THERE wasn't much about Carlton's 62-point loss to GWS at Spotless Stadium that Blues coach Brendon Bolton felt worthy of celebrating, but he did give the thumbs up to two of his team’s more tireless campaigners, the versatile Simon White and 200-game midfielder Bryce Gibbs.
Inconsistency was the keyword from Bolton after his side fell away badly late in the game against the powerful Giants. But amid the carnage, White stood tall, keeping star GWS backman Heath Shaw virtually null and void with just 12 touches, while White impacted the game with 17 possessions, four tackles and a goal.
"It was a good battle. At the end of the day, it's one that went OK for us," Bolton said, lamenting that one-on-one victory didn't stretch to the scoreboard.
Gibbs, too, earned the coach’s praise, not only for his performance on the night, but across his career.
"He tried really hard," Bolton said of the veteran's effort, which yielded 29 touches and nine tackles.
Five talking points: Greater Western Sydney v Carlton
"I think he's the 35th player to have played 200 at our club. Our club's been around for over 150 years and only 35 have played 200. I think anyone in this competition who plays 200, we take our hat off and understand that it's a brutal competition and not many do it."
The accolades for Gibbs, however, were bittersweet, with the Blues suffering their seventh loss of the season.
"I thought again it was a bit inconsistent. We had some patches where we had a little bit of momentum, but by and large we just need to be more consistent.
WATCH: Brendon Bolton's full post-match press conference
"I thought our consistency in holding a bit of structure, particularly in the back half, around stoppages needed to improve. That hurt us. And then in the last quarter, we saw a really powerful unit kick about seven goals."
