Are you one of those people who gets feelings about certain things?
You know the type – they have an instinct about things. They don’t know what the Powerball numbers are, but they have a feeling about walking down one side of the street over another, only to learn later that a car mounted the footpath and knocked over a rubbish bin there. Some people consider them nuts, but when they get something right, you kind of look at them and wonder how they knew that was going to happen.
I watched this game with two Carlton supporters. One of them, usually an eternal pessimist, decided that this was the game where his Blues were going to come good. He has never been up and about when it comes to his team, particularly over the last few months, but this week was different. He had a feeling, you see? He knew something was up. It was in the tea leaves, blowing in the wind, or maybe he read Jimmy Ayres’ Mongrel Horoscopes and it filled him with hope.
To be fair, it wasn’t hard for many to get that feeling coming into this game. Port are an excellent team, but they’d been up for 13-straight games. Excellent, but not one of the great teams – not yet, so to think they could run through the remainder of the season without dropping a game was a little far-fetched. With a raft of changes and a host of replacements that struck me more like replacements than legitimate members of their best 25 players, they seemed ripe for the picking.
And the Blues sensed it.
My Carlton-supporting mate sensed it.
I sensed it.
Hell, even Mrs Mongrel sensed it and that sense now sees her sit atop the Mongrel Punt tipping competition. Embarrassing stuff for our writers… and myself!
Jumping Port at the start of the game, Carlton looked like they meant business. The injury to Harry McKay – something to do with his knee that we’re not yet certain of – had the potential to derail them, but credit where it’s due; the Blues refused to go into their shell and made their adjustments.
I’ve always thought of the Blues as a top-heavy team, but in this one, it was the lesser lights standing up, as they powered away from Port to win by 50 points.
The victory now has the Blues knocking on the door to the top eight with a date against West Coast to come next week. Things are getting interesting. Let’s jump into The Mongrel Talking Points as we cover Carlton’s best win of the season.
Oh, what the hell? A Mongrel paywall? Yep, I believe my work is worth twenty cents per day. If you don’t, that’s fine. Don’t complain, though. Sometimes, I open these reviews up after 24 hours or so. Sometimes, I don’t. There is no favouritism… I just don’t. Want to join us and access the members’ game reviews, as well as columns like the Wingman of the Year, Recruit of the Year, and other nonsensical stuff HB comes up with each week?
