AFL Rd 17 2024 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs GWS

[Lods]

Reading over in the Ruck Debate thread and elsewhere, I guess I have a different take on the game. I think GWS played the first quarter displaying the indifferent form of their last several weeks, then something happened at q time, and they played out of their skins for the next 2. I doubt any team would've stopped them in that time period. Whilst it's absolutely possible, personally I didn't notice any arrogance, slackness, cockiness, bath water, Kool Aid or anything else. GWS' numbers were up in several categories, and ours were down. They laid 26 tackles I50, which is an absurd number.

We'll see in the coming week what the real GWS looks like.
Here's my take.
We gave them a football lesson in the first quarter.
We went into the quarter time break with some players thinking this will be a 'walk in the park.'
You don't think that consciously...and it's something a coach would warn against
But it's there.
I remember feeling quite comfortable myself at quarter time...but there is always that little man in the head warning against complacency.
Because nothing in this game is ever as predictable as it seems.

So into the second quarter, a couple of goals, a couple of injuries and there was a momentum switch.
Good teams can wrestle those back quickly, for others it's like trying to turn around the 'Titanic'
That's especially so when you consider you're a superior side and it will just happen.
You have to make it happen.

So into half-time and we'd be thinking "OK, Third quarter coming up. Here is where we make our move."
But a few things go wrong early in that third quarter and things start to get a bit frantic.
We're still not attacking the contest with our usual intensity, a few players are down or well held, and it's being left to too few.
We also know some of our key movers are playing under injury duress.
There is still this feeling it will just happen, and though we try to make an effort, it's a half hearted one.
It's not the effort that's needed.

Into the last and suddenly there is a realisation that it's not just going to happen...and in fact we're so far behind the best we can do is make a bit of an effort to get the scores closer.
We go harder, they play to prevent the comeback and as a result we end up within a couple of goals at the end.

Are they the better side?
On the day they are... for two quarters and a bit (enough to get the win)...not so much for the other part of the game.

'Even' games are looked at when there's only a goal or two between sides for the entire game.
That was about as 'uneven' a game as there can be...so it's hard to draw a lot of conclusions as to the relative strengths of either side (other than I don't like to be in front early in a game.   )