Carlton games usually come with a sense of impending doom. They’ll ping the gates. They’ll crash and they’ll bang. They’ll do all the things the coach values. But their opponents know, and the Blues fans certainly know, that the key to beating Carlton is to absorb what they throw at you, to lay back on the ropes, to let them tire themselves out and to unleash.
The evidence has been there for years now – their failure to run out games, their woeful skills under fatigue, and their ongoing inability or unwillingness to adapt when the opposition gets a run on. On Sunday, in their 11.11 (77) to 15.10 (100) loss to Melbourne, you could add another factor to the mix – the presence, the power and the raw talent of Kysaiah Pickett.
