Why I'm getting around the good old Navy Blues

I could never understand why I disliked Carlton so much.

Being an American, born and raised, it’s not like I have a regional prejudice to any footy club one way or another. I’ve latched my wagon to the Giants on occasion just because it looked like they needed a bigger fan-base, but I’ll freely admit it’s not a passionate loyalty.

It’s not as though the ol’ Navy Blues were ever a team that offends people. I could understand someone being anti-Essendon if the 2012 drug scandal bothered them. I could imagine being anti-Hawthorn, Geelong or any other team that traditionally dominates at the top of the ladder. Alas, Blues fans: that’s not Carlton in recent years.

And if you watched the ladies win their first game of the season on Saturday when they overmatched the Giants from horn to horn with their excellent passing and marking while still out-tackling GWS despite also out-disposing them, what’s not to like?

You’ve got that amazing trio of forwards up front in the multi-sport goddess Tayla Harris, 2017 scoring champ and the all-time AFLW leading goal scorer Darcy Vescio, and third-game superstar in the making Maddie Prespakis. You’ve also got some amazing talent in Chloe Dalton and Kerryn Harrington; veteran Alison Downie and youngster Georgia Gee; rehabbed multi-positional Brianna Davey and the highly-skilled Katie Loynes; and Hosking twins Sarah and Jess, plus countless others. It’s a roster of talent that gets you excited to watch them grow and mature as a team.

You could see the spark against Adelaide the week before, when they led by three goals in the second half but weren’t yet ready to hold off a more mature, cohesive opponent. This week they were ready, scoring 40 points by half-time and holding the Giants to just two more goals in the second half when it seemed a run was possible.

With Geelong and Collingwood as their next two opponents, sitting in the conference in which three wins might very well get a team into finals, I’d be optimistic as a fan of the Blues.

And it’s not as though there’s anything wrong with rooting for the men, either. There’s no more exciting young player in the men’s game than Carlton’s Patrick Cripps, although all reports suggest their No.1 draft pick, Sam Walsh, might be even better down the road. The cupboard’s been bare the last few years, sure, but their fan-base has continued to support them through thick and thin. Despite going 19-69 over the last four seasons their membership continues to support coach Brendon Bolton and cheer the team’s positive achievements. What’s not to like?

I’ll tell you what.

That fight song.

Carlton’s Tayla Harris and Madison Prespakis (Brett Hemmings/Getty Images)

I finally figured it out as the team belted out that staid old ballad while jumping in time to the slow tempo of the Carlton fight song. That’s no fight song; that’s a wistful ballad from the era the Blues were formed, which anthropologists have ascertained was the last half of the 19th century.

I’ve got nothing against old music. I taught music for over three decades, and the reason old music survives is that it’s good. Several of the club fight songs are oldies but goodies. Collingwood, Adelaide, Richmond, Sydney, Geelong – all those clubs have songs borrowed or stolen from the same era, and they work just fine.

And there’s nothing wrong with Carlton’s song as a song, either – it’s just not a pep-you-up, ‘let’s party ‘til the sun comes up ‘cause we just won the game’ kind of song. It’s more the kind of song that the old members sing around the fire between sips of fine brandy while reminiscing about the 1970 grand final.

Even just reading the lyrics makes you question how committed the team is to winning.

“We’re the team that never lets you down” – okay, so far so good – “We’re the only team old Carlton knows” – Now, see, that sounds like they’re telling the poor community of Carlton, “Hey, we aren’t much, but we’re all you got!”.

And what exactly does this mean – “With all the champions they like to send us, we’ll keep our end up”? It sounds like they say they know they play against a lot of champions but that they’ll do the best they can against them.

“And they will know that they’ve been playing against the famous old dark Blues” could be taken either way, couldn’t it? Last year GWS knew they were playing the Blues, so they knew they could take a couple of guys completely off the field and not have to worry about losing.

That’s a cheap shot, and I apologise, but you get my point.

Carlton’s Darcy Vescio and Madison Prespakis (Kelly Defina/Getty Images)

It wouldn’t be so bad if those lyrics were set to something more upbeat than Lily of Laguna. Maybe we could get a young up-and-coming Aussie punk band to put a hard backbeat to the words and melody and spice it up enough to make it sound like you’re excited when you sing it!

