Chapter 1: What triggered Carlton's recent winning streak?
The award-winning Crunch Time. Camille floats it long. Cameron! Got it! Goldquist! He's going to hook, kick this around the body to just squeeze the goal in and make it a one-kick game. Jack Henry! Jack, Jack, Jack! Jack in the box, in the goal square. He popped up like a sprinkler and kicked a miracle goal. He chips it to McGovern, 80 from goal. Leeds still continue to come. Who does he want?
Mackay's in the goal square. It's longer. It's longer to cross. He came off the bench. Captain Fantastic. He kicked the Blues back in front. Their captain. Iconic. From Captain Fantastic, Patrick Briggs. A clear intake by Carlton. They're going to win it. Carlton's going to win it. A massive win. I'd like to think that we're focused on getting better as opposed to what that might lead to.
I think it's important with where we're at as a club and the foundations that have been built and where we want to take this that we don't get too far ahead of ourselves. But I've got confidence in our group that we won't. Getting to work is going to be important for us. We've got a lot of work to do still.
The heroics of Patrick Cripps propels Carlton to a third straight win under interim coach Josh Fraser. Challenging the imagination what the Blues might yet be capable of achieving. Vice-captain Jacob Weiderich joins us. Loads up into the goal square.
Off hands. Might have been socket off the ground right on the goal line. No, umpire said it was touched. It was probably off the knee. 60,000. Did he get it? I reckon he shindered over the line. Oh, well, so the AFL don't go. Yeah, he has. He shindered. That was a goal. The AFL off the back of what? Last night's stuff up for Watson.
We've got to stuff up just to start it, just to keep the fun rolling. I'd probably disagree in principle with the idea that someone sitting in the arc And they can't see. The technology's there for the howler. And someone within the arc should have seen that that was a howler within seconds. Oh, look, it's surprising, but I'm easily surprised with this stuff.
The fail safe fails again. All involved in the score review system unable to correct the howler on a day the umpire's department treated the football world like lemmings.
We know recent times have been hard for Essendon people. and we feel that deeply. But I want to be clear, we are not going backwards from here. Yeah, it was surprising, but it's, in a way, I've been in this industry for a long time, it's not surprising because pressure does strange things. And I get the feeling that there's a very, very strong push from a lot of people out there to get James.
back at Essendon coaching. The mistakes that were made at the Essendon Football Club back in 2011, 2012 were partly my fault. I put my hand up so I was partly that. But a lot of time has gone on the bridge.
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Chapter 2: How has Patrick Cripps' leadership impacted Carlton's performance?
I've suffered a lot. The football club suffered a lot. The supporters mostly have suffered a lot. And I think it's time to really everyone kick in and try and make this football club great again.
And the eternal fascination that is Essendon. The sacking of Brad Scott, the declaration of James Heard and the campaigning to make Essendon great again. This is the Round 12 edition of Crunch Time. There hasn't been euphoria from the Carlton community like that since the 2023 semifinal. And just as it was then, last night was intoxicating.
We are going to close Crunch Time today with Blues Radio. So just under two hours from now, and you don't want to miss. The best of Blues Radio from last night. Crunch time for the all-new Ford Ranger Wolf Track V6 and Azito Brushless Power Tools. Built to work. Azito, do you. Gerard Whaley, Adam Simpson. Simo, you've made the wrong call. Don't worry about selecting the coach.
You should coach them. Well, geez, it's... It just shows you that any club, and you can talk about where is Carlton going to finish this year? So regardless of that, having a couple of wins from a club point of view on a Monday after a heavy year, the feeling for the staff as much as the players, it's such a good feeling to be a winner for a couple of weeks anyway.
And I think Fraser's doing a great job. The way he's handling the media as well, he's very composed. He always...
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Chapter 3: What changes have been made under interim coach Josh Fraser?
deflects the praise as well in his press conferences. And I don't think it's false. I think it's a real, that's him, isn't it? So well done to everyone connected to the game last night. Cain Corns. Hello to you, Cain.
G'day. Give us a scoop, Simo. Surely you tap him on the shoulder. Surely you say, I know you don't want it, or at least publicly you're saying, I don't want it, but surely you at least try and get him to apply for this job.
The phrase train. Is that what we call it? Yes. Look, they're going to work and we're going to work through all the candidates in the next couple of weeks. So I just think at the moment he's handling himself really well as an interim coach. And the way he's delivering his message to us in the public is first class. So doing everything right at the moment.
They challenge the imagination, Cain, don't they?
Yeah, it was just good to watch, Gerard. It was just fast. They were prepared to take a risk. It was risky, which hurt them early, I thought, off turnover. That was obvious. But they just kept playing the game. There's a genuine, I don't know, there's a spirit. Speed about the game, feels like the shackles have been released.
Lots going to be spoken about the young players that have been given an opportunity, but I think just as important is the senior players feel rejuvenated and there's a level of confidence about them. That's just as important as the young players getting a game. So what Hewitt's been able to do, McKayne to the ruck, looks a little bit of a different player.
