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In a season of missed opportunities and a slew of “honourable” losses, one could be forgiven for feeling that not only has Carlton not progressed under Mick Malthouse, but they have regressed.
However, at six wins and seven losses and sitting in ninth spot, Carlton is right about where they should be and forgetting the pre-season hype of Mick’s arrival, where most predictions should have had them going into the season.
Overlooking the increased expectations that came with the three time premiership coach moving to Princes Park, Carlton simply doesn’t have and never had a list capable of winning a premiership, even Malthouse wasn’t going to change that in six months.
Malthouse knew this right away as he immediately played down expectations for this year and the next few seasons as the new coach not only needed to bring a new game plan with him, but also needed to mould the list to suit that game plan.
While’s it’s been a frustrating season for Blues fans, with none of their seven losses being by more than 22 points and pushing the likes of Hawthorn, Essendon and Geelong all the way. The level of football played by Carlton has been better than under the Ratten era, certainly better than 2012.
While a case could be made that Ratten overachieved with his list across his three finals campaigns, one of which was within a kick of a preliminary final, the true case is that the rest of the competition improved while Carlton stagnated, having made just six changes to its list across the past two seasons, the bare minimum the team could have made in that time.
The team still lacks strong depth in the midfield with an over-reliance on Chris Judd, Marc Murphy and Brock McLean and too many one-paced and inside midfielders such as Jarryd Cachia, Dennis Armfield, Ed Curnow and Mitch Robinson who lack the skill to hurt opposition teams. In fact, there’s a lack of skill all over the ground with quality ball users such as Bryce Gibbs and Andrew Walker forced to play of half-back instead of in the midfield.
Carlton also lacks key position targets across the ground, with a need for a strong marking forward to back up Jarrad Waite and another key position defender who could possibly free up Lachie Henderson who has shown plenty of promise when moved forward.
Malthouse has brought some changes to the team in his first season, the biggest being the banishing of Jeremy Laidler and Nick Duigan to the VFL and the recent statement made against Chris Yarran as he was dropped after being publicly scolded for the way he responded to starting as the sub against the Bombers.
In terms of the overall game style, the changes haven’t been as noticeable. Certainly he has brought some of his traits from Collingwood across with him, including preferring to move the ball out wide around the boundary rather than using the corridor.
However, many of the same problems still plague the Blues, such as the lack of effort getting back to defend in transition and the lack of intensity early in games which has cost them dearly against St Kilda, Richmond and Sydney.
Things were never going to change remarkably over one pre-season and bigger changes will come at the end of this year, with Carlton publicly stating they will be active in free agency and during the trade period. It will also give Malthouse another pre-season to transform Carlton’s game plan.
While finals always have been and still are the aim, Carlton was never going to stroll in under Malthouse and win a premiership in his first season. Bigger improvement will come across the next pre-season and into the 2014 season, just as the expectations on Carlton get bigger as well.
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