{"id":658069,"date":"2026-05-08T16:31:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T16:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/658069\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T16:31:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T16:31:17","slug":"carlton-blues-lose-to-the-brisbane-lions-but-find-some-fight-now-can-they-play-a-full-match","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/658069\/","title":{"rendered":"Carlton Blues lose to the Brisbane Lions but find some fight. Now can they play a full match?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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All season long, Carlton fans have been desperately hoping to see some second-half fight from their besieged Blues. On Friday night at the Gabba against the two-time reigning premiers, they got plenty of it \u2013 and a glimpse of light to come.<\/p>\n

Michael Voss\u2019 men seemed destined for a thrashing when they fell 49 points behind early in the third, but instead of going to water, they dug in and fought back \u2013 in more ways than one \u2013 losing by just 11 points.<\/p>\n

\"SamSam Walsh gets stuck into Levi Ashcroft.Getty Images<\/p>\n

One moment typified the Blues\u2019 resolve. It was late in the final term and they were down by 22 points, but they refused to be pushed around any longer.<\/p>\n

When Levi Ashcroft marked, goalled and immediately got in the face of Ben Ainsworth, Sam Walsh wasn\u2019t having it \u2013 remonstrating with Ashcroft and giving away an immediate free kick. Ashcroft missed, and the Lions still went on to win, but Walsh had made his point, and his skipper couldn\u2019t have been prouder.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not going to take it from anyone,\u201d Patrick Cripps told Seven after the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a spirit in this group, and we are going to stand up for one another, and we are not going to get walked over.<\/p>\n

\u201cWalshy stood up for a mate, and then we had his back. It cost a free kick, but I would rather give up a free kick showing some fight than no one reacting at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Blues have led at half-time in six games this season before fading out, whereas on Friday night they were thumped for a half before fighting back at the finish.<\/p>\n

It was a pattern not lost on the Lions \u2013 including their former skipper Lachie Neale, who won the Robert Walls Medal as best afield.<\/p>\n

\"LachieLachie Neale was in vintage touch for the two-time reigning premiers.AFL Photos<\/p>\n

His post-game comments on Seven were eye-popping, and sum up the Blues\u2019 plight.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe weren\u2019t doing that well enough in the third quarter, and we were allowing them to chain [possessions together] and then find an easy mark … I got told by a couple of the boys [that] we were \u2018doing a Carlton\u2019,\u201d Neale admitted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were trying to get in our heads a little bit, but that\u2019s part of the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was pretty close but … we\u2019ll take it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cripps led from the front in the second half, recording 18 of his 32 disposals, while Harry McKay (three goals), Walsh (29 disposals) and Mitch McGovern (three goals) all lifted with him.<\/p>\n

\"PatrickPatrick Cripps and Harry McKay were integral in the Blues\u2019 stunning fightback.AFL Photos<\/p>\n

The Blues have received plenty of criticism in their 1-8 start to the season and, as Voss pointed out, they can\u2019t win matches playing one good half.<\/p>\n

He was in no mood for moral victories.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter half-time you could definitely see a confidence growing in the group,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were little battles we were starting to win, some of the connections forward of the ball that we were missing, we started to make. I think we finished with 20 marks inside 50 and we didn\u2019t look like that in the first half.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got field position and kept the ball in our half \u2013 all the things we want to be building our game on were evident.<\/p>\n

\"KevinKevin Costner (right) was a fascinated onlooker at the Gabba.Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cWe probably utilised their drop in intensity to lift our own and that gave us the confidence to finish out the game the way we did, but we still have got to be better than playing one half of football.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to put more time together than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Voss noted that Cripps, Walsh and Jagga Smith spent even more time in the midfield and centre ball-ups than in earlier matches. McKay, meanwhile, had one of his best second halves with 12 possessions, three goals and seven marks.<\/p>\n

Unlocking his ability, and confidence, is as crucial as any improvement the Blues can make, while McGovern and Will Hayward were both dangerous options alongside him.<\/p>\n

The Blues have an eight-day break before facing Marcus Bontempelli\u2019s Western Bulldogs at Marvel next Saturday night, with the injury-hit Dogs bouncing back in their own right with a thrilling win over Port Adelaide in Friday\u2019s other night match.<\/p>\n

\"WhileWhile not being happy with another loss, there was some cause for optimism on Friday night as Patrick Cripps\u2019 and Michael Voss\u2019 Blues fought back in the second half, not faded.Getty Images<\/p>\n

Oliver Florent and Zac Williams both appeared to be carrying leg injuries in the second half, but Cripps was hopeful they could both prove their fitness with the longer break.<\/p>\n

While Voss believes the second half showed the Blues have a \u201cmodel\u201d that can be successful, he still won\u2019t accept anything less than a four-quarter effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe walk out of the game with further clarity on what we need to be producing, but we also walk away disappointed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe acknowledge the fight, but we can\u2019t accept mediocrity \u2013 we have got to have high standards of ourselves than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LionsLions coach Chris Fagan had a few home truths for his side.AFL Photos<\/p>\n

Lions coach Chris Fagan called the match a \u201cdanger game\u201d for his side given Carlton\u2019s Jekyl and Hyde form from halves to halves, so he was happy to bank the four points \u2013 even young spearhead Logan Morris said on Kayo Sports after the match that Fagan sprayed his side for being \u201cshithouse\u201d in letting the Blues roar back.<\/p>\n

The Lions have won six of their past seven matches, while veteran defender Ryan Lester had one of the best games of his career with eight of his 11 intercept possessions coming in the first half.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to win impressively every week, and I was worried about this game as I have a fair bit of time for Carlton and the way they play their footy,\u201d Fagan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think their win-loss ratio is a reflection of that.<\/p>\n

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\"RoyRoy Ward<\/a> is a sports writer, live blogger and breaking news journalist. He’s been writing for The Age since 2010.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":658070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-658069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=658069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/658070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=658069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=658069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=658069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}