‘Not all midfielders can do that’: The Sam Walsh move that put Carlton’s flag quest back on track
With 20 seconds of what’s known in footy parlance as “gut running”, Sam Walsh illustrated why he is such an important figure in Carlton’s quest to break a 29-year premiership drought.
It starts in the Blues’ defensive 50 a few minutes into the match, when Charlie Curnow kicks the ball up to Matthew Cotterell on the wing. As Cotterell weighs a pass inside to Tom De Koning, Walsh is off camera but running hard from one end of the MCG to the other. He sweeps past De Koning to receive an overlap handball, kicks forward to Harry McKay in a contest, and keeps on running.
By the time the ball hits the ground and finds its way to Marc Pittonet, Walsh has pushed himself up inside 50 to receive the handball. From 40 metres out, heart pumping from the effort of the sprint, he snaps the goal and celebrates with a muscle flex. It’s the first in a blitz of six unanswered Blues goals, from which Melbourne could not recover despite a thrilling comeback that finished with a one-point Carlton win.
In the commentary box former Geelong champion Joel Selwood couldn’t suppress his admiration for the indefatigable Walsh, who, after all, missed the first four matches of the season with a back injury that curtailed the preparation for which is famous.
“It was contest to contest and the finish work is just elite,” Selwood said on Seven. “Not all midfielders can do that.”
Walsh’s gut-running goal was not an isolated incident. Blues skipper Patrick Cripps was also superb, combining with Walsh for 69 disposals, the latter providing 13 of them in the first term. His willingness to cover so much of the field was a pleasure to watch, and he was damaging any time he had the ball in hand.
What about the Dees?
While Thursday night’s victory reignited Carlton’s premiership credentials, Melbourne’s flag bid can be questioned after their slow start on a bleak night when the rain refused to go away.
Christian Petracca recently said he was unfazed by taggers, but Matt Kennedy may have proven otherwise, for the 2021 Norm Smith medallist was held to only four touches in the first term as his team was kept scoreless in a quarter for the first time since 2019.
Petracca ultimately delivering what Carlton coach Michael Voss said was a “pretty special” performance. He went forward and hauled his team back into the match in the second term, finishing with a career-high five goals.
However, Kennedy delivered a masterclass in the first term on how to stop the Demons’ prime mover.
But how can a team supposedly in the premiership mix concede the opening six goals of the game?
Goodwin said this had been the difference between winning and losing.
“In terms of how we started, any time you want to give a team six goals headstart … both ends of the ground were really poor, and our defence was poor,” Goodwin said. “That’s where the game was won and lost early. There was a lot of like after that, but the damage was done.
“Obviously, Carlton was outstanding, their pressure was great early, I thought they won contests at both ends of the ground, and they put us under pressure.
“We have got some work to do to get our starts right.”
What it means
Having lost three of their past four games, including a thriller to Collingwood last week when they admitted to over-possessing the ball, the Blues did enough to hold on in this wire-to-wire victory, sparking coach Michael Voss to note a “real shift” in the Blues’ composure under pressure.
The win was crucial, for a fourth defeat so early in the season would have put their top-two aspirations in peril. Collingwood (five losses), Brisbane (six losses) and Port Adelaide (six losses) filled the top three spots after the home-and-away campaign ended last season, with Melbourne (seven losses) in fourth.
