‘A distinct lack of leadership’: How Carlton got crunched in the third term, again

Carlton coach Michael Voss faces a near-impossible task to save his job after the Blues’ latest second-half collapse against St Kilda on Saturday night resulted in a seventh defeat in eight games.

An eight-goal-to-one surrender in the third quarter to the Saints laid bare the issues that have plagued Voss’ side all year, including blowing three-quarter-time leads to Melbourne, North Melbourne and Collingwood.

Opponents have outscored Carlton, who are ahead of bottom-team Richmond on percentage only, by a league-worst 117 points in the third term this season, and they have won that quarter only twice.

Voss is out of contract at season’s end after surviving a club-wide review late last year, but the Blues’ horror campaign gives the ex-Brisbane Lions champion little hope of remaining as coach, even if he was reluctant to speculate about his future.

“It’s been a familiar pattern,” Voss said.

“Centre-square bounce [failures], four or five free kicks against us … and then the ability to be able to just continue to defend when we’re up against it isn’t at the level that it needs to be at.

“It puts you under an enormous amount of pressure, they’re kicking goals when they like, and we’re getting these huge runs against us.

“Defensively, we’re not strong enough for long enough over the course of a game.”

Where it all started

There were no visible signs from Carlton of what was to come in the early minutes of the third quarter on Saturday night.

In fact, the Blues were spreading the field and moving the ball with relative ease – but managed only three behinds to go 15 points up.

One Brad Hill goal more than seven minutes into the term sparked a tidal wave.

St Kilda’s Anthony Caminiti contested an aerial pass, with Harry Dean coming back with the flight, and Jacob Weitering running in from behind, then was more desperate than either Blue to gather the Sherrin at ground level and dish it to Mitch Owens.

There were suddenly gaps everywhere. Owens found Max Hall, who handed the ball over to Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, and the silky Saint kicked to Cooper Sharman in acres of space.

Sharman then chipped over the top to an unguarded Hill, who started the rot.

Commentating on Fox Footy, Jack Riewoldt said: “There was a breakdown of Carlton’s defence … [that] forced St Kilda into the overlap run, through poor defence.”

Turnovers and centre-bounce woes

Structural problems and a lack of accountability plagued the Blues in the carnage that followed, but their defenders’ cause was not helped by awful turnovers and their midfielders’ inability to compete in the centre.

Carlton lost eight of nine centre clearances at the height of the damage.

As for the turnovers, Nic Newman, with time, kicked over Will Hayward’s head with a pass into attack, straight to Callum Wilkie.

Adam Cerra also poorly lofted a handball to Hill that led to the Saints’ seventh goal. Soon after, Cerra marked on the wing and kicked a low ball into Sam Flanders’ arms without a Blue nearby.

Sam Walsh was similarly sloppy. He had a handball cut off by Jack Sinclair, then later burst out of the centre and miscued a kick that delivered Wilkie’s fourth intercept mark.

St Kilda’s Max Hall had a huge win over Carlton captain Patrick Cripps, catching him holding the ball in a brilliant tackle, with St Kilda taking advantage to rush the Sherrin forward to Mason Wood, who didn’t mark it but had time to recover, wheel onto his left boot and kick a goal.

That was the Saints’ 11th major – and suddenly, they were 22 points up after trailing by 15 less than 20 minutes earlier. Riewoldt’s fellow commentator David King was scathing.

“They can’t win a contest down back, and there is a distinct lack of leadership,” King said.

“We haven’t seen Cripps fire a shot, Cerra has turned it over this quarter, and Walsh’s disposals have been disgraceful.”

The double goal

Dean is in his first AFL season, but had a forgettable moment amid the collapse.

Dean and the Blues’ backline struggled to offer resistance to St Kilda’s forward forays.

Owens skied a kick towards a pack of players at one stage, and the ball bounced out the back, only for Hugo Garcia to casually run onto it, with no one near him, and handball over the top to Liam Henry, who soccered through a goal from the square.

But making matters worse was Dean’s reckless and dangerous decision to shove Henry in the back and send the Saint crashing into the Marvel Stadium fence.

Henry received a free kick, and kicked another goal. St Kilda’s lead instantly went from four points to 16.

Within that passage was a huge part of the problem: Carlton’s defenders were regularly outpointed in contests and often metres away when the Saints’ forwards marked inside 50.

The worst example was after Cripps gave away a free kick in the centre to Wanganeen-Milera. St Kilda went inside 50 again to Wood, who “bellied” his attempted snap at goal, but ex-Blue Tom De Koning somehow marked uncontested on his chest in the middle of a pack.

It was not a great half hour from Weitering, who gave away a free kick, lost aerial contests and was uncharacteristically out of position several times.

Carlton conceded 9.4 from 16 inside-50s during the nightmare period, starting from late in the second quarter.

They are the only club this season to cough up 50 or more points in a quarter three times, and are one of two teams (West Coast are the other) to give up six streaks of six-plus goals.

No respite is on the horizon, with two-time reigning premiers Brisbane awaiting the Blues on Friday night.

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