Autopsy 2023 Elimination Final Blues hold on in a thriller

[thebluenewdeal]

Unbelievable game!!! I couldn’t sit down in the last quarter! The scariest part about all of this is that we didn’t even play that well! We coughed the footy up, missed easy set shots, played too safe at times and we still managed to find something from within. It’s the gutsiest performance I’ve seen from this group. Players were willing to die for the jumper tonight. Can’t be more proud of this club!!!

 

[blues4flag]

Oh so proud of Cottrell. And bloody get the spelling right, he's earned it.

One of my favourites, couldn't believe some had him as an out. The man eats pressure. Phenomenal effort, tireless runner.

Worth the price of admission just to watch the work that he and Acres put in every week.

 

[SpiritOfCarlton]

Really wish the harry-haters would just give it a rest and enjoy the win.

He played a really good game and made two blues, like quite a few out there tonight.

 

[gab213]

I think you're letting him off way too lightly. It's not like this is a random occurrence, and it wasn't like it was a difficult angle 50m out.

You are severely underrating the psychological and flow-on effect such a thing has for the rest of the team. Absolutely no coincidence at all that the tide turned the moment he missed that shot.

So the question is: do we trust him that he'll get it right or will it cost us a finals game in the future? To brush it off as some kind of non-concern is, well, to put it in a word: concerning.

There's many things that happen within a game that in the case of a bad loss could be said to be responsible for a loss. What if we'd lost by under a goal, we could just as easily say that Newman kicking straight to a Swans player when he kicked out cost us the game.

I'm sure that you could pick many things from a game to blame for a loss.

The first miss he kicked off the ground and it went into the post, the second miss was after having to sprint 100 metres to get to the position where he was even competing that close to goal. I agree that things like that can cause a big momentum shift but to suggest that Harry is of no use to us in the side is crazy. He will be picked whenever he's available, I have no doubt of that.

 

[Stamos]

2 goals are worth their weight in gold in finals. But when you miss 2 absolute sitters, you don’t get credit.

Is pretty different to:

I just don’t see it. Looks weak in the contest when he eventually gets there, can’t hold a grab, and can’t goal from 5 meters or 15 meters, knocking the wind out of our sails. He’s simply in a bad rut and out of form, but we’re better served with an extra pressure player at this point in time.

 

[charred_fate]

And he wasn't. Atrocious first quarter and a bit and then really great second half under the pump.

I am really hoping the composure issues were just first finals nerves and they will settle in better next week.

Weird. At the ground, we thought he was our best (or at least one of our best) at qtr time.

 

[Robbo's my hero]

I probably should go to bed.

 

[gab213]

Anyway, all I know is that we won a final, don't care whether we win by a point or 100 points as long as we win and advance to the next game. I think that considering the fact that 90% of our players had no previous finals experience it was a huge achievement to hold off an opposition which is one of the most experienced in playing finals in the league.

There's absolutely nothing to be unhappy with in regards to that performance tonight, it was another huge stride for this team.

 

[Timewaster]

I was so wrong about Cottrell, I thought he was a great runner who just couldn't play footy. Now it seems he's in the goals most weeks, making great decisions and really looking part. In finals. Great game blue boy

 

[carltonchelsea]

WalshCerra
CerraWalsh
WalshCerra

 

[BigBreakfast]

How f*** good was that! Hard at it and scored enough.
Love this club.

 

[AB_Blue]

I probably should go to bed.

SAME


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[BigBreakfast]

Really wish the harry-haters would just give it a rest and enjoy the win.

He played a really good game and made two blues, like quite a few out there tonight.

Here Here!

 

[BigBreakfast]

There's no percentage in finals. Don't care how we got there or who made errors. They kept turning up.
Acres chase of his own kick late epitomised that.
Take a bow Cotts.
Marchy, that why you just keep putting in. Well done Young Man!
Got the feels for Crippa! One for one in Finals and a huge goal. Just held up the coal face.
Saad. You could still be in the 7000 club but, showed your mettle again. Elite.
Unsungs: Fog, Cuners.
Not sure that sleep is an option...

 

[The Return of the Paf]

This really belongs in list management but it's pertinent to what's being brought up here.

At this stage I say write off Harry at our peril. What we need to do is recruit more talented tall forward options. Preferably players who can pinch hit as KPPs but also play as a third tall. We don't really have any insurance at the moment for Harry and Charlie (I think Lemmey is a long shot, he might be better suited the backline long term) and the resilience of our 'attack' is my biggest concern going forward. Get some help first.

