ball that I want to see. Monahan didn't have much impact: I'd be trying him in a slightly different role, where he can run around a bit and use his athleticism. Dom Akuei is cooked. Moir is some way off and may be injured. Billy Wilson going off cost us about 20 extra possessions; the guy has pace and can kick with depth. We really missed him.
Not enough talent on the park, and there will be less next week. Not many senior list Blues at all and we're on TV again.
Dom Akuei has 2 possessions up to 3/4 time. He's gone backwards, as there were times last year when he looked like he had promise. Sorry to see Billy Wilson off injured: probably concussed. ( 7 possessions to Moir, but he has been in it. A long way to go, alas.
Monahan hasn't done a lot: he's very much learning the caper.
We were ordinary when it mattered and allowed the Adelaide forwards far too much space. Walker seems to have Weitering beaten between the ears. Pitto was our best ruck. Tom was useless on the ball and delivered little as a forward. he had to have a down game, but I really hate it to be against Adelaide, whom I despise! Our midfield work was terrible; Adelaide just walked it out. We probably got as many centre clearances in the end, but ours were ordinary and under pressure. No such thing the other way.
Fantasia has to go back to the VFL: he was very ordinary today and provided us with nothing. We were killed on the ground in our forward line. Corey Durdin wasn't a lot better, but he was down as well. Three tackles this week, which wasn't enough. Matt Owies: robbed of a goal in the 3rd quarter and then has the worst brain fade in history in the last few minutes. Either of those, and it is game over. But he had only 9 possessions, double Fantasia's number.
Ollie H didn't have a great game. He needs to discover his run again. Elijah was also off the pace today, but he did do some very nice things. He'll probably survive. Carroll may not: almost invisible.
No Cincotta, no Big Durds. From the VFL lads, Ned Cahill is a big in. Kristian Ferranato named for his first game for us as well at 206 cm Flynn Riley. Darcy Hogg is an emergency. 10 AFL blues named, but that includes Akuei, Monahan and Harry Lemmey.
He's gone backwards, as there were times last year when he looked like he had promise.