Re: R4 - Carlton vs Saints @ NZ - (Post match party)
Reply #86 –
Never said it did.
Just as i never said our losses where Micks fault.
All i'm saying is people were happy to bag out Mick and his gameplan and 'the house that mick built' ad nauseum throughout the first half. Do those same people who believe he was to blame for the first half think he is responsible for the turnaround in the 2nd?
They are all one-way. Bag him when something goes wrong. Silence when something goes right.
I'm not putting that win down to Mick. I'm putting it down to the players pulling their fingers out and doing what they are supposed to be doing every week. Of course it helped it was against the Saints, but put in the effort against any team and results will come.
I disagree. There was a dramatic change in the way we used the football. Against Richmond we had 196 kicks and 129 handpasses, against West Coast it was 192 kicks and 128 handpasses, 200 kicks and 136 handpasses against Essendon and today it was 193 kicks and 182 handpasses. You can't tell me that the players all decided to handpass more today.
Clearly, Malthouse has realised that the kick at all costs approach results in too many turnovers and he has instructed the players to handpass more. I haven't seen the game yet but the radio commentary gave me the impression that our ball movement was better and was set up by creative handpassing.
Another marked difference from our previous three games is the fact that almost all of our goals were scored from directly in front and there were relatively few shots from the pockets.
The players may have controlled their arousal levels a little better but Malthouse definitely changed the way we played and he deserves credit for that.