The Wrap Up | Round 1 | Carlton V Richmond
Written by Ari Stamatakos
Each week, Blue Abroad’s “The Wrap Up” takes a different perspective on Carlton’s post-match review. “The Wrap Up” provides insights and stats supporting the key trends, moments and patterns of the game that held the most influence over the final result. This is your Round 1 Wrap Up following a disappointing loss to the Richmond Tigers.
MATCH SUMMARY
49 thousand at the MCG were treated to another thrilling round 1 encounter between Richmond and Carlton. The electric atmosphere from start to finish complimented the frantic style of football played throughout. The rational from all Carlton fans was too stop the fast starts, after back to back years of Richmond getting off to said fast start, the ability for Carlton to stifle that was the number 1 priority heading into the match against the reigning premiers.
A fast start from the Blues saw goals from Levi Casboult (1 goal, 8 disposals) and Lachie O’Brien (1 goal, 4 tackles) early in the first, which gave them an early 12 point lead. The Tigers bounced back like they always do with goals from Jake Arts (2 goals, 12 disposals) and Jason Castagna (2 goals, 13 disposals). The first stanza ended with a 1 point Richmond lead as Sam Walsh and Patrick Cripps both had 11 disposals first quarters.
A similar start to the second quarter as to the first. The key forwards started well as Harry Mckay (2 goals, 8 score involvements) kicked his first of the night. But in a trice, Tom Lynch (1 goal, 4 marks) responded with a goal of his own. The Blues extended their lead to 11 points with two quick goals, but that was quickly stifled out by ruthless Tigers who kick 4 goals to Carlton’s 3 behinds from the 15-minute mark of the second term to turn their 11 point deficit to a 12 point lead at half time. The last 15 minutes of the second quarter proved to be a sad indictment of how Carlton have not been able to run out games and constantly fall away late in games and quarters.
The first medical substitution of the season was used at half time as Jack Silvagni (Shoulder) was replaced by Oscar McDonald who made an immediate impact by kicking his first of two goals, 2 minutes into the 3rd quarter. A string of behinds was broken by a miraculous Lachie Plowman goal (4 rebound 50’s, 3 marks) from the boundary. The theme is present yet again as Carlton struggle to run out the 3rd quarter, Jack Riewoldt (4 goals, 8 score involvements) kicks two near-identical goals to ensure the Tigers have a 9 point lead going into the final change.
An early Dustin Martin goal (2 goals, 12 score involvements) saw the margin a touch harder to overcome for Carlton, especially after an ‘OMAC’ goal was quickly responded too by Daniel Rioli (2 goals, 6 score involvements). However, goals from ‘H’ and Michael Gibbons (2 goals, 8 score involvements) saw the Blues within 5 points, and after a shot by Paddy Dow (18 disposals, 5 inside ’50s.) went agonisingly close, everyone watching felt that there was a real contest brewing in this last 5 minutes.
However, the Tigers do what the Tigers do, there’s a reason why they’ve won 3 out of the last 4 premierships. A couple of horror moment for Sam Docherty (24 disposals, 5 marks, 11 rebound 50’s), which saw him fumble the ball to allow Arts to kick his second, and a smothered kick which lead to Shai Bolton’s sealer (25 disposals, 9 clearances, 8 inside 50’s). Riewoldt’s kicks his 4th not long after to put the icing on the cake for a disappointing fall away yet again for the Blues.
BREAKING IT DOWN: KEY MATCH INSIGHTS
No Cotchin, No Worries:
Hours before the contest on Thursday night, Trent Cotchin pulled out with a bout of gastro. This would shift the pre-match notion to how important the midfield battle would be. The game would be won and lost in the midfield, and unfortunately for Carlton, they got well and truly beaten in the midfield. Losing the clearances 40-34, and perhaps more concerningly, the centre clearances 19-10. Considering the considerable amount of time Martin spent forward in comparison to the likes of Cripps, and the aforementioned absence of their skipper, this is a worrying sign for Carlton. Shai Bolton having 6 centre clearances as he and Dion Prestia (25 disposals, 24 pressure acts) combined for 18 total clearances. Losing the contested possession count 146-139, as well as losing the inside 50 count by an astonishing 75-41 shows the strength at the contest that Tigers possessed to blow the Blues away.
Efficiency is Vital & Defensive Effort:
As mentioned in the preview, if Carlton had any chance in this game, they would have to be super-efficient both in front of goal and around the ground. You only need to look at why Carlton fell away, it was because of questionable ball movement and inaccuracy in front of goal. The Blues went at a very good 75% disposal efficiency to the Tigers 71% and went 61% efficiency inside 50 to the Tigers 52%, showing why the Blues were in the game for 95% of it. Must we forget that the reason the Tigers were able to lead at half time by 12 points, was because of the inaccuracy in front of goal which led to 3 very gettable shots being missed for Carlton. This also shows how well the defence held up as the Tigers bombarded them with kicks and runs inside 50. This may have something to do with the defensive effort put on by the midfield. The average speed of the Carlton team without the ball was 7.5 KM/H, to the Tigers 8.1 KM/H, perhaps the negligence of the importance of running 2-ways by the midfield and forwards.
FINAL SCORES
Richmond: 3.3 (21), 8.5 (53), 10.8 (68), 15.15 (105)
Carlton: 3.2 (20), 6.6 (42), 8.12 (60), 11.14 (80)
Carlton Goals: McKay (2), McDonald (2), Gibbons (2), O’Brien, Dow, Casboult,
Plowman, Silvagni.
Carlton Best: Walsh, Cripps, Saad, Plowman, Newnes, Gibbons, Setterfield.
Carlton Injuries: Silvagni (Shoulder)
