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Crunch Time

Round 8 - Carlton vs St Kilda Discussion (3.05.26)

03 May 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What insights did the coaches provide after the Carlton vs St Kilda game?

2.512 - 15.12 Cam Luke

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16.703 - 34.505 Adam Cooney

I think our ability in 10 at the moment is not where it needs to be clearly in that phase of the game. And you've seen that we've got, we put ourselves in positions to win the game. So that message seems to be working pretty well. But our ability to be able to do it for a longer period of time is not at the level it needs to be at.

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35.025 - 43.015 Adam Cooney

And when the game is against you, you need to defend and you need to fight. And we are not doing it well enough. I can't be any clearer than that.

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43.231 - 56.85 Liam Pickering

As honest and probably factual AFL coach as there was last night, Michael Voss, after, again, the Blues let it halftime and lose. Liam Pickering, Adam Cooney, eight third-quarter goals for the Saints. They get the last goal of the second quarter.

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Chapter 2: How did Carlton perform in the first half of the match?

57.371 - 63.38 Liam Pickering

And it's the third time this season that Carlton has conceded 50 or more points in a quarter.

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63.74 - 74.675 Unknown

It's extraordinary, really. In a quarter. No, I think we defer to Coons here because he did the game. I was watching it. I was watching it in and out of the pizza room. all that sort of stuff. What did you do with pizza, were you?

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74.895 - 76.897 Liam Pickering

A couple of Keith Irvins.

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76.917 - 92.174 Unknown

No, no, no. But no, I actually, so Kearns, give us the rundown. At halftime, they're two goals up. I assume, I wasn't listening, but I assume the talk was, all right, third quarters have been an issue. And what happened?

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92.214 - 107.264 Cam Luke

Well, we knew it was coming, didn't we? But to be fair, they played really well in the first half. The Saints couldn't get their running game going. Carlton actually looked better in and around the contest and also once the ball got to the outside. And they got plenty of looks and got some good opportunities.

107.304 - 128.022 Cam Luke

But, you know, they're feeling each other out in the first half and we knew the big test was going to come in the second half. The first five minutes... five to ten minutes, Carlton played well again. They had opportunities. They had inside 50s. They were plus four or five at one stage. The issue was the Blues kicked four behinds in the first seven minutes of the quarter.

128.403 - 146.809 Cam Luke

And then St Kilda had two entries down the other end inside 50. They kicked a goal. And that was it. After they kicked a goal and the Carlton had missed those four opportunities, there was no resistance that came back the other way. It was almost like, well, everyone in the crowd knows what's going to happen. The Carlton players in their minds knew exactly what was going to happen.

147.25 - 159.908 Cam Luke

And they just didn't do anything about it. So the Carlton's uncontested mark game and the switching game and taking the ball off the line was actually pretty good in the first half. So Ross addresses it at halftime.

Chapter 3: What went wrong for Carlton in the third quarter?

159.888 - 181.297 Cam Luke

We looked up at one stage in halfway through the third quarter. Carlton had the ball at halfback and every single player from St Kilda was one-on-one. It was like watching old school footy from the 80s and 90s. And once they went one-on-one in defence for five minutes, they just shut the game down. Carlton had no flow in their game whatsoever.

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181.377 - 200.724 Cam Luke

And then the Saints scored a couple going back the other way. And then that was it. Floodgates opened. There was no response from the leaders. I mean, Cripps had a... Had an average day. Walsh didn't kick the ball particularly well. Wiedering was clearly hampered with an injury. Mackay had no impact in it. Pittonette and Reid were monstered by TDK and Marshall.

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200.944 - 215.983 Cam Luke

The way that their back six defend at the moment is just horrid. When things aren't going well, you've got to tighten up. in your back six. So teams want to press. Yep, you want to get the ball in your forward half. Then you can press up and you can be a bit more aggressive with your starting positions.

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216.043 - 234.494 Cam Luke

But Carlton players and Carlton defenders were 15 to 20 metres ahead of their forwards, trying to read that play. And once their link-up came and the chain came through, Well, they just had players goal-side time and time again, and no one adjusted. Like, Dean didn't adjust. Wiedering didn't adjust. They're tall to medium.

