Football fans are a fickle bunch.
When things are clicking the sun is shining and they don’t have a care in the world. But when their team is delivering poor performances, the world is dark and gloomy and everything that can go wrong, will.
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‘Can’t deal with this!’ Blues blasted | 01:13
It’s the latter where Carlton fans find themselves after enjoying the sunshine and lollipops throughout the opening four rounds.
After round four Blues fans couldn’t help but talk about September action as they sat second on the ladder with three wins a draw and 14 points to their name.
On Friday night, after their round 11 clash against the Sydney Swans, those same fans were losing their minds and burning their memberships.
The loss puts them in 12th spot on the ladder, for the time being, with four wins, six losses, a draw and 18 points to their name.
It makes it four straight losses for the Blues with their only win since round four coming against the bottom placed West Coast Eagles.
The insipid display under the lights at the SCG left fans seeing red as they took to the airwaves to vent their frustration.
“We just left the SCG, my god we are a disgrace of a football club at the moment. We need to clear out absolutely everyone, a complete change of culture,” one caller to 3AW said.
Another caller unloaded: “For gods sake when are they going to wake up, I’m not going next week. My dad isn’t. We haven’t missed a bloody game in years. I got married and the next day I watched Carlton and Essendon, I had to watch that before I went on my honeymoon … that’s what this club means to me. Then they dish that bulls*** up tonight.”
A Carlton fan revealed just how brutal the loss was as it resulted in him smashing his phone out of anger.
“Let me tell you something, I’m at home and I’ve smashed my TV remote, I’ve smashed my phone I’ve smashed a couple of wine glasses and I am showing 10 times more passion than these pea hearts that are out on the field,” he said on SEN.
The Friday night contest shaped as one of the biggest of the season to date for the Blues, but they failed to fire.
Going down 11.11 (77) to 6.15 (51), the loss marked one of the most dire performances for the Blues this season, seeing them criticised from all sides.
AFL great Jason Dunstall criticised Carlton woeful kicking in front of goal with their 15 behind display, giving them a mark of 41 behinds in their last three matches, asking “what is the work they are actually doing?” on Fox Footy.
Former Hawk Ben Dixon said: “You’ve got to finish the job, that’s why you get paid $800,000 a year, to finish the job, it’s your craft.”
Former Coleman Medallist Harry McKay bore the brunt of the criticism, spraying the ball in all directions as he kicked no goals and three behinds.
SEN’s Nic Negropontis said: “If Carlton had a viable next option on their list, Harry McKay would probably get omitted this week.”
Salt was further rubbed into the wound with captain Patrick Cripps injured halfway through the fourth quarter.
Midfielder George Hewett was also concussed trying to tackle Lance Franklin in the second quarter, which activated sub Ed Curnow.
Coleman Medal leader Charlie Curnow saw plenty of the ball and took some sensational marks, but like his teammates couldn’t convert the opportunities.
At the other end of the ground it was another quiet night for Lance Franklin who was held goalless for the third time in four weeks.
Franklin endured a sluggish start to 2023 before he looked to have found form with three goals against North Melbourne last week.
But it proved another quiet night for the veteran who is almost certainly in the final season of his decorated career.
The 36-year-old is averaging just 1.25 goals per game this season, well down on his career average of 3.03 per game.
Franklin needed one goal against Carlton to leapfrog Doug Wade into outright fourth on the AFL/VFL all-time goals list.
