Brave Blues Bottom Out


Blues v Power

By Shane Thiele
August 11 2002

Surrounded by the media hype regarding John Elliott, the board, Denis Pagan, Rodney Eade, the wooden spoon, priority picks and members petitions believe it or not there was a game of football still to be played at on Saturday.

If the team that took the field last week was the weakest in some supporters memory then this week we found a new winner. The suspension of Matthew Lappin and late withdrawal of Justin Murphy further weakened what is fast resembling a VFL line-up. 
 
Mark Williams warned his players that Carlton were a proud club and would react savagely to last week's loss. With no less than a dozen players in Navy Blue playing for their careers you think that it would go without saying. Unfortunately we've seen too many poor perfomances this year to be able to guarantee such a response. Thankfully - for once - the troops rallied.
 
This one was far from a classic but the standard of play was of little concern to Blues supporters. It was another loss but by no means a waste of an afternoon.
 
From the first minute you could tell there was a change in attitude. Why it has taken so long is anyone's guess but the swirling conditions suited a Blues line-up devoid of match-winners, key position players, onballers, ruckman etc.......a good old fashioned dog-fight was the only way to go.
 
There were no radical positional changes although Carlton did go in with as tall a forward line as they have all year. Predictably though a tall forward line means a lack of crumbers. Just as when we have skilful crumbers we have no tall forwards. Not that it matters anyway because most of our skilled players have no heart, which in turn means those with heart seem to have little skill!
 
Whatever the case the scoreboard attendant should refuse to collect his pay as the Blues failed to score a major for the entire first half. We did get close though, if not for a couple of off-sides and missed penalties we may have got one on the board. Seriously it was a poor reward for such hard work and combined with last weeks debacle, meant just four goals had been registered in the last three hours of football.
 
Thankfully Port had just three but the feeling around the ground......alright the feeling in my lounge room....was that Port Adelaide would inevitably break the game open after half time. Their dominance could be put down to the individual efforts of a few players. Roger James was running rampant in the middle, Brett Montgomery was doing what he pleased unopposed down back and Warren Tredrea was looking to upstage his 1998 demolition of the Blues.
 
In the second half the contest only got hotter in a game dominated by gang tackling, poor disposal and endless ball-up's. When Corey McKernan marked and goaled the Blues were finally on the scoreboard. The team was playing with more confidence, more system and running for each other but once again wasted opportunities were hurting badly.
 
(Insert note: Bradley in hospital with suspected broken ribs - writer lost interest in review)
 
Blah, yada, spam, missed more shots, couple of marks disallowed in front of goal, Plunkett missed a shocker, Blues got close but lose again. Serves me right for not finishing this last night I suppose!
 
It's probably an appropriate time to make mention of Bradley's effort yesterday. Each year my admiration grows for a true champion and the ultimate professional. His 30 possessions today had nothing to do with being a receiver or chasing easy kicks. Have a good look at yesterday's line-up and you'll soon see there is no-one even capable of getting an easy ball out to him, or no ruckman to run around for a quick handball. Yesterday's game was as hard as any to get a kick.
 
The fact that he may have played out the game with broken ribs makes his efforts all the more Herculian. The same opposition supporters that have lauded similar courageous deeds from the likes of Millane, Dipper, Brereton & Hocking to name a few must also now pay recognition to one of the game greats.
 
In today's junk mail which in South Australia is called the Sunday Mail, Neil Kerley rated the best 25 players he had seen from South Australia. To include Tony Modra and to leave out Bradley says a lot for the man's credibility. Modra's one great season hardly stacks up with Craig's twenty.
 
Lets hope this is just a premature epitaph.
 
Behind Bradley, there were at least others today that could also hold their heads high. Sam Cranage produced what might be a career saving performance picking up a stack of possessions and showing us also that he at least has the determination to continue. Hickmott was back to his pack diving best and youngsters Thornton and Wiggins took the points down back.
 
For Port Adelaide there were worrying signs as September looms closer. Despite missing some key players too much was left to too few.
 
As mentioned earlier James, Tredrea, Montgomery were the standouts with good support down back from Wakelin and Paxman. Primus got on top of McKernan as the game went on and for the second time in a row in Melbourne, Francou was tagged completely out of the game.
 
What will concern coach Mark Williams - despite his false enthusiasm to the media - was the way that some of his players struggled under intense physical pressure from the opposition. No doubt rival clubs will have a close look at this game and their performance against the Kangaroos, when planning their downfall in future weeks.
 
Finally unless the AFL decides to dock Premiership points from clubs the 'spoon' is now ours. It hurts like hell but the feeling is similar to being asked after your wedding day "What does it feel like to be married?" when you have been living with your partner for years before hand. "No different really" is really the stock standard reply. We've known this has been coming for week's and yesterday's loss - like the wedding certificate - just makes thing's official.
 
Lets hope the honeymoon is much more enjoyable than the ceremony.
 

 

«
REVIEW

CARLTON
v
Port Adelaide

Round 19

10 August 2002

Optus Oval

 

SEASON 2002

 
Carlton 0.3 0.4 3.13 5.15.45
Port Adelaide 2.3 3.9 7.10 7.12.54

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