From botched post-game set shot to the crunching tackle on Mark Blicavs that summed up Josh Fraser\u2019s take-no-prisoners approach.<\/p>\n
Footy is never quite as simple as that.<\/p>\n
But Byrne\u2019s pushed set shot in round 6 to level the scores after Collingwood star Josh Daicos\u2019 late free kick was one of many small moments that cost Michael Voss his job.<\/p>\n
At that stage it was easy to make the point that the next coach of Carlton was inheriting a poisoned chalice.<\/p>\n
None other than Ken Hinkley described the Blues list as \u201cvery, very average\u201d with the list a \u201clong way away\u201d from competing.<\/p>\n
Fair enough too.<\/p>\n
But three weeks is a long time in footy after a trio of wins and signs of life from so many players.<\/p>\n
Carlton isn\u2019t sugar-coating anything, with football boss Chris Davies saying on Friday: \u201cAs much as I think our list is more balanced than what it was last year, I still don\u2019t think the list is good enough to compete at the top level.\u201d<\/p>\n
But suddenly a senior coaching aspirant like Hinkley or John Longmire or Shaun Grigg would believe the list needs plenty of work rather than a complete rebuild.<\/p>\n
HERE ARE THE 16 SIGNS THAT CARLTON\u2019S LIST WOULD APPEAL TO THEIR NEXT SENIOR COACH.<\/p>\n
1. BLUES UP THE ANTE<\/p>\n
Pressure.<\/p>\n
It wins games of football and it also makes Carlton look a vastly different side to the one which had nothing when it didn\u2019t win clearances.<\/p>\n
As Fraser said after his first win against the Dogs, the Blues have always been great in the contest.<\/p>\n
But they often froze when that part of their game wasn\u2019t working.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe spoke this week about when the game isn\u2019t looking the way we want it to look like, what do we fall back on?\u201d he said after that victory. <\/p>\n
Talor Byrne’s hit on Mark Blicavs<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we really relied on our pressure and our appetite to close down their time and space and take away their inside out game. When the game wasn\u2019t quite flowing the way we wanted we had a cornerstone to fall back on in our pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Byrne pulled off THE tackle of the night against Geelong.<\/p>\n
On Friday he laid five tackles and four of them forced turnovers.<\/p>\n
He got Tom Stewart holding the ball, and he forced Bailey Smith into a dump-kick turnover from defence.<\/p>\n
But it was his last term special that summed up what has changed.<\/p>\n
He crunched Mark Blicavs in a bone-jarring tackle that lifted him off the ground, which allowed Jagga Smith to find Brodie Kemp deep in the pocket in the last term.<\/p>\n
Then as the Cats charged forward again George Hewett tackled Smith, who found Tanner Bruhn with a rushed handball.<\/p>\n
Byrne went to work again to force the ball out with his tackle, which allowed Ben Ainsworth to swoop to start a forward chain that went through Sam Walsh and Mitch McGovern\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n
It says everything about how Carlton is now playing.<\/p>\n
Byrne is the pick 45 from last year\u2019s draft who has power and a will to tackle <\/p>\n
He has kicked only two goals in his seven games and averages only seven possessions but he\u2019s an elite forward 50 pressure player.<\/p>\n
2. AN ABSOLUTE STEAL<\/p>\n
Two picks later in the national draft the Blues matched North Melbourne\u2019s bid for Jack Ison.<\/p>\n
What a steal at pick 47 after North Melbourne eventually bid on a player who could have gone much higher.<\/p>\n
The club\u2019s first NGA player has effortlessly made the gap from Talent League football to VFL to AFL after playing at Scotch College with Cooper Lord and Jagga Smith in 2024.<\/p>\n
He loves the moment.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s a crafty left-footer.<\/p>\n
And he\u2019s already a high possession getter after 15 possessions against the Dogs and 17 touches against the Port Adelaide.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s kicked a goal in every game but he\u2019s actually had eight shots at goal, with two of them touched on the line and three requiring video review.<\/p>\n
