Brendan Fevola gets a hand pass away under pressure from Daniel Bradshaw during the AFL Women's Round 11 match between the Brisbane Lions and the Carlton Blues at the Gabba.The Slattery Media Group
In the wake of Brendan Fevola’s departure, Carlton have been trumpeting their new ‘unpredictable’ forward line during pre-season. Finally, last night offered footy fans a chance to see the reality and the Blues produced a 56-point victory over Richmond. But how much can we read into it?
Minus the departed Fevola and suspended skipper Chris Judd, there was a whisper during the week last year’s finalists could be vulnerable, but the Blues put to bed any doubts with a commanding start.
Carlton kept Richmond at arm’s length all night and went onto triumph by an emphatic 56 points, kicking 18.12 to 9.10, with an even spread of multiple goalkickers pleasing coach Brett Ratten.
Eddie Betts, Chris Yarran and Setanta O’hAilpin all booted three majors, while Bryce Gibbs, Jarrad Waite and Marc Murphy chipped in with two apiece.
Earlier this week, Carlton assistant coach Brett Montgomery and stand-in skipper Andrew Carrazzo had argued the team would be better with their revamped forward options.
“We think that we can get an more even spread than we’ve ever had here before,” Montgomery said.
“We’re excited about what that offers up, that unpredictability. I suppose that single-mindedness to go to that one guy has been good for us, but in many ways it’s actually hurt us at times.”
Carrazzo even added: “If anything, I think we’re in a stronger position than we were in round one last year.”
So on face value, for that change to instantly bear fruit (with six multiple goalkickers) makes it seem the Blues are right on track.
But having sat down and observed the entire match and listened into new Richmond coach Damien Hardwick’s comments after the contest, it’s obvious the Blues will meet tougher challenges.
Hardwick admitted the Tigers performance was ‘as poor as we’re going to get’. Richmond were ordinary and the scoreline flattered them.
Tougher opponents and challenges will come for Carlton, there’s no doubt.
There’s also no doubt they’ll be better when Judd returns from suspension and that’s encouraging for Blues fans. But they mustn’t get too carried away.
Coleman Medallist Fevola has left a huge void which won’t be easy to fill and a bit of early season success against a weak team like Richmond isn’t a great measure of progress.
Nevertheless, the game certainly offered an insight into Ratten’s post-Fevola plans.
The Blues began Thursday’s clash with three tall forwards (Lachie Henderson, Waite and O’hAilpin) along with the roaming Betts. As the game wore on Ratten rotated his talls through full-forward.
Carlton appeared determined to hit up their leading forward-line options (rather than just kicking it long) and all three of their bigmen had their moments. Henderson certainly seems strong on the lead, but faded in and out of the game.
Curiously too, quite often Carlton went to a leading Betts; whether or not that was part of the plan or he was their best option at the time, I don’t know.
On the night, though, Carlton got a lot of joy out of their structure and proved too good for the Tigers.
At full-time the stats chart read Carlton 398 disposals to Richmond’s 284, with the Blues taking 125 marks to the Tigers’ 65.
The statistics confirm the lopsided display, but they also reiterate Carlton’s tactic to show patience with the footy and hit targets, which is a divergence from the Fevola-centric days.
But, as I eluded to earlier, Richmond afforded the Blues far too much time to be precise and in future rounds they won’t enjoy such a luxury.
That’s not to say there weren’t positive signs for the Blues forward-line, with Betts lively, Yarran dangerous, along with the Irishman O’hAilpin, who showed improved footy smarts.
But the Blues will meet tougher defensive opponents this season. For now, it is curious to observe their plans.
If they can find a solution to replacing Fevola and manufacturing new sources of goals, they could be finals bound again.
Ratten appears to know that’s his main challenge and I doubt he’ll get too excited about some success against a weak team like Richmond.
The Carlton coach said after Thursday’s win: “We got a nice spread of three blokes getting three goals which is fantastic for us. But it is one game that we’ve had success with that, so the challenge now is to back that up.”
And curiously next up the Blues face Fevola’s Brisbane Lions.
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