Carlton weren’t meant to make it a contest. It wasn’t meant to be a down to the wire thriller. Richmond were not meant to rely on fourth-quarter goals from Jack Riewoldt and Sam Lloyd to steal victory.
It was meant to be the night where the Tigers roared over a young Blues outfit and finally announce their ambitions to charge into the top four this season.
Clearly, the memo got lost on the way down Lygon Street.
Yes, the Blues ultimately walked off the MCG on Thursday night empty handed. But despite the four points going to the Tigers, the real winner of the season opener was Carlton, who provided their fans, and more importantly themselves, a glimpse into the future, one that suddenly seems a lot brighter than it did previously.
The baby Blues were led by a couple of old heads, as Marc Murphy and Bryce Gibbs showed the football world they still have the talent to perform at an elite level.
Even Andrew Walker provided some highlight reel material with a routine one-handed grab midway through the third term. Kade Simpson returned to his best, racking up 31 disposals on what seemed to be a throwback Thursday night for the Blues.
Although, while Carlton should be encouraged with the performances of their veterans, the young crop of baby Blues were able to show the club’s future is in extremely good hands.
Patrick Cripps silenced any doubt that he may be set for a second-year slump, showing his ability to dominate within the packs is as good as anyone’s. Cripps led the Blues in contested possessions (17), clearances (10) and pressure acts (21), while still using the ball at a 74 per cent efficiency rate.
Cripps possesses a certain amount of poise around the pack that is only seen from the league’s true elite, a group that last year’s best and fairest is quickly making his way into.
He proved last year that he has all the tools and potential to develop into one of the AFL’s best. It seems as if he just got better over the summer time, a scary thought for the rest of the competition.
The hype over number one pick Jacob Weitering was questionable in pre-season. However, after just one game, that hype is warranted.
You would be forgiven for thinking Weitering was playing in his 100th game rather than his first against the Tigers. There was no panic or hesitation from the rookie, rather he displayed the calmness that his coaches and teammates have marveled at throughout the pre-season.
Finishing with 17 touches and using the ball at a ridiculous 94 per cent disposal efficiency percentage, Weitering was able to reassure any Blues fans that may have thought Josh Schache was the better choice for the first pick. Weitering looked incredibly relaxed in front of over 75,000 at the ‘G, and Carlton fans should feel that same sense of relaxation when he eventually has a bad game. The kid is a future All-Australian backman.
Even the supporting cast, such as Sam Docherty, who used the ball at an 83 per cent efficiency percentage, Sam Kerridge, who followed up his eye-opening NAB Challenge with 24 touches in his actual Blues debut and Blaine Boekhorst, who showed flashes of his talent, all played games that should fill Blues fans with optimism rather than uncertainty.
The players weren’t just the only newbies in Navy Blue last night, as Brendon Bolton had his fingerprints all over Carlton’s season opener.
Coming from a Hawthorn side that are known for their lightening quick ball movement and using ferocious defensive pressure to force turnovers, Bolton got his Blues to channel that same mindset against the Tigers.
The Blues were more hungry than the Tigers on Thursday night. They’re boisterous pressure and tackling exhibition was something unforeseen from the team last season. However, with 51 tackles last night, they played with a hunger for the footy that is necessary to win football games.
While they ultimately lost the tackle count and lost the contested possession count by two, Carlton created 37 forward-half turnovers, their most in 14 years. Richmond were rattled. The Blues squeezed every bit of comfort out of the yellow and black and pressed the Tigers into sloppy football all night long.
And when the Blues forced those turnovers, they ran. Boy, did they run. The coast-to-coast ball movement was a thing of beauty, as Carlton created countless scoring opportunities from a fearless brand of football and ball movement.
“There were some really good things there to build on,” Bolton said. “We had enough midfield supply, some of our ball movement troubled them and I thought our defensive action was really sound.”
Carlton aren’t going to win a lot of football games this season but if the season opener taught us anything, it’s that they might not be the laughing stock everyone thought they would be.
The Original Buzz
Guest
Cripps will win a Brownlow before the Bont, as good as he is.
The Original Buzz
Guest
Phillips looks to be a very good acquisition. I would say we now have a very good back up ruck man to Kreuzer. These guys couldn't get a run at their other clubs but are really shining through for the Blues. Phillips looks to be a very good acquisition. I would say we now have a very good back up ruck man to Kreuzer. I was a bit surprised by Matt Wright's effort, I thought he was an average player at Adelaide and wouldn't make it with the Blues. Happy to be proved wrong there! With one scoring shot the difference, I think straight kicking would have won the game for the Blues. As the skills improve, the wins will come. If those who didn't play on Thursday push hard for spots, it will give the Blues some handy back ups in the event of injuries. I would really like to see the likes of Smith and Viojo-Rainbow step up and take a spot in the starting 22. The footy season is back, the Blues playing hard tough footy, Essendon and Collingwood below us on the ladder, all is good and right in the world of Football (for now).
berrlins
Roar Pro
I will never say Cripps is better than the Bont but he is almost as good to watch, damn that kids a star.
