At the start of the year, I was asked my view on who would be the Premiership winner and where Carlton would be at the end of the season. I replied that no-one can predict who would be the Premiership winner and where Carlton would finish in a competition that spans over 24 weeks. That would require a crystal ball or one of the seeing stones from Lord of the Rings. It is a myth and a fantasy.
I did say where I thought Carlton would finish, but let’s put that aside. I reiterated when pushed for an opinion that those teams that run away with the competition from Round One to the rounds before each team’s Bye will not determine any club’s end of season game. Only after the Bye rounds will show which teams are in contention for the Finals.
Teams that blast their way to the top eight is no guarantee to finishing there. Teams that storm their way to the top eight before their Bye round is no guarantee that they will be and are a Premiership winner. Sure, by cementing your place in the top four you are cementing your place in the finals, but at what toll to the team? The sheer brutality on a body for 24 weeks of high intensity gameplay will take its toll eventually. The mental capacity to continue to perform at the top of your game will ultimately take its toll. How a team starts is never going to determine how they will finish. I’m not talking about those teams we can see are clearly rebuilding, I’m talking about those teams who are in contention to be a part of the Finals.
Before the bye-round for Carlton, the club was languishing in the fifteenth spot. The talk around the footy world was brutal, nasty and sometimes narrow-minded. For some who wanted to cancel their membership or storm the club and demand that the current administration be sacked, it was arrogant and an assumption that comes with wearing blinkers.
For some who posted on social media claiming that they speak on behalf of all supporters that Michael Voss was not the coach for Carlton, was one tainted with a self-centred and conceited diatribe that has no place for those that in the next week, claim he is the coach to get the club to be successful.
For a start, no-one speaks on my behalf or for others who like me, never stopped believing and always knew what this team is capable of. The gall and audacity of these so-called supporters who stated their view on behalf of everyone on social media, is shameful and tantamount to bullying. Especially if it is directed at a specific person/s. To assume that you are the voice of reason and rationality and speak on behalf of every Carlton supporter shows how disrespectful you are to those who never gave up as you did.
For the first time in ten years, the club has stopped the need for knee-jerk reactions and comments from outside of the walls at Ikon Park and drawn a line in the sand, saying categorically this has not worked in the past it will not work now. We have the talent and the ability to play against the best and win. It would not happen from the onset, but it will happen. As stated above, it is not what transpires before the Bye rounds but after. Carlton was all but written off not only by so-called commentators who believed they knew the workings of the club, but those who decided to throw Voss under the bus and demand that the club once more go down the road of knee-jerk reactions in the hope that this will make the club successful.
After the Bye round we saw a new and vibrant club emerge from the darkness of loss. We saw that no matter who is injured or unable to play, we have the depth and talent to counter-act the lack of those deemed to be game superstars. Our match against Port Adelaide and then Collingwood, shows this.
This game is not a solo game. It does not and should never rely on a handful of players to win, it takes a team and the game against Collingwood showed a team spirit that proved what I have felt for a while and what others have also felt – we have the capacity to be successful no matter who or what makes up the team on game-day.
The tugging of their jumpers from Jesse Motlop and Matty Owies to the chest pumping of Charlie Curnow and the quiet fortitude from Jacob Weitering, Adam Saad, Sam Docherty, Mitch McGovern, to the incredible talents of Alex Cincotta and Ollie Hollands. The team spirit was at the forefront after the Bye. This supporter was very emotional to see Caleb Marchbank back into the side against Collingwood and finally see David Cunningham slowly getting his mojo back. Put in to this mix Lachie Fogarty, Blake Acres, Matthew Cottrell, George Hewett, Brodie Kemp, Nic Newman, Paddy Dow who came in for an injured Adam Cerra (who was incredible), and at every turn, they came into the games after the Bye, with a determination that was missing beforehand. Seeing Jack Martin be the player we know he can be, Patrick Cripps shrugging off opponents as if they were mere feathers falling from a bird of prey. Seeing Tom De Koning and Marc Pittonet forge a strength that worked in unison, not seen before the Bye was a fist-pumping moment for those who never gave up and always believed.
I do not respect those who deem it their job to speak on my behalf. But have total respect for those supporters who never stopped believing in what this team could be capable of and who stepped away from the toxicity of social media and said that we still believed and always knew. Sure we can be disappointed, but not vicious, nasty and disrespectful.
I am a Carlton supporter and, no matter what will support the club from the depths of despair to the dizzy heights of success. I will never state that my view speaks on behalf of others. I will never bully, harass, or decry the coaches, players and others to show how irrelevantly clever I think I might be, as others do. It serves no purpose and achieves nothing. The vindication that coursed through my veins on Friday night was shown on a silent, yet euphoric grin on my face that is still there.
My new mantra, no matter where we finish this season, is: #alwaysknew #alwaysbelieved.
GO BLUES!
All images courtesy of AFL.
SPORTZ 