By Peter Ryan
Too often, the narrative surrounding Carlton focuses on individuals needing to lift.
The famous five always get a run: Patrick Cripps, Sam Walsh, Charlie Curnow, Harry McKay and Jacob Weitering.
Then it’s Mitch McGovern, Adam Saad, Nic Newman, Adam Cerra, Jack Martin or Tom De Koning.
It’s been an up and down season for Carlton’s superstar forward Charlie CurnowCredit: AFL Photos
It’s fun, but it’s garbage.
The only way Carlton will return to serious contention is having players who are disciplined enough to stick to a system when the moment demands.
Because their turnover game is good enough to take them further if they do.
Amid all the drama at the MCG during Scott Pendlebury’s 400th match, it was an ongoing flaw in their system that cost the Blues again.
And we are not talking about McGovern’s wayward last kick for goal.
The thrilling finish in the Carlton v Collingwood clash.Credit: Fox Footy
They failed to defend a defensive-50 stoppage when it mattered.
In the opening minutes of the final quarter, Adam Saad let Jamie Elliott loose to receive a Pendlebury handball and snap a goal from a defensive stoppage to make the margin a match-winning (albeit tight) 32 points.
Adam Saad let Jamie Elliott loose at a crucial stoppageCredit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
The Blues went into the match having given up 10 goals more than any team from a defensive stoppage and ranked 18th for points from clearances in the previous four rounds, having given away 52 points.
It was the second time this season a defensive-50 stoppage had cost them against Collingwood. But they haven’t fixed it. And they are running out of time to do so.
They can be braver with their ball movement, too.
Fix those two issues and they have the talent – even with their injuries – to win the premiership.
Weitering and Newman do switch angles, but they often take too long to do so (unless they are trailing in the last quarter), limiting the prospect that overlap run will follow and a free target will be easier to find inside 50.
That pair are not natural risk-takers, and without McGovern taking intercept marks and with Saad’s willingness to run subdued, their forward line is more crowded than the Monash Freeway by the time the ball arrives.
That’s not helping Curnow – who is yet to fire in a final – nor McKay’s cause, particularly when they target the tall pair 60.1 per cent of the time (Curnow 33.2 and McKay 27.7) inside forward 50.
That’s because the Blues don’t have a small forward of the class of Collingwood’s Bobby Hill or Geelong’s Tyson Stengle, who kicked four goals each in the past two grand finals.
Curnow, right, celebrates a goal with teammate Jack Martin.Credit: Getty Images
Martin has an x-factor. Although V/Line is more reliable than the talented Martin, given his injury history, the Blues need to think carefully before disposing him at the end of this contract.
Zac Williams is injured too, as is De Koning, who was missed against Collingwood when Darcy Cameron dominated Marc Pittonet. Adam Cerra has another hamstring injury. Matt Owies, Lachie Fogarty and Jesse Motlop try hard but don’t create chaos.
Cripps and Walsh can’t do any more to lead a midfield stacked with players who don’t often hit leading forwards on the chest and lack genuine leg speed.
Mitch McGovern after his final kick sailed wide.Credit: Getty Images
So, adherence to the defensive system and the bravery to implement their offensive system is more important than ever for the Blues because the difference between them winning and losing is so marginal.
The combined losing margin of 43 points in the four losses they have endured in their past five games tell us that.
They are closer to success than McGovern’s kick. But the final step is akin to the Hillary Step on Mount Everest. It will take courage and discipline to make it.
Live ladders, half-dead supporters
Live ladders have become a modern-day transistor radio for football fans.
Within the final minute of the match between Essendon and Fremantle, the Dockers went from sixth to third for 22 seconds before tumbling back to sixth following a brilliant clearance from Essendon star Zach Merrett that allowed Sam Durham to kick a match-winning behind with 24 seconds remaining on the clock.
The Tom Green goal that gave the Giants the lead over Hawthorn with fewer than three minutes remaining lifted them from eighth to third (they finished the round fourth) and pushed Hawthorn back to 10th.
Full of bounce: Jade Gresham after drilling a pivotal goal in the Bombers’ stunning comeback.Credit: AFL Photos
No team has a hold on any position, with teams swapping ladder positions quicker than people playing musical chairs swapping seats.
After defeating Melbourne on Friday night, Footscray spent part of the round sitting in fourth, fifth and sixth position before settling in seventh. They will now change their name back to the Western Bulldogs. Make sense of that, and you can make sense of the season.
Port Adelaide jumped from seventh to third and Carlton slumped from fourth to eighth. Essendon are still alive with Sydney to play Collingwood, Fremantle to play Geelong, the Lions to play the Giants and Carlton to play Hawthorn in round 22 so we can watch the live ladder get crazy again.
What such a crammed ladder also does is lift the gravity of every decision a player, umpire, timekeeper and score reviewer makes between now and the end of the season.
It’s the Olympics, but the winner is not Sydney
Don’t assume it was an unSydney-like effort. This unit can collapse quicker than a middle order on a seaming deck.
In their past 45 matches, they have been beaten three times by more than 80 points. West Coast are the only other club to manage such a feat in their past 45 matches.
But this was a rare form of capitulation as Sydney started against Port Adelaide like Joe Biden’s campaign. The Power might yet give Ken Hinkley a chance to stand on the premiership dais and yell: “Warren Tredrea, you were wrong.”
Not securing West Coast’s Tom Barrass as Sydney hoped meant their lack of defensive depth was not addressed, with their late call to recruit Fremantle’s Joel Hamling a long shot that has not come off.
Injuries to Dane Rampe and Tom Papley have definitely hurt but their connection – normally a Sydney trait – appears below where it usually sits.
Chad Warner and his Swans teammates trudge off the Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.Credit: Getty Images
Perhaps the decision to appeal Isaac Heeney’s suspension to keep his Brownlow hopes alive, and the silly video that followed, indicated minds had wandered when their spot in the top two seemed assured.
Now most minds are wondering whether the Swans are a serious contender.
With these head-to-head numbers from the first siren to the 17-minute mark of the second quarter when they did not score and trailed by 71 points, it’s hard to imagine them being one.
They would need to defy history to win it. Carlton are the only team to have won the flag after a 100-point plus loss during their season. And that was in 1945.
Melbourne must ask themselves serious questions
Their pre-season was diabolical, and then their season lost all momentum with Christian Petracca’s season-ending injury on King’s Birthday.
Now it appears a top eight finish is impossible, the Demons can turn to bad luck at losing Angus Brayshaw and Petracca as the reason behind their fall, or they can use missing finals as the catalyst to address real issues and accept that change is needed at a club that has lacked off-field leadership this season.
Just four wins in their past 12 games indicates all is not right.
Goodwin knows a gap has opened up between Melbourne and their finals rivalsCredit: AFL Photos
Simon Goodwin is a premiership coach who should remain, but he needs help to re-energise a place that appears stale and reactionary while talent remains on the list.
A fresh look at the forward line is required and although the club have no intention of trading out Clayton Oliver they should not close their ears or eyes to any idea that comes across their table.
Wholehearted premiership players such as Jack Viney, Ed Langdon, Alex Neal-Bullen and Jake Lever deserve this question to be confronted: Is the environment giving every player the chance to perform at their best?
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