Wait until he gets 50 games into him.<\/p>\n
3. A NEW STAR DOWN BACK<\/p>\n
If Carlton had only secured a single star player in last year\u2019s national draft they would have accepted it because that player was No. 3 overall pick Harry Dean.<\/p>\n
They had to accumulate two top-12 picks to match a bid but whatever the price was, it was worth it.<\/p>\n
But they have the bonus of three quality players in a year where they moved on Charlie Curnow for more runners and depth in experienced types Ben Ainsworth, Ollie Florent and Will Hayward. <\/p>\n
In the rooms post-match fellow defender Lachie Cowan told CODE Sports he was in awe of Dean\u2019s first season.<\/p>\n
Harry Dean continues to improve<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is becoming everyone\u2019s favourite player. I love playing with him. He\u2019s just a competitor<\/p>\n
He doesn\u2019t complain and he is an energy bunny as well. He gets the boys up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Consider his clash against Geelong.<\/p>\n
A career-high 15 touches, a career-high seven intercepts, a career-high four tackles, another game where his trusty left foot hit targets.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s got old-fashioned instincts \u2013 fearless, a want to hit bodies \u2013 but a new-age skill-set \u2013 lovely disposal, athletic, quick, flawless decision making.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s aggressive, he\u2019s got composure, he\u2019s equally comfortable with ball in air or on the ground and he judges the game so well his intercept marks at times look easy (as he peeled off his man to effortlessly intercept Ollie Dempsey\u2019s kick inside 50).<\/p>\n
4. THERE\u2019S A FOUNDATION<\/p>\n
The Blues can build a defence out of Jacob Weitering, Harry Dean and Harry O\u2019Farrell.<\/p>\n
Much has been made of O\u2019Farrell\u2019s 13 marks against Hawthorn the week before he tore his ACL against Fremantle last year.<\/p>\n
We went back and looked at them. <\/p>\n
Don\u2019t worry about the 13 marks \u2013 plenty were from chipping around the background.<\/p>\n
It was the way he judged the ball in the air with strong hands at 197cm to leap in front of Lloyd Meek for a strong intercept despite his spindly frame.<\/p>\n
Or back into a pack of Lions two weeks before to haul in a big contested grab.<\/p>\n
He averaged 2.3 intercept marks in his six games, including two against Fremantle standing tall despite physical punishment before he tore his ACL that night.<\/p>\n
As a senior coach who might want to build from the backline upwards that trio playing together for plenty of years would be especially inviting.<\/p>\n
He should be back late this year but from round 1 next year the Blues can build around Weitering, Dean and O\u2019Farrell.<\/p>\n
5. STANDING UP WHEN IT COUNTS<\/p>\n
Does your senior core crumble when the shizen hits the fan? <\/p>\n
Carlton\u2019s stars have certainly had their ordinary moments \u2013 Weitering at times concentrates too much on his man, Cripps had a stinker against St Kilda and Walsh hasn\u2019t always used the ball well.<\/p>\n
But as Cowan said on Friday, the group hasn\u2019t fractured in an interesting comparison with a Dons group Matthew Lloyd said had been \u201cunhappy\u201d this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s stayed pretty similar. We have all kept a level head. Win or loss we show up and have the same process. It\u2019s something you don\u2019t see. We cop a bit outside but it\u2019s always the same in the four walls.\u201d<\/p>\n
Said Cripps on Saturday: \u201cRight now the energy around the club has been high all year. The locker room stuff has been as good as it has been since I got to the club.\u201d<\/p>\n
6. JAGGA\u2019S EVOLUTION<\/p>\n
Jagga Smith is putting more punish into his game.<\/p>\n
The No. 3 overall pick is getting more midfield time and using it to effect.<\/p>\n
Sometimes his hands are so quick in close \u2013 a late handball to Cowan deep in defence with three minutes remaining against Geelong \u2013 that you barely see them.<\/p>\n
