Through eight games in 2020, no team has given their supporters more value for money than Carlton.
Really, the Blues have played just one stinker for the year, the 18-point loss to St Kilda in round five, when they spotted the Saints a large early lead and were unable to peg it back.
They have a 4-4 record entering Friday evening’s clash with Hawthorn, but apart from that clash with the Saints, they have been more than competitive, particularly since the game’s resumption.
They’ve enjoyed the freedom under new coach David Teague to play a more attacking brand of football. And they have some weapons as well, through the midfield and up forward.
Friday’s game is interesting on several fronts. It might be as long ago as 2005 that they last went into a game against the Hawks as favourites. Ahead of their round five clash that year the Blues were ninth and the Hawks were 15th.
Carlton came from the clouds that night to win by a goal and would not beat the Hawks again until the second last game of 2018. Brendon Bolton was coaching the Blues that night, as he was again in round six last year when they led Hawthorn by 31 points only to lose five points at UTAS Stadium.
Carlton fans soured on Bolton after that loss, and he was gone a few weeks later. One of the sub-plots on Friday is that he will be seated alongside Alastair Clarkson trying to plot the downfall of the Blues once more.
He might not recognise them. They’re the fifth heaviest scoring team in the competition and they find ways to hit the scoreboard even with the likes of Charlie Curnow and Harry McKay out of the side.
If the Blues truly are emerging, they should comfortably take care of Hawthorn. The sign of a good side is winning the games they’re supposed to. Carlton did so last week against North Melbourne – despite some anxious moments – and against a Hawthorn side bereft of form and confidence, they should do so again, even in the unusual surrounds, for both clubs of Optus Stadium.
It’s also a big week for…
1. Wednesday night football
You know it’s an abnormal state of affairs if they’re playing a game of footy on a Wednesday night. We had a Wednesday night game as recently as last year when Melbourne and Richmond played their now traditional Anzac Day eve game. Before that, there was the Essendon-Geelong clash at the MCG on May 8, 1996 which as part of the AFL’s centenary season, was played 100 years exactly to the date of the first ever League game. But when games have been played primarily on weekends since, well, forever, Wednesday night footy has been off limits. But these are unusual times and these next three Wednesday nights will be huge for those of us for whom too much football is barely enough. And with the Western Bulldogs winner of five of their last six games against Richmond (a boast no other club can make) we get a cracker to start with.
2. Port Adelaide
Even over the course of a 17-game season, there are going to be peaks and troughs for every club and this might be the part of the season where the Power are experiencing a form dip. In the last fortnight, they needed a kick after the final siren to beat Carlton and then at home to St Kilda, with less than a kick the difference at the final change, they meekly surrendered the last five goals of the game. Their trademark hardness at the contest all but disappeared. Now they go back on the road and face Melbourne on Thursday night. The Demons are 13th, but playing considerably better than their record would suggest. For Port Adelaide, this has ‘danger game’ written all over it.
3. Essendon
The Bombers have won five of seven for the year and when you factor in the game in hand, they’re technically third on the ladder. Yet with the exception of Collingwood, they haven’t beaten anyone of note and they really laboured to victory against Adelaide last Sunday. It explains why Friday night at Metricon is a big deal for the Bombers. They’re missing a few players and the forward line does resemble a revolving door with new players seemingly rotating there through the week. Losing Jayden Laverde further complicates matters. But Dylan Shiel will be a welcome return from suspension and adds class and steel through the middle of the ground. He’ll be needed because Brisbane’s engine room is just about the best in the business.
4. North Melbourne and Adelaide
By the time this game gets underway we’re almost at the half-way mark of the season. It's the first game of the season where we can say with reasonable confidence that neither side will play finals. North Melbourne has largely been spared by the AFL hot-take industry, who have focused their glare on some of the other under-performers, but there is an undercurrent of dissent from North fans who believe not enough has changed despite the passing of the coaching baton from Brad Scott to Rhyce Shaw. Hence the importance of the clash with Adelaide. No team wants to be the first to lose to the Crows in 2020. If it happens to be North, then Shaw will be facing serious heat for the first time.
5. Tim Kelly
Sunday’s West Coast-Geelong clash will be tough for Kelly and, you would think, Geelong as well. It was the Cats who plucked Kelly from relative obscurity in the WAFL and made him a star just two years ago at age 23. And he loved playing for the Cats. If they were based 3400km from where they are, he’d still be at Geelong. He returned home for family reasons – with the Eagles paying a king’s ransom to get him – and after a slow start has really found form. Against Collingwood last Sunday he had 30 touches at 90 per cent efficiency. It won't be a fun night for the Cats if he plays like that again.
6. The Expansion Cup
Not too many games between the Suns and Giants have moved the needle. But Sunday’s clash between the two most recent inclusions into the AFL might be the best of the 13 games between them because of the sheer quality of players running around. The Giants have established a good – if currently flaky – playing list, while the Suns, who made a hash of much of their first list build, are in the midst of putting together one of the more exciting teams in the competition. The Giants are riding an eight-game winning streak against their expansion rivals in this one.
Round 9 Tips
Western Bulldogs v Richmond (6)
Melbourne (4) v Port Adelaide
Carlton (10) v Hawthorn
Essendon v Brisbane (14)
North Melbourne (7) v Adelaide
St Kilda (18) v Sydney
West Coast (13) v Geelong
Gold Coast v GWS Giants (11)
Fremantle v Collingwood (15)