Wildcard Weekend and Why the Blues Still Know How to Front Up

They call it a wildcard now, which is a word I still associate with cowboy films rather than the finals system of a competition I’ve followed since before some of these boys’ fathers were kicking a Sherrin around the backyard. Whatever you want to call it, the Blues got the job done against Melbourne at the MCG on the weekend, and after the sort of season Carlton have had, I’ll take stirring wherever I can find it.

A Win That Actually Meant Something

I’ve sat through enough dead rubbers in my time to know the difference between a side going through the motions and a side that wants it, and this Carlton outfit wanted it. The Demons came at them in patches, as Melbourne sides under that coaching group tend to do, all pressure and stoppage smarts, but the Blues found a way through it. There was a period in the third term where I thought we were about to do what Carlton have occasionally made an artform of doing to their own supporters — namely, falling in a heap when it mattered most — but give the playing group credit, they steadied.

Back in my day a final was a final, home and away was home and away, and if you finished fifth you were flogging balls at training come September while the top four sorted it out between themselves. Now we’ve got wildcard weekends and elimination finals and I dare say by the time my grandkids are watching this game they’ll have invented a finals system with more rounds than the actual season. But I digress — the Blues won, and won a match they had to win, and that’s the main thing.

The Midfield Brigade Stood Up

What pleased me most watching from the outer, metaphorically speaking because these days I watch from the couch like everyone else, was the way our midfield brigade took control of the contest when Melbourne threatened to wrestle it away. Clearance after clearance went our way in that crucial second half period, and it wasn’t just the star names doing the damage either — there were a couple of the younger blokes winning the hard ball that you don’t always see from kids that age, not in a final-flavoured game like this one.

I’ll admit I was nervous about the inside 50 count for large chunks of it. Melbourne have built a habit under their system of shutting down the corridor and forcing you kick after kick down the boundary line until you cough it up, and there were moments I thought we were playing right into their hands. But somewhere in there the Blues found the width, found the targets inside 50, and made the Demons pay for every scrap of pressure they applied.

Umpiring Decisions That Had Me Grumbling

Now I’m not one to go on about the umpires, because I know full well every bloke in stripes is out there doing his best under lights and cameras that pick up every misstep, but there were a couple of decisions in that second quarter that had me out of my chair and not in a good way. A high bump call went against us that half the ground thought was soft as a wet Sao, and I’ll leave it there because I know the rules on this sort of thing and I’m not about to start accusing anyone of anything — I’ll just say plenty of Carlton people watching would have shared my view that it looked generous to the Demons.

The interchange rules these days don’t help either. Back in my day you had two men on the bench and if you got a knock you gutsed it out or you came off for good, none of this rotating fresh legs on every second minute like it’s a game of musical chairs. I reckon half the reason these games get so stop-start is the head office tinkering with rules that didn’t need tinkering with in the first place, but that’s a grumble for another column.

Now It’s Geelong, and Don’t Anyone Get Carried Away

So the reward for beating Melbourne is a trip to face Geelong in an elimination final, which is about as daunting a proposition as you could hand a resurgent Carlton outfit. The Cats have been the most consistent side in the competition for what feels like a decade now, and anyone who thinks this win over the Demons means we’re suddenly a lock to knock them off needs to have a good hard look at themselves and maybe lay off the finals fever for a week.

That said, I’ve watched enough Carlton sides over the years to know that a group playing with belief and a bit of momentum behind them can trouble anyone on their day, even a Geelong side stacked with experience and premiership medals. The Blues will need everything that got them over the line against Melbourne and then some — the pressure will be higher, the crowd bigger, and Geelong simply don’t give you the same easy metres that Melbourne occasionally handed us in patches.

What This Resurgance Actually Means

There’s been a lot of talk this year about whether Carlton have turned some sort of corner, and I’ve been cautious about that talk because I’ve seen false dawns before at this footy club, more of them than I care to remember. But I’ll say this much — the way the playing group fronted up in a match they absolutely had to win, against a side that plays as tough and structured as Melbourne do, tells me there’s something real building here.

• The midfield brigade is delivering consistent output, not just flashes
• Younger players are winning contested footy in big moments, not shying from it
• The forward line found width and targets when it mattered most

None of that guarantees anything against Geelong, and I won’t insult anyone’s intelligence by pretending it does. But as an old bloke who’s watched this club through the lean years and the ugly years and the years I’d rather not discuss at all, I’ll happily take a wildcard win with some ticker in it over another quiet exit any day of the week.

One Final Word

Whatever they end up calling this finals system next year, and I’ve stopped trying to keep up with the rebrands, the Blues have earned themselves one more week of footy. Go and enjoy it, because in this caper you never quite know how many more of these weeks you’re going to get.