But against Port Adelaide last week he roved to Marc Pittonet in the centre square, burnt past his opponents and hit Harry McKay laces-out as he led from the square.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a very nice balance of inside and out.<\/p>\n
We know he\u2019s going to be a star. <\/p>\n
Now to add goalkicking after only three in 12 games.<\/p>\n
Jagga Smith roves off Marc Pittonet<\/p>\n
7. THE BLUES ARE DISPENSING WITH THE CHOKE TAG<\/p>\n
They held off the Dogs late, they streeted the Power and they came in big with Patrick Cripps\u2019 mark and goal to beat Geelong.<\/p>\n
It hasn\u2019t been by accident and it will have allowed a prospective coach to see the gains they have made this year because it doesn\u2019t all end in tears by the final siren.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be frank we weren\u2019t standing up in the moments,\u201d Cripps told 3AW on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t just leaders, it was senior players. We worked with (leadership consultant) Travis Boak, we did some group sessions with Steve (Rendall) our psychologist. But we went to work as a group. What things were in our control? When those moments come, how do we take them? As leaders the young guys are looking up to us<\/p>\n
How can we recognise the moment, understand what the moments need and keep going at the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
8. NECESSARY CHANGE<\/p>\n
Adam Cerra to a wing is food for thought. He had a season-high 480 metres gained, kicked a long goal and mostly stayed within his lanes with risk-averse ball use.<\/p>\n
But for a club that can\u2019t play all of Cerra, George Hewett, Cooper Lord and Patrick Cripps in the same team as inside mids, it\u2019s worth persevering with.<\/p>\n
9. PATRICK CRIPPS<\/p>\n
He has put the cape back on. <\/p>\n
In fairness he had two of his best three games of the season leading into Michael Voss\u2019s sacking.<\/p>\n
But he\u2019s not only been monstrous in the last three weeks, he\u2019s kicking goals again.<\/p>\n
A player who kicked 20 goals in 2022 and 17 in his most recent Brownlow year had only one in seven rounds.<\/p>\n
Patrick Cripps kicks the winner<\/p>\n
He has kicked seven in the past six rounds. <\/p>\n
He reeled off three monster games with eight clearances in all of them (29, 32 and 30) but also has seven, 10 and seven score involvements in those games.<\/p>\n
And he says he wants to stay.<\/p>\n
Imagine signing up to coach this club and Crippa walking out to head back to Perth.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s 32 next March.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s probably got three very good years left. <\/p>\n
10. EVEN THEIR BIGGEST CRITIC IS ON BOARD<\/p>\n
Sam Docherty was spot on when he said that the Blues\u2019 clearance game was the only thing keeping the Blues in games.<\/p>\n
\u201cBasically, you smack our mids again this year, and we\u2019ll be f***ed,\u201d he said earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Said Docherty this weekend: It\u2019s been interesting watching the slight shifts in their game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a lot of love for Vossy but Josh Fraser is pulling the right strings, putting the right focus on areas of the club. You can see the pressure, the overwhelming pressure that they have made a focus. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey have still got the group that does that, but the rest of their game in terms of how they move the ball, they are not putting it in as many contests so they have got more energy when the contest comes. Their short marking, handball overlap, it\u2019s looking like a different footy side at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
11. WELCOME TO THE NEW WORLD <\/p>\n
That overlap run makes the Blues look like a modern football side. <\/p>\n
They should have cashed in through a Blake Acres goal from 20 points down in the second quarter when Jagga Smith kick-started the run from the backline.<\/p>\n
