But the biggest plus has to be the debut games of three new Blues; 2005 No.1 pick Marc Murphy, 2004 No.25 pick Adam Hartlett and 2004 No.41 pick Luke Blackwell plus the second game of the agile Irishman, Setanta O’hAilpin. It has been many a long year since we’ve had so many young players debut, and indeed, come through the ranks, as the Blues currently have. Round 1 2004 had a lot of ‘Carlton’ debuts as we welcomed some friends from other Clubs which was exciting in it’s own way, but early 2006 will see the young players fresh out of school and fresh into Navy Blue given their chances. New faces add that certain uncontainable excitement that the Blues are going places after the rocky road of our recent lifetimes.
It wasn’t just the debuts that brought a wide smile to my face, but the nature of their games. Murphy was in and at it from the opening bounce, kicking a goal and looking as though he’d just become an AFL player with his first goal, which of course, he is in the process of becoming. It’s been a while since the #3 jumper was worn by a midfielder, with Morrell, Massie, Welsh and Oliver being the most recent wearers, and almost 20 years since it was worn in a Premiership year (Richard Dennis, 1987). Interestingly, only one #3 has ever won the Club Best & Fairest; Mike Fitzpatrick in 1979, suggesting to Murphy that even if he doesn’t climb the footy mountains he could always become a successful businessman or join the AFL Commission.
Perhaps a little more impressive on the night were the sticky fingers of O’hAilpin who would pull in 6 marks deep in the forward line and occasionally up the ground. The really impressive part of Setanta’s game is his near conversion to footy player – as Bullants watchers in his debut year of 2004, you could almost see him having to think his way through situations. But now in 2006, the Irishman seems to have a fair idea of where to run, what to do and how to kick. Next lesson has to be how to kick a banana through the netball goals, although neither of us have ever managed that so we should give him some leeway.
Of all the ‘new’ things that impress the watchers, some ‘old’ things remain – and not just those things on the field. With Dan overseas and requesting information on the game, I set out to find a good old game review for Dan to have a gander at. Other than Matt Burgan through carltonfc.com.au, the papers seemed intent on just listing some facts from the ‘Stats Sheet’ rather than describe the goings on out on the field. Perhaps that’s easier than taking notes through the game while you’re getting free food and drinks? There was nothing about how Carlton dominated large tracts of the middle quarters, but couldn’t convert, nothing about how many chances we missed and nothing about how we held a Top 4 team almost all night.
It’s the newspaper equivalent of the TV callers who just seem to mention the player’s names now rather than describe what is happening out on the field. Despite high pay packets, the commentators seem so happy that they know who the player is, but ignore what they’re doing with it. This shortage of game description doesn’t allow more breaks in commentary either – any such break is taken up by the commentators in reminding the listeners how many footy or cricket games those commentators played. Eddie may have been accused of supporting his beloved ‘Pies but at least he can call a game of footy. In their defence, I guess there are a lot of rookies and new players early in a season, but surely there’s only 36 names out there on the field at any one time.
Of course all watchers of footy games have different views as to who played well, and what impact some players had on the game. But that’s part of the fun of being a footy fan. Footy debate spurns fans of all Clubs on to various websites, on to talkback radio and fosters arguments at BBQ’s and heaters (as the winter months approach) all over the country. But it seems as though no one tells the story of the game any more. It seems as though the ebbs and flows of a game are too hard to convey in words, and that the players who turn matches are harder to pick than someone who earned 20 possessions or so.
An ‘old’ thing on-the-field that remains a worry going into the main season is our kicking for goal. Bad kicking is bad football, and the Blues let the pressure slide on Saturday night. 3 goals 11 behinds plus 2 Out of Bounds on the Full in the middle quarters allowed the Cats to stay in the game, despite them scoring relatively easily when they made it into the F50. Kouta, Walker, Fevola, Setanta and Carrots let those pesky Cats off, when it mattered, and the Blues need to do better.
Before you throw the old logic of ‘it wouldn’t have changed anything’ at me because of how good the Cats notionally are, to Mike & Dan, fate is a romantic notion supported by ‘meant to be’ that just doesn’t wash on the footy field. If the boys convert our chances, and keep pressure on opposing teams – no matter where they came last year – we can win the game. Think about it – if we had kicked 7 goals 7 rather than 3.11 we may have been able to hold off the fast finishing Cats. Good teams will have the capacity to fight back, and they did, but it’s a lot harder to win from 5 goals behind than when deadlocked.
With this in mind, Mike & Dan hereby offer to stand behind the goals, ferreting the shots for goal after each kick at the next training session. We’ll even wear ball-boy gear left over from the Australian Open if it helps – come on fellas, nail those goals, and keep our hopes up for the year ahead.
Mike & Dan are contributors to carltonfc.com.au, The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the Carlton Football Club.
