The Wrap Up | R4 V Gold Coast
Written by Ari Stamatakos
MATCH SUMMARY:
The graveyard shift, Carlton vs Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium on a Sunday at 4:10. A game no neutral in their right mind would want to watch, yet Blues and Sun fans will watch with major intent. Carlton aims to get to 4-0, while the Suns need to win to keep their season alive. It was bound to be a scrappy affair from start to finish.
It was the Blues who got off to the absolute perfect start. From the clearance, Charlie Curnow leads at the ball and takes a good mark, turn and snaps truly for the Blues first within 20 seconds. The Blues continued their dominance early, as Patrick Cripps roamed forward and took a mark 45 out directly in front. He goes back and kicks his first of the game. The perfect start for the Blues, however, this was the best it got. The Suns stemmed the flow for a couple of minutes and then hit back with their first through Malcolm Rosas. Noah Anderson got the Suns second and then witing a trice, Rosas has his second and the Suns are in front by 8 points. George Hewett pounces on a mistake in the Suns defence to kick his first, but goals from Lachie Weller and Mabiol Chol to end the quarter but a dagger to the Blues heart.
The Blues need to start well, they needed to get the momentum back on their terms. But it was the Suns, through Levi Casboult, who kicked his first and only goal of the day. The Blues hit back through Harry McKay, who kicked two back-to-back goals to cut the margin back to 8 points. This was where the Blues thought they had the game back on their terms, they started to dominate proceedings, but they couldn't make it count on the scoreboard. The Suns, when they got their opportunity, they capitalised. Rosas kicked his third and the Suns were back on top of proceedings.
Going into the 3rd quarter 14 points down, this was a good test to see the character that this young group has, and to see whether they can handle the pressure and the panic of being down in a game where they should've won handily. However, when the pressure came, they folded. The Suns kicked the first three of the third term to all but wrap up the game right there and then. The Suns took a 32 point lead heading into the last and the Blues were on the canvas in a big way. They couldn't find a way out of the rut that they were in and the Suns were running all over them. The Suns were dominating them at the clearance and were outrunning them on the outside. Carlton's big players weren't standing up when they needed them at it cost them dearly.
A pretty quiet final term followed, the suns didn’t put the foot on throat but the Blues didn’t mount any form of comeback. Tom De Koning and Zac Fisher kicked the only Blue goals in the last and Josh Corbett kicked the Sun's only final quarter goal. It was total domination from start to finish and the Suns fully deserved their victory.
BREAKING IT DOWN: KEY MATCH INSIGHTS:
Dominated in the centre
The Blue's main strength this season is being able to win the centre clearance. They spread really well from the centre and are able to launch scoring chains through the likes of Cripps, Hewett, Matt Kennedy and Adam Cerra. However, this affair was the complete opposite. Without the bustling Marc Pittonet, Carlton struggled big-time from the centre. And when Cripps went down at the quarter time, it went from bad to worse.
The Blues lost the centre clearance battle 13-11 and the total clearances 43-27. This total domination by the Suns set the tone for the day. The Blues got nowhere near them and were systematically beaten from start to finish. Couple this with losing the inside 50 count by 64 to 48 it proved to be the ultimate capitulation by the Blues.
The Best
Adam Saad, Zac Williams, George Hewett, Sam Docherty, Nic Newman
Final Scores
Gold Coast: 5.5 (35), 7.7 (49), 12.10 (82), 13.14 (92)
Carlton: 3.2 (20), 5.5 (35), 6.9 (45), 8.14 (62)