The ball flowed through the hands of Ollie Florent, Ben Ainsworth, wingman Blake Acres to Talor Byrne, then Acres and Ainsworth again as the Blue spirited the ball inside 50.<\/p>\n
Finally Acres ran onto a loose ball and his snap went across the race.<\/p>\n
The point? Ainsworth and Acres never stopped running, never stopped pushing forward even amid two Blues mistakes in that passage of play.<\/p>\n
![\"Blues](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/6f46845f8ccfc75fb1d186193d441256.jpeg\")
12. VERSATILITY<\/p>\n
Lachie Cowan is worth persevering with.<\/p>\n
The 21-year-old will play his 50th game next week and he\u2019s mostly played as a half back.<\/p>\n
But against St Kilda he won two centre square clearances getting some midfield time. <\/p>\n
He\u2019s elite one-on-one as a defensive stopper.<\/p>\n
Against the Dogs he had 20 possessions and 514 metres gained.<\/p>\n
And he played on Jeremy Cameron this week.<\/p>\n
Cameron kicked 4.3 and had the best of Cowan but it showed the Blues think is capable.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will be honest, I had my head in my hands a bit,\u201d he said when asked how he felt when he was told he was playing on the Coleman Medallist.<\/p>\n
\u201cAsh Hansen is our backline coach and he said I think you will go to Jez this week, I thought I was joking but I told him I will do what I have to. He is a quality player and if not the best forward in the comp one of the best. It\u2019s tough. Credit to him, he kicked goals on me<\/p>\n
\u201cI tried my best. I want to be known as someone the boys want to play with and do my job every week.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is very good on the lead and you just can\u2019t stop everything. You want to give him bad shots even though bad shots are what he loves from the boundary. I will take a lot out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
13. HAYWARD FINALLY SHOWS UP<\/p>\n
Will Hayward kicked two goals in his first seven games for Carlton.<\/p>\n
It looked a shaky investment given the Blues brought him in to hit the scoreboard.<\/p>\n
He kicked three of them against Geelong \u2013 a lovely running shot on 50m, a clever snap from a Jack Ison assist and a set shot from 35m.<\/p>\n
But he did it mostly playing on the wing \u2013 his first disposal against Geelong was from a kick-in and his heat map showed half of his touches at half back.<\/p>\n
On the night Ollie Dempsey did plenty of damage as the opposing wingman but Hayward has the tank to get up the ground and kick three goals.<\/p>\n
Hayward is averaging a career-high 15.9 possessions and has kicked eight goals in his past four games.<\/p>\n
Will Hayward has hit his stride<\/p>\n
14. HARRY\u2019S NEW STYLE OF HEROICS<\/p>\n
Robin looked lost without Robin.<\/p>\n
Finally after a slow start to the season \u2013 often coupled with slow ball movement \u2013 Harry McKay is back.<\/p>\n
He has taken 10 contested marks in the past four weeks.<\/p>\n
He has played 30 per cent of game time in the ruck and it allows the club to play more runners rather having to play Liam Reidy or Hudson O\u2019Keefe.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s too early to know if it\u2019s a long-term thing but he had a couple of lovely hitouts against Geelong \u2013 buttering up for a one-two with George Hewett and getting the ball to Sam Walsh for a centre clearance. <\/p>\n
Harry McKay is playing well in the ruck role<\/p>\n
15. YOU KNOW WHAT SAM WALSH BRINGS<\/p>\n
When Carlton is struggling Sam Walsh\u2019s failings are maximised \u2013 the lack of goal power (24 since the start of 2022) and the kicking that lacks finesse.<\/p>\n
When his teammates are lifting around him his consistency becomes a virtue.<\/p>\n
He was excellent again against Geelong, won three coaches\u2019 votes against Port Adelaide and amassed three two weeks before that against Brisbane. <\/p>\n
He might not end up a Brownlow Medallist like Cripps but for a coach assessing this list he only just turns 26 in July and he might have six to eight very, very good years in him.<\/p>\n
16. A NEW MIX INSIDE<\/p>\n
