AFL Adelaide v Carlton: Injuries to key defensive personell add salt to Blues wounds from Crows mauling

Carlton suffered a complete defensive breakdown in their heavy defeat at the hands of Adelaide and with injuries and a red-hot St Kilda up next, it’s not getting any easier.

]Sam Walsh in action. Picture: Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Carlton could take on footy’s most improved side St Kilda without three of its best rebounding defenders as the Blues assess the fallout of a complete defensive breakdown against Adelaide.

Blues coach Michael Voss admitted his side needed to endure any criticism that “comes our way” after failing to deal with the occasion and Adelaide’s frenzied heat in the Gather Round opener.

Carlton is confident ruckman Marc Pittonet does not have concussion after he clashed heads with Reilly O’Brien in a knock that left him with a cut eye and blurred vision.

But the club’s medical staff will have to assess Adam Saad’s tight hamstring this week after he finished the game off the ground.

Important rebounding defender Adam Saad is in doubt to face the Saints next weekend. Picture: James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Sam Docherty is already out for 4-6 weeks after knee surgery and Mitch McGovern’s tight calf will be assessed after he was withdrawn in the warm-up.

It will compound Carlton’s defensive frailties which were exposed in the midfield and back six on Thursday night.

The midfield gave Adelaide time and space to waltz through broken tackles and repeatedly hit up leading forwards with hard, low passes.

And the back six without McGovern could not win enough one-on-ones as it conceded 20 inside-50 marks and 18.10 from 51 inside 50s.

Voss said he was still hopeful that Saad might play St Kilda as opponent Ben Keays kicked three goals on him again in a reprise of the round 20 Adelaide Oval contest.

“It was hamstring tightness, and that‘s all it is, but we just weren’t prepared to take that risk. He felt like it was starting to tighten up a little too much. There was no incident.”

Carlton defender Nic Newman said on Friday morning he wasn’t sure about the extent of Saad’s injury but said the Blues hadn’t failed to handle the moment of Gather Round.

Michael Voss says the big moment of Gather Round didn’t get to his players. Picture: Michael Klein

“I don’t think it was the moment. We have had big games every week this year with Good Friday, round 1 is big, even Geelong as the reigning premiers in round 2. We felt that wasn’t an issue for us. They were just better than us for a quarter. The first quarter was pretty disappointing. We let ourselves down in that first quarter and we were chasing our tail after that,” he said.

“We felt prepared and came over here aiming to put in a really good performance. We just got beaten around the ball in the first quarter and they won the clearances and territory and when they were getting it in there they were scoring pretty easily. They were just better than us.

“The one thing our midfield group is, they have got a lot of pride and I expect a pretty fierce response from them next week.”

Reality check that knocked stuffing out of bleeding Blues

It was meant to be the quarter that Carlton welcomed Sam Walsh back for the first time in 244 days; it turned out to be the term that knocked the stuffing out of the Blues.

How much stuffing?

We won’t know that until the next few weeks, but in the space of almost 40 minutes – a long opening term littered with blood-rule — it was the Blues who were left haemorrhaging.

With the eyes of the footy world fixed on Adelaide, the Crows launched Gather Round with clinical efficiency, purpose and aggression to kick eight goals to two in a first-term avalanche that electrified the home crowd and deflated the touring Blues fans.

Welcome to the City of Churches … the bells were tolling for the Blues from the first bounce.

Yes, this was Carlton’s first loss of the year – a draw and three wins had come before it – but the gulf between their best and worst must be concerning for coach Michael Voss.

And with a huge clash against St Kilda next week, they still have plenty of work to do in review of this 56-point demolition.

The Blues had the stuffing knocked out of them in the first quarter. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

Inexplicably, given this was the best credentialed midfield the Blues had put on the park so far this season, it was in the engine room where the most of the early damage was done.

Matthew Nicks called the Blues mids “scary” earlier this week, but his own version including Jordan Dawson and Rory Laird, wrested control of the game early in the contest.

The stats sheet, as much as the scoreboard, provided a stark contrast in the first term.

For the Crows it was a beautiful set of numbers. For the Blues, it was a balance sheet that was made for distributing reading.

How about these for some negatives.

Minus 67 disposals, minus eight inside 50s, minus eight clearances, minus four centre clearances, minus four stoppage clearances, minus 51 uncontested possessions, minus 22 contested possessions, minus 18 marks and minus four marks inside 50.

How this 2023 first-term ambush happened against a team that cost Carlton so dearly with a shock defeat in Round 20 last season is hard to fathom.

Perhaps that’s not giving enough credit to Adelaide, who were sharp, systematic and strong in controlling the ball with ruthless efficiency.

It wasn’t game over at quarter-time but it was almost the next best thing.

You can’t blame Walsh for what happened in the midfield.

While Michael Voss said his returning midfielder – who hadn’t played a game since Round 22 last year with his pre-season ruined by back surgery – might be a bit rusty, he was one of the few who offered any early resistance.

Sam Walsh shoots out a handball. Picture: Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images

And off the back of having no real pre-season, he was tireless in his endeavours in trying to get his team back into the contest.

Walsh had his first tackle inside the first 25 seconds and his first disposal within the first minute. His first touch was the only the Blues had in the first two minutes … by that stage the Crows had 16 disposals and two goals.

Walsh will take time to get his match-fitness to the levels we are accustomed to, but he still did the hard work early when the Blues needed him. He had as many tackles as disposals in the first term (four), more than anyone else on the field.

He gave the Blues the boost they needed with a snap at goal that bounced between Adelaide defenders Tom Doedee and Nick Murray and went through. It was the first goal kicked by a permanent Blues midfielder this season.

Walsh finished with 25 disposals, two more than any other Blues player, and his seven tackles showed his workrate.

On a night when the stats were damning, the most bizarre one was that the Blues actually had more two inside 50s than the Crows.

It’s fair to say that they didn’t make the most of them, and they have to fix that, and a bit more midfield impact, before taking on the Saints next week.