Game Review

Dockers overrun Blues in final-term surge

Fremantle overpowered Carlton with a dominant second half to claim a 27-point win. - By Rose Zarucky, Carlton Media.

It was a disappointing trip West, as a fast-starting Carlton failed to close out the match, falling by 27 points to Fremantle on Sunday evening. Despite leading by 24 points at half time, the Blues kicked one goal in the third term compared to the Dockers' four. George Hewett and Patrick Cripps (36 disposals each) did their best - evident by Carlton’s midfield dominance - but Fremantle’s transition in the second half held them in good stead. The Blues’ first term couldn’t have gone any better, opening up the game with a fast goal from Ashton Moir. Lachie Cowan and Nick Haynes were instrumental across half back, with Fremantle failing to register a deep inside 50 until the 22-minute mark of the quarter. Goals to Motlop, Acres and two to Evans gave the Blues a healthy 18-point lead at the first break. Dominating the clearances, Carlton were elite at getting it out of the middle, winning six centre clearances to Fremantle’s one. Marc Pittonet (23 hitouts) and Tom De Koning (27 hitouts) were instrumental in the ruck, winning the battle against rotating rucks Sean Darcy and Luke Jackson. The Dockers answered with a quick goal to open the second term, but the midfield work of the Blues kept them moving forward, leading to a Lachie Fogarty goal. Flynn Young was doing well to impact with his pressure, as did Lewis Young, who provided a rundown tackle that stopped an almost-certain goal. Emotions were running high as defender Harry O’Farrell kicked his first AFL goal, but was shortly escorted off the field with a knee strain, resulting in Corey Durdin coming into the game. Hewett was the shining light for the away side in the first half, collecting 25 disposals and 12 contested possessions up to the main break.

Fremantle took control after the main break, slicing through the lines with fast, clean ball movement. While Cowan worked hard to apply pressure in defence, the Blues’ overall intensity waned as the Dockers slammed home four goals for the quarter. Carlton found it difficult to penetrate deep inside the forward 50, with Fremantle’s defence shutting down any clean transition. The visitors’ sole goal for the quarter came courtesy of a strong contested mark from Harry McKay. Taking an eight-point lead into the final term, Fremantle shook off Carlton’s pressure and piled on another seven goals to seal the game. Under relentless pressure, the Blues’ defence battled hard: Haynes and Jacob Weitering stood tall, while Young and Cowan managed key intercepts. Despite their efforts to slow the momentum, Carlton couldn’t win enough possession, and missed chances in front of goal proved costly. Ollie Hollands' tireless running stood out, and a goal from substitute Durdin gave the Blues a faint glimmer of hope. A knock to the face saw Adam Saad leave the field, and two late goals from the Dockers iced a 27-point win. Hewett and Cripps finished with nine and seven clearances respectively, while Haynes and Young both totalled nine intercepts each.

Dockers survive Blues scare to stay on track for finals berth

The Dockers have overcome the Blues in a tough contest - By Nathan Schmook.

Fremantle is knocking on the door of the top four after surging late to beat a dogged Carlton by 27 points at Optus Stadium, but the win could come at a significant cost after star midfielder Hayden Young suffered a groin injury. The Dockers were challenged by the determined Blues and trailed by eight points at three-quarter time, but they booted seven goals to one in the run home to prevail 15.4 (94) to 10.7 (67) in a critical win to their finals chances. They were forced to do it without Young after the star onballer went down with a groin injury in the first quarter, halting what had been a brilliant comeback from hamstring surgery over the past fortnight. Carlton threatened to take advantage in the midfield and dominated stoppages through the first half, building a game-high 24-point lead, but the Dockers responded to win their seventh straight game at home, now sitting only percentage behind fourth-placed Geelong. The Dockers dug deep in the fourth quarter, with their tall forwards winning contests ahead of the ball and Caleb Serong overcoming a quiet start to win nine critical possessions. Josh Treacy, Jye Amiss and Pat Voss all kicked three goals and stood up in critical moments, while small forward Isaiah Dudley booted a pair of fourth-quarter goals when the game was at its tightest and fiercest. Star big man Luke Jackson finished with 27 disposals and eight clearances in another excellent game as a midfielder and ruck, while Andrew Brayshaw lifted in the second half to finish with a game-high 10 clearances. The backline was again led superbly by Jordan Clark (30 and eight rebounds), while Brennan Cox handled the talls and intercepted well, particularly when the team was under siege with inside 50s. The Blues were on a mission from the opening bounce, with Cooper Lord heading to Serong and setting the tone early with a big tackle as Ashton Moir crumbed to kick the opening goal for the visitors. It was a dominant start as the Blues locked the ball in their front half with the first 10 inside 50s and built a 24-point lead, with wingman Blake Acres snapping a classy goal against his former team. It took former Blue Oscar McDonald to return favour and get the Dockers on the board, but their inability to buffer the Blues' pressure and move the ball was a huge concern for the finals aspirants.

