Daniel Harford defends Carlton’s right to play finals after finishing on top of Conference B

Carlton coach Daniel Harford isn’t interested in the conference system debate after his Blues secured their AFLW finals spot 12 months after collecting the wooden spoon.

Darcy Vescio leads the celebrations after Carlton’s win over the Bulldogs. Picture: AFL Media

This time last year, Carlton was collecting the AFLW wooden spoon.

In a remarkable 12 month turnaround under coach Daniel Harford, the Blues are now preparing to host a home final.

And while he concedes “no one will give us a chance”, he is bullish.

Sunday’s three-point defeat of the Western Bulldogs was indicative of how far these Blues have come.

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They’ll take on Fremantle and look a world away from the team that finished at the bottom of the ladder in AFLW02 against the reigning premiers, but Harford said despite the disparity in results between the two conferences, his side has nothing to prove.

“We’re a good enough team to qualify for a finals campaign – that’s the way the competition was set out,” he said.

“We’re in conferences because we don’t play each other once. That’s the reality of the situation. We all knew that at the start of the season, we all knew which conference we were in.

Carlton’s Brooke Walker tries to shrug off Tiarna Ernst. Picture: AAP

“It was your job as a team to make sure you positioned yourself best to win that conference to give yourself a chance at the finals.

“We did that, we’re pretty happy about it. No one will give us a chance because we’re Conference B and we’re the ‘losers’. And that’s OK.

“That’s fine. I’m not too concerned about what the naysayers and other people say about our group. We’re a special group and I’ve seen it.

Harford also declared that he couldn’t “give a fat rat’s” about the conference system debate.

“We’ve got work to do,” he said.

LUCKY 7s

They’ve tasted glory at the Olympics but Brooke Walker and Chloe Dalton proved the gold at Whitten Oval.

The pair, who switched to AFLW from Rugby Sevens as rookies at the start of the season, combined for five goals including one by Walker from the centre square.

They’re the sort of X-factor coach Daniel Harford will be pleased to have in his armoury as finals approach.

“I’m keen to go through the gold medal list from Rio and see who’s around,” Harford joked.

“They’ve become quite handy.”

PRIDE SHINES

The jumpers, the joint banner, the joy.

The Pride Game is an absolute hit and should remain with these two teams in coming AFLW seasons. In fact, why not have a whole round?

The mood at Whitten Oval was jubilant as the two sides combined for the second annual match, which recognises and supports the LGBTIQ community.

Inclusiveness and unity is the message and it was heard — and seen — loud and clear with rainbow flags everywhere.

Even some Victoria Police members donned the rainbow on their vests.

Bright, and brilliant.

Western Bulldogs and Carlton players run through a joint banner for the Pride Game. Picture: AFL Media

LONG WINTER

It was co-skipper Katie Brennan who salvaged the Dogs’ first goal for the afternoon, just minutes into the final term.

A second soon followed via Aisling McCarthy, who shared a jig with her namesake of the Utri variety to see out St Patrick’s Day, but they’d simply left their run too late, finishing bottom of Conference A.

“After the first year, we made some changes that clearly worked and potentially got us ahead of the game a little bit with our game style last year,” coach Paul Groves said.

“And then we do that again and there’s probably a couple of things that haven’t worked as much that we learn from. That’s the nature of this competition.”

Originally published as Daniel Harford defends Carlton’s right to play finals after finishing on top of Conference B