AFL Round 11 Carlton v Gold Coast: All the news, analysis and fallout from Marvel Stadium

The relentless pressure which had Carlton ranked among the top premiership contenders is back — and as CHRIS CAVANAGH writes, it couldn’t have come at a better time.

Chris Cavanagh

@chriscavanagh1

6 min read

May 26, 2024 - 8:37AM

News Corp Australia Sports Newsroom

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The Brutal Blues are back.

Carlton coach Michael Voss bangs on about “contest” every week.

It’s the cornerstone of his side’s “identity” – an identity that had seemingly gone missing.

By their own admission the Blues had fallen short in that area of the game over the past month and had consequently fallen down the ladder.

Not on Saturday against the Suns.

Carlton’s contest and pressure game was back in full force in what was a scary showing against a Gold Coast team which usually rates its own abilities in the thick of the action.

The Blues were tough and uncompromising with and without the ball as they returned to the winners’ list in a big way with a 29-point win at Marvel Stadium.

The home side won clearances 44-32 and contested possessions 132-110.

They lost the tackle count 58-73 – but that wasn’t a worry this week given they logged a whopping 138 more disposals for the match.

“We came in with the mindset to really get after them with our pressure and get our contest right and I think we delivered that,” Carlton onballer Matthew Kennedy said.

“We had a review (last week) and, yes, you can say you want to be better and then try hard, but we went through a bit of the why and the reasoning.

“We tidied up a few little things which allowed us to get after the ball carrier, which was really pleasing.”

Patrick Cripps and the Blues midfield had a big say. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

It wasn’t just the midfielders bringing the heat.

The Blues were aggressive around the ground and it allowed them to play the game on their terms from start to finish.

“The ability from our forwards to pressure, our mids to come in behind that and then the backs as well to keep coming forward was really good,” Kennedy said.

“I think our defenders were amazing at being aggressive with their positioning and staying in front.”

Over the previous six weeks, that defensive group had coughed up an average of 98.8 points per game — ranked the third-worst in the competition.

Charlie Curnow lifted Carlton in the second half. Picture: Josh Chadwick/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

The Suns put a club-record 26.8 (164) on the scoreboard against Geelong the previous week, but Carlton kept them to less than half of that with 11.7 (73).

The Blues own forwards battled through the first half, not helped by the decision making of the midfielders at times.

Too high balls headed the way of emerging 202cm Suns defender Mac Andrew – who was a brick wall early.

Asked what his best position was in his draft year of 2021, Andrew responded: “Probably in the ruck”.

The No.5 draft pick can ruck – and did spend some time in there when Jarrod Witts was off the ground – but looks a natural down back and had the better of one of the game’s best power forwards in Charlie Curnow to half-time.

Zac Williams celebrates one os his four goals. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

Curnow finished with four goals — the same number as an unlikely forward hero in Zac Williams.

It was a career-high haul for Williams, who had been switched from defence the previous week against Sydney out of necessity as much as anything but is making the most of the change of scenery.

A slowly improving injury list should help the Blues going forward.

Adam Saad was a welcome sight back across half-back in his first game since round 5, while Lachie Fogarty made his presence felt in the forward line in his first game since round 4.

If Carlton can maintain the rage in the contest and pressure stakes, it will trouble a lot of sides.

Port Adelaide is next on the menu for the Brutal Blues on Thursday night.

UNLIKELY HERO WILLIAMS SOLVES BLUES’ BIGGEST PROBLEM

— Ronny Lerner

A devastating second half has propelled Carlton to a commanding 29-point win over Gold Coast at Marvel Stadium on Saturday which saw the Blues re-enter the top eight.

The first three quarters were an arm wrestle for the most part, but after Suns forward Ben King missed the chance to level the scores early in the third term, the Blues made him pay dearly with nine of the next 11 goals, including six in a row, to open up a game-high 47-point lead and emphatically kill off the contest.