Young joined his teammates at the quarter-time huddle as Justin Longmuir implored his team to lift, but the gun onballer took no further part in the game as Carlton's midfield continued to control the match through centre clearance wins. Their pressure also forced Fremantle into backwards handballs and skill errors as Harry O'Farrell and Lachie Fogarty pushed the margin back out to four goals. Treacy's snap from just inside 50m was a highlight for the Dockers, but they needed to fix their midfield issues at the main break to get back into the game, trailing 11-1 in centre clearances at half-time, and 31-20 in overall clearances. Serong lifted in the third, alongside Treacy and young gun Murphy Reid, with Freo bringing plenty of pressure of its own to go on a three-goal run, while Harry McKay kept the Blues in front with a sharp set shot from the boundary. When Treacy converted from outside 50m early in the fourth quarter, the Dockers had their first lead for the game, setting up a thrilling finish. After losing clearances 20 - 14 in the first quarter, Fremantle took control of the contest and won clearances 36 -23 across the final three quarters and outscored Carlton 7.2 (44) - 2.3 (15) from the source in that time. Despite achieving an inside 50 from just 16% of their defensive midfield chains today, Fremantle took full advantage of their opportunities, scoring 4.0 (24) from their defensive midfield chains whilst holding the Blues to just 1.2 (8) from the source.

Ecstasy to agony for young Blue
It took a 50m penalty against Josh Treacy in the second quarter to bring Carlton defender Harry O'Farrell into range, with the first-year Blue taking his chance and slotting his first career goal. Teammates swamped the six-game teenager in one of the highlights of the first half, but the lowlight followed minutes later when he went down innocuously with a knee injury after a marking contest. The Blues said O'Farrell had suffered a knee strain and would be assessed further after the team returns to Melbourne.

Centre clearance demolition
It's rare to see a centre clearance smashing like the Blues delivered in the first half on Sunday, let alone against a star studded Freo midfield that, despite off games against St Kilda, still ranks No.5 in the AFL for centre clearance differential. The Blues won the centre clearances 6-1 in the first quarter, continuing to bully them at the source in the second and going 5-0. Nine different players won centre clearances for the Blues as they mixed up their structure, but the bigger bodies of Patrick Cripps and George Hewett were telling. The tally in the second half was 6-5 in the Dockers' favour as they raced away to win.

Best: P. Cripps, G. Hewett, C. Lord, F. Evans, Z. Williams, N. Haynes.

Voss pinpoints missed opportunities against mature side

Michael Voss speaks on the Round 21 loss. - By Carlton Media

Following a tough loss in Western Australia, Carlton Senior Coach Michael Voss was proud of the fight that his side showed early on. Unfortunately, unable to hold on against the Dockers, the Blues fell away in the final term, but showed glimpses of what is to come in the future. Here's what Voss had to say.

On the first half:
"I thought the boys were fantastic in the first half, probably some of the best football we’ve played this year. Appetite for the contest and probably the best pressure we’ve put on an opposition team. "To be fair, I feel like we maintained that for most of the game, but like a mature side probably does - a confident side that’s now on a bit of a roll - they were able to steady the ship and keep playing the same way and ask the question back of us. "If you look at both teams, one had 88 tackles the other one had 85. Both teams were going at each other pretty hard, but maybe just a bit more consistent method, a bit more patience, taking your moments when you need to gets the game in the end. "We end up losing the game with a few goals kicked late, there’s much us chasing five points or ten points down as it was, but they were able to close the game out very strongly and we couldn’t bridge that gap."

On the group still showing fight:
"With the season over, there’s a style of football we’re still trying to play and a lot gets talked about identity, what you want to see, and we’ll keep coaching it hard. "We spoke about this a few weeks ago about finishing the season strong and I’m pleased to see that while the season has been taken away from us, as a competitor, the four points still matter to us. "We get energised by that, and that’s the intrinsic motivation that we need to be able to get us ready for our next match, and that holds us in good stead for the future while we go through this period of time where we aren’t going to figure in the finals this year."