 

[azlou]

The positive is what you see behind nipping at his heals try decoding the gurus podacsst. They unveil the bullshit that is so appealing to you

Sorry thought I was on Twitter

 

[Stig O'Hara]

How cool is this!!!!

 

[reg_lower91]

Geez Cottrell has improved a lot in a few years...

I always hoped he’d become a great player. Honestly didn’t think he would. Never imagined he’d be close to BOG in a final in front of 90k+. So incredibly proud. We’ll done

 

[Rosscoe 17]

Really pleasing how we put on the brakes and held on. Acres Cotts Saady Cezzalenko and Walsh were pivotal. So excited for next week.

 

[windows1]

May have been posted- Cotts and Acres didn’t come off in the second half. Herculean.

 

[GoBlues!]

Big shout out to Pitto for that critical 10 min period in the 3rd - just after swans had kicked 3 unanswered goals.

Pitto won the centre bounce hitouts that kick started our own 3 goal fightback. At the game I was hoping for some centre bounce dominance and he delivered.

Those 3 goals were brilliant and the crowd roar after Crippa’s goal was just special.

 

[TryAnHit]

Unpopular opinion?

From someone who watched mckay win me a bucket load on the coleman.

The media / coaches ruined McKay with telling him to stop kicking around the body. The year he won the coleman he was lethal around the body from the correct side (left) of the field. He's also a decent drop punt from the correct side.

He should be under strict instructions to never lead up when the ball is coming from the right and sit deep. As he is literally 5% to kick a goal from anywhere on that side.

I think the coaches are missing out of using his strengths.

Even the coleman year he would snap those out from the top of the square. Think of him like a bubba Watson. He has a shot shape with his kicks and a unique style that should be worked with.

 

[teddy-hopkins]

I thought he still looked slightly off and dropped some easy marks got out positioned a lot but battled on - he and guv need to find another gear connection wise -swans inside 50 conversion the third qaurter was insane ..

I love Marchbank. Easy to underestimate how clever he is with his positioning and his sense for how to keep the ball out of the dangerous positions. Always has a couple of "moments" that don't look so great - but even Newman had a few of those tonight. Gov has them every week. On balance Marchy is going really well.

Hope SOS is fit enough to get back in next week now that a spot has opened up.

Losing Martin and McKay vs. Dees JVR and Brayshaw - it sort of balances out but I think those outs are waaaaay harder for them to cover.

 

[teddy-hopkins]

Anyway, all I know is that we won a final, don't care whether we win by a point or 100 points as long as we win and advance to the next game. I think that considering the fact that 90% of our players had no previous finals experience it was a huge achievement to hold off an opposition which is one of the most experienced in playing finals in the league.

There's absolutely nothing to be unhappy with in regards to that performance tonight, it was another huge stride for this team.

Agreed. There is a lot of "a win is a win" about tonight's game. I don't think it matters for form, etc. carrying forward to next week. Melbourne and Sydney are so completely different (and not just their sh!t coffee).

Take the win, reset for next week. Motts, SOS (hopefully) and Dow (sub) all back in. Away we go.

 

[tarczonandjane]

I forget which poster compared it to the first final in 1995, but I agree there are some similarities. In both games, we just had those spectres of past failures hanging on our shoulder and coming up against in-form opponents. We were the better for the first game in 1995, and I am hopeful we will be the better for this one too.

Not much commentary in here on Sydney. But they are a successful club with a strong coach. I didn’t like the matchup because they had strengths which didn’t match our own, and if they could get the game on their terms it was always going to be touch.

The game did get on their terms in the second half, but not completely, and we always touched it out. And kudos to our coaching team for the contingencies they had in place. I never would have thought of sending Martin back. His only error came from not hearing the call to play on amongst the din of 92,000 screaming fans.

Huge props to Walsh, Cerra, Cincotta, Kemp, Cottrell, Fogarty, Acres, and Saad. Such great games, and I’ve probably forgotten a few in there too.

Onwards and upwards Blues! And for those in the crowd, the Fox Footy commentators were saying they’d pretty much not heard anything like the roar from the Carlton crowd. Abbey (I apologise for forgetting her last name) said that atmosphere was bigger than the previous night.