AFL 2020: Carlton ‘punch drunk’ in humiliating second half fade-out vs Hawthorn

Carlton has been roasted after they fell asleep behind the wheel in an ugly trainwreck against Hawthorn that’s seen their season crash to a new low.

Black and Blue.

Carlton has given up a 31-point lead in the club’s most embarrassing loss of the season on Friday night.

The Blues fell apart in the final three quarters as the lowly Hawks butchered them 89-27 after Carlton exploded out of the blocks in the afternoon Perth sun.

But there was only misery for the Blues as the sun began to descend outside Optus Stadium.

After the Blues kicked the first five goals, Hawthorn responded by kicking nine of the next 10.

The dramatic turnaround left Carlton players shell-shocked in the second quarter as Hawthorn flipped the script.

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“You rarely see a team as punch-drunk as Carlton were in the final 10 minutes of that quarter,” Footy commentator Gerrard Whateley said on SEN Radio

The Blues’ misery was summed up by the moment star midfielder Patrick Cripps committed the cardinal sin of missing a shot at goal after demanding the football from a teammate about to take a set shot.

AFL legend Garry Lyon was scathing of Cripps’ blunder.

“This is a bit of a symptom of sides that are struggling, when things start to go against you then you get desperate and you think there’s only one way to fix this and I will fix it personally and there’s a bit of that with Patty who’s probably had the superman syndrome for a long time, and that’s not a criticism that’s out of necessity because of how good he is,” Lyon said on SEN Radio.

The Blues fell asleep at quarter time.

“He now needs to believe in what’s around him and that’s the development of him as a footy player.

“Part of that belief is Harry McKay has marked it, we’re under the pump, 30 seconds off the clock is going to help us, but instead he called for the ball and when he calls you give it.

“Maybe Marc Murphy looks at Cripps and says ‘come on mate, that’s not the right time and Harry goes back and takes his shot.”

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Cripps’ miss would have cut the margin to less than three goals at three quarter time.

When Jack Martin booted the first goal of the fourth quarter there was just 18-points in it — but the Blues never got any closer than that.

The Hawks went on to romp to their fourth win of the year — putting them on 16 premiership points alongside Carlton on the ladder.

The 14.5 (89) to 9.4 (58) defeat saw footy commentators come out swinging at the Blues.

42 up against Geelong, hang on to win by 2.
30 up against North Melb, hang on to win by 7.

31 up against Hawthorn, steamrolled by 31.

Falling asleep at the wheel catches up to Carlton #AFLBluesHawks

— Corbin Middlemas (@CorbinMiddlemas) July 31, 2020

How feeble must Carlton be to let us do that..

— Adam Collins (@collinsadam) July 31, 2020

Always fun trying to guess which quarter Carlton will stop playing

— Tom Richardson (@TomRichardson) July 31, 2020

Last 30 minutes as a Carlton supporter:

- Outscored six goals to one, conceding 31-point head start.
- Charlie Cameron re-signs, dashing any hope of landing another small forward. #aflblueshawks pic.twitter.com/amxBknFX50

— Tim Michell (@tim_michell) July 31, 2020

Hawthorn outscored Carlton 89-27 to finish the game. A thorough belting, that. #AFLBluesHawks https://t.co/oaRgbcbYue

— Chris De Silva (@cdesilva23) July 31, 2020