The Wrap Up | Round 2 | Carlton v Collingwood
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 2 Wrap Up following a disappointing loss to the Collingwood Magpies
MATCH SUMMARY
Back to back Thursday night blockbusters for Carlton so start their season, and they hoped the result wouldn’t go the same as the week prior. For Collingwood, after a disappointing encounter against The Weston Bulldogs, they hoped to bounce back to avoid going 0-2. Carlton fans expected to win, and the same can be said for the Pies, so this was set to be a thrilling encounter at the MCG.
After a wayward set shot by Levi Casboult, Jorden De Goey (4 goals, 12 score involvements) kicked the first goal of the game. After a quick reply from Jack Martin (3 goals, 7 marks), it was Brody Mihocek (3 goals, 6 marks) and Jamie Elliot (2 goals, 5 score involvements) who kicked 2 quick goals to extend the Collingwood lead to 11 points. Collingwood had the better of the second half of the first term, as they took an 18 point lead into the second quarter.
The definition of a lighting start by the pies as De Goey kicked 2 very quick goals to extend the margin to 30 points. Carlton bounced back brilliantly with 3 goals in very quick succession, 2 from Martin and 1 from Michael Gibbons (3 goals, 7 score involvements) saw the blues right back in the game. However, similar to the first quarter, the Blues couldn’t see the quarter out as a late Steele Sidebottom (1 goal, 415 metres gained) goal saw the margin blow out to 20 points at the main break. Similar to the week prior, red time for the blues is where they struggle, they wait to get hit before hitting back and that cost them big time against good teams who can kill games off.
A slow start to the 3rd term was broken by a miraculous Taylor Adams (29 disposals, 9 inside 50’s) goal from the boundary, Carlton again, waiting to be punched, to punch back. A Lachie Fogarty (21 disposals, 4 tackles) was added to in a trice by Zac Fisher (1 goal, 15 disposals) which got the Blues fans up and about. An agonising 12 minutes of inside 50 after inside 50 which came to nothing was eventually snapped by big ‘H’, who kicked his 3rd goal and the Blues were back in the game for the 2nd or 3rd time for the game. This time, however, an umpiring blunder gave Mason Cox a set shot which he converted to kill the momentum dead. ‘H’ responded by kicking his 4th of the night but at that point, the sting was taken out of the game just a little bit.
The Pies came out strong in the last quarter as they blew away an insipid Carlton team, Trey Ruscoe kicked a goal early in the last and that seemed like the writing on the wall when Cox kicked his 2nd not long after it was pretty much game over. A conciliation Gibbons goal was responded to by a Miohcek snap from the boundary which put the dagger in the heart of all Carlton Fans.
BREAKING IT DOWN: KEY MATCH INSIGHTS
So dominant, yet so wasteful
Many fans would have walked away from the game on Thursday believing that the Blues got smashed in every area of the park, well the eye test may have said that however the KPI’s says a different story. Carlton lead in clearances 40-35, Centre Clearances 17-12 and Inside 50’s 60-48. If you were given these stats without you seeing the game, it would be fair to assume that Carlton would’ve dominated the vast majority of this game, whilst that may have been the case, the efficiency the Blues went at was abysmal. The Blues went at 37% efficiency inside 50, compared with the Pies 52%. Collingwood has 3 more scoring shots, with 12 fewer inside 50’s, further showing the profligacy of the Blues. This was on full display in the third term as the Blues had 17 inside 50’s to Collingwood 9, yet the Blues only went 2% more efficient than the Pies. Darcy Moore having 6 marks and 18 intercept possession shows that the Blues just lofted the ball in a rushed and hurried way.
Defensively weak
Collingwood last week scored 53 points against the Bulldogs, they managed 71 at half time on Thursday night, on an elementary level, the defensive side of the game was not up to scratch. Collingwood took 6 inside 50 marks in the first quarter, compared to the 5 they managed the week prior. Overall it improved, keeping them to 11 for the rest of the match. A stat that is equal more concerning as astounding is that in the second half, Collingwood lead tackles in defensive 50 28-6, a staggering stat which proves as an indictment for the game as a whole. The Pies kicked 6 goals in the first quarter and the majority of those came from relatively ‘soft’ inside 50’s. Overall the defensive area of the ground was not up to scratch, the Pies were able to dictate where the ball went inside their attacking 50 and limited us to where we could go in out attacking 50. A lot of work needs to be done in the defensive part of the ground if you consider that we allowed a team to double their score from the previous week
FINAL SCORES
Carlton: 3.2 (20), 8.3 (51), 12.4 (76), 13.7 (85)
Collingwood: 6.2 (38), 11.5 (71), 13.7 (85), 16.10 (106)
Carlton Goals: McKay (4), Martin (3), Gibbons (3), Pittonet, Fogarty, Fisher,
Carlton Best: Walsh, Fogarty, McKay, Saad, Gibbons