Cripps, of course, we're going to get to and spend time Some time on Walsh looks to be covering the ground better than he has in some time. And Jagger Smith and all of a sudden you go, the midfield of Walsh, Cripps and Smith looked pretty good last night. 21 clearances between them and they did a lot of damage from stoppage. And then the new recruits in Haywood are doing their thing as well.
So yeah, it was great to watch. It was just one of those Friday night games where you sit back and you go, this is what we love about footy. Did not know which way the game was going to go right there until the last moment. Some big last quarter moments, which you're going to reflect on. And you go, this is what we love about blockbuster footy on a Friday night.
Tom Morris rounds out our quartet.
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Chapter 4: How did Carlton's midfield perform against Geelong?
Hello to you, Tom. G'day, Gerard. Just a quick one on Josh Fraser. Speaking to people very close to him, they are adamant that he's rock solid, that he's not going to go through this process.
But if Graeme Wright asked, he is all about continued improvement and development, and they wouldn't be surprised if in the end he did it just for the experience of going through the process and to see where he can get to. So it is, in my view, still a watch this space, despite what both Graeme Wright and Josh Fraser
After he's won the wildcard game, after he's won the elimination final, once they're in the semifinal, it's a different conversation. Just before we delve right there, just what are we hearing from Pravda today? The AFL has conceded that the Oli Dempsey non-goal should have been reviewed by either the goal umpire or the field umpire in that moment. They've told me that this morning.
And I think it's pretty obvious to anyone watching that a review would have determined that Oli Dempsey kicked the goal. So... All right, we'll spend some time there and on the Nick Watson kick a little bit later on. So any conversation around last night has to start with Patrick Cripps, doesn't it?
Well, I think it does. And we saw some... I know a few people have written him off a little bit. And Kane, I think you might have been one of them. It was maybe not a write-off, but he's not heading in the right direction. And that's fair to say. I mean, his form wasn't great early in the year. So... You know, was it a Crips problem? Was it the people around him, the players around him?
Was it too many inside bulls that couldn't get on the outside? That discussion was real. But halftime of the Brisbane game, something's happened. And it's continued on since then. So his form...
was Frank last night with a sensational leadership performance because there's individual and just getting it done, but then there's standing up in big moments or putting someone else in the spot of connection inside, just doing the right thing from a leadership point of view, and then that last goal. I was a bit worried when he snapped it like that at the top of the square came.
It wasn't really my style. But the fact they get back in the lead, they get the clearances, they're playing to their strengths, which is really good, and he's leading from the front along with the other leaders.
Yeah.
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Chapter 5: What are the implications of Patrick Cripps' legacy for Carlton?
destroy Mullen like I haven't seen anyone destroy him. And when I say destroy, like that's a strong term. But in terms of a win-loss on a tagger, he's burnt him off by halfway through the second term where, sorry, the third term where Chris Scott's going, okay, we've got to change this matchup. O'Connor's going to have to go there. We're going to have to do something different.
And I hadn't seen that done to Mullen yet. So not only has he influenced the game, Like last week, standing on his own with no one on him. He's done it with the best tagger who we would always see, all see as the best tagger. And then to stand up in that last quarter and do what he did, I just go, wow.
I didn't see this coming from the version of Patrick Cripps that we saw in the first, you know, third of the season.
And he's bringing others with him as well, isn't he? Like Cripps, obviously he's had the 30 touches. eight clearances and he kicked that important goal. And Mullen only had the eight, by the way, so he's normally working hard the other way. But he brings along Walsh and Smith and Hewitt and these guys now look like it's a pretty good complement. It's not an imbalance.
And part of that is I think they're really playing hard on their strengths from the outside. It's always been contest and clearance, and that's their DNA. So as much as it's been discussed around there, and I know they worked really hard on the ball movement over the summer, but the DNA of Carlton, at the moment, is built around contest and clearance.
And that's their fallback, and they did that really well. Halfway through the second quarter, Gerard, I reckon that's when the game went, oh, here come the Cats. It's just a matter of time. They were dominating field position. It felt like it was going to burst open. And then for whatever reason, in the arm wrestle, they just dropped the hammer. Then it was game on for two and a half quarters.
So Geelong played their part. I don't think they played poorly. I just think Carlton played a little bit better. So forward half and stoppage. It seems that way. I mean, if you look at the numbers, the scoring profile is pretty good if you're the Blues.
They've kicked five goals eight from turnovers, and they've kicked seven goals seven from stoppages, four from the centre bounce or centre ball up. So it's not like it was a... a score source that was just one area. But they had plus 13 in clearances and plus 13 in contested possession. So that's their DNA.
And when their back's against the wall, they go back to that and double down on those particular strengths of their game, which sometimes you can criticise. But if it's your strength, Cain, it's your strength.
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Chapter 6: How does Cripps' performance compare to his early season form?
So clearly high handball, that's been a focus. At one point last night, that was almost one for one. It didn't end up that way. A bit of balance in the end with that ratio. But yeah, clearance was strong. But also they're just running and prepared to share the footy in a way that I... that I haven't seen under Michael Voss that looks fun. Like, look, you run, you get rewarded, you get involved.
