All season long, Carlton fans have been desperately hoping to see some second-half fight from their besieged Blues. On Friday night at the Gabba against the two-time reigning premiers, they got plenty of it – and a glimpse of light to come.
Michael Voss’ men seemed destined for a thrashing when they fell 49 points behind early in the third, but instead of going to water, they dug in and fought back – in more ways than one – losing by just 11 points.
One moment typified the Blues’ resolve. It was late in the final term and they were down by 22 points, but they refused to be pushed around any longer.
When Levi Ashcroft marked, goalled and immediately got in the face of Ben Ainsworth, Sam Walsh wasn’t having it – remonstrating with Ashcroft and giving away an immediate free kick. Ashcroft missed, and the Lions still went on to win, but Walsh had made his point, and his skipper couldn’t have been prouder.
“We are not going to take it from anyone,” Patrick Cripps told Seven after the game.
“There is a spirit in this group, and we are going to stand up for one another, and we are not going to get walked over.
“Walshy stood up for a mate, and then we had his back. It cost a free kick, but I would rather give up a free kick showing some fight than no one reacting at all.”
The Blues have led at half-time in six games this season before fading out, whereas on Friday night they were thumped for a half before fighting back at the finish.
It was a pattern not lost on the Lions – including their former skipper Lachie Neale, who won the Robert Walls Medal as best afield.
His own post-game comments on Seven were a kind of proof the Blues still have a long way to go to get back the respect of the competition.
“We weren’t doing that well enough in the third quarter, and we were allowing them to chain [possessions together] and then find an easy mark … I got told by a couple of the boys [that] we were ‘doing a Carlton’,” Neale admitted.
“They were trying to get in our heads a little bit, but that’s part of the game.
“It was pretty close but … we’ll take it.”
Cripps led from the front in the second half, recording 18 of his 32 disposals, while Harry McKay (three goals), Walsh (29 disposals) and Mitch McGovern (three goals) all lifted with him.
The Blues have received plenty of criticism in their 1-8 start to the season and, as Voss pointed out, they can’t win matches playing one good half.
He was in no mood for moral victories.
“After half-time you could definitely see a confidence growing in the group,” he said.
“There were little battles we were starting to win, some of the connections forward of the ball that we were missing, we started to make. I think we finished with 20 marks inside 50 and we didn’t look like that in the first half.
“We got field position and kept the ball in our half – all the things we want to be building our game on were evident.
“We probably utilised their drop in intensity to lift our own and that gave us the confidence to finish out the game the way we did, but we still have got to be better than playing one half of football.
“We’ve got to put more time together than that.”
Voss noted that Cripps, Walsh and Jagga Smith spent even more time in the midfield and centre ball-ups than in earlier matches. McKay, meanwhile, had one of his best second halves with 12 possessions, three goals and seven marks.
Unlocking his ability, and confidence, is as crucial as any improvement the Blues can make, while McGovern and Will Hayward were both dangerous options alongside him.
The Blues have an eight-day break before facing Marcus Bontempelli’s Western Bulldogs at Marvel next Saturday night, with the injury-hit Dogs bouncing back in their own right with a thrilling win over Port Adelaide in Friday’s other night match.
Oliver Florent and Zac Williams both appeared to be carrying leg injuries in the second half, but Cripps was hopeful they could both prove their fitness with the longer break.
While Voss believes the second half showed the Blues have a “model” that can be successful, he still won’t accept anything less than a four-quarter effort.
“We walk out of the game with further clarity on what we need to be producing, but we also walk away disappointed,” he said.
“We acknowledge the fight, but we can’t accept mediocrity – we have got to have high standards of ourselves than that.”
Lions coach Chris Fagan called the match a “danger game” for his side given Carlton’s Jekyl and Hyde form from halves to halves, so he was happy to bank the four points – even young spearhead Logan Morris said on Kayo Sports after the match that Fagan sprayed his side for being “shithouse” in letting the Blues roar back.
The Lions have won six of their past seven matches, while veteran defender Ryan Lester had one of the best games of his career with eight of his 11 intercept possessions coming in the first half.
“It’s hard to win impressively every week, and I was worried about this game as I have a fair bit of time for Carlton and the way they play their footy,” Fagan said.
“I don’t think their win-loss ratio is a reflection of that.
“I was just really happy to get away with the points as we had had a big week.”
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Roy Ward is a sports writer, live blogger and breaking news journalist. He’s been writing for The Age since 2010.Connect via X or email.
