I may have gone a bit early with my call to sack Josh Fraser, but I did call for Voss to be sacked the day he was appointed so it is always good to get ahead of theses things. For the first quarter and a half it was back to the good old Carlton we have come to love in frustration, but I thought half way through the term we started to turn it around with regards to endeavor. I am not sure we were fully turned on at the start of the game and we seemed to be happy with our performance last week against Geelong and we seemed to play like we were thinking about the bye. Ainsworth, Hayward and Florent have all added to our leadership depth on the ground spreading the load. We had six young guys, in Wilson, Dean, Smith, Cowan, Ison and Byrne, and three others with little AFL experience in Evans, Young and Derksen, but the other 14 players should now all be hardened professionals and play like it. I am looking forward to when we have HOF playing with Dean and Weitering in defence along with Wilson and Cowan. Finally, could some one please explain Walsh that when you are in front with about a minute to go in the match and you have the ball in your hand, then you hang onto the ball.
Stats are stats, they mean what you want them to mean. Geelong defenders marked everything in defence until they didn't, then Cripps took the mark that counted and won the game. McGovern was the one who kicked the bullet that Cripps marked. If he only had one effective kick for the night at least it was the effective kick that was the most important.
We should always be on TV, we are the soap opera of the AFL, we are Days of our Blues. Ex-president in court, Coach resigns, the AFL change the Draft Rules, our Captain looks broken, we are down and out, and then we start partying like its 2023 all over again. Despite making so many errors in throughout this game, and despite it was heart in your mouth so many times as we rushed forward, the players kept fighting. You can follow a team that has a go. Instead of always going long and high to the top of the goal square we came into our forward line from all angles and even though it wasn't pretty, Geelong's defence was separated, and in the end, even though they marked everything that went into our F50 until they didn't, we went long and quick to a one on one in our goal square and Cripps marked the ball, kicked the goal and we won the game. I can't remember the last time Cripps jumped for a mark. If he starts doing that around the ground he could go to another level. Hayward, Florent and Ainsworth have given us more depth, Cerra, Acres and Newman all made errors with ball in hand but they all stood up when it counted. McKay, Weitering, Walsh and Cripps are leading the team and now the others are following. I look forward to seeing the likes of Moir, the Camporeales, Hok and Hof, Motlop, Chesser and O'Reilly in the future.
All of a sudden our playing list looks fine, we have depth, players are hitting their targets with foot and hand, we are chasing, tackling and harrying, our decision making is positive and good, our defensive structures look strong, our forward line is functioning, our midfield has pace and can defend when we don't have the ball, we can transition the ball, and it is 2023 all over again. I am very confident against Geelong this week which is ridiculous.
It is amazing what happens when the pressure from the fear of failure is released. Last year we lost three of our best players during the trade period, the three who replaced them, Hayward, Florent and Ainsworth, were good in this game. Our young players, Smith, O.Hollands, Cowan, Wilson, Ison & Dean were all good too and with energy. My criticism of Voss is he didn't play the young guys enough. They got a couple of late goals, and a couple from soft umpiring decisions, so we should have won by more. I said last week that our players don't have heads or backs and clearly Ison doesn't have a head as well, Cerra and Hewitt had their best games for the season and our leaders led. Life is full of opportunities and problems, I see opportunities for the team for the rest of the season.
I thought our intent was good all night, even in the first half. Couldn't win a contest, couldn't lay a glove on them when they got outside, skill errors, and umpiring decisions made it tough. Brisbane's I intensity dropped, we started winning contests, pressuring them on, the outside, they started to make mistakes, but the umpiring decisions still went against us. If you kick goals, its a different game. Kemp was just wasteful. They missed two that would have put us away, but they kept us in the game. Carlton players don't have backs and don't have heads. Hewitt should not be the one delivering into the forward line, his kicks are up and unders, he is ok going short. Cerra should always go long. He can't hit a target but his kicks go quickly and have penetration. Cripps should stop this sharing the load rubbish and just be the big dog in the middle, will make Walsh and Smith better. Pittonett getting physical in the contest and McKay getting his hands on the ball in the ruck makes us better. Our backline functions better when the ball isn't coming in without pressure. We now know our second half fade outs are not physical but mental, we now know if we play with intent we can make good sides panic and we now know our forward line can function, so now it is up to the players.
