Despite the last-minute heartbreak against Hawthorn, the Blues’ brave loss against the reigning premiers will long be remembered for both teams displaying the best qualities that the AFL has to offer – attacking football, relentless pressure, superb teamwork, and an old-fashioned shootout between opposing full forwards. Cool heads were needed at the death, and Dennis Armfield’s efforts to storm through the centre and deliver a long pass to Fevola for a chance at glory win him Play of the Week.

Dennis, you win Play of the Week for taking on the Hawthorn midfield and kicking long to Fev for that last shot on goal. Can you take us through that passage of play?

I knew there wasn’t long left and the quarter had been going a while. Kade Simpson kicked it to me and I took a risk and needed it to pay off. I actually thought I was in more space than I was and then I moved forward through the centre and saw Fev playing really deep and kicked long to him. He was good enough to take the mark and have a shot on goal.

How does it feel to have played in the game of the season? Did it feel like that on the ground?

You can always tell when you play the Hawks. Their intensity and aggression really stands out, and that is something that we haven’t done well ourselves in previous years. Even when you are in the backline and our forwards are working hard and putting on pressure on their defence, you can see their efforts and really hear the crowd roar in a game like that.

The pressure comes from a mix of the opposition and the occasion. You always want to perform at your best, and especially in a pressure cooker match on the MCG, you want to make the most of your opportunities.

Did the team put too much emphasis on stopping Hodge and Franklin instead of Roughead? Or did he just have a day out?

Hawthorn has two top forwards, and it is hard to stop both of them. Bower did a supreme job on Franklin, but it was the team’s fault with Roughead and not any one individual. We should have structured up better and been more focussed on stopping the ball getting there and restricting the space he had.

What do you think you have to do to cement yourself as an automatic selection?

I have to continue improving the defensive side of my game. That’s why I got a game in the first place, as we have got the likes of Judd, Stevo, Scotland and Murphy there to do the attacking and offensive midfield roles.

I got a game based on my defensive skills, and I need to keep my opponent quiet whether I get one touch or 20 touches myself. If I can keep doing that, it will keep me in good stead for getting more senior games.

What do you see as the major improvements in your game since you arrived at the club? Which coaches have you been working closely with?

My kicking has improved ten-fold, and my game awareness has also improved. I am a lot more focussed, and probably having the belief and confidence in myself has really helped me along too. Having the likes of Jammo and Waitey yelling at me to run when I have space has given me a lot of confidence as I can use my speed running out of the backline.

Last year I spent a lot of time working with Matty Lappin and David Teague, and this year I have spent a lot more time with (Assistant Coach) Brett Montgomery and (Development and Kicking Coach) Darren Harris. Aaron Joseph and I have been doing a lot of work on defensive side of our game, and I’ve been improving my kicking with Darren Harris. I always do 10 or 15 kicks after training and will only keep improving from here.

Mike Pyke from the Swans is another rugby graduate who has made it to the AFL. What are the advantages of starting your sporting life as a rugby player?

One advantage is that you are taught to take on people and get through the opposition, whereas in footy you are taught to get rid of it when your opponent is approaching you or next to you. That gives me belief that I can take on opposition players when the time is right, which is one good positive to have. Footy is a bigger oval and gives you more room to do your things which is something else I’ve really come to notice.

We have John Donahue as our tackling coach who also has a rugby background. He really helps us with our defensive pressure, and tackling and corralling the opposition. St Kilda and other sides at the top do these things really well which can win footy games for you – the game is not all about fancy plays and finesse.

Carlton is playing a home game against a WA side in Queensland. Can you tell us how that works?

It is a good opportunity to promote the game up there with the new Queensland side coming into the league soon. The AFL want to promote as much as possible in the north, and we chose to play a home game there.

It will be a great experience for some of the younger players like Aaron Joseph and myself to get a look at and experience another ground and play interstate. The dimensions of the ground aren’t much smaller than MCG, but it is a bit narrower and a spongy ground with irregular bounce.

We will be playing in neutral territory with less fans there obviously, but we go into every game with focus, whether it is 90,000 at MCG against Collingwood or 7,000 up at Carrara.

Fremantle will be quietly confident after a come-from-behind win against the West Coast. Other than Pavlich, who do we need to look out for?

Stephen Hill is one of the best users of the football, and he is only young but we will need to pay attention to him. McPharlin can still pop up and we really don’t want him kicking goals, whilst Schammer has been doing a lot of hard in-and-under work. Hayden might also be back and you don’t want him exposing us from defensive line. There are plenty of others that we need to be wary of too. Ratts will no doubt have a good plan for when we tackle them on Saturday.

After such a close, tough, exciting game is there a chance of a let-down this week? Has that been spoken of?

No I don’t think that will happen. We got so close on the weekend but we have taken heaps of steps forward. Last year we lost by 78 pts against Hawks and 100 points the time before, so the weekend’s result shows that we are really improving. With each game we have our own standards to live up to, and you will continue to see improvements in the side. We can keep improving and won’t drop our standards on Saturday.

As a Western Australian recruit, did you barrack for the Eagles or Freo growing up? Do you have a soft spot for them?

I was born in Canberra, so I was actually a fan of the Kangaroos! My Dad was a Kangaroos fan, and I would try to get over to some of the games. I was into rugby a lot more back then, and didn’t get to more games as I probably would have chosen to watch rugby over football.

Canberra is a quiet little place. It has got a few tourist attractions like Parliament House, the War Memorial, and a science place there too, but there is not as much happening compared to Melbourne.

Can you tell us much about the history of guernsey number 27?

I’ve spoken to Rod Ashman about, and he loves his Carlton history. Obviously Des English and Hulme have worn it in a lot of games, and I know of some of the other players who have played in the jumper. I just want to wear the jumper with pride and do my best for the club.

Is there anything interesting we should know about any of your team mates?

Brad Fisher has got new look with his beard which he thinks is doing him well in the public eye and with getting on board with the club’s supporters. He has also got what I think is a Finnish Miniature Husky and he loves his little dog, and I reckon he spends more time with the dog than he does at the club!

After playing 9 games in his debut season in 2008, Dennis Armfield broke back into the Blues line-up for the round 4 clash against Sydney and has looked increasingly comfortable in his role in the seniors. Armfield’s attack on the ball, hard running and direct football have been conspicuous in a Blues team which is looking to bounce back against Fremantle, formerly a bogey team for Carlton who broke a nine game losing streak against the Dockers the last time the teams met.