“How wrong we all were”: Carlton’s depth stands up to deliver huge win over West Coast

Carlton has launched back into the top eight with a thumping 34-99 win over West Coast in Perth on Sunday.

With a raft of stars sidelined including Charlie Curnow, Harry McKay, Tom De Koning and Adam Saad among others, the Blues went in underdogs - particularly as they were coming off five losses from their past six games - but that didn’t phase them one bit out west.

After leaking the first two goals of the game, the Blues dominated the Eagles with their makeshift forward line scoring at will, while captain Patrick Cripps (35 disposals, 10 clearances) led from the front to improve his already very strong Brownlow hopes.

AFL Nation’s Tim Gossage was one who was quite certain the Eagles would get the job done given the Blues played two debutants in Cooper Lord and Ashton Moir amongst an inexperienced line-up, and he praised the club’s depth for proving the doubters wrong at Optus Stadium.

“I questioned Carlton's list before this and they have delivered a nice pie in the face, let me tell you right now,” Gossage told AFL Nation.

“I thought they would struggle to beat West Coast here today, I was very confident and so were a lot of other people.

“West Coast started favourites and most people tipped them in most tipping competitions, but how wrong we all were - in particular myself.

“West Coast, well, they're not great we know that, but Carlton are anything but at the moment and they are looking like a contender.”

Carlton will play finals in 2024 if they can beat St Kilda at Marvel Stadium next Sunday.

If they lose to the Saints, they will have to hope that Port Adelaide beat Fremantle in Perth in the last game of Round 24 to keep their season alive.