CARLTON ruck Marc Pittonet had one thing on his mind after the Blues' big win over Greater Western Sydney.
Finally, he could listen to Taylor Swift's new two-hour long album, which had been released the day prior.
"I'm a mad Taylor Swift fan. I was going to listen to it, but the problem is I'd heard it was a breakup album. I'm happily engaged, I went, 'I probably don't want to listen to it before a game'," Pittonet told AFL.com.au with a grin.
"I'm actually saving it till [Sunday], so I'm happy I'm not doing it after a loss with the heartbreak. It would have been fitting, I would have had a four-hour shower and listened to it, and I don't want to break my fiancée's heart.
"But that'll be me tomorrow, all day, locked in a room, just really appreciating it. I don't think I'll be talking to many people, it'll be good recovery and switch off."
Pittonet's 2024 season was somewhat delayed by an ankle injury, but the Blues have opted to play two rucks (Tom De Koning his partner) for the past two weeks, against the strong-bodied Reilly O'Brien and Kieren Briggs.
"It's a great challenge. I feel like teams who want to be competing when it matters need to have big squads," Pittonet said.
"The way we view it is we want to make everything work, I think we get the best out of each other and we work together with the other big boys out there.
"It's more a matter of if we can do what we did (against the Giants) and really maximise it, it becomes a no-brainer from a structural point of view. It's a nice bit of extra pressure to keep it up and make sure we're on the whole way through."
De Koning kicked three goals, a career-high tally, with Pittonet's presence in the ruck allowing him to be a third option in attack alongside Charlie Curnow and Harry McKay.
"Geez he was good, wasn't he? I love it when he plays like that," Pittonet said.
"We've got such good connection, just trying to work together, whether it's who's having a better game against which rucks – there were passages where he was having a good day against Briggs, so he went in, and I went forward for a bit. Same with the second rucks as well.
"Even with those marking contests, being able to release him so he can get a launch at those balls, took some great marks, I think we just make each other better, and the team benefits from first use and getting aerial pressure as well."
It'll be an interesting watch to see if Carlton continues with the dual ruck combination regardless of opponent or uses a horses for courses approach depending on the opposition. Coach Michael Voss said he wasn't locked in on running with two rucks for the rest of the season.
"Their form says a lot as well," Voss said.
"There's a lot of discussion about two rucks – we've got a style of play we want to play, clearly we had the dominance around the ball, certainly from centre square bounce we did. Their games were certainly impactful."