Yep, not perfect, but once wasn't their strength, seems to be a bit of a weapon for them in the last fortnight at least.
Yeah, if it's not a weapon, it's more... They're not 18th at the outside game. That's what it probably looks like. And we underestimate it, and a lot of people do, just defence. They've kept teams to a reasonably low score, 60 points, 60 points and 84 in the last three games. So how well are they connected when they enter their 50?
All the things that I know they've been working really hard on that just hadn't really shone at all in the first six or seven rounds is now starting to... to pay dividends. And it's, you know, I do have a bit of an inside knowledge of what's been going on and haven't reinvented the whole game plan the last three weeks.
It's been, if anything, double down on the things they've worked really hard on. And it's just come together with a little bit of freedom with the players and these leaders. Delivering, because that's probably one of the criticisms you can definitely have, is the leaders haven't shown up until probably the last three or four weeks.
So not revolutionised, but it feels like each week they have improved under Josh. Just a little bit more at a time. Little bit of this, little bit of this, little bit of this, which is the sign of really good coaching.
Well, the mental side of football... This is the case study. How broken were Carlton in the last halves for the first 10 weeks? And it wasn't Michael's fault. It was the player's fault. It was the game plan. It was just this mental block that's been released.
And it took... I don't know if it took the coach to leave or just to get over a game like the Bulldogs to go, okay, well, that's no longer an issue. Let's just get on with the rest of the season. No one's even thinking about second half. Are they fit enough? And all these type of things have changed. So...
Whatever the coaches are doing Monday to Friday and whatever's happened since Michael's gone, there's been a release of the tension. And now it looks like it's fun again.
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Chapter 7: What challenges does Carlton face moving forward?
And we were too quick. And it's happened twice now. The first time it happened that there were too many miles at the clock, he won a Brownlow medal. That was his answer to it. And it's too casual. It's too casual with champions across any sport. They find a way. You give them space to evolve. But what we shouldn't do is rush them into either retirement or out.
And that felt like we triggered too quickly on that conversation. And he deserved a little bit better. And across four games now, and I imagine there will be plenty more, he will show us the next iteration of Patrick Cripps.
Strong take, and I don't necessarily disagree with any of that, but what if he wants to win? What if he wants to win? So why don't you say that about Zach Merritt?
This is Matthew Pavlich. So this is the example I used at the time. This is Matthew Pavlich. And who's to say Cripps won't? He's not on the cusp. His body is not failing him. He's not about to retire. I remember this conversation around Pavlich. People said, no, he's got to go and be free. He's got to go and get his chance to win. Why? He was the personification of that club.
It was enough for him. It was enough to be his whole core of his being to be the great Fremantle player, the first great Fremantle player. And it didn't result in the ultimate success. Now, the next case study will be Toby Green. Does Toby Green want to be a giant to the core of his being, to the last of his days, or does he want to go and have a look at it? It's totally his choice.
But champions, they find a way to work this journey. Zach's conversation, that's not the same conversation.
Why?
Because he's not a champion.
He's a six-time best in Ferris wheel.
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Chapter 8: Will Patrick Cripps consider a trade in the future?
It's still such a small number that actually go. For all that's speculated around, it's still such a small number that go.
Okay, strong, strong debate. I think the natural conversation is fine to have around him and whichever call he makes, that's up to him. But I wouldn't begrudge him if he wanted to actually have a chance at winning a premiership. It's not happening at Carlton. Tom's got his hand up, guys. He wants to talk. Go. Go, go, Tom.
So that's the whole football side of things. There is also the non-football side of things, and that is the go-home factor, which is real for Crips at some stage in the future. Now, that might be the end of next year, like what Toby Green is living this year. It might be the end of this year. It might be in three or four years' time.
But the go-home factor to be in Perth with his family, with his partner's family, that is very real at some stage. Yes, but it might be at the end of his career, Tom. But it might be the end of next year. So you're just imposing that idea on him. I'm not, actually, because I know that's what he thinks. In the core of his being, he's a Carlton champion. And he couldn't have shown us more of that.
And he's shown us in the last three and a half weeks. This is as grim a time for all that he's been through. This has been the grimmest time. Yep, I agree. And here he is just hauling himself forward in front of us to be admired and to be loved, I think. And we're still sitting here going, you should go chase. And Kane, your certainty that he'll never win a flag at Carlton.
So in the course of his football days, it's impossible.
Oh, no, not impossible.
I think it's unlikely. He can't have the last day that Shane Crawford had? Oh, no, he could. So he's 31. Imagine how we would shortchange ourself if we circumvented that as a 36-year-old on his last day standing on the rostrum.
I think it's unlike... And I think, like, it's all... Like, the pressure's now off this club. Like, so where was this, not just from him, but from the rest of the group at the start of the year? Where was... So, no worries. Go and dominate against Geelong when the pressure's off. You've sacked your coach. You've won three games, couple in a row. Great. But where was this?
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