What looked like a navy blue procession – an easy win and restoration of their rightful place in the competition – turned into a white-knuckle contest that could have gone either way.
The pattern of the match was that Carlton would burst clear on the scoreboard with a few goals and then just when we were ready to declare the Blues home, the more seasoned Swans would rebound – propelled by the unlikely force in Hayden McLean and Tom McCartin.
In a final that the Blues had to win three times before they actually triumphed, the most critical moments – and performances – came from players who’ve been either disregarded, or dismissed due to their inability to stay healthy.
Few Carlton players had a more profound impact on the game’s first hour than Matthew Cottrell.
Matthew who?
Standing up: Matthew Cottrell (left) was influential.Credit: AFL Photos / Getty Images
Cottrell has been a fixture in the Carlton line-up this year. He’s no one’s idea of a silky mover or a match-winner; his stats are modest, but he plays his forward role with a level of commitment that has won him the confidence of Michael Voss.
In the first half, Cottrell was close to the best afield, as the Blues built that lead of nearly five goals that the Swans would chip away at throughout the second half.
He booted two crucial goals and won important balls and at one point was, statistically, the highest-ranked player on the ground. He ran down Errol Gulden in the final quarter when the Swans were on the charge.
It has been an accepted reality of Carlton’s recent history that the Blues have an elite core of top-end players, but that their talent falls away.
One fancied that if the Blues were to prevail in their first final in a decade and set up a meeting with the Demons, it would be due to the class of their key-position stars, led by Charlie Curnow and Jacob Weitering, and their front-line midfielders Patrick Cripps, Sam Walsh and Adam Cerra.
And so, while Walsh and Cerra were among the most effective Blues – Walsh seemingly back to near his 2021 output after an injury-afflicted pre-season – and Sam Docherty and Adam Saad were steady performers, one of the most striking features of this final was the unexpected bounty that the Blues gained from either unheralded or maligned players.
Curnow was beaten by his predominant opponent McCartin and Harry McKay had a difficult evening, eventually leaving the field in a distressed state after a collision in an aerial contest. McKay had missed a sitter from the goal square (hitting the post on the run) in the first term and then failed to bury a shot that would have made Carlton’s lead 35 points – enough to ensure victory surely.
Blake Acres, Jack Martin and Caleb Marchbank were Carlton players who discovered the best version of themselves when it mattered.
Twice, Acres – who’d come to his third club as a free agent, after stints at St Kilda and Fremantle – touched balls on the goal line in the tense second half that saved likely goals. On both occasions, the score review was required (and the first had been called a goal).
Martin took a critical mark in the third quarter, standing under a high ball and out-positioning the taller Dane Rampe and converted a goal that re-established a three-goal lead when the Swans were surging. Martin, a player of considerable talent, has often been injured in his time as a Blue after crossing over from Gold Coast on a massive front-loaded contract.
On this night, Martin earned back much of what he’d been paid in advance of performance. Acres vindicated the decision to recruit him on a decent deal to play a specific role.
Martin, it must be said, will face an anxious wait to get the all-clear from the match review officer, having swung a clumsy round-arm tackle that struck Nick Blakey in the first quarter. Blakey left the field for a period under concussion protocols, but returned.
Nick Blakey on the ground after the incident.Credit: AFL Photos / Getty Images
The final goal – and what represented the winner – was scored by Acres with an assist from Martin, who shovelled a handball to Acres near the goal square. Not content with that contribution, Martin would twice take intercepting marks behind the ball in the final term, as the Blues coughed up the footy, blundered with choices with the ball and began to wilt in the face of Sydney’s pressure and sheer refusal to accept the script.
McKay, Curnow and Cripps would end the match as lesser contributors.
The Blues had won on the back of players who had not carried this club before.
One could say that they won by Acres, even if it was only by a kick.
