The Blue Review: A Distasteful Victory | Thebigtip

I must start this week's review by saying that this game was the worst win I've seen Carlton snatch in previous years. It's marvelous to get the four points at the end of the day but to be four goals ahead early in the game and have it disappear by half time isn't a good reflection on where the team needs to be at at this stage of their development. I know that we are much better than what we showed tonight and a lot needs to be looked at to make sure that efforts like this are left in our past. The 2011 membership slogan of 'No Passengers' certainly wasn't on display at Etihad Stadium.


Round 5: Carlton vs. Adelaide

Carlton: 5.5.35, 6.12.48, 8.17.65, 11.19.85
Adelaide: 1.2.8, 6.2.38, 9.4.58, 12.7.79

Goals
Carlton: Walker (4), Waite (2), Ellard (2), Betts, Garlett, Russell
Adelaide: Walker (4), Tippett (3), McKernan (2), Jaensch, Thompson, Vince


Negatives

Strap yourselves in Carlton fans, this is going to be a big one, starting off with an unfortunate sum of individual performances.

Chris Judd's name must be thrown into the fray. He was magnificent at times (that triple fake and 50 metre pass to Ellard was classic Judd) but if he is to remain one of the best players in the competition, he needs to work on his kicking. Missed shots 20 metres out straight in front of goal and turning the ball over with chip kicks belong in the junior leagues, not in a game for Carlton. He wasn't alone with his poor disposal, but he is certainly the most notable due to being our marquee player.

The next cab off the rank is Bryce Gibbs. So far this season, Gibbs has been far from damaging. Watching him tonight, he had absolutely no desire in any shape or form. He refused to chase, he refused to win a hard ball and he refused to tackle. When using the footy, he was either ridiculously risky or just plain mindless. There is not a doubt in my mind that tonight was Bryce's worst game at the club since his debut season, and from the outside looking in, Bryce plays with zero desire. The coaching staff need to pound it into Gibbs' head that, although he is a number one pick, if he isn't interested in giving everything he has to offer then there is a list of guys knocking at the door that are desperate for a go in the big league. David Ellard, Ed Curnow and Nick Duigan have proven that they have the desire to be an AFL footballer and know that unless they give everything they possibly can, their position within the team is under threat. Gibbs needs to know that he is in the same boat. That should go for everyone else that thinks they are untouchable too.

To round off just a few individual roasts, Andrew Carrazzo, Shaun Hampson, Jordan Russell and Eddie Betts also need a stiff kick up the backside to get them back into shape.

It has become a trend for us to play half a quarter of footy and then take the foot completely off the pedal. We started the game strongly and, as we have in the past, got far too comfortable with ourselves and you can just tell that our mentality changed for the worse. There is no room in modern football for comfort so early in a game, especially against an unpredictable side like Adelaide. We had a chance to put the game out of reach before half time. Instead, we were forced to fight for an unconvincing win.

Although we dominated possession all over the ground, we let ourselves down in front of goals yet again tonight. At one stage, we kicked 11 straight behinds after registering five goals and just the one behind. There's no denying it - bad kicking is bad form and it shows on the scoreboard. So far this season, we have managed a lowsy 73.75 in front of goal which is clearly not good enough. We were lucky to get away with a win tonight after such poor kicking in front of goal.

Week after week, our defenders refuse to close space in the opposition's forward line. It was frustrating how easily the Crows were allowed to chip the ball forward and increase their chances of kicking goals. As a defender, you always need to be aware. If you man is able to get a single metre on you, chances are that you're going to lose out. Our inability to spoil is equally as frustrating.


Positives

There were passages of play during our good patches that diced up Adelaide's zone structure whilst on the rebound. The willingness to back each other and create options when moving the ball through the midfield was excellent and we looked to move the ball on at every opportunity. Why can't we do more of this rather than let the opposition get into position, denying us of any chance to forward?

We were impressive when Adelaide kicked out (and boy, they certainly had to enough times). On most occasions, the Crows were forced to bomb the ball outside 50 and hope, creating chances for our sneaky crumbers. I get the feeling that a screw or two has been tightened in regards to our defensive zone.

Andrew Walker should take a bow after his performance tonight, not only for bagging himself four goals. When nobody was willing to give a peep, Walker stood up and created something out of nothing in the last five minutes of the second quarter, setting up scoring opportunities and giving the crowd some belief with a mark of the year contender followed by a goal on the brink of half time. Walker performed his role magnificently this week. As the season rolls on, I am more and more thankful that we didn't manage to offload him.

The two inclusions this week, David Ellard and Aaron Joseph, can certainly rest their heads easily tonight. Ellard was magnificent all game and capped off his night by kicking a pressure goal on the burst to keep the game alive late in the last quarter. Although Joseph didn't find much of the ball after being subbed on, he set up a great goal and controlled Adelaide's run through the midfield. Ellard and Joseph add a much needed touch of class to a team that is looking as though it has the case of the jitters.

Marc Murphy played another blinder through the midfield, claiming 34 disposals. Week in, week out, when Murphy steps onto the field, he is all business. I wouldn't be surprised if he is leading the Best and Fairest at this point of the season.


This game should have been put to bed early in the second quarter. To blow a comfortable lead and be backtracking the whole game against a team in bad form is certainly not where we should be at. We can consider ourselves lucky that a big of magic from David Ellard and Jordan Russell saved us from a defeat, or possibly worse, a second straight draw.

Ratten should continuously show the guys the excellent ball movement we had at stages during the game to prove that everyone on the ground has the potential to be a standout. Those passages of play were some of the best I've ever seen from a navy blue outfit and if we are able to do that continuously for a full game, there simply is no stopping us.

Next week's clash with the Sydney Swans on a ground that we haven't won on since 1993 is the perfect time to see who is a pretender at the club. The stakes are high from a navy blue point of view, as a win will have us looking extremely good for finals before going into a clash with a struggling St. Kilda and then the bye. Winning is vital.