AFL Round 15 Carlton v Geelong: All the analysis and fallout as the Blues make a statement in huge win

It’s official, Geelong’s 7-0 start had everyone fooled. What the Cats dished up on Friday night was laughable, writes JOSH BARNES. The Blues, on the other hand, are a very real premiership threat.

Josh Barnes

@Josh__Barnes

4 min read

June 22, 2024 - 8:20AM

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Friday night was about a clinical Carlton and a comical Cats.

Where the Blues cruised through what could have been a difficult game with the ease of a premiership contender, Geelong proved definitively it was nowhere near that class.

The Cats were smashed in the three areas clubs prepare for – physically they were outworked, skill wise the Blues were in a different league and gamestyle was barely a contest.

So organised for so long under Chris Scott, Geelong jumpers were in the wrong position all night, caught outnumbered in defence and out of synch in attack.

A 7-0 start had everyone fooled – the Cats are 1-6 since and, at times, on Friday they looked less like a top-four side and more like the bottom four.

Lachlan Cowan celebrates his first goal at AFL level. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos

Some of the errors were laughable.

Missed kicks in the corridor, turnovers in the back 50 and blown opportunities up forward.

Geelong was the best side in the league at defending turnover in its early-season winning streak and is bottom-three now.

But it’s hard to blame the defenders when a team gives up so many corridor balls to allow the eager and hungry Blues forwards to sweep forward with numbers.

Scott will be left trying to put out fires everywhere and, worryingly for him, this was virtually a full-strength Cats side, with Cam Guthrie the only name of note on the club’s injury list.

Tom Hawkins was owned by Jacob Weitering and sadly was left to limp from the field in the third term after injuring his left foot when slipping over.

Tom Stewart put in as much effort as humanly possible but Carlton clamp Alex Cincotta blanketed the Cats talisman, so much so he started the last quarter at half-forward.

With Rhys Stanley dropped to the VFL — despite the club promoting a knee injury — Geelong turned to Sam De Koning in the ruck to take on his brother Tom.

Geelong attempted to have Sam De Koning take the ruck at centre bounces and hand off to Mark Blicavs as he faded back to be a loose man in defence.

It didn’t work.

Like a red rag to a bull, Tom dominated his younger brother and even had a laugh at him at half-time, throwing the ball at him as he marched off the field.

Sam and Tom De Koning go head-to-head in the ruck. Picture: Michael Klein

No ruck in the competition is in better form than Tom De Koning right now and while Sam battled on willingly, his brother definitely took the points.

“It probably sits in that basket about the consistency and what he’s been able to do and probably had to build up over a long period of time,” Voss said of Tom De Koning.

“And we know rucks take a long time to do that. They’re involved in enormous amount of contests, and there’s a game they might be able to do that for, but can he turn up for next week? And can he turn up in Round 8? And can he turn up in Round 15? And can he turn up in Round 23?

“We ask a lot of them. So his resilience now to be able to not just go quarter to quarter, but game to game, has been where he’s stepped up.

“He’s certainly taken his game to another level. He’s taken his training to a completely different level as well.”

Both had an influence but Tom was the star. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Geelong has been pumped in contested possession and clearances for most of the season and there were red lights everywhere on the stat sheet at the MCG.

In the end, it was a Carlton cakewalk.

You have to go back to 2006 to find a bigger score Geelong has conceded in Victoria than Carlton’s total of 138 and it was the third-largest score against during Scott’s reign.

Against good teams, mistakes like those that riddled Geelong’s game bite you hard.

And the Blues are a seriously good team.

Michael Voss told Fox Footy pre-match that the Blues are “playing probably a little too much footy out of our back half” and his side clearly righted that, winning the inside-50 count by 15.

Tom Hawkins limping off the MCG. Picture: Michael Klein

Right now, only Sydney can match the midfield might of Tom De Koning, Patrick Cripps, Sam Walsh and the more-than-handy role players alongside them.

“The reality is we haven’t proven (ourselves) over time, and that’s what we’re busy trying to prove in some ways,” Voss said.

“We’re still trying to earn the right and we’re still chasing excellence and so we certainly don’t feel like what we’re doing right now will be the final version of what that looks like, whether that’s personnel or the way that we’re playing.”

Harry McKay’s kicking boots are well and truly back on and the nippy forward line was working at full strength on Friday night.

They will be very hard to beat on the run home.

For the Cats, they have games to come against Essendon, a resurgent Hawthorn, Collingwood and the Western Bulldogs in the next month.

Would they start favourites in any of those right now?