After fifteen minutes of footy, it looked like the Sydney Swans had left their A-Game back in Western Australia. The Blues were all over them, outnumbering at contests, winning both the hard footy and on the spread, and hitting the scoreboard hard.
A running goal to Mitch McGovern got Carlton rolling, and in an ominous follow up, goals to their key talls, in Harry McKay and Charlie Curnow, and then a goal out the back to Matt Owies, made it look like one-way traffic.
I got a message from a Carlton supporter at this point. It simply read “It’s all over!”
And yet, it was just about to begin.
After kicking five of the first six goals of the contest, Carlton would add just four for the remainder of the game. Meanwhile, the Swans kicked 16 from that point.
I didn’t receive a follow up text, and any responses I sent seem to have gone unread.
Coming into this game, I had a feeling we were going to see the making of one of these teams. The Swans were up against it, having travelled the week before and were coming off a day less rest, but the Blues had injuries to contend with. Whichever team was able to overcome the obstacles in front of them was going to firm, in my mind at least, as a genuine contender.
So, given that, I am not sure where that leaves Carlton.
There is a heap to get through in this one, so let’s jump into The Mongrel’s Good, Bad, and Ugly.
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