No Kouta, No Commitment, No Carlton

Both teams entered Round 1 with similar form but the Blues looked to have the advantage in personnel.

The late withdrawal of Lance Whitnall didn't make an ounce of difference as Carlton already had its fair share of underdone players who couldn't run out the game.  The Saints had by far the better of the umpiring decisions throughout the game and though Carlton found it impossible to gather momentum as a result, no team deserves to win by only putting in one good quarter for a match.  The Saints were more committed, more passionate and fired up whereas Carlton had every right to have the same motivation levels and prove the doomsayers wrong and could give no more than a token effort.

The game began with the Saints looking more fleet of foot and the usually tough Blues out of touch and missing the mongrel of Darren Hulme.  Stephen Milne was leading the Blues defence a merry dance but this was no reflection on David Gallagher who played his heart out in his first official hit out for his new club.  One error in judgment however saw Gallagher flying for a mark while Matt Allan remained earth bound only to see Milne pounce and set up Riewoldt for a vital goal. St Kilda were running through the midfield with ease and initial raised eyebrows over the Blues preseason midfield capitulations have almost become knowing nods.  Brett Ratten was soundly thrashed by Robert Harvey and whereas he has been well held by taggers in the past, this was a deadset shootout between two ball winners and the new Blues skipper was found wanting.

Pre-match expectations that Matt Allan was going to have an easy day rucking against Trent Knobel were dispelled strongly with the youngster taking the points.  Old hand Stewie Loewe lent a hand in the ruck and look a class act around the ground.

The great blue saviour Corey McKernan bagged the first goal for the Blues but may as well have gone home from then on in as he couldn't find the ball and even when he made a contest, the Blues had nobody crumbing the packs.  For the entire first half the Blues decision making was ordinary at best and only through the fantastic defence by Andrew McKay, were the Blues able to stay in touch. 

In the third quarter, the Blues awoke.  The catalyst was former skipper Craig Bradley, who playing in his record breaking 357th game for the Blues, was able to spark the side when shifted to the centre.  Alas, Braddles was unable to maintain his form for the rest of the match and the Blues were unable to capitalise sufficiently enough on the scoreboard.

This was one hell of a fiery clash and significantly Hamill and Camporeale, close mates still in the wake of the former's departure from Optus at the end of 2000, seemed to be the two main combatants.  Seeing the smiles on the Blues faces at three quarter time and the amount of sledging they seemed to be dishing out to the Saints, the impression was that they thought they had St Kilda's measure.  From the moment the ball was bounced in the final stanza though, the Blues struggled to see any of the football.  They were reduced to chasing St Kilda jumpers and making a pretty poor fist of that as well.  Andrew Thompson was everywhere for the Saints when the game was there to be won and Nick Riewoldt made significant contributions.

It's important here to realise that the loss shouldn't reflect on the Blues much maligned defence who had held the Saints to 7 goals for the first three quarters.  Rather St Kilda set up their forward forays by waltzing through a midfield 'paddock' and choosing their options wisely in the last quarter.  Momentum is a wonderful thing and the Saints regularly had it running their way.

On a coaching front, Wayne Brittain has to share some of the blame by rotating his forwards often without ever properly addressing the lack of supply they were getting.  On occasions when Bradley was shifted to the midfield or Plunkett got a run off the bench, the Blues were able to start building some sort of attacking system but as these moves were few and far between, the system invariably broke down. When all was said and done, the Blues let themselves down badly and the Saints had pulled off an emphatic victory, their 36th against the Blues in 194 attempts.  It may be only round 1 but Carlton have lost 6 of their last 7 games including the preseason and their inglorious finals exit last season.  With Sydney, Collingwood and a road trip against Port coming up, the Blues better find some cohesion very quickly or our season will be over before it really begins.

Oh if there are any Roos fans reading this .... any chance you might want to trade Porter back to us?