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234.874 - 254.006 Cam Luke

Saad was playing 20 metres in front of his man at times, and the ball was coming in thick and fast, and it just kept getting in over the top time and time again in that third quarter. So there was no adjustment. Teams want to be aggressive. I understand that when they defend, but when... When the brown stuff hits the fan, you've just got to go back to basics. St Kilda did it really well.

Chapter 4: What adjustments did St Kilda make to turn the game around?

254.046 - 264.128 Cam Luke

They identified that Carlton were getting them on the outside and moving the ball pretty well, and they shut it down. And all it took was 10 minutes, and then that was it. The game was over.

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264.108 - 277.71 Unknown

Very disappointing, isn't it? I mean, for the Blues fans, they were again leaving early. They've seen the story, they've seen the horror show before, and they got out early, which must be demoralising from a fan perspective. 1-300-20... Actually, no, I won't ask for calls.

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277.73 - 279.993 Liam Pickering

0-4-double-3-98-11-16. Yeah, you call, you get on.

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280.374 - 285.742 Unknown

0-4-double-3-98-11-16. No, they can do that tomorrow. They can ring... Just on that picture.

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285.782 - 306.475 Liam Pickering

Have you done many Carlton games this year? Have you done any Carlton games? Have I done any blues? I don't think I have. The reason I ask is that it's such a weird feeling at halftime within the stadium, wherever it might be, be it the MCG, Marvel Stadium, Adelaide, wherever it might be. And for the fans, I do feel for the Carlton fans because you can't enjoy anything.

306.956 - 322.402 Liam Pickering

You can't enjoy the fact that they played good footy last night in the first half, Adam, and they built a couple of goals, almost a three-goal lead right before halftime. So there's no enjoyment in playing some good footy and taking some positives out of it. I know that Jacob Wiedering said post-game we've got to focus on the positives.

322.462 - 342.696 Liam Pickering

That's all well and good, and I understand the internal side of looking at that. But as a Carlton fan, you can't enjoy anything because you just expect that once you get to halftime, the entire thing's going to fall flat. And Good Friday was the perfect example. Yeah, that was the one. It sunk them, I thought. Into the fourth quarter, and the joint's humming. It's a really good game.

343.237 - 357.598 Liam Pickering

And all of a sudden, Davies-Uniak just starts to break out of a couple of clearances and North Melbourne go forward. And Carlton fans have got a better part of a four-goal lead. They can't enjoy it because they just know what's going to happen. So it would absolutely suck right now to be a Blues fan, and I feel for them.

357.578 - 377.881 Cam Luke

I mean, there's a couple of individual positives coming out of Carlton last night. I thought Kempen and McGovern, particularly in the first half, worked really hard and had the edge on the St Kilda defenders. Carroll took a hanger. So, I mean, that was a positive. Frankie Evans went goggleless last night and had his best game for a while.

Chapter 5: How did individual players impact the game for both teams?

414.889 - 418.517 Cam Luke

Well, you've been big on this, Adam. How much accountability have these players got to take?

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418.497 - 430.797 Liam Pickering

You've been big on this. Talk to us about this because you say that Michael Voss puts him in a situation at halftime. He doesn't forget how to coach. Is this a structure or a personnel thing in your mind? I mean, I think it's a personnel thing.

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430.938 - 447.598 Cam Luke

How many times this year have they led at halftime? Was that six last night? It would be, yeah. So six out of eight games, they've led at half-time. So, I mean, you can't say that someone is coaching well for a half of footy and then coaching poorly in the second half. I mean, you don't lose your ability to move a couple of magnets around.

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447.698 - 464.755 Cam Luke

And if the opposition coach makes a couple himself, there's 15 assistant coaches and 14 guys looking at statisticians up there in the coaches' box to say, listen, Wanganee Miller has just gone to half-back. Do you think we could try and lock down there? These people come up with ideas all the time. They're...

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464.735 - 482.17 Cam Luke

To say that Michael Watts isn't coaching well, he's coached well for a half, he's coached well for three quarters. It's not like he just throws the magnets on the ground in the last quarter and says, away you go, let's butcher this game. I think the players have got to take 85% of the responsibility, 15% of the coach.

