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| Venue: | MCG. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date: | Thursday,14 March 2024 (7.30pm), | ||||||||||||||||||
| Result: | Won by 5 points. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Crowd: | 83,881 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Goalkickers: | H. McKay 3.0, C. Curnow 2.3, M. Owies 2.1, T. De Koning 1.2, M. Kennedy 1.1, O. Hollands 1.0, M. Cottrell 1.0, A. Cerra 1.0, O. Fantasia 0.2, Z. Williams 0.1, J. Boyd 0.1, B. Acres 0.1, Rushed 0.2. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Reports: | Nil. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Umpires: | Nick Foot, Daniel Johanson, Leigh Fisher, Robert Findlay. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Injuries: | Nil. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Ladder: | 4th. | ||||||||||||||||||
Game Review
Blues leave it late... again
Another game, another heartstopper: Carlton has prevailed by five points over Richmond. - By Cristian Filippo, Carlton Media.They've done it again. Carlton was once again made to do it the hard way, coming from behind at three-quarter time to emerge with a five-point victory against Richmond. In another memorable Round 1 encounter from these two sides, it was a game where neither side had clear ascendancy on the scoreboard at any point, with both teams going tit for tat. Patrick Cripps was colossal in the middle with 22 contested possessions - the 20th time he’s achieved the total in his career - while it was arguably Mitch McGovern’s best game for the football club with 26 disposals at 92 per cent efficiency. The Blues will head into the Round 2 bye sitting at 2-0, with the Good Friday SuperClash to come in a fortnight.
Quarter one
The hero from last week stepped up to open proceedings at the MCG, with Harry McKay kicking off the scoring after a Brodie Kemp assist. It was clear from the early going that the Blues were looking to back in their transition game, chaining through handballs which ultimately led to a goal from Matthew Kennedy. Nic Newman had some crucial one-on-one wins early in the piece while Adam Saad was typically brilliant with his ball use, but the Blues’ contest game - usually their biggest strength - wasn’t to the level required in the opening term. After Carlton opened up a two-goal lead, Richmond surged to hit the front at quarter time on the back of four straight goals, beating the Blues in their battles — the Tigers were +16 in contested possessions and +4 in clearances after the opening half hour. Patrick Cripps toiled away with nine disposals, but the Blues needed a lift at the coalface to overturn an 11-point deficit.
Quarter two
There was a renewed intent about the Blues in the second term, playing the majority of the quarter on their own terms. The ball lived in Carlton’s forward half for the vast majority, at one point having 13 of the first 15 inside 50s — however, the Blues failed to capitalise on their opportunities, whereas the Tigers converted from their few forward forays. The Blues kicked 3.6 as some half chances went begging, despite good work in front of goal from Charlie Curnow, Ollie Hollands - who kicked his first goal on the MCG - and McKay. Carlton was putting Richmond under all sorts of heat, and Mitch McGovern was outstanding in ensuring the Blues played a forward-half game. The defender had seven disposals at 100 per cent efficiency as the Blues generated repeat inside 50s, also on the back of good work from Newman (nine disposals), Jack Carroll (seven disposals) and Zac Williams (four intercepts). While the Blues looked to be certainties to head into the half-time break with a narrow lead, a late Richmond flurry - and a goal on the siren to Maurice Rioli - saw the Blues trail by the narrowest of margins at the half.
Quarter three
It looked as the third term would see the Blues replicate the second, as two of their star performers - McGovern and McKay - combined to give the Blues the lead back. However, what ensued was the beginning of a trend in the third term, where every time Carlton converted and hit the lead, its opponent would muster an immediate response. Adam Cerra started to lift after an uncharacteristically quiet third term, accumulating seven disposals, but the Tigers returned to their ball hunting which served them so well in the opening term, eclipsing the Blues for contested possessions in the third term. Forward pressure was the name of the game for the Blues in generating scoring opportunities, directly leading to goals from Curnow and Matthew Cottrell, but some sloppy play was extremely costly, as two late Richmond goals opened up an eight-point gap in favour of the Tigers.
Quarter four
Carlton needed a collection of its players to grab the game by the scruff of the neck — and the individual who immediately answered that call was Tom De Koning. The ruckman put together an inspired opening 10 minutes to help Carlton wrestle back the lead, kicking the go-ahead goal from long range after Matthew Owies’ opener. When Cerra managed to eek out another goal following a forward stoppage, all momentum was with the Blues, with the 83,000 strong in attendance deafening in their support of the home team. Captain Cripps continued to lead right from the very front, ending the night with 31 disposals and 22 contested possessions, while Saad provided a sure head behind the ball with 10 final-quarter disposals. While the Blues looked to be relatively comfortable against a labouring Tigers outfit, the away side came again, and errors brought them back into the contest. For the second straight week - and for the sixth straight Carlton win - the Blues were made to do it the hard way, with the ball camped inside their defensive 50 as the siren sounded with the Blues once again narrow victors.
