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It’s been six years since the Blues went through what was truly their darkest times. Many fans, including myself, thought it couldn’t possibly get worse for them.
But Brendon Bolton made that possible over his four and a half seasons there. But the board sacked him, promoted David Teague to interim head coach and then permanent head coach and their form has been going up since.
Now some might think how can they be a finals team, especially after such a heartbreaking loss yesterday and being 3-4 so far?
Well I’m here to change the view of those who think they aren’t in contention for finals and prove why they can make finals in 2020 and beyond. Here’s why.
Consistency
Many know that when Carlton were in that ice cold streak they had troubles playing the full four quarters. They even had problems just showing up to the game. However since Teaguey came in they’ve gradually been able to either come back into games and win or play four quarters at nearly full energy.
Let’s go back to last year when Bolts was coach and they were facing Collingwood in front of approx. 70,000 at the MCG. The Pies were already 5-2 in the young season. When Mitch McGovern kicked his third goal of the match at around the halfway mark in the fourth the Blues were up by 10 points.
15 minutes later and Collingwood lead by seven points courtesy of Jordan de Goey, Callum Brown and Jack Crisp. They kick two more goals and the Pies win by 19 points when it should’ve been a Carlton win.
In Geelong just over a month ago and Carlton are in a much better position, leading by 35 points at three quarter time and having not conceded the lead for the entire match. The Cats come back and are down by 2 with a minute and a half left on the clock. Carlton manage to keep their cool and, thanks to an epic Eddie Betts tackle and a late mark, they win by two in what is a fortress.
And don’t forget as well during that time that they would lose by 100 points around two to three times a season. Well ever since Teaguey has come in, we’ve only lost one game by 50+ points. Their average losing margin as well under Teague is now only approx. 19 points. That’s a whole lot better than under Bolton.
We’re also able to play the full four quarters sometimes as well, with Port Adelaide only winning yesterday because of an after the siren goal. And don’t forget about our games against Essendon and the Bulldogs. Yes the game against the Bombers was a close one, but we did still manage to keep our energy up throughout the four quarters.
Carlton Blues coach David Teague (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Depth
Another problem between 2014 and 2019 was that we barely had any depth to cover our injured players. In fact, we had barely any back up really. But now we do thanks to Stephen Silvagni and co.
They do have a few out injured and who do have good first team potential, including Charlie Curnow, Matthew Kreuzer, Nic Newman, Caleb Marchbank even Jack Silvagni and Zac Fisher.
And most of the players that have come into the side have performed admirably, including Matthew Kennedy, who’s averaged 17.5 touches in his two games this season, Tom Williamson, who’s averaged 9.8 disposals, 3.8 marks and 1.4 tackles while defending admirably against some pretty good forwards.
Marc Pittonet has been a standout though, averaging 25.7 hit outs, 8.2 disposals, 3.3 clearances and 2.2 marks per game, averaging the ninth most in hitouts and is in the top 25 for average disposals among ruckmen. Don’t forget he’s played against Max Gawn, Tom Bellchambers, Rhys Stanley and Tim English.
Stars nearly everywhere
And finally we barely had stars between 2014 and 2019, with the only real stars being Pat Cripps and Sam Docherty when he was playing. Yes Marc Murphy was still a solid performer when he was playing during that time, but his form slightly dropped of mainly due to injuries.
But now we have very good to elite players in nearly every key position, especially in terms of tall players. Harry McKay has started to pluck a few marks and kick a few goals and has kicked six in his last two games, and is equal 20th in contested marks per game, while last season he was in the top five in contested marks per game.
Jacob Weitering has dramatically improved this season as well, rarely losing a single contest down back while averaging the equal 21st most marks and the 20th most disposals among key defenders per game.
He’s only conceded the five goals in seven games this season and is averaging the most score involvements (2.8) as well as the third most score launches (1.4) among key defenders, with these stats easily putting him among the best defenders.
Liam Jones has also become an elite defender, averaging the equal fourth most contested marks per game (1.4), the 20th most marks per game (4.1), sixth most intercept marks per game (2.6), fifth most spoils (7.7) and one percenters per game (9) among key defenders. His transition from key forward to key defender has been quite phenomenal.
Levi Casboult has also become very good up forwards, averaging the fifth most contested marks, second most marks, the most hitouts and most ruck contests, equal ninth most disposals, equal most score launches, equal sixth most score involvements among key forwards and is equal seventh in the Coleman Medal race with nine goals.
And who could forget Docherty and Cripps, our two co-captains. Probably our two biggest stars. They’re both in the top 25 in disposals per game (Docherty 17th and Cripps 24th), with Cripps equal 16th for inside 50s per game, equal second for clearances per game, equal first in centre clearances, and is equal fourth in contested possessions per game.
(Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Docherty though is truly elite, averaging the third most disposals (22.6) and the fifth most score involvements (3.6) among defenders the fourth most marks per game (7), third most kicks (16), most rebound 50’s (7.6) and the 16th most uncontested possessions per game as well. Continues to improve even after losing two years of his career.
In the end, if these players can continue to perform and even improve and if we continue to be consistent for the rest of the season, we’re a massive chance to play finals for the first time since 2013.
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