AFL 2021: Jacob Weitering says Carlton still in finals mix
Languishing at 4-7, Carlton seems a long way from the top eight. Not that Jacob Weitering is giving up on the club’s finals hopes. Here’s why.
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Carlton is looking at ladder-leader Melbourne in a bid to address its leaky defence and turn around a 2021 season that is fast slipping away.
The Blues sit 4-7 ahead of a crunch clash with West Coast at the SCG on Sunday, with their tendency to concede hefty scores defensively proving to be their Achilles heel this season.
After Round 11, Carlton ranked 14th in the competition for points against, conceding an average of 91 points a game.
The Blues also ranked 13th for opposition scores per inside-50 and 14th for opposition points from turnovers.
Reigning Carlton best-and-fairest and key defender Jacob Weitering said such numbers were analysed internally and “aren’t good enough”.
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However, Weitering revealed the Blues had an eye on Melbourne’s impressive full-ground team defence this season in a bid to fix the key areas of concern.
“You can put it down to a bit of synergy between the lines,” Weitering told the Herald Sun of Carlton’s defensive woes.
“It is a team sport. There’s not six defenders. There’s 18 defenders when the other team has got the ball. At the moment we’re just letting teams get through us too easily at stages.
“You see it with the good teams. Melbourne’s midfield is putting on some great pressure and (Jake) Lever and (Steven) May get some high balls in that they can intercept and rebound and they get it forward and score.
“The synergy is something we’ve been working on for sure – as soon as the ball goes forward getting to a man instead of ball watching. It’s the little things that are going to help us, the one-percenters. It’s not a big drastic change.”
Champion Data statistics show Carlton ranks No. 1 this season in neutralising one-one-on-one contests, with Weitering and Liam Jones leading a solid back-six.
“If you look to the positives we’re in a lot of one-on-ones and we win a lot of one-on-ones as well,” Weitering said on Friday at the club’s announcement of new major co-sponsor Great Southern Bank.
“We’re also not having a problem scoring, which is a good sign. We’ve got big ‘H’ (Harry McKay) up there and some good small forwards. So if we can fix some things up with some little one-percenters, we’ll be fine.”
In his sixth AFL season, Weitering is still yet to feature in a final but is hoping out hope of doing so this year despite the rocky start to the season.
“Being 4-7 is not an ideal spot, but if you look at the ladder there’s Fremantle, GWS and St Kilda ahead of us and we play all three of those teams in the second half of the year,” Weitering said.
“There’s still a long way to go.”
KEY COMPONENTS OF PREMIERSHIP SIDES OVER THE PAST DECADE
Stat, Melbourne 2021 Ranking, Carlton 2021 Ranking
Points Against MELBOURNE 1st CARLTON 14th
Opposition Scores Per Inside-50 % MELBOURNE 1st CARLTON 13th
Opposition Points from Turnovers MELBOURNE 2nd CARLTON 14th
D50 to Inside-50 % MELBOURNE 8th CARLTON 16th
Inside-50 Differential MELBOURNE 5th CARLTON 11th
Time in Forward Half Differential MELBOURNE 2nd CARLTON 7th
Source: Champion Data
THE CRIPPS NEWS EVERY BLUES FAN WANTS TO HEAR
Carlton co-captain Patrick Cripps says he is fully recovered from an early-season back injury as he continues to work his way back towards career-best form.
Cripps has played every game this season but required painkilling injections to get through the early rounds and struggled to cover the ground as easily as he normally would.
However, the 26-year-old produced his best game of the year in last weekend’s loss to Sydney, continuing a purple patch of form which has seen Cripps average 27 disposals, 6.3 clearances and 101 KFC SuperCoach points across his past three games.
“It’s just part of playing AFL footy. You’re going to play through some injuries and some niggles and a lot of players do,” Cripps said at the announcement of Carlton’s new co-major sponsor Great Southern Bank in Sydney.
“I’m not one to complain about that. It’s obviously not ideal when you have injuries here and there but you keep moving forward and I feel like now I’ve got a really good block underneath me and I feel like I’m starting to get back to my best, especially around the ball with my pressure.
“We’ve got a long year ahead so I’m pretty excited for the back end.”
The Blues slumped to a 4-7 record with the Round 11 loss to the Swans and face another tough challenge against seventh-placed West Coast at the SCG on Sunday.
Cripps said finding consistency within games was key, with his side having been prone to coughing up multiple goals in quick succession defensively this season.
“We’re still trying to search for that answer and that’s part of the journey as a team,” Cripps said.
“We need to concede less points, that’s obvious. But the good thing is we’ve been in every game, we’ve had a chance to win every game.