Best: P. Cripps, M. McGovern, H. McKay, A. Saad, T. De Koning, N. Newman.
Injury-ravaged Tigers overrun as Blues clinch thriller
Carlton held on for a five-point win over Richmond on Thursday night - By Sarah Black.Carlton has gutsed out a five-point win over a brave, undermanned Richmond in an entertaining and eventful game at a sold-out MCG on Thursday night. The Blues trailed by eight points at the final break, but finally righted the see-saw lead changes through wave upon wave of attack early in the last term, to keep their perfect start to the year intact with a 12.14 (86) to 12.9 (81) victory. Compounding the loss for Richmond was a suspected torn right ACL suffered by rising Richmond defender Josh Gibcus in the second term, the young Tiger landing from an attempted spoil with a relatively straight leg and needing to be stretchered off the field. Charlie Curnow was moved into defence in the final, tense minutes and made a few crucial intercepts against the tiring Richmond forwards after youngster Seth Campbell closed the gap to four, while some strong stoppage work locked the ball up inside the Tigers' 50 in the dying seconds.
The Tigers finished with two fit players on the bench, while Tom Lynch, Dustin Martin and Toby Nankervis were coming off injuries and playing their first games for the year. Carlton started full of fire and verve, carving Richmond apart with pace down the field and moving the ball with sharp hands. But Lynch made an instant impact on return, drawing two free kicks in the first term for two goals, while Martin made an impact in his first quarter for the year, as the Tigers took a surprise 11-point lead into the first break. Both sides were able to score with relative ease, but Carlton upped the ante in the second term, dominating play and time in forward half. A failure to capitalise on the scoreboard kept the door ajar for Richmond, Maurice Rioli jnr snatching back the lead with a goal on the half-time siren. A concussed Tylar Young added to Richmond's defensive woes in the third term, with winger Kamdyn McIntosh and defender-turned forward-returned defender Noah Balta moved into the backline.
Once again, the Blues were unable to fully put the foot on the accelerator despite the quality advantage and weight of numbers in attack, struggling with their entries into forward 50 while Nick Vlastuin intercepted at will. Vlastuin was simply superb throughout, landing a crucial tackle in the goal-square on Charlie Curnow, which after an extensive score review, was determined to be a holding-the-ball decision, rather than a goal. Tom De Koning – who had missed several shots earlier in the night – brought the bellowing 83,000-strong crowd to their feet with a sailing set shot from outside 50, taking back the lead at the start of the final term, capitalising on a sloppy 50m penalty conceded by vice-captain Liam Baker. Mitch McGovern was a rock at centre-half back, producing some of his best footy, particularly in the opening half, while Patrick Cripps (31 disposals) and George Hewett (six clearances) drove the way through the midfield. Dion Prestia added yet another addition to his extensive soft-tissue injury history, subbed off at quarter-time with a hamstring injury, having come off a five-day break last week. Curnow finished the game with some painful-looking stitches in his cheek after an accidental boot stud to the face, while Lewis Young received some treatment on a lower leg injury but played out the match.
Harry answers the critics v2
After yet another summer of hot takes about Harry McKay's goalkicking, the star Blue was outstanding in front of the big sticks for a second week running. He was cool, calm and collected, particularly from long range, and kicked three goals for the game. Arguably more pleasing for Carlton coaches was the fact he laid seven tackles, the equal-highest for the game.
Best: P. Cripps, M. McGovern, H. McKay, A. Saad, G. Hewett.
Voss lauds 'getting the job done'
It wasn't their way of football, but the Blues still managed to get the win over the Tigers. - By Carlton Media.“That's an unusual profile for us”. AFL Senior Coach Michael Voss admitted that the Blues needed to take a different approach in coming away with the four points against the Tigers. Winning in different ways is a good sign for Voss, with the Blues largely relying on their transition game after the Tigers had their measure at the contest in the five-point win. For Voss, he believes it's a team gaining experience in unique game scenarios each week: this is what he had to say.
