“Only eight times in five years”: The extraordinary marker in win over Roos that proves Blues’ credentials
David King has found himself most impressed by Carlton’s defensive work early in 2024, revealing a stat that underpinned the Blues’ Round 3 win.
Michael Voss’ men knocked off a plucky but rebuilding North Melbourne outfit on Good Friday by 56 points, kicking a staggering 21 goals.
It’s the biggest score kicked by the Blues against any team other than West Coast since Voss took over.
But it was Carlton’s hunt and pressure that most impressed King.
“Gee, they’re a power Carlton,” King remarked on SEN’s Crunch Time.
“When teams buy into the defensive side of the game when you don’t have the footy, that’s when I think you become quite powerful.
“Yesterday, they showed that.”
Against North Melbourne, the Blues won contested footy, laid a staggering 76 tackles (and 19 inside 50, despite winning the disposal count), and also had an above average 51 one percenters.
For it to come against the lowly Roos, a team expected to be engrained in the bottom four in 2024, was the factor that most impressed King.
All of the Blues’ efforts combined to give them a pressure rating rarely seen.
“Their pressure level was 200. The AFL average is about 180, that’s about a standard game,” King continued.
“They’ve got all the offensive threats that anyone wants. Good ball movement out of the backline, winning games on ball movement.
“We know how tough they are in the middle and we know they’ve got the key forwards. They’ve got all the tools, all the ingredients.
“Without the footy is the thing that’s hard to get elite level talent to buy into. They’ve always been good players, quality juniors or whatever.
“So to go at 200 yesterday, they’ve only done that eight times in five years. So that to me shows they don’t just want to beat a poor opposition… they want to crush them without the footy.
“That’s a real statement.”
The win over North Melbourne follows victories against Brisbane and Richmond to start the season, leaving Carlton 3-0 after the first month of the season.
A clash with the similarly unbeaten Dockers awaits in Gather Round next week.