It was a case of too little, too late for the Northern Blues, crumbling to a 13-point loss to Frankston at Frankston Oval on Sunday afternoon.
The Dolphins jumped out of the blocks early to startle the Blues, kicking four of the first give goals of the game as they took an 18-point lead into the first change.
Only a solitary goal from the Blues’ Tom Wilson, some bold rebounding by captain Andre Gianfagna (10 first quarter disposals) and dominance in the ruck from Rob Warnock kept the Blues in the hunt.
Yet Frankston had the other ideas to the Blues mounting a comeback, piling on the first two goals of the second term, before Luke Mitchell goaled from 50m on the boundary line.
Despite just the one major, the tall forward appeared to be looking the most confident he had been at VFL level for nearly five weeks.
Frankston would push the advantage to ominous 43 points, with the Blues struggling to work their forward line structure out, at times being outnumbered three versus five, both in the air and at ground level.
As rain started to fall, the Blues were able to force two quick goals to drag the margin back to 31 points at the half following two late goals to Tom Bell (21 disposals) and Nick Graham.
Dylan Buckley asserted himself with an excellent second half, kicking the first of his two goals in the opening minutes of the third term.
Yet Frankston would make the most of the wind advantage to the Young Street end of Frankston Oval, predominantly through the difference of speed in ball movement. The Blues just twice playing on from a mark in the third quarter.
Too much trailing and separation between Blues defenders and Frankston forwards saw further dilemmas for the Northern Blues as they went into the three-quarter time break, 51 points behind.
Yet despite the Blues seemingly having no continuity, beaten to most contests, a non-capitalization on half-chances and lax defensive work rate, they would begin a mighty comeback.
The Blues piled on eight goals in the final term to Frankston’s two, yet time would prove to be the enemy of the Blues, despite scoring the last six goals of the game to eradicate 38 points from the deficient.
Even with Graham, Warnock and Josh Bootsma spending extended time on the bench, the Blues rallied with two final quarter goals each to Thomas Temay and Kane Lambert (29 disposals), as well as second-goal majors to Buckley, Graham and Wilson.
Graham would finish with another impressive outing of 23 disposals and seven tackles, while Buckley turned in a much-improved second half to finish with 21 disposals.
Rhys O’Keeffe was impressive performing a job on Frankston ball-winner Sam Hockey after half time, keeping him to just 9 possessions after the half, meanwhile grabbing 21 touches himself.
Defensively, Bootmsa forced himself into senior selection contention, while Warnock finished with 48 hitouts (20 to advantage) to partner his 16 possessions.
The loss for the Blues sees them face a tough path with three games with sides all positioned above them before the end of the home-and-away season.
Speaking to carltonfc.com.au post-match, Coach Luke Webster pointed to his side’s inability to match the Dolphins’ intensity from the get-go.
“We knew what we were going to be facing when we came down here and we came up against a team that wanted it a bit more than our players did today,” Webster said.
“In the last quarter, we rectified the way we wanted to play to get ourselves back into it, but you can’t be waiting to the last quarter.”
Webster said the challenge would only increase for his side as they head into a testing final few weeks, with a finals spot still beckoning.
“We’re competing against a few sides for the same prize. We’ll move forward and cop this on the chin and move on towards next week.
“We know what’s ahead of us and what’s expected, so it really is still in our hands.”
The Northern Blues play host to Sandringham next Saturday afternoon from 1pm at Visy Park.
NORTHERN BLUES 1.4 4.8 5.10 13. 13. (91)
FRANKSTON 4.4 10.5 14.7 16. 8. (104)
GOALS: Buckley 2, Temay 2, Graham 2, Lambert 2, Wilson 2, Bell, Bransgrove, Mitchell
BEST: Wilson, Lambert, Buckley, Warnock, Gianfagna, Graham, Bell
Matthew Lodge covers Northern Blues games for Carltonfc.com.au. You can follow him on Twitter: @MatthewSLodge
