AFL pre-season: Key takeaways, highlights from Carlton v Melbourne
It was the Dees who got a semblance of revenge over Carlton, and in the process may have exposed a key flaw that could haunt the start of the Blues’ campaign. JOSH BARNES has the pre-season intel.
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Melbourne’s precision kicking inside-50 was as hot as the conditions on a sticky Wednesday night at Ikon Park, as Carlton’s defence had a big hole in it.
The Demons ran out 38-point winners in a final hitout before opening round and showcased some slight forward tweaks that led to 15 goals.
BLUES MISSING PIECE
Carlton stopper Jacob Weitering was watching from the stands at Ikon Park and at times his defensive teammates appeared to be watching like statues in Blue.
The Demons struggled to convert dominance in the second quarter but they did dominate in the air up forward, snagging 12 marks inside-50 in the first half and 20 for the game.
Carlton took just four grabs in their own forward line during the first half.
For context, Geelong led the league last year with an average of 14.5 marks in the forward-50 over an entire four quarters.
Carlton stand-in coach Ash Hansen said it was made pretty clear to the Blues defenders at half-time that their work wasn’t up to scratch and the team improved after the main break.
“Certainly the team system helped us defend those aerial contests when we weren’t getting the job done in the first half,” he said.
Sam Durdin and Zac Williams both played in the VFL earlier on Wednesday and will come into the mix for opening round with the Blues to confront the league’s best attack from last year in the Brisbane Lions.
The Dees had plenty of supply, winning the inside-50 count 65 to 42.
A number of the Melbourne marks came at times when the Blues had plenty of numbers back, including simple grabs in traffic to Tom Sparrow and Jacob van Rooyen.
With Weitering still on the way back from his calf injury, Lewis Young and Brodie Kemp both played alongside Mitch McGovern as tall Carlton defenders against Melbourne.
Neither Young nor Kemp truly impressed and Melbourne’s ball use going forward was markedly sharper than the kicking that led to a straight sets exit in September last year.
The Dees had to find targets in crowded forward lines at times early but kicked the ball in hard and flat, allowing van Rooyen to get some separation and take a couple of contested marks.
Simon Goodwin has been looking for minor tweaks to open up scoring opportunities over summer and things looked good on Wednesday.
Blues coach Michael Voss may find himself spending the next couple of weeks massaging Weitering’s calf in the hope the vice-captain returns soon.
DEBUT WATCH
Caleb Windsor has to be very close to supergluing his magnet on Goodwin’s opening round board.
Running the wings, the draftee bagged two classy goals and his running power kept him involved in overlap play for much of the night.
With Lachie Hunter sidelined due to a calf issue, Windsor has done everything right to land a debut.
Windsor had Demons insiders fawning over his effort throughout pre-season and had the cheer squad on board early on Wednesday night.
Demons assistant Andrew McQualter said post-match that the teen had done everything right over summer.
“He has really given himself every chance (for opening round) hasn’t he,” McQualter said.
“He has had a really terrific pre-season, he has trained hard. He is a young kid and has lots of his game that he will still get better at.”
Tom Sparrow also impressed in Melbourne’s midfield, bagging three goals in a midfield role.
“I have been really impressed by Tom, he is a real pro,” McQualter said.
“(He is a) young kid but he has a mature head on his body and he has trained really strongly over this pre-season.”
For Carlton, Orazio Fantasia’s bright opening quarter should have him in the mix, particularly after Jesse Motlop went down with a jarred toe.
Motlop hurt the toe on his left foot in the opening quarter and didn’t return after quarter-time, with the Blues labelling his absence as “precautionary”.
Fantasia didn’t light up Ikon Park but he set up Harry McKay’s first goal with a bullet pass and had six touches on the first term.
He was quieter from there but showed some class with a clever tap in the second quarter that led to a goal.
HARRY’S UPS AND DOWNS
There was a new set shot routine but it was the same old Harry in front of the sticks.
Harry McKay has clearly remodelled his action to kick his set shots with more momentum and it looked OK with a goal from 15m in the opening quarter but he shanked a look from straight in front in the second term, skewing the ball out on the full.
“He dropped it sideways. Absolute shocker off the boot,” goalkicking great Jason Dunstall said on Fox Footy.
McKay slotted a set shot in the third but missed another easy one in the fourth.
McKay spends more time on the track practising his goalkicking than any other Blue and is committed to changing his style after kicking the same way throughout his football life.
At the other end, Bayley Fritsch had two bad misses in the first half and then kicked one into Mitch McGovern on the mark.
Outside of the sloppy goalkicking, McKay was sent into the middle in the second half, splitting ruck duties with Tom De Koning as Marc Pittonet rested.
Pittonet looked underdone against a near-perfect Max Gawn and will be questionable heading into March 8’s season opener against Brisbane.
DEE’S SURPRISE ROLE TO CONTINUE
Melbourne is set to stick with Christian Salem as one plug to a multitude of midfield holes as the Dees get “creative” in the middle.
Salem was superb early in a comfortable win over Carlton on Wednesday night and played full minutes as a centre bounce midfielder.
With Angus Brayshaw now retired and Clayton Oliver’s opening round status in the air, Salem stepped off the half-back line and provided a boost against the Blues by grabbing 23 disposals along with a game-high nine tackles.
“He looked really good didn’t he,” Demons assistant coach Andrew McQualter said.
“He’s a good player and anywhere you put him he will be a good player. Clearly we are going to have to get a little bit creative with our midfield and he played there tonight and was really good for us.”
SCOREBOARD
CARLTON 2.0 4.0 8.2 1.3 (63)
MELBOURNE 5.1 9.4 12.7 15.11 (101)
Goals: Carlton: McKay 3, Curnow 3, Acres, Boyd, Cripps, Cuningham
Melbourne: Sparrow 3, Schache 2, Gawn 2, Windsor 2, Pickett, Billings, Neal-Bullen, van Rooyen, Chandler, Fritsch.
Best: Carlton: Saad, Cripps, Docherty, McKay, Hewett.
Melbourne: Gawn, Salem, May, Sparrow, Viney, Windsor.
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