Carlton have brought up its best start since 1995, staying undefeated after four rounds with a 16.11 (107) to 11.18 (84) win over North Melbourne.
But while the Blues’ twin towers of Harry McKay and Charlie Curnow combined for 10 goals to help maintain Carlton’s unbeaten record, it wasn’t without its blunders with McKay missing from point-blank range.
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McKay was just was lucky there was less than five minutes left and the Blues led by 33 points.
“Should kick another, doesn’t kick anything,” Anthony Hudson said. “Harry Hou-didn’t.
“That’s pretty hard actually.
“Just hit the middle part of the ball and it went straight.”
He added that it was a lesson for players to put pressure on even when it seems to be pointless as Aiden Bonar’s last-ditch attempt appeared to have done enough to make him miss.
But it was one of the few blemishes on a great afternoon for the Blues who won comfortably despite the Roos having more scoring shots as McKay and Curnow looked like a well-oiled machine.
After regularly getting in each other’s way last week, the pair had their best game of the year together as Curnow finished with 16 touches, nine marks and six goals while McKay registered four majors, a career-high 14 marks and 16 touches.
In defence, Lewis Young, Mitch McGovern, Adam Saad and Jacob Weitering produced a fantastic combined effort.
Without the suspended Griffin Logue and Ben McKay (foot), the Marvel Stadium clash always loomed as a big challenge for North’s backline, but they still managed to make life tough for Curnow and McKay for a large portion, as the Blues only took a total of two marks inside 50 in the first half.
In front of 49,062 fans – the biggest Good Friday crowd in the fixture’s short history — the Kangaroos’ relentless pressure and intensity further afield helped their defenders enormously too, as it cut down space and time on Carlton’s ball users, leading to numerous Blues skill errors.
North’s lead stretched to 10 points early in the third period after Cam Zurhaar kicked his second goal, but Carlton responded with the next seven majors, including two each to McKay and Curnow, to crack open the contest before their lead grew to 46 points in the final quarter.
The Blues turned the game around after they sped up the pace of the game, emphatically wrested the ascendancy in contested possessions, dominated the inside 50s and forced the Kangaroos into multiple turnovers.
The result ensured Carlton have made their best start to a season since 1995 – the last time they won the premiership.
The result was soured for Carlton with McGovern seemingly picking up yet another hamstring injury, albeit apparently a corkie, while North forward Nick Larkey copped an early hit to his hip and while he managed to play out the game, he was clearly hampered and struggled to have an impact.
Harry Sheezel was the standout for North Melbourne, the rookie continuing his stellar start to his debut year with a game high 37 touches.
With Ronny Lerner, NCA Newswire
