THERE has been plenty of speculation on Carlton’s stunning mid-season turnaround, with the Blues going from six consecutive losses to eight wins in a row.
Speaking on the ‘On the Marc’ podcast this week, Jacob Weitering told Marc Murphy that he believes the 53-point win over Fremantle was a victory that gave the playing group the most confidence moving forward.
Playing away from home with a few key outs, Weitering noted that the grit and determination shown by every man on the field showed the Blues themselves what they could really do.
“[Interstate games are] always tough to go away and win, let alone win by the margin that we did,” Weitering said.
“It was a milestone game for ‘Newy’ and Charlie’s 100th game – with some players going out with injuries, boys that were coming in playing roles had to lift, and I think we did that collectively.
“The game against ‘Freo’ was definitely a catalyst where we thought ‘we could be on if we stick together’.”
Speaking on some of the adjustments made mid-season, one thing that sticks out to the co-vice captain is the push to become more defensively minded - not just down back - but across the field.
Working to play more to their strengths, getting the ball from the centre was what the team identified as being one area that they could capitalise on if they played their cards right.
“The game plan didn’t change a whole lot, we focused on one or two elements, which were pressure and contest,” he said.
“When you have guys like Paddy Cripps, Matt Kennedy, Sam Walsh, Adam Cerra and George Hewett winning the ball out of the middle, it makes it pretty easy for everyone else and that was a main focus for us.
“We sort of stopped talking about how to kick the ball and more on how to defend as a team, and that was something I really liked.”
Referencing the team’s defensive statistics - particularly their opponents' points scored - Weitering admitted he was proud of the way his teammates adopted a ‘defence-first mindset’ and started playing more for each other.
“Just the value that we’ve placed on defence, our defensive rating was pretty good but we’re pretty much number one now. I’m pretty proud of the way the boys have gone about it and that’s not just the backs, that’s the entire team,” he said.
“We’re number one [in the league] in terms of least points against and that’s something I’ve never done in my career.”
Looking ahead to the final two games of the season, the key focus for the Blues is to keep doing what they’ve been doing and not shy away from the contest.
Lauding the leaders of the group and some unheralded heroes, the backman hopes the team-first mentality will be at the forefront for the remainder of the year.
Led by Patrick Cripps on the field, Weitering believes the team is in a good position to travel to Gold Coast this weekend to take on the Suns.
“I’ll definitely give credit to guys like Cripps, where you might be going through a bit of a form slump and the leaders have really needed to step up and lead by example,” he said.
“Charlie, ‘Doc’, Cripps, Harry when he’s played, George Hewett, it was a good group of 10-12 guys who played some really good footy over the last 12 weeks.
“Another one is Nic Newman … I think he’s probably playing the best footy of his career and well-deserved.
“The boys are looking to do their job this week and we’ll see what happens.”