482.15 - 487.077 Liam Pickering

0-4-3-3-9-8-11-16. The Blues off the text. What are the fans saying, Pickers?

487.097 - 504.9 Unknown

Are they bossed out? No, one's Dan saying more free kicks for St Kilda in the third quarter than the whole game and all this sort of stuff. George Hewitt. How can George Hewitt, who won their best and fairest last year, explain to me how four games later he's omitted from the side?

505.133 - 522.896 Cam Luke

Well, because they identified that they weren't moving the ball well on the outside, and he was the scapegoat because he doesn't have a heap of leg speed. But, I mean, he's probably a better option than a couple of them that are running through there at the moment. Yeah. He can't keep languishing away in the VFL.

522.936 - 528.827 Cam Luke

He might even go to another club next year, Matty Kennedy style, and they'll think, gee, we've got the recruit of the year.

Chapter 6: What were the main criticisms of Carlton's defensive strategy?

647.107 - 663.708 Liam Pickering

So it would have been a time in your career where you started to see a tag each and every week. And he's been tagged since the opening throw of the season, mainly because his back end of the year last year was brilliant. And then, of course, with the high price and the new contract, there's a huge amount of conversation. And Lenny Hayes touched on it last week on this show.

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664.869 - 668.954 Liam Pickering

Do you get more comfortable with a tag as you start to get used to it and just know it's coming?

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669.475 - 689.774 Cam Luke

You do. You get a lot more comfortable with it, and you've got more time to prepare for it. each week, and you try and work out what the strengths and weaknesses are of your opposition player. I'm not sure if you put it on a whiteboard or not for everyone to see, but you work that out during the week. And then once you get a couple of kicks in, you might have 25 or 30 when someone's tagging you.

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690.375 - 703.907 Cam Luke

If it happens a couple of weeks in a row, you start to get your confidence up. And what changed for me was I was getting fit enough to be able to run out a full game. But what I used to like to do was pretend that I was by myself.

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703.887 - 721.147 Cam Luke

And so instead of worrying about this guy hanging off me all the time and scragging me, I would just try and focus on, and if I was at a stoppage, I would just think, I'm by myself here. So I would just play my natural game thinking that no one's running around with me. And after I did that for a while, it started to open up and I started to play freely.

721.267 - 725.472 Cam Luke

He looks like a guy that is not worried about copying a tag whatsoever.

725.492 - 725.592 Ross Lyon

Yeah.

725.572 - 740.671 Cam Luke

Because he's got so many different facets to his game, he can start in centre-bounce, and if it's not working there, he can go to half-back. And if he takes a kick in, he gets a handball receive, and he takes a couple of bounces, and all of a sudden he's got 80 metres gained, and he's had the ball two or three times in a chain.

741.052 - 754.67 Cam Luke

Then he can sit in the goal square and play one out as a forward, and he kicked the goal last night doing that. So he's just... He's so hard to tag because he can play so many different positions and do them really well. So... Yeah, feeling pretty confident at the moment.

Chapter 7: How did the fans react to Carlton's performance during the game?

881.812 - 890.206 Unknown

I think that's what I'd take out of watching that game last night is St Kilda will be in the 10. They'll make the 10 for mine. Yeah. I haven't gone through their draw, but apparently, as you said.

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890.266 - 892.309 Cam Luke

Do you have it, Cameron, in front of you? I do.

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892.349 - 894.092 Unknown

They've got their fixtures for the next few weeks.

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894.373 - 896.316 Cam Luke

Right in front of me as it stands right now.

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896.296 - 904.209 Liam Pickering

Winston killed it, yes. But there was a few of those echoing in Adelaide Oval on Friday, late Friday evening after that.

904.229 - 906.413 Cam Luke

Tell me how many they win the next few weeks.

906.433 - 914.406 Liam Pickering

Okay, well, they've got Gold Coast next week in Darwin. No. L. Then they play Richmond. Yes. They play Fremantle at Optus.

916.107 - 916.467 Adam Cooney

Picks?

917.028 - 917.208 Liam Pickering

No.

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