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Fierce Carlton Blues pounce on Fremantle Dockers’ midfield in stoppage rout to win heavyweight clash

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Mark DuffieldThe West Australian
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Justin Longmuir’s men were beaten up around the ball by Carlton.
Camera IconJustin Longmuir’s men were beaten up around the ball by Carlton. Credit: SCOTT BARBOUR/AAPIMAGE

If you look up ‘reality check’ in the dictionary in coming weeks, it may refer you to a replay of Carlton’s win against Fremantle at Marvel Stadium.

The final score was 12.9 (81) to 7.8 (50). If you wanted a better idea of the gap in the game, other stats were more telling. Carlton won the inside-50 count 64-40, the clearance count 44-30, and the centre clearance count 14-5.

This was a midfield clobbering. Sam Walsh was the star, with his 40 disposals with seven clearances making him the stand-out player on the ground. He got strong support from George Hewett, Paddy Cripps, Matt Kennedy and Zac Fisher, while ruckman Tom De Koning did a great job of nullifying Sean Darcy.

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Fremantle’s midfield was uncompetitive and it meant the game was played in Carlton’s attacking half.

That in turn meant the Blues could defend, intercept and counter-attack assertively.

The Game AFL 2024

It set the tone of the game, and while the Dockers led at quarter time and mounted a brief third-quarter challenge, their inability to get the game on even terms around the contest made the result all but inevitable.

It started with the Dockers paying too much attention to Cripps before half time and while his impact on the game was moderate, Walsh got off the chain with 23 first-half disposals, including 16 in the second term when the Blues got rolling.

Fremantle were too reactive, waiting for something to happen then chasing it.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JUNE 25: Patrick Cripps of the Blues celebrates after the Blues defeated the Dockers during the round 15 AFL match between the Carlton Blues and the Fremantle Dockers at Marvel Stadium on June 25, 2022 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Camera IconPatrick Cripps and Sam Walsh tore Fremantle apart. Credit: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

Despite being swamped it could be argued that three of the Dockers’ best were defenders. Alex Pearce fought bravely all game on Harry McKay and held the Blues spearhead to two goals.

Griffin Logue held back the dam wall for half a game on Charlie Curnow before the Blues star got clear and managed four goals from 10 disposals.

Hayden Young had 25 and he and Jordan Clark were the closest thing Fremantle had all day to rebounders who could get some purpose to exits from defence. Luke Ryan and Brennan Cox were fumbly and disappointing.

With the Dockers on the back foot, Carlton’s rebounders got aggressive. Adam Saad (28 disposals) and Sam Docherty (30) were keys to safe and effective possession chains from defence with Fremantle struggling to get pressure on Carlton’s short kicking game.

And with Sam Switkowski absent, Fremantle’s ground level pressure in attack fell short of what was needed.

Liam Henry showed some promise but Travis Colyer dropped out of the game after an early goal and finished with four disposals.

Michael Frederick had just nine disposals and brought little to the table in terms of chase-down pressure and harassment.

Mids fall, backs stand tall

The quarter time lead to Fremantle was football’s equivalent of a mirage. The Dockers held a nine-point break despite a 7-19 deficit in inside-50s, which in turn had stemmed from a 7-13 deficit around stoppages.

The Carlton midfield were on top and it took some elite defence from Pearce, Young and Logue and some clinical finishing from Matt Taberner, Rory Lobb and Colyer to give the Dockers the early lead.

It wasn’t going to last unless Fremantle could swing the balance of power in the midfield and in the second term things got worse, not better.

Walsh runs amok

The Blues finally got bang for their buck in attack and turned their nine-point quarter-time deficit into a 15-point half time lead.

It came off the utter dominance of the Blues stoppage crew and the elite run of Walsh.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JUNE 25: Sam Walsh of the Blues controls the ball during the round 15 AFL match between the Carlton Blues and the Fremantle Dockers at Marvel Stadium on June 25, 2022 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Camera IconSam Walsh escaped a tag and made the most of it. Credit: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

With Fremantle paying too much attention to Cripps, Walsh got off the chain and had 16 second-quarter touches to go to half time with 23.

The question was how Fremantle were so close at the main break. The inside-50 count was 18-37 against the Dockers and Curnow was starting to benefit from weight of opportunity in his battle with Logue.

The clearance battle was a nice old walloping 24-15 Carlton way despite Darcy winning the bulk of the hit-outs.

Mundy/Fyfe management dilemma

When Nat Fyfe returned to the Dockers team for the clash against Hawthorn it raised the question of what it meant for recruit Will Brodie.

The real question, as evidenced by the game against the Blues, is how do Fremantle manage Fyfe and David Mundy in the same midfield.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JUNE 25: Will Brodie of the Dockers in action during the 2022 AFL Round 15 match between the Carlton Blues and the Fremantle Dockers at Marvel Stadium on June 25, 2022 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Camera IconWill Brodie was the best of the Dockers’ midfielders. Credit: Michael Willson/AFL Photos/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Neither had any impact offensively against the Blues. Fyfe finished the game with 11 disposals and almost as many skirmishes with Blues players happy to try to get under his skin.

Mundy had no impact on the game before half time and while he was better after half time he still finished with 13 and is struggling to cover the ground as well as he has in the past.

The Dockers need to stop talk about whether he should play on next year and ask themselves how they can manage him so he has an impact in the remainder of this year Brodie had 36 disposals but was part of a midfield well beaten generally and one that got clobbered at stoppages.

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