06-18-2023, 12:22 PM
Who were those players out there today and what have they done with the real Carlton side. I shake my head with exasperation. It is so easy. Make a contest, don't give up, keep trying, tackle hard, kick to your team mates and kick goals. There are a few things we have done differently. We picked a couple of players with pace in Cuningham, Fogarty and Dow. I would still like to see Fisher in the side particularly coming out of defence which he doing in the VFL. I thought we competed well in the ruck negating Witts to a certain degree. Witts was definitely shepherding in the ruck, blocking the run of TDK and Pittonett and getting away with it, umpires do not understand ruck work, but I thought we managed the hit outs well even though we were beaten in the count and I thought our guys directed the ball effectively when they got their hands on it. This also helped us in the clearances particularly after quarter time. There was a distinct advantage towards the main scoreboard end with Carlton kicking 14 of 18 goals down that end and Gold Coast kicking 5 of 8. I also noticed Martin stayed deep in the forward line which meant we had someone to crumb the ball when it was kick long to Harry, Charlie and TDK and also meant the ball wasn't boomeranging out of our forward line quite as easily. All in all it was a very even performance with one quarter of brilliance. Finally the gloom lifted.