AFL Rd 20 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Brisbane at Marvel

Re: AFL Rd 20 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Brisbane at Marvel

Reply #15 – Today at 12:22:36 am

Unbelievable - altho, I did pick us!

Absolutely gutted I didnt go to the game as Im away, absolutely the right outcome for Crippa 👑

Re: AFL Rd 20 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Brisbane at Marvel

Reply #16 – Today at 01:38:17 am

Some reflections on what will be my favourite H&A game for the 2026:

[1] Pitto was murdered in the ruck. But did that stop him? Not in the slightest. He may not have won the taps, but he made Draper's and Fort's ineffective. He often sharked the hit out himself. he had 6 clearances and helped our mids stop Brisbane's avenue to goal.
His tackle early in the game really showed that we were on.
As the game went on, he started to get more taps himself.
Pitto had a big night. We really missed him when he was out.
For that matter, Lewis Young showed similar intelligence when it was his turn to ruck. He didn't get a lot of taps, but he sharked more than a few and made it hard to the Brisbane mids to get their hands on the ball.
Both guys really stood up tonight.

[2] Jagga Smith must win the Rising Star:
He may have won the Robert Walls medal, but I think George Hewett was better. But that was irrelevant. Jagga is a guy in first season of football, and he really stood up. He had 29 possessions, kicked goals, made tackles, got clearances, and not just the crap we had a few weeks back, but real burst out of the centre clearances. And he will probably get better with experience and a bit more muscle.

[3] Our defence:
If there was one area we were supposed to be ordinary in, it was our back half. We were missing Weitering, Newman, O'Farrell and more, yet our guys not only did the job, they slaughtered one of the most vaunted attacks in the game. Harry Dean ... what can you say? He played like his life depended on it. he played on a couple of big names and kicked more goals than they did combined. Wade Derksen had 18 possessions and 11 marks; he was excellent, playing with poise. His marking was excellent. Billy Wilson did his job well. Ollie Florent has got better as the season has gone on, he was brilliant tonight. His kicking was excellent and set things up. Haynes and Cowan didn't have huge nights, but they did their jobs with aplomb. Both set up goals with their efforts. Lewis Young also spent some time in defence and didn't screw up once. And he also kicked straight, for a change. We can't be dropped after a game like that.
And the way our guys chased and tackles ... I loved it. Brisbane had one more tackle than we did, but Dunkley had 9 of them. Take that out and they it doesn't read well. And Brisbane don't tend to tackle much because of their ball movement. We had the fewest tackles we've had in ages, because we had the ball and moved it efficiently.

[4] Brodie Kemp:
He is very much a confidence player and his confidence has been awfully down. getting those two early goals turned his game around. Not only was he supplying goals for others, but he felt confident to kick them himself.
How do we get him to play this way every week? I don't know, but he embarrassed the Lion's defence.
That he wasn't #1 forward probably helped: H took the key defender (and won that battle comfortably). Mitch was down a bit, but had some moments of true magic!