Friday night’s game could prove to be the rise or the fall for the Carlton Football Club in 2013.
Clinging on just outside the league’s best, the Blues are sitting in ninth but are two games behind a position in the finals.
Carlton’s strongpoint for this season has been their ability to get the ball out of the middle, currently sitting fourth in the AFL for this. Contrary to the Blues, Collingwood are a measly 15th.
The Pies are a bit of an unknown this year with eight wins and five losses. They have been very up and down, beating the Cats in Round 8 to then get smashed by 47 points by Swans the week after.
Last time these two teams met, the Black and White army sang into the night with a 17 point win, to give Carlton’s season a horror start.
Many were saying no one could come back from an 0-4 start, but slowly and steadily Mick Malthouse turned a corner with his developing side and the Blues hit some form.
This match is a perfect time to reflect if they have improved since that match to forget from earlier on in the season.
Now, it’s in the players hands. The match will almost certainly come down to second, third and fourth efforts, gutsy hard ball gets and a bit of grit and determination.
mark
Guest
Richard pratt cup eh !!. The Knights of Abbotsford are such one Collingwood faction who do not recognise the Richard Pratt cup, typical Carlton arrogance to name a cup after the organiser of a price fixing scandal.
SportsFingers
Roar Pro
Me too. Do you think Marc Murphy is a better leader than Chris Judd?
Macca
Guest
Yes.
SportsFingers
Roar Pro
I think I prefer Yarran through the middle with pace to go forward, but clean kicking when in defence. Do you go for Carlton?
Macca
Guest
I like him forward pushing occasionally into the midfield, as he can do a lot of damage with minimal disposals. As for Carlton being clear favourites I am not surprpised, the pies are missing a lot of good players and haven't been playing good footy, the blues have been very competitive in every game.
SportsFingers
Roar Pro
Also did you see that Carlton are clear favourites, I am surprised. Although they are playing well I wasn't expecting that.
SportsFingers
Roar Pro
When is behaving well, do you prefer Chris in the Forward Line, Midfield or Defence?
Macca
Guest
In the long run yes, might it have made a difference last week to have him play a full game - possibly but I thikn he had to do his penance.
SportsFingers
Roar Pro
Do you think Mick did the right thing putting Yarran as sub?
Macca
Guest
I also forgot that Yarran laid I think 7 tackles in a quarter and a half last week - yes he has his issues but he is only 22.
SportsFingers
Roar Pro
I agree more with you Macca, Gibbs and Kreuzer are definitely very good, gutsy players.
Macca
Guest
Chairman Kaga - While I wouldn't be surprised with the results (I think the blues side is much better than round 2 and teh Pies side is worse plus the blues have been playing pretty good footy in recent weeks) I can't abide you characterisation of Gibbs & Kreuzer as "downhill skiers" - look at Gibbs contested footy, clearance and tackle stats over the past month against the best teams in the comp. And Kreuzer was brilliant in the ruck against the hawks. You have to remember both of these palyers are only 24 and Kreuzer in particular is still a year or two off being fully developed into a ruckmans body - when you also consider his injuries over the last couple of years I think you are being paritcularly harsh.
SportsFingers
Roar Pro
Interesting take on the match, Chairman Kaga.
Chairman Kaga
Guest
Carlton to win by over 6 goals. Won't be surprised by this result, and neither should you. Problem is at Carlton, there are too many downhill skiers. Guys like Gibbs and Kruezer that get through games without trying to win it. Yarran turns up when he feels about it and a lot of our "B" class players make too many errors that give opponents chances they should not be getting. Prepare for a few heads to roll at the Blues at the end of the season. We just lost all that damn time under Ratten, he developed this mediocre standards regime. Going to take a while to weed out.