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Sydney vs Carlton: Friday Night Forecast

(Photo by Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty Images)
Expert
1st June, 2018
106
1809 Reads

There has been more than enough complaining about Carlton’s regular appearances on Friday night that I won’t add too much to it. 

Yes, this looks like another stinker of a way to start the round. Yes, it was a strange decision for the AFL to give the Blues so many prime-time games if having quality matches – if – is their priority. Yes, this is probably a good night to do something other than watch the footy if you’re not a Sydney or Carlton supporter.

But rather than speculate on how this seemingly predictable game might unfold, let’s talk about the Blues like grown-ups.

Carlton are a bad football team, and that’s OK. There has always been bad teams and there will always be bad teams. 

The Blues have been bad for a bit longer than they would like. Unfortunately that’s been their own doing. Carlton overestimated themselves under Mick Malthouse and are still paying the price for it. They aren’t the first team to do that, either – nor will they be the last.

There’s no point dwelling on past mistakes. All Carlton can do at this point is learn from them. You need look no further than their line-up that took on the Cats in Round 10 to see where the Blues’ problems lie.

Carlton had seven players aged between 25 and 30 in that miserable game. That’s a reasonable number. The problem for Carlton is that most of them are no good. Jed Lamb, Sam Kerridge, Cameron O’Shea, Liam Jones and Matthew Wright have all been brought in from other clubs to help fill that age-gap for the Blues. Of them, only Wright is much good, and even he would struggle to get a game in a good side.

Patrick Cripps

(Photo by Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty Images)

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Matthew Kreuzer and Ed Curnow are the other two in that age bracket. Both of them are career Blues. Both of them good players – better than good in the case of Kreuzer when he’s healthy.

Despite the shortcomings of that group, it makes sense to put them out there. The Blues can’t just throw 20 youngsters into the fire and destroy their confidence and batter their bodies. Patrick Cripps takes enough of a beating each week, any mature body that can give him a chop out would be welcome relief.

Carlton simply don’t have enough good footballers in that prime age to be any good. Again, there’s nothing they can do about that in the short term. What they need is time and experience. You can’t cheat in those areas.

Cripps is just 23. He’s coming into his prime but can still improve. He’s already a damn good player.

Charlie Curnow is one of the most exciting young players in the league. He’s just 21. His 200cm key-forward partner Harry McKay has kicked a goal in every one of his ten AFL matches. McKay is only 20, which is the same age as promising key defender Jacob Weitering.

Charlie Curnow

(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

Weitering is a perfect example of what can happen to a talented youngster lacking on-field support. He’s struggled this season – in no small part due to the presence of Liam Jones, in this author’s humble opinion – to carry the burden of being the fulcrum of a struggling defensive unit. He’ll be fine, but it’ll take time.

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That’s a pretty exciting trio of key-position players to plan the next decade around. Throw in defender Lachie Plowman (23) and Caleb Marchbank (21) and the future looks even brighter. Forgotten man Sam Docherty is only 24.

Sam Petrevski-Seton (20), Zac Fisher (19) and Paddy Dow (18) have all shown enough in their fledgeling careers to suggest they’ll be good footballers at a minimum.

But it all comes back to time and experience. The Blues (and those youngsters) would look a hell of a lot different if the 25-to-30-year-olds on their list were Josh Kennedy, Nick Smith, Dane Rampe, Dan Hannebery and Luke Parker, but alas.

There’s even been talk of Carlton shipping off soon-to-be 31-year-old skipper Marc Murphy at the end of the season.

If the captain wants out, that’s one thing, but they need only look at Kade Simpson to see that Murphy could still play a significant part in a good Carlton side.

Will he play in a premiership? Probably not. But Charlie Curnow is more unlikely than likely to play in a premiership as well; they’re really hard to win.

All the Blues can do is stay the course and play the long game. Wins will come, and Murphy could still be part of plenty of them – the Bulldogs couldn’t have broken their premiership drought without the influence of 34-year-old Matthew Boyd and 33-year-old Dale Morris.

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Unfortunately for the Blues, Murphy won’t be out there tonight and they’ll lose by 40 points.

That’s my Friday night forecast. What’s yours? 

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