A MATURE showing.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t always on Carlton\u2019s terms, but the way in which the Blues managed to craft a big 14-point win against the Gold Coast Suns drew the praise of AFL Interim Coach Josh Fraser.<\/p>\n
Trailing in each quarter, the Blues kept finding a way to respond, with some of their youngsters leading the way in a return to winning form.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what Fraser had to say.<\/p>\n
On the game as a whole:<\/p>\n
\u201cI loved a lot of what that game presented. Structurally, we couldn\u2019t really play a different way today because we didn\u2019t have Harry in front of the ball, so that limited the levers we could pull. It forced us to continue to play the way we set out to in the face of being challenged at different times. It was a great opportunity for the group to manage the momentum shifts, a couple of goals in a row.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re still very much finding out about how we stay connected on the field, how we double down on our roles and execute. Over the course of four quarters, to persist and continue to play our way – our pressure game was strong, we owned the ball at the right times, we took the game on at the right times.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t perfect, I thought some of our fundamentals were quite poor at different stages. We know we\u2019ve got this work in front of us, and this will be ongoing. It\u2019s not a quick fix, but to persist with our method is really pleasing.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the impact of a young Blue up forward:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should take a second to talk about Talor Byrne. He\u2019ll get more spotlight because of the numbers and the goals, but consistently over the course of the year, he\u2019s applied pressure we just haven\u2019t had in our front half. His aerial craft for a smaller player is elite, his ground-level pressure is elite, he makes good decisions with the ball.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s really exciting: Carlton supporters should be excited about being part of our footy club moving forward. Then you throw in the Jagga Smiths, the Harry Deans, the Lachie Cowans, the Billy Wilsons, Cooper Lord plays today – there\u2019s a really exciting core group of young players coming through that Carlton fans should be excited by.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Patrick Cripps\u2019 continued impact:<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve spoken a little bit about \u2018Crippa\u2019 – the on-field form is one thing, but the leadership attached to it is just as important. He has led this group incredibly well. In some ways, we\u2019ve taken some of the burden off him and allowed him to spread some of the leadership load. Whether that has changed his approach to the game or not, I\u2019m not sure.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I love how he\u2019s doing things on-field that are helping others, and he doesn\u2019t feel as though he has to do everything which maybe in the past he has. He\u2019s such a team-first guy and a Carlton person, he\u2019s leading the group incredibly well.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Nic Newman\u2019s 150th ending early for the milestone man:<\/p>\n
\u201cNaturally you\u2019d be disappointed, milestone game and a hamstring injury early. It\u2019s part of footy unfortunately. He\u2019s a great character with great support. We\u2019ll get more information early in the week and see where it sits, but he\u2019s been an important player for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
On how the team navigated an early injury:<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that adds to the performance today: even when you look at last week, we lost a couple of players throughout the game, but the grit and fight from the playing group was still there. The intent to play our way was still there.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, again, we had to persevere and find a way. It was a high transition game and when you lose a player it spreads the load through others, so I thought our resilience was quite strong.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Harry McKay\u2019s potential availability next week:<\/p>\n
\u201cHopeful. He came into the Club last week with the intent to get up and going, but it didn\u2019t quite happen for him. I\u2019d imagine because of that process, he\u2019d be better placed coming into next week. We have to map out what the week looks like for him, but he has to train well to put his hand up for selection.\u201d<\/p>\n
On whether that was Jagga Smith\u2019s standout game:<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been consistent. I don\u2019t look at the Rising Star stuff too often, but we\u2019ve got a couple of guys that will be in content with Jagga and Harry Dean. Harry is so impressive as a young defender, and Jagga\u2019s consistency is no surprise because he puts so much work into his game.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a guy who turns up on Monday and wants to know how he can get better, he owns performance and he owns mistakes and he\u2019s so driven. That permeates through the group. Having a young player come in and want to drive standards has been so important for us. His form has been terrific: it\u2019s hard to separate his performances, he\u2019s so consistent.\u201d<\/p>\n
On a first-year key defender having as immediate an impact as Harry Dean:<\/p>\n
\u201cOff the top of my head I can\u2019t think of anybody. His competitiveness overall – for a young guy in his first year to be how competitive he is, that jumps off the page to me. You see it at training, you see it game day. He wants to win contests, he wants the team to win, he wants to be a great teammate, he\u2019s fantastic around the group.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s clearly got a historical link to the Club through his dad, he\u2019s a passionate Carlton man. He\u2019s energising our supporters: he\u2019s having contests out there and the fans are getting behind him. It\u2019s so exciting to see, and he\u2019ll continue to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n
On whether the team has mentioned its proximity to the wildcard spots:<\/p>\n
\u201cThey haven\u2019t and I haven\u2019t, but I think there\u2019s an awareness in the background. It\u2019s not so much around that as it is what we\u2019re building through the week, which is where we\u2019re at. I\u2019d be doing a disservice to the Club to try and take it forward if we started to take our eyes off what has given us the chance to be in this position.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur training standards are improving, our want individually and collectively is improving, we are not a finished product and we\u2019ve got so much work in front of us. But the next four weeks gives us the chance to keep building on that, and we have an awareness of where we sit in relation to the ladder gives us something to chase.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A MATURE showing. It wasn\u2019t always on Carlton\u2019s terms, but the way in which the Blues managed to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":823955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-823954","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\/823954","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=823954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/823955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}