There is a saying: Stay Calm & Keep Going. With the controversy over the weekend in the match between Fremantle and Carlton, it seems that this is precisely what happened when the eventual outcome came to fruition…and it was not the team that was ahead for most of the game.
The last few minutes of the game were, to put it mildly, really pressurised from all spectrums of the game.
Starting with Charlie Curnow’s ‘one-handed’ mark that kept us in the game to the very controversial decision by the umpire regarding Matt Cotterell’s mark, which led to Carlton being in front at the 29-minute mark of the fourth quarter. The game was, at this point, on a knife’s edge. All Fremantle had to do was regroup, go back to the centre and do what they had been doing for most of the game…dominate. But a rather petulant Jordan Clark, who apparently was swearing at himself (at least that is what he says), but an umpire did not see it that way, and a free-kick was awarded to Matt Kennedy under the dissent rule. He kicked the goal, and Carlton came out the winner.
The debate has been going on about whether the ball kicked, which resulted in Cotterell’s mark and goal, was touched as the Fremantle players indicated. The umpire made a decision, rightly or not, and awarded a mark to Cotterell. Some have said, given the close nature of the game, that the decision should have been made through a video review. By doing so, you are actually taking away the nature of a game that is being governed not by robots but by people, and being human, mistakes can and do get made.
Let’s look at it from this match perspective. At one point in the first quarter, a Fremantle player kicked the ball while it was in the air near the boundary, and everyone could see that it was out on the full. Crippa even stated this, but the umpires tossed it in. Crippa stayed calm and kept going.
Then another Fremantle player got the ball from a handball, turned, and ducked, and a high-head tackle free kick was awarded against the Carlton player to the Fremantle one. Carlton did what Fremantle did not—they stayed calm and kept going.
The point is that throughout the game, all games in fact, the umpire will make a determination based on what they see and believe. No umpire will change that decision during a match. It just doesn’t and should not happen. Yes, we have the technology to determine issues at the goal/point posts, but that is where it has to remain. We cannot allow the game to go further than that in terms of what technology is available. It takes away an aspect of the game where it is more mechanical than anything else. What will determine the eventual outcome of a game that has contentious issues is how a team stays calm and keeps going.
Fremantle had an opportunity to change the outcome if only they had stayed calm and kept going. It was within their reach to do that, but they didn’t. It doesn’t matter what happens at the start of a game, but in close games such as this one, it matters who can stay calm and keep going. Carlton has proven that this is what they are now capable of.
Other teams have to realise that Carlton in 2024 will not go down in a blaze of panic and disarray that was prevalent in their past. They have developed into a team that stays calm and keeps going when needed. The fight doesn’t stop because they are not in front. It stops when the final siren goes. The team’s ability to do that is a revelation in the club’s growth, and the rewards are showing exponentially!
Some are likening Carlton to Collingwood from last year. I wouldn’t say that, as we have a bit more growth to go. We have to know how to combat a strong backline that Fremantle put up, which thwarted Carlton for most of the game. It is here that Carlton needs to learn from this match and become better for it. Understand that other clubs will look at the Fremantle game and see what damage they can do in stopping our forward line. Despite that, it is Carlton’s ability to stay calm and keep going that will determine season 2024. Because it is that aspect of the game that has become synonymous with the club’s success.
Travis Bradberry (an author on emotional intelligence), quotes that, ‘mistakes and pressure are inevitable; the secret to getting past them is to stay calm.’ Never underestimate Carlton’s ability to do just that. So far, in season 2024, this is exactly what they are doing and achieving.
#GO BLUES!
All photos courtesy of AFL.
SPORTZ 