The star of Carlton, Sam Walsh, has blasted his team for being “not hard enough to play against” following the Blues’ disappointing season finale at the Gabba.
Carlton, who finished second in round 19 and were last year’s preliminary finals, lost the elimination final by a score of 28 points, which could have been much worse.
The Blues were the first team in 50 years to go scoreless in the first quarter of a final after giving up the first 60 points of the game.
Vice captain Walsh looked devastated as he returned to Melbourne on Sunday.
That game was a good representation of our year in that it was both too uneven and sometimes too easy to play against. And that’s the squad we want to be known as,” Walsh added.
“We wanted to put even more emphasis on our brand, and we demonstrated that early in the year.
“You risk losing your edge quickly if you don’t maintain it.
“It is an opportunity that we’ve missed, but if we don’t learn these lessons then the same things keep happening so we’ve got to get to work.”
Walsh, the 2023 winner of the Gary Ayres Medal for outstanding finals player, stated before the game that he was fit.
The 24-year-old wasn’t playing at his most lethal against the Lions since he has struggled with back problems for the previous two seasons.
Walsh declined to attribute Carlton’s late second-quarter goal drought on their long injury list—the team made six substitutions in preparation for the Lions.
After missing the previous six weeks of action, the Blues strategically substituted athletic big man Tom De Koning into the game during the second term.
utility veteran Six months after rupturing his ACL in the Lions’ opening-round match at the same location, Sam Docherty was called up.
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