The 15.12 (102) to 11.7 (73) result saw Carlton arrest their worrying form slump which saw them lose four of their previous six matches to drop from the top four to 10th spot on the ladder.

Meanwhile, the Suns will slip out of the eight as their woeful road form continues. All five of their losses this year have occurred away from home, while their six wins have been achieved either at Carrara or in Darwin.

Carlton struggled to fully capitalise on their statistical dominance in the first three quarters, but ultimately the weight of numbers overwhelmed the Suns as the hosts ended up smashing Gold Coast in disposals 408-269, contested possessions 132-110 and marks 129-69, while they also comfortable won the clearances 44-32 against the Suns’ highly-regarded midfield unit.

Zac Williams celebrates a goal against the Suns. Picture: Michael Klein

Captain Patrick Cripps was enormous with 31 disposals (16 contested), 13 clearances, six tackles and a goal, Zac Williams (15 touches) bobbed up with a career-high four goals, Sam Walsh finished with 32 possessions and Tom De Koning did a marvellous job in the ruck with 25 disposals (15 contested), 27 hit-outs and 10 clearances.

“Our mids are a very proud group and lowered our colours in that area last week,” Blues coach Michael Voss said.

“The best way to beat teams and build pressure is create your own and that’s something that we didn’t bring to that game and it was something I thought when we needed our turn (against Gold Coast), we did.”

Charlie Curnow finished with four goals as well, but it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the dual Coleman Medallist who was well beaten by exciting Suns defender Mac Andrew (16 touches and 11 marks) before getting off the chain in the second half.

Andrew’s athleticism, height and close of speed caused lots of problems Curnow, who had to wait until midway through the third quarter for his first goal while Andrew was taking a much-deserved breather on the bench.

ANOTHER HOT START FOR CARLTON

After kicking the first six goals and the opening four majors against Melbourne and Sydney respectively in their previous two games, Carlton burst out of the blocks again with the first three goals against the Suns to lead by 21 points.

But the Suns hit back hard with four of the next five goals to trail by seven points at halftime after they evened things up around the contest and lifted their tackling intensity.

Carlton’s disposal advantage ballooned to 163-93 midway through the second term, but they shot themselves in the foot with woeful goalkicking (1.5), and the Suns defence, led by Andrew, also played a key role in stymieing the Blues.

However, the Blues fixed their radar in the second half to blow the Suns away.

MCKAY UNLUCKY

Carlton fans were vocal about the umpiring all day and they reached fever pitch late in the third quarter when Jarrod Witts was paid a 50m penalty on the wing after Harry McKay made split-second late contact with the Suns ruckman after Witts took a mark. The dubious call brought Witts to within goalkicking range and the co-captain duly split the big sticks. Late in the third quarter, the Blues had only earned three free kicks to Gold Coast’s 13.

Zac Williams doing his thing in Sir Doug Nicholls Round ðŸ–¤ðŸ’›â¤ï¸#AFLBluesSuns pic.twitter.com/CIiyfmNHK9
— AFL (@AFL) May 25, 2024

CURNOW CLIMBS HIGH

In a rare instance when Curnow was free from Andrew’s grasp late in the third quarter, the dual Coleman Medallist produced one of the plays of the day as he leapt high in between Charlie Ballard and Sam Collins to take a huge mark, before splitting the big sticks from a set shot 48m out on the boundary to give the Blues a 19-point lead.

Lloyd Johnston went the backflip. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

And it sure was something. Picture: Michael Klein

LLOYD JOHNSTON BACKFLIP!!!! ðŸ˜±#AFLBluesSuns pic.twitter.com/sMwHjg5d3p
— AFL (@AFL) May 25, 2024

JUMPIN’ JOHNSTON

Gold Coast fifth-gamer Lloyd Johnston provided one of the highlights of the game after he slotted a set shot from 40m out in front late in the first term. The six-pointer prompted the 19-year-old to celebrate with a spectacular backflip, and just before the restart he was seen smiling while admiring a replay of his acrobatics on the big screen.