At times when the Blues had Cripps, Lord, Cerra and Hewett playing as four inside bulls it was inevitable that Carlton would lack speed and power.<\/p>\n
Cripps believes the mix now \u2013 with Ainsworth playing mid and Hayward and Cerra pushing to the wings \u2013 is much more sustainable.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we have got a nice balance there, with the half back line with Billy (Wilson) and Ollie Florent, Benny Ainsworth has been a massive addition, Will Hayward is the same.<\/p>\n
\u201cAround the edges we have got a lot of speed and power and it really helps guys like myself and George Hewett who can get the ball on the outside and you have Jagga and Walshy who can transition and damage teams on the outside. <\/p>\n
\u201cWalshy and Jagga, their ability to get back deep inside 50 to start out ball movement is crucial. It\u2019s what makes a side, you have a lot of unique strengths and they have to complement each other.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Six weeks ago Talor Byrne was the perfect example of choking Carlton. On Friday night he was the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":708716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,689,55,639,344613,307995,42255,16716,344632,344610,160382,104071,1129,78976,28966,344618,218267,243733,288949,344619,110738,8002,344634,344608,12099,17982,2105,344609,344639,2536,344621,344642,12188,259659,91805,9017,12141,30404,681,168801,7484,314712,191153,12096,344643,344635,344628,344629,344614,344636,19051,344633,48822,3257,7198,15674,25556,344625,344616,344640,677,344626,344617,344612,344631,7800,46,344623,6082,344615,344638,230473,344641,344624,344611,14272,1138,1820,22401,344627,17989,266608,344637,228972,344630,344620,1124,85,1122,344622,14478,12113,16707,660,3439],"class_list":["post-708715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-back-line","tag-backline-coach","tag-bailey-smith","tag-ball-movement","tag-benny-ainsworth","tag-bone-jarring-tackle","tag-bruhn","tag-centre-clearance","tag-charlie-curnow","tag-chris-davies","tag-clearance-game","tag-contested-grab","tag-contested-marks","tag-crunching-tackle","tag-defensive-stopper","tag-despite-physical-punishment","tag-favourite-player","tag-final-siren","tag-flawless-decision","tag-foot-hit","tag-game-time","tag-george-hewett","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-group-sessions","tag-handball-overlap","tag-harry-dean","tag-inside-bulls","tag-inside-mids","tag-intercept-marks","tag-interesting-comparison","tag-jack-ison","tag-janelle-st-pierre","tag-jeremy-cameron","tag-john-longmire","tag-jon-ralph","tag-josh-fraser","tag-ken-hinkley","tag-lachie-cowan","tag-leadership-consultant","tag-lloyd-meek","tag-locker-room-stuff","tag-long-term-thing","tag-loose-ball","tag-lovely-disposal","tag-lovely-hitouts","tag-lovely-running-shot","tag-mark-blicavs","tag-massive-addition","tag-matthew-lloyd","tag-michael-voss","tag-michael-willson","tag-midfield-time","tag-mitch-mcgovern","tag-modern-football-side","tag-monster-games","tag-nice-balance","tag-oceania","tag-old-fashioned-instincts","tag-opposing-wingman","tag-ordinary-moments","tag-overwhelming-pressure","tag-patrick-cripps","tag-perth","tag-poisoned-chalice","tag-port-adelaide","tag-post-game-set","tag-post-match-fellow-defender","tag-pressure-player","tag-right-strings","tag-risk-averse-ball","tag-rooms-post-match-fellow","tag-sam-docherty","tag-sam-walsh","tag-score-involvements","tag-senior-coach","tag-senior-core-crumble","tag-senior-players","tag-set-shot","tag-shaky-investment","tag-shaun-grigg","tag-single-star-player","tag-slow-ball-movement","tag-south-australia","tag-sports","tag-st-kilda","tag-tall-despite","tag-talor-byrne","tag-tom-stewart","tag-travis-boak","tag-victoria","tag-western-australia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708715","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=708715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/708716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=708715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=708715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=708715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}