Autopsy 2025 Rd 23 Blues power on to their best performance of the year

[T2B_]

We forget how good a fit Walsh can be

 

[Moon]

A win like that replenishes the soul.

Special mentions to Cripps, Walsh, Hewitt, Lord, Harry and hope TDK stays.

Well done lads ... beautiful to watch.

 

[Dramoth]

AFL site article saying concussion

McKay boots seven as Blues power past Port

The Blues have recorded a comfortable win over the Power

www.afl.com.au

Might have been talking about the port player who was subbed out.

 

[norway blue]

Blake gut ran today Like Haynes.

 

[TwiggleyFanClub]

Where has that 45°lick been all season? We looked good going inside 50 for the first time in ages.

 

[btdg]

That was a good win. Nice for once to have a pretty good structure across the park and be playing an opposition that was struggling to cover important spots on the ground. Harry had a day out which was super for his confidence.

We've clearly gone back to our old styl - pushing the mids and press very deep forward, moving the ball forward at all costs. Interesting that we have played Haynes on the wing two weeks in a row. Alongside Acres we are essentially playing two relatively tall defensive wings who can push back and fill space, and that allows Hollands/Saad to aggressively run forward.

Probably a bit late in the year given we have played so much with only one key forward available, and it looks as good as it ever did with a better crop of small forwards to scramble. The weakness is still when teams move the ball fast and accurately through the middle and we get opened up defensively 'out the back', but right now it makes sense- it's a lot more fun and with only one tall forward available better to concede a few cheapies if it means getting confidence to other players. We also don't have to play Collingwood, Geelong, Adelaide or any of the teams that can really punish us playing that way until next year.

I think there is something brewing with this crop of young guys, too. There's something of merit in a bunch of young guys who skew towards mid-season and late draft picks, many of whom were Carlton supporters or who have worked their way through our VFL team. Our 'rebuilds' have been largely high draft picks and high profile trades who are expected to be successful. But by my count we played 11 players today who came to us as cast-offs, rookie selections or draft pick 27+ (Haynes, Cowan, Evans, Young, Carroll, O'Keefe, Lord, Wilson, Motlop, Moir, Durdin) or who came via rookie selections, and who come from the opposite angle - they have had to work for their spot and seem to just be appreciating being out there, rather than feeling the pressure of high expectations. They all mostly seem happy to be there, which is nice

Oh, and having a real midfield again with Walsh back was nice. And then the downside was Lord's injury - he had been awesome (tbh I was starting to wonder whether he should be in rising star discussion...)

 

[Beer n Skittles]

Haynes was good on the wing

Great game but they carved through our backline when he wasn’t there, just need two of him

 

[Markyd]

Ball movement was impressive today, and how good was Sam Walsh

18

Sam Walsh

Age

25

Ht

184cm

Wt

84kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

25.1

5star

K

13.5

5star

HB

11.6

5star

M

5.1

5star

T

3.2

5star

CL

3.4

5star

No current season stats available

D

26.2

5star

K

15.4

5star

HB

10.8

5star

M

6.0

5star

T

3.2

5star

CL

4.8

5star

!

 

[norway blue]

W and M. Carlton have clawed back . Toughness

 

[ESKIE]

TDK was really good I wish he would stay

 

[chickendippas]

Just back from the game - was so impressed by Walsh’s running power. Haven’t seen him move that well in a while.

Harry obviously terrific and more great signs from the young guys. There’s always something to play for this time of year, hope we finish strong next week.

 

[BlueBlood15]

Very encouraging to see Walsh move like that again. We haven’t seen that for a long time. H was brilliant. Good to see the young guys continue to perform well.

 

[SurreyBlue]

We forget how good a fit Walsh can be

Not everyone.

 

[Red_man2008]

Nick Haynes only 33 years young

He could go another season easily imo.

That mark against the point post in the last was tremendous.

 

[Red_man2008]

TDK was really good I wish he would stay

Yeah but his decisionmaking by foot is pretty bad still. Okeefe will go past him within 5 years either way. Pitto can play with HOK in the meantime. The terrible 20m miss from HOK was bad but from the kickin he was our last man behind the ball by gut running the length of the field.

 

[No1Suspect]

Extremely frustrating sitting back after a win and just thinking we have this in our locker. Another one like that next week into the off season please.

 

[Jacks Seething Rage]

Missed every single minute due to work gig.

Hope you all had a good suckle at tbe emotional nourishment teat.

 

[kreuze_missile]

Positives:

Harry needs to go back to full forward, permanently. He was huge. If you want a reference game to part with Curnow, this is it.

Evans went from real bad to real good, real quick. On form our best small forward. Hope it lasts. He is playing hungry.

Cooper will be huge in 2026. O’Keefe will definitely make it. Cowan will make an All Australian team one day.

Walsh still has it, moved as well as he has in 2 years.

The not-so positives:

Saad looks close to the end. Assume 2026 is his last, and think he plays a fair bit of VFL.

Weitering looks lost. Badly out of form.

Cripps days in the middle are numbered. Can’t play multiple slow mids in there, and Hewett has gone past him. Should play a lot more forward in 2026.

Durdin, Motlop, Fogarty and Flynn Young are not the answer. Need to move on at least two.

 

[ZabsBlues]

TrAde HaRrY aNd WaLsHy ….

Good clubs don’t trade away their best players, the build and add around them.

Game style and the way we played and moved the ball was so much better despite the opposition. Something to build on.

Great day for me, my other passion Liverpool won this morning and now the Baggers this afternoon!!

GBs

Plus the mighty Roosters are coming.

 

[ESKIE]

Yeah but his decisionmaking by foot is pretty bad still. Okeefe will go past him within 5 years either way. Pitto can play with HOK in the meantime. The terrible 20m miss from HOK was bad but from the kickin he was our last man behind the ball by gut running the length of the field.

HOK will be an absolute gun, his marking and aggression is great he is a beauty, I like that he is versatile

 

[Beer n Skittles]

Hitouts are a weird stat, thought we demolished them in the ruck but apparently Sweet had the vast majority of the hitouts

 

[lily of laguna]

There was no change in game plan just an average oppo

Forward structure was deeper for most of the game which gave more options when moving the ball towards goal and it also seemed that we had a lot mor overlap run from the likes of Walsh, Cow , Ollie etc.
Could be mistaken because I was only watching from the tv.

 

[Stamos]

Forward structure was deeper for most of the game which gave more options when moving the ball towards goal and it also seemed that we had a lot mor overlap run from the likes of Walsh, Cow , Ollie etc.
Could be mistaken because I was only watching from the tv.

We absolutely smashed centre clearances, which meant we had good forward position

 

[Blue1980]

Was basically a mirror image of the game back in June when they flogged us in Adelaide. They were very poor, but we were good and yes, some encouraging signs.

Thing is we still won the same way we know we can, if we dominate clearances, we are all good like today, we need to add more strings to our bow to be a threat next year and beyond.

 

[Kernafides]

Forward structure was deeper for most of the game which gave more options when moving the ball towards goal and it also seemed that we had a lot mor overlap run from the likes of Walsh, Cow , Ollie etc.
Could be mistaken because I was only watching from the tv.

What Stamos said