Good afternoon all,

Carlton faced quite a difficult opening round encounter last weekend, playing against a fair full-strength Kangaroos side at the Telstra Dome.

Carlton, also, had a strong side on the park – with Carrazzo, Scotland, Walker and newly acquired Robert Warnock the major omissions.  The Roos were only missing Adam Simpson, and let’s face it, he’s not going to be the difference between a win and a loss for North Melbourne.

Carlton 123 defeated Kangaroos 70

Personally, I was very pleased with Carlton’s first-up performance against the Kangaroos.   Firstly, I wasn’t sure what to expect – I’d heard good things out of Vissy Park (formerly Princes Park) over the Summer but you never really know until the real stuff begins.

Also, the Kangaroos are a side that Carlton have had difficulty against if recent history is anything to go by (Carlton have lost their last 6 home-and-away matches against North Melbourne by an average margin of more than 36 points).  And despite this result, it will be nice to see the Blues pick up a home-and-away vistory against the Roos this season if we can manage it.  It is certainly not beyond the Roos to reverse this result, when we face them in round 18.

Getting back to the match, it was almost all good news for the Blues.  The exceptions would be the injury worries to promising draftee Chris Yarran, as well as Matthew Kreuzer – both players will miss the round 2 NAB Cup clash against Hawthorn.

Okay, now the positive signs.  Mitch Robinson looked extremely promising, after an early collision that looked to be the end of his night.  To his credit, he battled on and was excellent with around 20 disposals.  I can’t wait to see what he will do against the Hawks.

Brendan Fevola loves the pre-season competition.  Another bag of goals in this clash against the Roos confirmed the love-affair.  Fevola looks strong, but his problem has rarely ever been his body.  It’s knowing where his mind is at that is the key to his performance.  For the most part, Fev looked in control on Friday night.  Carlton’s worst possible result would be a suspension to Fevola prior to round 1 of the home-and-away season.  I’m confident he will behave himself.

Most of the midfield group looked good.  Perhaps Nick Stevens was quieter than usual, but I believe he was tagged even though he wasn’t always playing across the centre.  Gibbs, Simpson, Grigg, Houlihan and Murphy were prolific.  Grigg, in particular, looked great sweeping across the half back line.  This will be great for the Blues if he can become that ‘Lindsay Gilbee’ type player, using the ball effectively coming out of defense.

Speaking of the backline, I liked what I saw from Thornton, Jamison, Bower and C.Johnson.  The Carlton defense was a real worry for me in ‘08, so I hope the backline can look be more settled and consistent this season.  Bentley (acquired from the Power in the off-season), too, looked solid and there may be a place for him in the line-up throughout 2009.

So, good start for the Blues, but we’ve learnt the hard way that pre-season form means little when it comes to the real thing.  Another promising display against the Hawks will go a long way to showing the Blues may feature prominently in the mix during 2009.

Do you have any thoughts about the Blues or any other footy subject?  Feel free to leave a comment.

Luke.