Same Old Story: Pies Slam the Door on Carlton’s Wildcard Dream

Is there a more predictable fixture in the competition right now than Carlton trying to climb over the top of Collingwood and falling flat on their face? I didn’t think so either. The Blues rocked up thinking this was the week, and we sent them home with the same old lesson.

Fourteen from the last sixteen. Nine under Craig McRae alone. At some point that’s not a rivalry, it’s a landlord-tenant arrangement, and we own the building.

The doorman does his job again

Every year some club in footy’s middle tier convinces itself it’s ready for finals footy, ready for a wildcard slot, ready to be taken seriously. And every year, seemingly, they’ve got to get through us first. We’re the bouncer out front checking IDs, and more often than not we’re knocking blokes back before they even reach the velvet rope.

Carlton needed this game more than any result under Fraser. You could feel it. The sense of doom that hung over that footy club for years might be gone, replaced by something more like nervous hope, but hope only gets you so far against a Collingwood side that knows exactly how to find your soft spots.

And we found them. Early, and often.

Same soft underbelly, different season

What gets me is that Carlton always talk a good game beforehand. Premiership window this, top four credentials that. Then the contest starts and it’s the same story – they get outworked in the guts, they cough up the ball in defensive 50, and suddenly it’s another Friday night where the Carlton faithful are heading for the exits early wondering how it went pear-shaped again.

Our midfield brigade set the tone from centre bounce. Won the clearances, won the contested footy, and did what good Collingwood sides have done since Bevo, sorry wrong sport, since forever – made the opposition play at our speed, not theirs.

Some Carlton fans reckon their list is finally good enough to trouble the big boys. After Saturday night, you’d have to say the jury’s still out.

McRae’s men know how to find a big one

Say what you want about this Collingwood side – and plenty do, we’re used to it – but when the occasion calls for it, they lift. Doesn’t matter if we’re flying or stumbling through a rough patch, when Carlton’s in town something clicks.

Is it the history? Is it just that McRae’s blokes have got Carlton’s measure mentally? Probably a bit of both if you ask me. You don’t beat a side nine times running under one coach by accident. At some stage it becomes as much psychological as it is tactical, and I reckon the Blues know it too, even if they’ll never admit it publicly.

Our forward line made them pay for every skerrick of space, and when Carlton did manage to generate some run through the middle, we shut the gate before it ever became dangerous. Thats footy played the Collingwood way – patient, clinical, ruthless when it matters.

The umpires, because of course

Look, I’m not going to sit here and pretend the whistle-blowers had it in for us, because for once – and I mean once – I don’t think they did us over. Bit of a novelty that. Normally I’m typing this bit through gritted teeth about a dodgy free against in the goal square, but this week I’ll give credit where it’s due. The free kick count roughly balanced out and the game was let flow. Wonders never cease.

Doesn’t mean I’ve gone soft on them long-term. They’ll find a way to cost us a close one before the year’s out, they always do. But this week, fair’s fair.

What it means for the ladder

For Carlton, this was about as costly a loss as you can have this deep into the season. A win keeps the wildcard conversation alive and gives the fans something to dream about heading into the run home. A loss – and especially a loss like this, to us, again – and suddenly all that talk about finals footy starts sounding a lot more hollow.

For us? It’s another data point in an increasingly long list proving that when McRae’s Magpies turn up for Carlton week, there’s genuinely no contest. Doesn’t matter what ladder position either side is sitting in beforehand. Doesn’t matter what the form guide says. Something about pulling on the black and white against the Blues just flicks a switch in this playing group.

Should this one have been closer? Maybe on paper. Carlton had won some good footy in patches this year and deserved to be talked about as finals contenders. But footy’s not played on paper, it’s played on the park, and on the park we were the better side from start to finish. Definately the better side, if I’m being honest about it.

Carn the Pies

I’ll say this for our fans – we’ve earned the right to enjoy days like this. Not that long ago we were the ones being spoken about as the competition’s easybeats, the club everyone circled on the calendar as a certain four points. Now we’re the standard other clubs get measured against, and Carlton just found that out the hard way. Again.

There’s a long way to go in this season and plenty of footy still to be played before finals, wildcard round, whatever you want to call it these days. But if Carlton want to be taken seriously as genuine contenders, they’re going to have to find a way through us eventually. On this evidence, that day is still a fair way off.

Carn the Pies. Same time next year, Carlton?