VERY pleased.
That was the - unsurprising - reaction from Senior Coach Daniel Harford after his side registered its fourth win in a row.
A slow start in Alice Springs might have had Carlton fans worried, with Melbourne dominating the play in the first half.
However, a strong response from the Blues saw a spectacular second-half performance, with Harford encouraging the Game Changers to dig deep.
“It was almost about imploring them to get out of themselves and finding a way to be better in the second half,” Harford said.
“It was about the players to have the courage to dig a bit deeper and stay with the plan and stick with it even though the game wasn’t on our terms.”
Carlton did just that, kicking four unanswered goals in the second half, recording a 16-point win over Melbourne in Alice Springs.
Harford credited synergy and keeping the same group together to allow the team to work together and overrun the Dees.
“We’ve been able to keep a consistent group together in the last five or six weeks and they’ve learnt to play with each other, even when it’s not going their way,” he said.
“Seeing that come together and seeing that evolve even when things aren’t going well, again to wrestle momentum back from especially from a forward perspective, was super pleasing.”
Not thinking too far ahead, Harford admits he was not counting wins, but acknowledging each team will be a challenge.
“We were under no illusions how challenging this was going to be for us tonight,” he said.
“We're just happy to win them as they come at us: we’ve travelled to the centre of the country to do that today and [we're] really pleased to walk home with some points.”
Maddy Prespakis was once again at the top of her game, adding a clutch goal in the final term to her 23 disposals.
While acknowledging it was another brilliant performance from the young star, Harford said it was the support of her teammates which allowed her to flourish in the second half.
“Another great game for ‘Mads’ this week, she was given great support this week I reckon,” he said.
“Chloe Dalton’s performance in the third quarter broke the game open and was huge, Lauren Brazzale’s one in the last quarter, Georgia Gee, Darcy Vescio.
“I could talk forever about the girls tonight, I’m really proud of them.”
