As per round 1, positives only.

1. Withstanding Geelong's inevitable final quarter surge.

2. Throwing the "bomb it long from the kick-in" in the bin.

3. Harry McKay's marking in the last 1/4.

4. The attack through the corridor which makes the team much more dangerous.

5. Beating a reigning premier for the first time in forever.

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"One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds." - Frank Zappa

The raw energy of Ollie and ed Cowan

Ed curnow - experience, strength and brotherly love

Improved performances from owies, acres and fish

Two rucks and TDK second efforts (and tackling)

Maturity in last two minutes - Harry and Charlie back - Lewis young’s contested mark

Excluding the obvious players, my thoughts.

Newman. We really missed him last year when he was injured. Just a pro.

Hollands. Kid against men, won some big 2 on 1 contests. Wow.

McKay. Gave him a vote based on that last quarter. 4 marks, so important to the win.

Ed. Superb game on Guthrie, exactly why he gets a game still, take down the best opposition player, but then scrap and fight for 10 possessions in the last quarter.

Owies. Rewarded tonight, and kicked a huge goal in the last, one he usually misses.

Harry responded to an otherwise fairly underwhelming game again characterised by poor kicking for goal by taking big important marks at the death. We could have lost the game without his efforts late. So well done Harry.

Kennedy and Cerra hard at it all night , really important given the absence of Hewett.

Charlie obviously, I mean we don't win without his performance.

The small forwards stepped up.

Hollands. Not just a nice-to-have effort, he was actually one of our better players. His run and ability to get to contests to apply pressure and close exit outlets is obviously great, but so too is his competitiveness at the contest, kid actually likes to get in the rough and tumble. I have feeling he is going to be a very good player for Carlton for a long time.

I will cheat and add a 6th which was Acres who was very good and bounced back after let's be honest a very poor debut last week. Won some important hard ball which is pleasing, not just about the outside game.

A team effort
we won
we won
we won
we won

1. We kept our cool and held on to win. This is a really important win for the club IMO.
2. The small forwards all hit the scoreboard and played well.
3. Harry didn't hit the scoreboard as much as he'd have liked but his last quarter pretty much won us the game.
4. The Curnow brothers. Ed plays the lockdown role we missed last year and Charlie is just Charlie.
5. Hollands and Cowan again did very well.

1. We played our fast game - just bullied Geelong for much of the match and kept the ball moving forward
2. Bounce back from Acres, Fisher, Owies
3. 2 Rucks worked well
4. The TEAM stepped up to cover the absence of Hewett (our best last week), on top of Walsh missing (as well as Williams but that is not going to change all year). Durdin was very good.
5. We did clearly learn from last week and, under extreme pressure, took back control of the game in the last 10mins.

Apart from all the ones above, I really liked Jack cleaning up the gatorade bottles after their little shower. Shows a real humility.

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The only way for some people to understand is for them to be on the receiving end

Left wing moralists
In self serving denial
They shit me no end

Cripps going to McKay after the final siren.

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dane's trolling again

Noticed that myself

Yes!

Agree with Paddycripps, my 6th is Acres. winger who takes marks in defence, priceless.

Defended well
Pressure
Tackling
Held our nerve
The three newbies have added to this team

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This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

Acres responded from last week

Harry and Charlie stepped up when it mattered

TDK and Pitto combination worked

Skippers 3rd qtr

Hollands and Cowan composure

* The Coach. Second week in a row he's come up against men whom he captained. It might have been 20+ years, but I don't believe you ever lose that competitive egde against former teammates. He's still Voss the Boss.

* Wings. I was such a fan of what I saw last night that I burst into Mull of Kintyre and Junior's Farm. Acres was close to being brilliant and Dutchy is just going to get better. Massive tick.

* Saad. I've got a theory that he plays his best football during Ramadan. Expecting big things vs GWS, North & Adelaide.

* Curnow Bros Inc. It likely won't be every week but I'm enjoying seeing the memories these boys are making. They clearly love playing footy together. I'd like us to be playing Ed when there's a clear run-with match-up. We knew Cripps would be be paid close attention so it was nice to turn the tables somewhat and have Ed perform the role that he did on Guthrie. I'm not convinced there's a role for him vs GWS if George returns.

* Kennedy. 9 Kennedy's have played for the Blues. I was always bitter at losing Josh. I loved Mick in the '87 side. Greg was a very handy forward in the early 70s and was cruelled by injury. Matthew is fast becoming an outstanding Kennedy. Loved his game last night. Sadly Andy, Ted, Jim, Pat and Tom are no longer with us. They are the dead Kennedy's.

Mindset and intent - accepted the challenge and took them on. Weren’t overawed. Backed ourselves.

Method - adjusted from round 1 as required and largely played the game on our terms. Ball movement at times was fantastic. We clearly have different gears and modes.

Forward pressure - our smalls and mids were invisible round 1. The complete opposite last night. We are materially better when they bring the heat. Materially better.

Mids - as a collective thought they were great especially without Hewett. Awesome in the trenches. Tough.

Finish - simply just had to hang on. To win a tight one against quality opposition on a huge stage will hopefully do wonders for our group and fuel true belief. Dare I say a breakthrough moment. While we still made some errors I felt we implemented the learnings from round 1 pretty well.

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We are on our way back...

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It's never as good as it looks and it's never as bad as it seems.

1. Kennedy. He's my favourite player, so it doesn't take much for me to sing his praises, but he's just so selfless. Happy to do the hard work so others can prosper. He draws contact so his team-mates can get into space and receive the handball. I love him, I wanna boof him!

2. Ed. The smiling assassin. Loved his game. I'm so happy he's back in the side and playing well.

3. Motlop. The energizer bunny. Unbelievable effort.

4. Durdin. Same as above, plus that goal! These blokes both punch above their weight class too, which I love.

5. Hollands. This kid could be anything. Huge upside, but already clearly holding his spot on merit.


Plenty more deserved a mention.

Sent from my SM-G781B using Tapatalk

Far out… check the bloke’s GPS.

He’s run harder than anyone bar Hollands.

‘Underwhelming’…

Clueless.

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"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter" - Winston Churchill.

1. beating a quality side in a tight game
2. Structure works well and holds up. Been years since we could say that
3. We didn’t rely on one or two players
4. Bottom six improving. Names like Owies Acres Durdin make us better
5. Recruitment. Acres Cowan Hollands are genuine best 22 players