A TEAM effort.
It was all in for the Blues’ first game of the season, where 26-year-old Marianna Anthony made her AFLW debut.
Kicking a goal in her first game was a personal highlight for the midfielder, but there’s nothing better than getting the win.
“The goal in the first game was also personally a great achievement,” Anthony said.
“At the end of the day, you’re just so happy to get the win and share that with the rest of the team.”
It was a sluggish start for Carlton who took on Gold Coast at IKON Park, not managing to capitalise on their dominance in possession.
It wasn’t until after half time that the ball movement started flowing and the Blues’ physicality was on full display, ending the game with 91 tackles: the most a Carlton team has ever tallied in AFLW history.
Anthony sensed the shift midway through the second term and felt the game swing onto their terms in a big way.
“I think [it changed] when we were able to bring source pressure, the whole team really lifted. Tackling, hard hits, starting in the middle, defenders also locking down and winning the ball,” she said.
“I think at some point in the second quarter, I felt a shift and everyone lifted and we took off from there.”
The final term of the game saw Gold Coast come out swinging, slotting three goals to bring themselves within two points in the dying minutes.
According to Anthony, that’s where the situational and mental training came into play – something that the group had been working on all pre-season.
“I think there’s the physical side of that and also the mental side of the elite performance,” she said.
“We’ve been training for situations like today where it was pretty close in the last quarter and almost could’ve gone either way but I think the elite mentality of how to lock down a game and win it out to the end was what shone through and that’s something we’ve been training for.”
Anthony finished the game as the equal-highest-rated Carlton player on the field in her first outing, finishing with 15 disposals, 11 tackles and five clearances, looking and feeling at home in the Navy Blue.
