ANATOMY OF A FORWARDLINE IN FLOW It was the six-pack in just over six minutes that won Carlton the game in a seesawing clash with GWS, and a perfect reflection of how the Blues forwardline works when at its best.
While missing Sam Taylor, the Giants had the tall timber to at least keep the Blues in check, with Jack Buckley, Harry Himmelberg and Leek Aleer all in defence. The six-goal burst – all kicked by the big three Carlton talls – that won the match in the third quarter last week came thanks to separation.
Curnow kicked the first goal, with small Corey Durdin putting in just enough of a lead – a “duel-threat pattern” – to not allow Himmelberg to come over the top, creating room for Curnow to mark over Buckley. About a minute later, Blues Matt Cottrell and Blake Acres pulled away from the dangerous room in front of McKay, allowing him to lead into open space and a chest mark, while Curnow kept well clear in the goalsquare.
The next goal came after McKay forced a turnover on the wing, with Curnow the deepest forward and with acres of space to use and mark in the goalsquare.
By now, De Koning had moved from the ruck to the forwardline and the Blues had their preferred centre bounce combination of Sam Walsh, Patrick Cripps, Marc Pittonet and George Hewett in the guts.
That quartet won 12 centre bounces and lost just one last weekend, leading to nine inside-50s and five scores.
Walsh ran clear from the bounce and De Koning kept his opponent away for just long enough for McKay to earn a free kick in a one-on-one contest with Himmelberg. Goal No.5 saw McKay and Curnow again keeping their distance, standing 20m apart inside 50, and Orazio Fantasia could clearly see Curnow in a one-on-one with Buckley.
The kick was a scrubber but Curnow was good enough to pick it up and snap truly on the left as a frustrated Buckley threw his mouthguard to the turf.
Curnow became the highest tall forward for the final goal, leaving McKay and De Koning deep and isolated, with De Koning marking on his chest after a quick rebound from defence.
In six minutes of gametime, the Blues erased a 20-point deficit and now led by 17 thanks to three Curnow goals, two to McKay and one to De Koning.
Much like how LeBron James may clear out the floor on an NBA court, telling his teammates to get their direct opponents away to let him go to work, Curnow does the same when he is feeling it.
Having kicked 165 goals in his last 54 matches, Curnow is the league’s scariest forward, and he knows when to tell others to scram. “Charlie sometimes calls ‘iso’ for himself and we open up some space and let him have one on ones,” fellow forward Tom De Koning said.
“When he is on a roll he is hard to stop. I would hate to be a defender against him when he is on a roll, he can score so quickly and just the energy he brings is amazing.”
It hasn’t always been smooth forward of centre between Coleman medallists Curnow and Harry McKay, as well as giant De Koning.
But the Blues have found their mojo with their tall attack, as shown last weekend when their forwards took down the GWS Giants in the second half of a tight encounter.
All three talls kicked three goals in the win and De Koning said the focus upfront was to run “dual-threat patterns” to get the power forwards good looks.
That terminology generally means two forwards leading in different directions to create multiple options for kickers going forward, and to ensure they separate opposing defenders.
“We are trying to run those dual-threat patterns and give them looks one-on-one because we know how good they are in one on ones and we have seen time and time again what they can do and how much they can affect our team scoring,” De Koning said.
“Those two big boys have such a big presence and when they are playing well it is hard to beat us.”
When the three talls all share a forward line, the Blues score off an extremely good 62 per cent of their inside-50s, well above the league average of 43.5 per cent. Carlton leads the competition in scores per inside-50, at a usual level of 49.1 per cent.
In past years when the three all shared one attack, the Blues battled, scoring with 36 per cent of entries last year and 35 per cent in 2022.
But this year, the taller they are the better, with Carlton scoring off 51 per cent of attacks with two talls and just 42 per cent with one big man inside-50. Curnow has been in 20 attacking one-on-one situations this year and won 42.9 per cent of them, while McKay has won 44.4 per cent of his 18 isolated battles.
The league average winning rate is just 27 per cent.
Carlton’s forward line faces a stern test on Saturday against a miserly Geelong unit who boast the league’s best defence, even with All-Australian Cat Tom Stewart out.
The Cats are top of the AFL in losing just 14.1 per cent of their defensive one-on-one contests.
Carlton's score per inside-50 percentage when Charlie Curnow, Harry McKay and Tom De Koning play forward.
No. of talls playing forward 2022 One 38% Two 43% Three 35%
But pressure -- one of this sport's most critical elements to master -- is not all about tackles. It's about the act of creating pressure on your opponent by corralling, chasing, closing or applying it physically.
These are the four different levels of pressure Champion Data uses to determine a player's overall 'pressure points' from a game of footy.
Each pressure act is worth a different amount of points -- with physical (such as tackles) worth more than closing, which is worth more than chasing, which is worth more than corralling -- which means a player could record a very high number of pressure acts in one match but won't accrue as many pressure points as a player whose acts were mainly physical or closing.
In fairness to Carroll he wasn't afforded the luxury of the run up Crouch had. If you look at the slow mo replay Carroll actually was turning his body as he went to pick the ball up before he was smashed.
The ex-Liberal staffer was treated at Royal Perth Hospital amid a breakdown in mediation talks in a defamation case being brought against her by her former employer, Senator Linda Reynolds. Brittany Higgins’ former boss, Senator Linda Reynolds, has spoken out in the wake of the Federal Court’s defamation judgment against Bruce Lehrmann, saying it has finally “set the record straight” on allegations her office engaged in a cover-up.
In his judgment this week, Justice Michael Lee found that, on the balance of probabilities, “Mr Lehrmann raped” Ms Higgins at Parliament House.
Mr Lehrmann had brought the unsuccessful defamation action against Channel Ten and one of its hosts, Lisa Wilkinson.
The judgment also found that an allegation pushed by Ms Higgins and her partner, David Sharaz, claiming there had been a cover-up of the rape allegation, was “objectively short on facts, but long on speculation and internal inconsistencies”.
“Trying to particularise it during the evidence was like trying to grab a column of smoke,” Justice Lee wrote.
Brittany Higgins. Picture: Colin Murty Brittany Higgins. Picture: Colin Murty On Tuesday night, Ms Reynolds – who was defence minister at the time of the rape – claimed vindication for both herself and her former chief of staff, Fiona Brown.
“For three years I have endured intense public scrutiny, vilification, vile trolling and have been demonised as the villain in a story of a political cover-up I have always known to be untrue,” she told The Australian.
“Fiona Brown and I have lost our careers, had our reputations destroyed and have had our health seriously and irreparably compromised.
“The decision of His Honour Justice Lee has finally set the record straight with respect to the conduct of Ms Brown and myself and the demonstrably false narrative that has dominated headlines and ruined lives and careers.
“To say I am pleased with the findings in relation to Ms Brown, myself and the cover-up that never was would be an understatement.”
Ms Reynolds is currently suing Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz for defamation in the WA Supreme Court. The matter is expected to go to trial later in the year.
While stressing that she wished to make no further comment, Ms Reynolds noted that “as a matter of law”, Justice Lee’s findings were “not binding on Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz in respect to their defences” in that case.
“I remain committed to fully vindicating my reputation,” the Senator said.
Too bad for Higgjns Justice Lee didn't have the courage to after the big dogs.
