Looking back at Carlton’s 2013 season, it’s hard to determine whether they contended or pretended overall in their first year under the coaching of Mick Malthouse.
Malthouse’s highly-publicised appointment 12 months ago was met with much fanfare, given the Blues had a disappointing season under Brett Ratten after they were expected to seriously challenge for the premiership.
The most interesting story this season would be how Carlton would fare under the former West Coast and Collingwood premiership mentor.
However, it turned out that the difference between finals glory and disaster was a simple announcement made by Essendon in regards to their well-documented supplements program.
Without that announcement, Carlton would not have made the finals, and Malthosue would have come under fire for not taking this talented squad deep into September.
Here is the review of what has been a good season overall for the Blues.
What went right
The appointment of Mick Malthouse as head coach was met with the biggest fanfare in the history of the club, many fans seeing him as the great messiah who was hoping to deliver the club its’ first premiership since 1995.
Malthouse made his intentions clear that another season of underperformance would not be tolerated by relieving Chris Judd of his captaincy duties and passing it onto Marc Murphy, who was taken as the number one draft pick way back in 2005.
On the field, the Blues compiled an 11-11 record, normally not enough to qualify for the finals.
However, after Essendon were disqualified from the play-offs due to irregularities exposed in its supplements program, the Blues were the ones to benefit and by beating Port Adelaide by one point in the final ever AAMI Stadium game, they clinched the last vacant place in the finals.
The Blues enjoyed two victories from two matches against the AFL’s two expansion clubs, including a 43-point victory on the Gold Coast which buried the demons of last year’s 12-point loss which saw Brett Ratten moved on as head coach.
They also showed some great fight by coming from 32 points down to beat Richmond by 20 in the elimination final.
Achieving 12 wins overall for the year marked an improvement from last year, but next year will be about trying to go one step further.
What went wrong
Just like Brett Ratten did in his first full year as head coach of the Blues, Mick Malthouse also oversaw a hat-trick of losses to start his tenure at Carlton.
The Blues were wildly inconsistent all year, mixing in great performances with disappointing losses, especially to their great rivals, Collingwood and Essendon (four losses from as many meetings against those two this year).
And once again, a trip to the finals ended in yet another interstate final loss, after they had lost to the Brisbane Lions, the Sydney Swans and the West Coast Eagles in Brisbane, Sydney and Perth in 2009, 2010 and 2011 respectively.
However, unlike those hat-trick of losses in which the Blues lost narrowly, they were never in the hunt in the second half against the wounded Swans at their Olympic backyard.
And so another season ends outside the boundaries of Victoria – and so the club’s winless run in finals outside the state continue.
The future
Although the Blues made the finals with the aid of the AFL Commission, which kicked Essendon out of the play-offs, this year wasn’t overly a great year for the club, though it was an acceptable effort from Mick Malthouse in his first year.
Next year, though, there will be no excuses for Malthouse or the Blues if they fail to live up to their expectations next year.
Chris Judd will very likely wind his career down next year, as the younger crop move up the pecking order.
If this year saw progress, next year will be the year the Blues finally live up to their potential.
Questions the fans will want answered in 2014
– Can the Blues continue on their good efforts this year?
– What will we make of Mick Malthouse’s second year as head coach of Carlton?
– Can they beat the teams that they just want to beat (Essendon and Collingwood)?
And last but not least….
– Will 2014 be Chris Judd’s final year?
For the fans, hopefully the answer to that last question will be ‘no’.
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