“But we know we want to win more games and that’s going to come with tightening up our defence.”
Cripps said he was yet to put pen to paper on a contract extension with Carlton, with final details on a new deal still being worked through.
“We’re definitely on the same page with it all,” Cripps said.
“Myself, my manager and the club have been in constant dialogue and what I’ve said the whole time throughout the year is I’m very happy at the club and I’m sure it will sort itself out soon.”
Liddle opens up on Blues ‘difficult’ rebuild
– Scott Gullan
Carlton is the middle of the most difficult part of its resurgence, according to chief executive Cain Liddle.
As the club continues to make great strides off-the-field, it’s the disappointing 4-7 win-loss record at the midway point of the season which has long-suffering Blues fans anxious about another lost year.
Carlton has not made a finals appearance since 2013 but Liddle remains confident rookie coach David Teague is developing a team for sustained success.
“This is the most difficult part of the journey,” Liddle said.
“This is the part where everyone can see we are capable and naturally there is frustration when we don’t deliver that consistency in performance.
“You see it in different stages of games that we have the ability to match it with very good teams, that is a fact, all we need to do is match it for four quarters.”
Liddle will chalk up yet another off-field milestone on Friday with the upgrading of Great Southern Bank to co-major sponsor for the next three years.
“With everything that is going on with the pandemic for Great Southern Bank to make such a significant commitment as a co-major partner, it is a huge show of faith in our entire football club,” he said.
“The off-field is going incredibly well and the contribution of our members and our corporate partners has put us in the strongest financial position we have been in for a long time.
“We were able to pay the debt (of $7 million) off coming out of the pandemic, that debt had been sitting there for 25 years.
“We have record membership, a full suite of sponsors and we’re also halfway through a $50 million redevelopment of Ikon Park.”
Like every club the Covid-19 issues currently hitting the game will impact the bottom line with the Blues set to lose up to $500,000 for having to switch Sunday’s game against West Coast from the MCG to the SCG.
And the uncertainty which has enveloped the competition has also put the brakes on co-captain Patrick Cripps’ signing a new contract because of potential TPP (Total Player Payment) issues, while full-forward Harry McKay’s new deal is also still be negotiated.
“Discussions continue to go well (with Cripps),” Liddle said.
“And we are in regular conversations with Harry and his management, obviously we think he is going to be a great player for us for many years to come.”
WHAT ISSUES ARE REALLY LETTING CARLTON DOWN?
Jay Clark
Carlton coach David Teague has pinpointed his team’s defensive let-downs as its greatest failing as another finals series looks to go begging.
The Blues meet West Coast in Sydney this round and have already been told they will be able to return home to Victoria immediately after the game to spend their bye break in Melbourne.
Carlton needs a dramatic turnaround in form over the next month or its finals drought will continue into an eighth year (2013).
Teague has repeatedly made clear he wants the Blues to be an offensively potent team since he took over from Brendon Bolton. But it is their inability to restrict the opposition at the other end which has cruelled their ambitions in 2021.
“Particularly from an offensive point of view, we are scoring more than average, but defensively we are allowing too many scores,” Teague said on Fox Footy.
“And some of those scores are just too easy.
“Some efforts we have addressed over the past few weeks haven’t been good enough, particularly when you are wearing the navy blue jumper.”
The Blues were open about their desire to climb back into the eight this season, especially after loading up at the trade table on Essendon’s Adam Saad, Giant Zac Williams and Geelong small forward Lachie Fogarty.
It came after splashing big money on key forward Mitch McGovern from Adelaide but it is a deal that is yet to pay dividends for the Blues, amid a frustrating run of injuries.
Teague said the club’s current predicament was hurting the players as they weren’t able to play their way for long enough in games.
“There is a level of frustration, particularly from the playing group, that we are probably showing for periods of games that we can be competitive, but we are not doing it for four quarters,” Teague said.
“We are not doing it for 120 minutes and when we don’t we are getting hurt on the scoreboard.
“It’s the ‘how’ that is probably the bit (we need to fix), we have got to go on to it.”
There is pressure on Teague to deliver the club to a finals campaign with speculation Carlton is targeting Fremantle midfielder Adam Cerra to round out the midfield brigade.
Carlton continues to remain optimistic Charlie Curnow will return from a horrible run of knee injuries in Round 16 or 17 but Teague said a firm time frame had not been set.
Blues’ great Marc Murphy was made the injury substitute on Sunday but had little impact, gathering five possessions.
Teague said the club would “always go for the younger player if they are on par or similar” to an older teammate.
“We also want to bring players in that are performing well and add to the team and understand and can execute their role,” he said.
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