I think the Bluebaggers need to go back to the classroom.  Now do not get me wrong, I am happy, very happy. 2 from 2, who wouldn’t be, but (ah the proverbial but, ‘I’m not racist, but… I like to go out with you, but… ) I think they need to learn a bit about our great history. It is obvious they have heard some things about the great teams of the seventies and eighties, but I fear they have got a fundamental aspect dreadfully wrong.

Lesson 1: The premiership quarter is not the First!

Yes we do love it when we start off with a rush of goals, but only if we keep going through the whole match. Against weak teams a rush at the start can be good, breaks the opposing team’s spirit and such but against good teams we may just find ourselves defending an eroding lead and feeling horribly vulnerable because we tried to put them away too early. Luckily (or good planning?) Richmond is not a good side.

Lesson 2: The second quarter is better than the first but fundamentally it is floored.

The problem, as we discovered on the weekend, with belting the bed sheets out of a side in the second is that they can go in at halftime and regroup, replan, re-jig, reinvent and any other ‘re’s’ Voss and Co could execute. Never give a sucker an even break. We almost discovered what happens when you do. Now it didn’t help losing Jammo, but still. The second is not the right quarter – read your history books.

Lesson 3: The third quarter is the premiership quarter!

In the glorious days of my youth when as a young man I could jog the Park street path to Princes Park, there for the game, back for a few at The Rising Sun, home for a shower and then off to Poynton’s for a fair few more, it was well known that the third quarter was owned by Carlton. You could see it the eyes of the opposition as they emerged after their halftime reprieves. They’d all look up at the Heatley stand or stare sadly at the glorious turf of Princes Park and know, just know, the that third quarter Bluebagger tsunami was about to unleash itself upon their sad, socks down, hands on hips, despairing selves. In those days we always kicked a bag in the third.

The signs around the ground would be banging, a tribal beat calling the goals home, a roost of goals scattering out of the undergrowth of muddied legs and hands, goals conjured out of think air by Jezza or The Buzz, goals between legs by the mosquito fleet, spectacular marks, long goals, chain of handballs goals - for some in the eighties it was raining men, for us Bluebaggers, it was raining goals.

So Bluebaggers of 2009. Here’s the thing. Yes give us a clutch of goals in a quarter but please, for the old ticker’s sake, for the sake of grandchildren yet to know their Pop, for the sake of blood pressure and a happy ride home in a blueberry jammed train, belt them home in the third! Belt them home in Parkin’s premiership quarter. Take heed Bluebaggers, that’s the time to let loose.

Now I know you’re a young team and young team’s find it difficult not to come screaming out of the blocks, but please, take a breath, play tight for a time then wallop ‘em in the third. Or if it’s Richmond (or the Bombers this week and especially the pies, always the pies) belt them for all four quarters.

But if not, then hold back until the third and then let loose, let the skies open and the deluge of goals begin. That’s the time to unleash the Bluebagger beast. In the third. It ruins the other team’s chances. They cannot regroup; they have no long break and only a quarter of football left to play catch up. Trust an old man who has seen a lot of great victories spread out in a tapestry of magnificent quarters like some Hollywood film, give ‘em the smashing in the third, its much better that way.

Of course if you must let loose in the second then remember 1975, remember that second quarter! Oh the glory; fourteen goals in a single quarter. I was there that day and it was mad, mad like a wild thunderstorm after a drought, mad with smiles, and screams and open mouths of wonder. Fourteen in a quarter! But the thing was, after that second quarter onslaught came 7 goals in the third and a strolling 5 in the fourth. Now that was a game to savour! (Thanks to the Blueseum for assisting the memory time has dimmed in this old noggin)

Just on a side note my heart goes out to young AW but remember Tex this side is growing and it awaits your return, icing on a formidable cake. You’ll be back and I for one, cannot wait to see the number 1 streaming forward again, or flying high to take a grab.


Go Tex,
Go Blues!

Please Note: the views expressed in the above article are solely the opinion of the author and do not reflect the opinions of the Carlton Football Club or those employees of the Club. The Carlton Football Club would like to acknowledge the tireless work of those supporters who contribute to carltonfc.com.au.