Can The Old Enemy Revive Carlton Pride?


Blues v Pies

By Shane Thiele
April 10 2002

Sunday April 7 2002. A goal to Brisbane takes their lead to 102 points. I scramble for the calculator and curse the decaying batteries that have lay dormant since Year 12. A rough calculation indicates to me that it's going to be touch and go. Go Vossy, Go Leppa, Go Blacky......

Suddenly reality hits and I realise what a pathetic sight this is. I'd become emotionally involved in a game of football not involving my team purely for the fact that a thumping loss to the Hawks will save us the indictment of bottom spot.
 
As I picked myself up from the fetal position the piercing sound of the siren or more appropriately named - death knell sounded .....we were officially bottom.
 
Last week I hinted that it would be a busy week on the message boards if we lost, never for one moment envisaging the manner in which such a result was to unfold. I spent the next 48 hours mercilessly sledging everyone from the President to the Mascot and regardless of not knowing what I was going to achieve it was if nothing else, good therapy.
 
By Tuesday morning though I'd had a gutful of the critics. In this case though I am not referring to the fans. We pay good money and spend hours of our spare time in supporting this club and were therefore most of the time speaking through the heart. Forgive us this week for at times sounding irrational. We were hurting.
 
No, it's the media vultures who have predicted the demise of this club every year for the last ten who are now relishing the chance to be the first to say "I told you so". On Monday night Messer's Sheehan, Healy & Walls spoke of doom and gloom off the field as well as on. Granted some of it was correct, some of it was bloody obvious and parts of it were blatant lies. The club has since officially clarified the situation regarding the low turnout from the '81 & '82 Premiership sides and Robert's comments regarding the poor crowd against Sydney were almost laughable. "Carlton v Sydney games at Optus would regularly draw crowds of 35,000" Not surprisingly there were no facts to prove as such.
 
The Age dragged out the standard piece regarding recruiting, selectively choosing the mistakes that have been made over the past 5 or so years to highlight 'the crisis'. Without trying to defend the mistakes it was clearly not a balanced piece of writing and considering the article was referring to blunder's of the late 90's why wasn't it written any time during the 2000 or 2001 seasons?
 
Funnily enough I remember a similar article in The Age from 1998 regarding the club which was along the same lines of "Too many ageing stars, too slow, poor recruiting" and how the club had missed a golden opportunity to trade the likes of Matthew Allan & Scott Camporeale. I think all they did last Monday was change the name at the top of the article.
 
Then there was of course the "Ex-players that went public calling for the sacking of The President and claiming the coach will last only another month". More disunity, turmoil and unrest, never minding the fact that the comments came from just one player. Bearing in mind also that it was a player who in the past has never been shy in criticising the club. You have to wonder if there's an emergency number for journalists to refer to when desperate for a quote - '1800SwanMcKay'.
 
Tuesday night the Coach faced a media barrage resembling a West Indian pace attack. Questions were fired like grenades but the Coach wasn't ducking or weaving. He was honest, he was passionate and unlike many of his colleagues, not once lost his cool. It had a "bring it on" feel to it and by the end of it I was ready to run through a brick wall. How could this not possibly inspire the players?
 
One of the references was the old saying regarding actions speaking louder than words. Yes, talk is cheap and there is still a game of football to be played on Friday night. We've tried to remind ourselves all week that after just two weeks so much can change. The most commonly used analogies have been:
 
*Our two losses in 2002 were to the same teams we lost to in our last Premiership year of 1995.
 
* In 2000 we were belted in Rounds 3,4 & 5 before winning the next 13 in a row.
 
* In 1998 we were bottom half way through the season before recovering to finish 11th and into a Grand Final the following year.
 
* Last season we were ordinary in the first two rounds before overcoming the odds in 'that' win against Essendon.
 
Another that has sprung to mind for myself is a little less obvious and takes us back to 1991.
 
I've often said that watching games like last week makes the good times all the more sweeter. In all my years as a Carlton supporter I have never left early nor reached for the remote. At 3/4 time last week I made comment to Mrs Blueboy that the next thirty minutes of my life, I will never get back awaiting the worst but with pen and notebook still poised, ready to note any final positives. The Blues failed to score and the page remained empty.
 
So what does that have to do with 1991? The weeks events has reminded me of the aftermath of the infamous 1 goal disaster at the Western Oval. I was shattered and embarrassed to show my face at school for reasons other than braces and severe acne. The Blues dominated the headlines but remained positive, vowing to give a more committed effort against Collingwood the following week.
 
That day the Blues went on to turn words into actions and I couldn't have been more proud. For prosperity reasons I purchased the tape of that game and although not the most classic encounter, each time I relive it I still remember how I felt on that cold, dreary Saturday afternoon more than a decade later. There was not enough talent in the team that took the field that day to merely turn on such a performance. It came from the heart and pride in that Navy Blue monogram.
 
Which finally brings me to Friday's game. Unlike 1991 there is enough talent to overcome what is still an average Collingwood outfit. Match-up's, key players and tactics will play a back seat to dedication, pride and belief. If there is not significant improvement in the latter than trying to preempt how the game will unfold is irrelevant. In hindsight I need not have written one word in the lead-up's to first two games. Could any of us predicted what was to follow?!
 
You don't need me to tell you where and through who the improvement needs to stem from. One thing that we should consider is that as appalling as we have been in the middle and up forward, we have conceded just thirty-one goals. Usually a team that has received the publicity that Carlton has the last fortnight has had cricket scores kicked against them.
 
On the other hand Collingwood has conceded forty-two goals despite being competitive for all bar one quarter of the season. In the Round 21 encounter last season Beaumont and Manton proved too strong for Tarrant and Rocca so don't be surprised if they are given first go. If fit David Gallagher will probably be the logical choice for Brodie Holland with Anthony Franchina's spot in the side possibly hinging on the medical report of the former.
 
Perhaps I'm tempting fate in using the word "logical" when previewing this weeks battle. Deep down we all think the boys can come to the party but after last week how many can say so with any confidence? You sensed that Round 1 was treated as an aberration and by merely turning up against Sydney it would all fall into place. This week there will be no such illusions.
 
It's going to be an emotional night on Friday and one that for me can't come soon enough. I jokingly used the phrase "Us against the world" to an opposition supporter today and in all honesty at times that's what it has felt like. We should probably take it as a compliment that so many people take so much pleasure at seeing the club in it's current plight. Well I hope they made the most of it because it's not going to last!
 
Two weeks is enough and what better way to take out our frustrations than on the old enemy. An enemy that over the past few years has felt more comfortable than ourselves near the depths of the ladder.
 
Carlton's history against Collingwood
 
Played 223, Won 116, Lost 103, Drawn 4
 
Longest winning sequence - 9 wins (1905-1909)
 
Highest score for - 28.12 - 180 (2000)
 
Lowest score against - 0.6 - 6 (1898)
 
Greatest winning margin - 111 points (2000), Greatest losing margin - 102 points (1977)
 
Last time they met
 
Round 21 - MCG - 2001, Attendance 70,051
 
Carlton 20.10 - 130 d Collingwood 9.8 - 62
 
Key ball winners (All numbers possessions unless indicated)
 
Ratten - 30
Plunkett - 26
Whitnall - 25 (13 marks + 5 goals).
 
Buckley - 29
Burns - 20
Licuria - 18

«
PREVIEW

CARLTON
v
Collingwood

Round 3

12 April 2002

 

SEASON 2002

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