Round 8 – Carlton v St Kilda: Same old Blues with quick fixes constantly broken

Round 8

Carlton v St Kilda

7.35pm, Saturday 3rd May 2026

Marvel Stadium

By Dan Lonergan

When growing up and starting my interest in footy in 1975 as a six year old and then becoming obsessed by the game in the 1980s, one constant in that period was generally Carlton. They were perennial finalists and from 1975 until 99, they won five flags and played in 8 Grand Finals in total and missed the finals only seven times; 1977, between 1989 and 1992 and then 1997 and 1998.

For a Western Bulldogs fan, I won’t deny I was jealous, with my best mate Damian being a fanatical Blues supporter tasting constant success. Carlton was a destination club recruiting wisely, especially the stars from WA and South Australia like Craig Bradley, Mike Fitzpatrick, Jon Dorotitch, Stephen Kernahan, Ken Hunter, the flamboyant, Peter Bosustow, WA full forwards, Warren Ralph and Ross Ditchburn, who were not great but had their moments and arguably the best of them all, Peter Motley, whose career was curtailed by a tragic car accident.

That style of enticing players was called cheque book recruiting when there was no salary cap or drafting and it was an example in a 12 team VFL competition where the top teams like the Blues got stronger and their opponents on Saturday night, St Kilda who snared six wooden spoons in 10 years in the 1980s including 4 consecutively from 1983 until 1986, continued to struggle.

They did attract Nicky Winmar from WA, but most of their recruits in those days were Carlton players who were on the edge of senior selection by then, including Spiro Kourkoumelis, and Peter McConville, as well as Ken Sheldon and Alex Marcou (who were both triple premiership players) had fallen out of favour by the late 1980s. Peter Russo, whose father Felix played for the Saints, joined St Kilda as well after winning flags as a star midfielder at Hawthorn.

All of these players were excellent, but were in the back end of their careers. The Saints since 1990 have been a much better side and played in three grand finals, but fell short each time, while the Blues since 2000 have had many barren years.

That has coincided in my opinion with the introduction of the draft and the salary cap, which then long-serving controversial president John Elliott decided to ignore giving the impression, what most footy fans who did not follow Carlton, that the Blues were a law upon themselves and the most powerful in the league that will ignore new rules.

They were found guilty early in this century in 2002, of rorting the salary cap and were fined heavily as well as being stripped of the first two draft picks that year after picking up their first wooden spoon that season. That cost them the first two selections in Brendon Goddard, who went to St Kilda and Daniel Wells, who lined up at North Melbourne.

Carlton people are convinced that this penalty more than the fine was the start of the rot and put the Blues behind the 8-ball as they have been anchored regularly down the bottom of the ladder and from limited finals appearances have won just four and made one preliminary final.

Michael Voss, one of the greatest players of this generation, was appointed as coach after spending several years as an assistant at Port Adelaide. He finally got the apprenticeship he needed once he was sacked by Brisbane. He took over his beloved Lions from the incomparable Leigh Matthews without a coaching apprenticeship and two years working in the media since he’d retired. He has coached senior footy for almost ten years and I firmly believe the jury is out as to whether he is a good coach.

In every game this season it has been the same result; a loss after a fade out except for the Richmond game where they also fell away after a solid first half in the third term, but were saved by Tom Lynch having a case of the yips in front of goal. In the other seven they predominantly held leads at half time but were over run.

What’s the definition of insanity? Doing the same things over and over again. Carlton still play the way Voss did, win the contest, but as we know the sport has changed with more speed on the ball, so more outside runners containing excellent kicking skills to get some deep and decent entries inside forward 50 constantly.

After half time on the weekend, the Saints under the best defensive coach in the AFL, Ross Lyon, who virtually runs that club, St Kilda remained defensively strong only conceding two goals, but took their foot off the brake and piled on a brilliant 8 goals in 20 minutes to win their 4th game of the season. They were way too fast for the Blues who had their heads down as the margin built and I know this might be harsh, but there have been suggestions and comments the Blues gave up. I am pretty confident they didn’t, but the heads and shoulders dropped and of all the fadeouts this season, this to me was the worst of them. All the others were for 15 and 20 minutes and generally they were competitive, but not in the second half on the weekend.

