A must-win game for both sides started Saturday’s football coverage. Both sides were coming off losses last week, with Carlton dropping a game to Sydney at the SCG, while GWS dropped their last game against Fremantle at home.
The first quarter saw an old-school shoot-out between the teams, with Charlie Curnow kicking two majors for the Blues, while Callum Brown and Toby Greene both had two each for the Giants. By the end of the first quarter, the Giants maintained a one-point lead, with both sides showing remarkable accuracy in the game. Greene was particularly influential in his milestone game, racking up 11 possessions in the first quarter, alone.
The teams managed to settle, defensively, in the second quarter as the scoring slowed without stopping. Carlton debutant Harry O’Farrell stepped up in a big way for the Blues, taking a few intercept marks while lined up on Aaron Cadman. O’Farrell is the son of Peter O’Farrell, the legendary Carlton lawyer who helped get Patrick Cripps out of a suspension back in his 2022 Brownlow Medal-winning season. Nice payback, Blues…
Starting the second quarter, a desperate Michael Voss threw the magnets around to find something different from his side than he had so far this season, with Mitch McGovern going forward and Lewis Young being swung back. However, the Giants slotted the first goal of the half through Jesse Hogan, who started the game quietly. Sam Docherty soon got one back for the Blues.
Cal Ward then steadied for the Giants to restore their lead back out to nine-points. Hogan then slotted his third goal of the game to match Charlie Curnow’s efforts at the other end, extending the Giants’ lead back out to 15 points with five minutes remaining in the third quarter. Jesse Motlop then brought the margin back down to eight points with 30 seconds left in the quarter, but Riccardi was able to kick a goal just before the siren for the Giants after a quick centre clearance.
Carlton then started the final quarter with a goal to Cooper Lord that reduced the margin back down to eight points. After the sustained period of offence, Kieren Briggs volleyed the ball out of the ruck to kick the Giants’ 13th goal of the game, and extended the lead back out to 15 points. Cadman then won a free kick after Weitering attempted to decapitate him, extending the lead to a game-high 21-point margin.
Carlton then kicked back-to-back goals through Cerra and Fogarty that seemed to give Blues fans hope and reduced the margin to jut eight points. However, as all Carlton fans who grew up post-2000 know, hope is just dangerous and delusional. So, it was unsurprising that GWS got a quick clearance, with Cadman finishing some hopeless defending from the usually steadfast Weitering. The Giants then got a second through Jesse Hogan as the Giants crossed the 100-point mark.
The game eventually petered out in the end, with the Giants getting up comfortably by 28-points to deliver the Blues their second-worst loss of the season, margin-wise.
Toby transformed
At the start of his career, Toby Greene seemed to be able to do no right. Labelled the Giant’s “bad boy” by the footy media, which seemed to suggest that he faced the tribunal every other week. While Giants fans gravitated towards their cheeky small forward, opposition fans hated Greene and his antics.
However, in recent years, Greene has matured into becoming an absolute superstar of the Giants, especially since taking over the captaincy in 2023. Greene was instrumental for the Giants again in the game against the Blues, Greene kicked three goals and picked up 28 possessions along the way.
Twin Towers failed to fire again
Even though Carlton have two Coleman Medal winning forwards in their line-up, you wouldn’t be able to know that given how they have played of late. While Charlie Curnow kicked three for the game, Harry McKay failed to kick a single goal.
This isn’t the first time the pair have failed to strike gold this season, as they were both well held against the Crows a few weeks ago. Is it possible to suggest that Carlton may be a better side when one of McKay and Curnow aren’t playing? Or should Carlton continue to persist with their two key tall forwards?
Carlton’s defensive systems break down
While Carlton failed to find fluency ahead of the ball, they also had numerous problems behind the ball as well. The usually stingy defence of Carlton conceded 100 points for the second time this season, with the previous time coming against the Crows a few weeks ago.
While many Carlton fans will point to the importance of Jack Silvagni, who was sorely missed and could have been useful in stemming one of the Giants key forwards, who kicked ten goals between them.
However, the bigger issues were the defensive lapses of Jacob Weitering. Weitering, Carlton’s undisputed leader down back, made several uncharacteristic errors in the game, giving away multiple free kicks and dropping simple marks that he would have otherwise taken in his sleep.
Giants guns play a starring role
While it was undoubtedly Toby Greene’s day for the Giants, he had plenty of support. Greene was helped by the Giants’ two Lachies, Ash and Whitfield. The two midfielders combined for over 50 possessions, taking 11 marks, and laying seven tackles.
Both of the Lachies were deadly with the football, with Ash going at a disposal efficiency of 75% while Whitfield went at 81% from one fewer possessions. Teenager Harvey Thomas was also key for the Giants, going at 80% efficiency from 20 possessions.
A big small problem
Looking at the output of the small forwards in this game gives a great indication of where the Giants are, in terms of balance, and where the Blues sit.
For the Giants, you had Harvey Thomas, Darcy Jones, and Cody Angove continually moving and accessing the footy. They had 20, 16, and 15 touches, respectively, and combined for 21 score involvements. But the Carlton small forwards seem unable to have meaningful touches.
Jesse Motlop kicked a snag, but had only nine disposals and one duck dance, while Corey Durdin managed just six touches for the game. Together, they had just three score involvements. The Blues have always looked to attract big names to the club, but it is painfully apparent that they need a good, hard-working small forward to give their offence balance.
A quick look at players out of contract is not pretty reading for the Blues in this situation.
Coming up Briggs
Kieren Briggs goal out of midair in the final quarter was the type of act that puts a full stop on a game. Whilst the Blues continue to come at the Giants, the way GWS continued to immediately answer was impressive, and for Briggs to slot that goal was big for him in the context of his season.
It would be fair to say that he hasn’t been great this year, but against a player projected to earn a bazillion dollars next season, Briggs was able to get the better of the hit outs, and work TDK off the footy, as well, picking up seven clearances to his opponent’s four.
De Koning will always find plenty of the footy – he had 17 in this one, but Briggs came up big when it counted in what was arguably his most professional performance of 2025.
The month ahead
Carlton head towards a much needed bye round next week after they had seemed to recover their season after a disastrous start. They should regain numerous players after the bye, including Jack Silvagni, Zac Williams, Jordan Boyd, and Matt Cottrell with small forward Orazio Fantasia returning via the VFL this week. Carlton then faces Essendon in their first game after the bye, before facing West Coast and North Melbourne in back-to-back weeks for the second time this season.
The Giants will return home this week to host a valiant Richmond side that just fell short against Essendon in the Dreamtime at the G match this week, and then host Port Adelaide the following week at Manuka Oval. The Giants will round out the next month against the two Queensland sides, facing the Lions at the Gabba and before hosting the Suns at ENGIE Stadium. It is imperative they take those first two games to steel themselves for the clashes with Brisbane and Gold Coast.