Macca
Guest
Col -did you see Murohy's response to his relationship with Malthouse? The players just hated playing for him!
Macca
Guest
Throw in SOS Jnr kicking 3 and Dvud Cuningham getting plenty of it in the 2's and it looks even better. Also Col when you look at Kerridge and the 2 GWS boys we got for Menzel you have to say that trade looks pretty good before Plowman and ?Sumner have even got to full fitness.
Col from Brissie
Guest
I would like to make comment on the debutants for Carlton on Thursday night as SOS has copped plenty of flak from certain people regarding his recruitment strategy. Big ticks to Kerridge (24 disposals, 6 clearances), Wright (12 disposals, 3 goals), Phillips (21 hit-outs and a goal) and of course Weitering (17 disposals and 7 marks). Jed Lamb with 13 disposals and a goal also gets a tick as a small forward.
Luke Sicari
Roar Guru
You're denying the Blues aren't young, when they rely on their youth so much and are clearly in a rebuild and bringing in young guys into the club?
TomC
Roar Guru
'A young Blues outfit'. Why not just be honest and admit you didn't realise it? Obviously you didn't mean they rely on Weitering.
Luke Sicari
Roar Guru
Yep, understand what you are saying man. Same concept could even be placed on the Eagles from last season- why had them making the grand final before the season started?
Luke Sicari
Roar Guru
Feels like it's been a while since that ray of sunshine has been coming from Ikon Park!
Luke Sicari
Roar Guru
Yep, another good point. Young teams doesn't always mean in terms of age.
Col from Brissie
Guest
Macca, the thing I noticed on Thursday night was that the players enjoyed being able to take the game on and not worry about the defence first plan they were playing under Malthouse. Thank goodness our current crop of youngsters won't be exposed to his outdated game plan.
Gardy
Guest
Someone has changed there tune pretty quickly after their preseason prediction of Carlton that were so far off the mark they were on the next fairway! I think what was seen by Carlton was expected by most Carlton fans. With Gibbs murphy Cripps and Kreuz in the middle we are always going to win enough of the ball! I don"t think we will win a lot of games mainly due to our lack of forward options, but you can tell under bolts that it won't be through lack of effort.
Macca
Guest
Rick - while I wouldn't go as far as saying the blues will make the 8 (I expect they will still be in he bottom 4) I have been saying for a while (I think Leigh Matthews said it first) no list is as good as people think or as bad. A few weeks back I made the comment that in 2005 the blues list was in much worse shape than it is now yet by the 2008 season they won 10 games and we're playing finals by 2009. Also looking at the blues performance on Thursday night I thought how just 1 player would make a massive difference to this side - if the blues could find a Bruce (a Hogan would be great but I'll settle for a Bruce) suddenly they would be dangerous - hopefully McKay, Silvagni, Curnow, Jaksch or Gorringe might turn out to be that player.
Gecko
Guest
Yes Macca, Tuohy and Kreuzer were certainly good on Thursday night. Kreuzer is a ruckman with presence. Carlton don't have great midfield depth but if they get a full season out of Kreuzer, Murphy, Gibbs and Cripps, that's an A-grade quartet. Luke that was a good write-up. Weitering certainly showed poise in his debut and Bolton has certainly got them playing a confident brand of footy. Nice to have a ray of sunshine coming out of Carlton..
Macca
Guest
Luke -you are right everyone was happy to point to the blues losing to the bombers (generally ignoring the quality and quantity of player the blues were missing) and ignore the decent performances against theHawks and Swans. It was part of a larger pattern over the off season of people delighting in bagging the blues at the expense of logic.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
I never said personally they'd make the 8, but there's no reason to doubt they can't either, like many are saying. Big difference there. The Power a few seasons ago under Primearse were even worse. They had tarps over most of the stadium. In step Hinkley - 2 finals campaigns, 1 kick away from a GF and last year not too bad considering the second hardest draw was handed to them. Too many examples of teams of recent recovering quickly to dismiss them. Sure...Carlton will have many ups and downs, but I have never once seen Melbourne play a convincing brand of football like Carlton did last night under Roos - not once! Get the brand right and you are halfway to the 8.
Samantha
Roar Rookie
They are also young team-wise, should get better as they play together more.
Luke Sicari
Roar Guru
While I'm bullish on the Blues future, I do think saying they can make the 8 is a bit of a stretch!
Luke Sicari
Roar Guru
Agree with both of you Samantha and Macca. Like I mentioned in the piece, the Blues aren't going to win a lot of games this season. Simply too many good clubs and unfortunately they are in the bottom tier. Growing pains are going to happen but with young kids, it is always important to focus on the positives as much as the negatives. With 2016 being a new era in Carlton football, the early positives should be celebrated, as the eventual negatives should be criticised (to an extent).