On what Carlton took out of the game:
“We took out what positives there were in the game. We still feel like we’re trying to get our system in really good shape, so we’ve got some parts of that that we’ve tried to address more recently against some good opposition and then we have some other things that are a work in progress. “Some of those holes gave the opposition opportunities and we were inefficient at times. Richmond was able to generate a significant score from a source that we do very well defending and also get a lot of assertiveness and territory from. “They were able to score too easily from stoppage. There are things in our game that we need to go to work on but there’s also things we should take away and be pretty pleased with.”
On the Blues' inefficiency:
"We were winning territory, we didn’t have any trouble with that. The ball was living in our half, especially in the second quarter, so the tendency is because the scoreboard wasn’t ticking over as efficiently as you needed to, you can become a bit frustrated. I just encouraged the players to stick to the process and keep believing in what we need to be able to do. "Shots on goal have a strange way of having momentum for you or against you and it certainly hasn't been showing itself for us for a period of time, I think we’ve been efficient in our half. I thought Richmond defended their back 50 hard and we probably weren’t as composed as we needed to be at times, so that's something we can look at the vision and get to work on."
On winning a string of close games:
"You can only play what’s in front of you and you have to win in different ways. We’ve spoken at length about the consistency we want to have as a football team and sometimes that consistency doesn’t mean you play every quarter the exact same way, but you’ve got to be able to find a way. "With about five minutes on the clock, you could see the players kick into gear. We activated a few things late in the game to make sure it made it a bit harder for them to score and I thought they did a great job in being able to deny Richmond, and in the end, that was the difference in the game. "We encourage our players to problem solve the situation, so it’s left up to them to get the action and what structure we need to put around it as well. Because we’ve found ourselves in those moments a bit more than what we’d like, the players are embracing it and they see it as a bit of a challenge when they find themselves in those situations."
On Charlie Curnow and Harry McKay:
"I think Charlie has lost his good looks for a couple of days! He’s always a presence for us. Both he and Harry have been really important people, the unit they’re building up there, the relationship, the cohesion they're trying to build has been really impressive. "Both of them approached it in such a good way in the pre-season, I hope they get the reward they deserve because they work their asses off to make themselves good players."
On Mitch McGovern:
"We have certain metrics that we take into the pre-season and McGovern had a pretty reasonable one last year, but he’s been able to build on that, and got the games in last year so that helps. "Clearly, him being able to have a pre-season helps him be able to recover during the week and put in performances like that. He played a fantastic game for us and those intercept types that play behind the ball, they’re really important players in the modern game. They know how to manage the speed of the game and they know when to come off and assist, and he was certainly able to do that tonight."
On returning players:
"'Weiters' is progressing really well. The round hasn’t been set in stone yet but it will be Round 3 or Round 4, so that we do know. Marchbank has been doing well, he’s been in full training for a few weeks now, so he’ll be right to go."
Team
| B: | 6 Zac Williams | 33 Lewis Young | 17 Brodie Kemp |
| HB: | 42 Adam Saad | 11 Mitch McGovern | 24 Nic Newman |
| C: | 46 Matthew Cottrell | 9 Patrick Cripps (c) | 13 Blake Acres |
| HF: | 28 David Cunningham | 30 Charlie Curnow | 14 Orazio Fantasia |
| F: | 44 Matt Owies | 10 Harry McKay | 4 Ollie Hollands |
| Ruck: | 12 Tom De Koning | 5 Adam Cerra | 29 George Hewett |
| Interchange: | 7 Matthew Kennedy | 8 Lachie Fogarty | 37 Jordan Boyd |
| 16 Jack Carroll | |||
| Substitute: | 19 Corey Durdin | ||
| Coach: | Michael Voss | ||
| Emergencies: | 27 Marc Pittonet | 43 Ashton Moir | 25 Jaxon Binns |
In: Corey Durdin
Out: Sam Docherty (knee)
Substitute: Corey Durdin (replaced Orazio Fantasia at three-quarter time)
Interesting Facts
1. Carlton’s last 6 victories have all been by a goal or less.2. Carlton is the first team to have six consecutive wins by six points or less.
3. Patrick Cripps won 22 contested possessions, the 20th time he’s achieved the total in his career.
4. This was Carlton's third-highest home and away crowd (83,881), only surpassed by 90,151 Round 1, 2018 vs Richmond and 91,571 Round 20, 2000 vs
Essendon.
Front Runners
Match details not available.AFLCA Votes
8 - Mitch McGovern (CARL)7 - Patrick Cripps (CARL)
6 - Nick Vlastuin (RICH)
5 - Noah Balta (RICH)
3 - Harry McKay (CARL)
1 - Toby Nankervis (RICH)
Brownlow Votes
Best and Fairest Votes
Video
Opening Round, 2024 | Round 2