Despite the horrible fight song, I can’t help but start rooting for Carlton’s women to succeed. And it’ll be okay to root for the men as well – I can’t wait to see Steele Sidebottom shepherding Sam Walsh in the ways of the professional game. But I can also hope that Fox Sports and Seven will cut away from the game when they get ready to sing their supposed fight song, too.

Round 4

Geelong vs Carlton
Saturday at GMHBA Stadiums

Even though the ELO-FF says the Cats will win, it doesn’t really take into account the huge surge the old dark Navy Blues are riding. We’ll take the Blues to move to 2-2 on the season. Those forwards are going to have a field day against the Geelong defence.

Western Bulldogs vs Brisbane
Saturday at Whitten Oval

ELO-FF favours the Doggies at home, and anyone who’s watched the league this season knows that betting on Conference B in an interdivisional match-up is throwing away your money. But I have faith in Brisbane – though not enough to favour them here. Take the Bulldogs.

Adelaide vs Fremantle
Saturday at Marrara Oval

The Crows’ famous second home, given the number of players from the Northern Territory who have played in Adelaide colours, especially in their title season of 2018. But Fremantle isn’t going to be stopped by anything Adelaide or Darwin will be able to throw at them this season. We’re riding the Dockers all the way through to R7.

Collingwood vs Greater Western Sydney
Sunday at Morwell Recreation Reserve

An exciting duel to see which team can get its first win and which team worries about being relegated to a mythical Conference C next season with Gold Coast, Richmond, St Kilda and West Coast. None of those teams will get even a whiff of the advantages the North Melbourne club got this season – expect them all to go winless except against each other next year. We see Collingwood’s ELO-FF rating as favouring them by seven, but the eyeball test questions that the Magpies can guarantee they will even score seven points, so we’re taking GWS to gain their first win.

Melbourne vs North Melbourne
Sunday at Casey Fields

Melbourne have proven themselves to be more than just Daisy Pearce – they have plenty of playmakers, a strong defence and goal-scorers who can get the job done against anybody. They looked overwhelming in the first half against the two-time finalists from the east coast and they’ve got confidence bubbling right now. But I say Kangaroos by 30. Did I mention that none of that matters this season against North Melbourne?

Totals

Last week:3-2
I said take the points on Carlton’s side, but I also said bet the Giants, so I’ll cop the loss despite my confidence in Carlton. I’m a big boy; I can deal with it.

Overall this season: 11-3-1

And, finally, some random thoughts from the round just passed.

I think we’ve misunderstood the AFLW conference system. The intent was never to have two equal divisions but rather a premier Conference A and a relegation Conference B. The second-tier teams, who are currently 0-9 against the premier division, are fighting for a chance to advance into Conference A next season, while the bottom two teams in Conference A will hope to avoid relegation to Conference B.

I would’ve thought that sticking two-time finalist Brisbane in relegation was a bit unfair, but the league seems to know what it was doing – they’re 0-2 against the premier conference themselves after being destroyed by both Fremantle and Melbourne in consecutive weeks.

Will somebody check on Ellie Blackburn for me? Watching her get smacked in the head twice in the first quarter on Friday night was painful from 15,000 kilometres away!

Perhaps it was intentional on the schedule maker’s part, but it sure looks like the Kangaroos trip west in Round 7 to Fremantle Oval will be for all the marbles – the winner will most likely host two finals and the game could very well decide the home deck for the rematch two weeks later for the title. I favour the Kangas in Round 7, but if they win there, they’re playing with house money for the title. On the other hand, should the Dockers hold serve in R7, they’ll hold all the cards in the rematch two weeks later. I can’t wait to see it!

It may seem trivial to some, but I think it’s really cool that the AFLW apparently made the decision to let every team wear its more colourful home uniform regardless of game site. As long as it doesn’t cause a visual conflict for the players, and I haven’t noticed one yet, it’s a better look and produces much less ill will than dealing with alternative strips and all that jazz. When a team only shows up every other year – or less, as the league continues to expand – that helps the casual fan connect with the opponent better too. Bravo, AFLW.