TAKING the good with the bad.
Patrick Cripps acknowledges that the Blues have trudged through the tough times, but they're now putting those lessons into play.
Winning in different ways, holding on in tight contests and even contribution around the ground are just some of the things that Carlton has gone to work on according to the captain.
Here's what he had to say.
On the Fremantle game:
"It was an interesting game. It was pretty scrappy, both teams were defending pretty hard. We felt like our defenders did a great job keeping us in the game, we weren’t going great in the midfield and then we just found a way to be close enough and when it came to crunch time, the boys stood up.
"We feel like we have a lot of exposure in those moments. There’s a lot of trust and confidence in the group to be composed and execute your role. We had some guys stand up late in front of goal: 'Cotts', Matty Kennedy and Charlie, we had some guys really take their opportunity."
On being able to close out tight games:
"It’s come from a lot of hard work. Over the last couple of years, we’ve learnt hard lessons at the end of the year and missed out on finals because of it. Although they were bloody hard at the time, it forced you to go to work and have the humility to say we weren’t good enough in those moments, so we’ve got to get better: that’s what we’ve done.
"We’ve trained it a lot, some of those games we haven’t got it perfect but the more you’re in those moments, the more you accept them and not get dictated by the outcome and stick to what your role is.
"The level of trust in the group and out there when you’re playing, you feel composed and we’ve had a lot of games in those moments, some we have to hold on and others we have to come from behind. To get exposure in both ways has been pleasing."
On Jacob Weitering's return:
"He’s the most important player on our team I’d say. He’s just a brick wall. I feel like since the middle of last year, he’s really taken ownership of his role. He went from defending his man to team defence and being proactive and since then, he’s been the best defender in the comp.
"He’s been great over the last four to five years for us now, but I know everyone walks taller when he plays - especially the back six - and he was huge again on the weekend. What people don’t realise is he was probably best on the ground and he’s come off a 12-week calf, so his ability to prepare himself and execute what he has to do is first-class."
On winning in different ways:
"It probably felt like footy two or three years ago: it was a lot more build-up, teams were defending really well but there wasn’t a lot of flow in the game. Adelaide Oval does that sometimes as well, it’s a narrow ground so if your defence is on, it’s probably easy to defend, because there’s not much width.
"The ability to win different ways, we feel like we're winning in a lot of different ways at the moment. I think the beauty this year is we’ve won different ways to what we did last year and our stoppage game hasn’t quite got going yet but we feel like that’s our biggest strength, so it’s only a matter of time until that gets rolling again."
On Sam Walsh:
"If he gets through on Thursday, he’ll play. He was jumping around the Club yesterday, he’s up and about. It’s been frustrating for him because he was best player in the finals series, he felt like he really jumped that hurdle then he was flying in pre-season then had a little setback, but he’s been great.
"He trained last week with the boys, and he gave everyone a bit of a touch-up. He’s going to give us a lot of punch around the ball, break the lines, that runner that can really go contest to contest and open the game up.
"To be 4-0 with 'Walshly' missing and 'Weiters' missing two games puts us in a really good position. Now that we’re getting everyone back, it’s a good time to get rolling because we’ve got a tough challenge with Adelaide next week and then we’ve got a really good schedule against the best teams so we really want to test ourselves."
On dad life and baby Koda:
"She’s great. I flew back on Saturday night and then checked out of the hospital on Sunday so we’ve had our first couple of nights back home, she’s doing great. Mon is going well as well: it’s a new chapter, a lot of new experiences already, but it’s been exciting.
"It took about 20 minutes to work the car seat out. We finally got that and I think I drove an all-time slow on the way home. I’ve never gone over speed bumps slower in my life.
"It’s a different experience, she sleeps pretty well at the moment, so we’re praying it’s not the honeymoon phase and it keeps going. It’s all a new experience, you look at each other and laugh, like ‘what’s going on here’."
