Including the final fortnight of 2022, Carlton has now failed to win three consecutive games while leading with two minutes left on the clock.
The Blues led by six points late in Thursday night’s season opener, before a turnover in their forward half led to Richmond streaming forward and Tom Lynch taking a contested mark inside 50, before slotting the goal that tied the game.
Carlton’s substitute Lochie O’Brien had the ball in his hands in space going forward, with behind the ground vision showing key forward Harry McKay in acres of space inside 50.
However, O’Brien bounced the footy, with the ball not quite coming back to him, delaying his kick inside 50 and allowing three Richmond defenders to get to McKay, who then slipped over himself.
Given the game situation, and with Carlton potentially only needing one or two marks to end the game, David King believes the Blues blew another match-winning scenario.
“He was about 80m clear, Harry,” King told SEN Breakfast.
“There are three security guards on the fence. They were his closest combatants.
“I said to you two weeks ago, we went through the numbers, and people laugh at the stats – games decided by less than 12 points across the last 10 years … last year there was 50 of them, the year before there was 52, 2020 there was 43.
“I said to you, this year every team is training the two-minute drill at the end of games because we know how tight the competition is.
“It’s the gap between making finals and finishing top four. We’re 1 from 1.
“It’s one thing to teach, it’s another thing to learn. Lochie O’Brien had no idea what he was doing late in the game. No idea. ‘Dumb players get you sacked’ is a Robert Walls-ism. He would’ve been furious this morning.”
Carlton and Richmond’s 58-58 draw leaves both teams on uneven footing going forward, with percentage now out of the equation as they build their 2023 campaigns.