This game was talked-up considering ex Blues had transferred to red, white and black in Tom De Koning and Jack Silvagni on much publicised massive money, so the Saints were applying some of Carlton’s methods 40 years earlier, but within the confines of the salary cap. Silvagni, who was injury-riddled at Carlton and no doubt was a risk for the Saints, has so far played every game and has been pretty good as a key defender.

I have been very strong in my views that De Koning is being paid massive overs considering his footy CV at the Blues, and up until the weekend, he was miles off deserving even half his unbelievable and excessive pay. He had not gelled with fellow ruck Rowan Marshall, but there were good signs on the weekend with Marshall spending more time up forward, which was the plan of Lyon when De Koning joined the club, as Marshall booted three goals.

Cal Wilkie, who might be one of the greatest ever bargain recruits in the history of the game, coming in as a rookie, and that’s why the Bulldogs chased him hard in the off season, was again magnificent in defence intercepting everything.

The top ten draftees of every draft more often than not make it, but it’s those later selections along with pre and mid season picks and rookie picks eventually upgraded to the senior list that more often than not become stars when not expected to. Wilkie hasn’t missed a game since his debut seven years ago and has amassed 163 games and looks fitter than ever. He was overlooked at four drafts. Why? He then played senior football with North Adelaide in the SANFL, while completing an accounting degree.
After the Roosters, under new Port coach Josh Carr, won the flag – of which Wilkie played a pivotal role – the Saints swooped.

Jordan Sweet, who spent time at the Bulldogs and whose career is developing nicely with Port Adelaide, was also part of that premiership at North Adelaide. St Kilda in past years have added many players from other sides but most haven’t been that successful. Maybe going through the draft might be a better option, as Darcy Wilson, Wanganeen-Milera, Owens, Windhager ( those three were all selected in 2021), Phillipou and Garcia, have been excellent draftees all playing good footy.

The Blues draft picks have mainly not kicked on; so what is wrong with Carlton’s development program and policies? They continue in my opinion to adopt the same attitude as their predecessors last century and look for the quick fix by picking up players from other clubs. However, the results have been vastly different with those interstate recruits outlined earlier in this article starring for Carlton, while the current batch have mainly stagnated.

Against the Saints, the Blues had 12 players who began their careers elsewhere and you could argue not many except Newman from Sydney (of which there are a few from the Swans now in navy blue) have become better players. McGovern, Saad and Zac Williams, who is on a huge back-ended contract have been disappointing and so has Adam Cerra. He was top five pick, who landed at Fremantle initially and despite having talent is not really showing that at Carlton. George Hewitt, also an ex Swan has been, I reckon, a good pick up but surprisingly was axed a few weeks ago and can’t get back in.

For the Saints, after belting West Coast by over 100 points last week and the Blues on the weekend, they enter the top ten for the first time. The pressure at the start of the season with their massive player spending spree was to make at least the ten, but more likely higher otherwise the year would be considered a failure and rightly so.

The season is already that for the Blues and Michael Voss you would think is on borrowed time to keep his job and that would be his second sacking, which would be sad for such a playing giant. However, there are numerous examples of great players not succeeding as coaches. It’s not an easy gig!

CARLTON 2.4 7.7 8.11 9.15 (69)
ST KILDA 3.3 5.7 13.11 16.12 (108)

GOALS
Carlton: Kemp 3, Ainsworth 2, Evans, Cripps, Carroll, McGovern
St Kilda: Marshall 3, Henry 3, Owens 3, Sharman 2, De Koning 2, Hill, Wood, Wanganeen-Milera

BEST (Dan’s best)
Carlton: Florent, Kemp, Ainsworth, Newman
St Kilda: Sinclair, Marshall, Wanganeen-Milera, Silvagni, De Koning

Malarkey Votes

3 – Callum Wilkie (StK)

2 – Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera (StK)

1 – Rowan Marshall (StK)

INJURIES
Carlton: Dean (groin), Cowan (head knock)
St Kilda: Butler (left hamstring)

LATE CHANGES
Carlton: Nil
St Kilda: Jack Higgins (concussion) and Darcy Wilson (illness) replaced in selected side by Liam O’Connell and Jack Macrae

Crowd: 41,062 at Marvel Stadium