On the third quarter:
"I felt like the fight was still well and truly on and we had still two or three moments through that third quarter that we should’ve finished plays and we didn’t quite finish our goals. "The question was being asked back at us, but I felt like we were still hanging in that fight. I think in previous games, we’d definitely be accused of not bringing the intensity and concentration that’s required when the opposition brings a bit of added pressure, for us to steady the ship. "I don’t think that was the case tonight. I felt Fremantle really dialled it u,p and they adjusted a few things, took some territory around the clinches and we couldn’t defend it for long enough."

On the seesawing game:
"We were winning the centre square bounce and they were winning around the ground. The game probably swung based on that: the clearance and the territory. "Around the ground, we were able to lose and they were able to score off the back of that after defending the stoppages really well in the first half. "I felt like most of what we wanted, we got, the style of football we wanted to play, we were playing. In the second half, they got on top of us around clearance, and some of their better players started to will themselves at the ball, take the game forward a little bit harder and put us under pressure. "We still had our opportunities, even late, we had our opportunities, but weren’t able to take them."

On the Cooper Lord Caleb Sarong match-up and the young crop:
"I thought it was a really important match-up for us. It shows you the player he is, that he keeps churning away and the maturity of him. "It was a good task for the young man to learn about his game, and we’ll get moments like that. "I was really pleased with some of our younger players. I think we had six players under 25 games out there. Matty Carroll took some great moments, Lachie Cowan keeps growing, we talked about Cooper Lord and the role that he had on Serong, so we’ll keep giving exposure to these guys. "We tried a couple of different things behind the ball as well as on the wing. We’ll keep exploring ways to get better as a football team and we’ll use that information - not just for now - but for the future.

On Harry O'Farrell:
"Unfortunately, it looks like an ACL for the young fella. Shattering news for us and for him. We’ve been so impressed with the young man, he’s going to evolve into a very good player for us, so we’ve got our fingers crossed that it doesn’t turn out to be that. "We’re hoping a different result comes back, but the progress he’s made in his game since he turned up, he’s so slight, he’s not massive man yet, but his ability to read the game, he’s a natural footballer and the players just love playing with him because he’s super reliable. "Over the course of time, he’ll learn his craft about what it’s like to be a key position player. He’s going to be a very good player for us. If we do lose him for that period of time, it’s a bit shattering for us. "The highs and lows of football. It has a great way to lift you up but a nasty way to bring you down as well. "That resilience and grit that you learn over the time of your career, sometimes you get things when you don't want it to show up and this is what might show up for him. "We’ll support him, we’ll wrap our arms around him and we’ve got a good one there. Forget about the player, we’ve got a great person and we’ll continue to have that at our Club."

On Elijah Hollands:
"He’ll be back this week, he’s been hovering around the VFL doing a bit of that but he’ll be back this week and playing VFL. He’ll be back within the program, he’s been training pretty hard."

Team

B:	42 Adam Saad	23 Jacob Weitering	32 Matt Carroll
HB:	2 Lachlan Cowan	22 Harry O'Farrell	26 Nick Haynes
C:	13 Blake Acres	9 Patrick Cripps (c)	36 Cooper Lord
HF:	6 Zac Williams	43 Ashton Moir	3 Jesse Motlop
F:	8 Lachie Fogarty	10 Harry McKay	38 Will White
Ruck:	12 Tom De Koning	29 George Hewett	4 Oliver Hollands
Interchange:	27 Marc Pittonet	33 Lewis Young	44 Francis Evans
	45 Flynn Young
Substitute:	19 Corey Durdin
Coach:	Michael Voss
Emergencies:	40 Hudson O'Keeffe	25 Jaxon Binns	37 Jordan Boyd

In: Flynn Young, Lewis Young, Francis Evans
Out: Sam Docherty (retired), Charlie Curnow (knee), Adam Cerra (knee).

Substitute: Corey Durdin replaced Harry O'Farrell (knee) during the second quarter.

Free Kicks

Carlton 21
Fremantle 27

Front Runners

Oliver Hollands 15.8km
Cooper Lord 15.4km
Nick Haynes 14.3km

Milestones

First Goal: Harry O'Farrell

AFLCA Votes

8 - Luke Jackson (FRE)
8 - Jordan Clark (FRE)
8 - Patrick Cripps (CARL)
4 - George Hewett (CARL)
1 - Jaeger O'Meara (FRE)
1 - Nick Haynes (CARL)

Brownlow Votes

3 - Luke Jackson (FRE)
2 - George Hewett (CARL)
1 - Caleb Serong (FRE)