It was a welcome interstate win by the Blues, with the hard fought victory being against another Top 8 aspirant in the Lions.  But it was also a hard one for Mike & Dan Incorporated to adjudicate our weekly prize.  When both Fev and Judd are on their games like they were on the weekend, there were sure to be plenty of highlights worth nominating for Play of the Week, but in our Monday morning coffee discussion we kept on coming back to a slightly different type of play for this week’s nomination….

To be honest Shaun, we’d initially picked Judd’s supreme sealer as the Play of the Week, but as a group kept on coming back to seeing a ruckman take a handball, accelerate away from the opposition and launch it deep into the forward 50 – leading in a goal.  That’s not supposed to happen!

Yeah, I guess not – but Kreuzer handballed it to me and the first thing I thought of was to run as quick as I could.  Normally I’d look for the handball, but I’ve got my confidence up a bit these days, after a few games in a row, and I just thought I’d go for it.  I also had a think about running it in and going for goal, but I knew the big fella was down there and he might have got a bit upset if I hadn’t have passed it to him!

Are you under instructions to handball normally?

Ratts doesn’t mind us all kicking long and fast into our forward 50, but generally he’d prefer us bigger blokes to use the better users of the ball if they’re around, like Murphy.

That was a pretty fast run down the wing. How do you rank in terms of sprinting ability in the club?

Second actually – over 20 metres.  First is Lachie Hill who can run a 2.73s over 20, and I’m just behind him at 2.77.

Tell us a bit more about your role during the game.  How much of the time were you in the ruck for v. forward?

I played mainly in the ruck on the weekend.  I started forward for say the first 10 minutes in the third, but I was in the ruck for most of the night. I think the thinking was to try to keep the Lions guessing, particularly after their injury to Drummond.

Tell us about your fitness – are you the sort of ruckman who’d be able to ruck all day or are you more the burst type player?

I’d prefer the short, sharp bursts at this stage, but I’m always working on my fitness.

Mike and Dan are excited about the return of Warnock because we hope to see yourself, Krooz and Warnock all in the same team with one of you up forward. Have the Match Committee given you any indication of what might happen structurally when Warnock comes back?

Ahh...well as a team and in team meetings we really haven’t talked about.  Warnock has been injured for quite a while now, and the talk has been about when and how he’ll come back – through the Ants? Through to the seniors?  I guess it’s up to the coaching staff and will be determined on form at the time – if I’m not in form at the time then I’d expect to be down in the Ants again.

I think though that Kreuzer can push forward to Centre Half Forward, and I enjoy pushing up forward, so there’s a chance all three of us could play.

As someone who'd have seen Warnock first hand, is he actually 206cm?

Well he’d have an inch or two over me for sure, and he’s put on a lot of weight since he’s been out.  I think he came over at 92-93 kilos and now, after a lot of hard work, he’s got that up to 104kilos.

What did you particularly work on in terms of your game over the 2009 preseason?

Funnily enough there was actually a big emphasis on ruckwork.  In my first few years, we had Dempsey, then Steve McKee, who were both on a part-time basis.  Sometimes it’d be once a week, but sometimes not at all.

But I have to tell you Big Capuano has worked wonders with us – last year we were 16th for hit-outs but you can see the difference this year.  There’s also been a real focus on follow-up efforts.  Kreuzer is naturally so good at that, but it didn’t really come naturally to me so I’ve been working hard on that.  As soon as we can, we have to hit the ground running or tackle them if they’ve got the ball.

Who has been your toughest opponent so far?

Sandilands by far.  We tried a lot of things, but nothing really seemed to work.  You could try to get into him and stuff like that but he is much, much larger – he’s got 20 kilos on me easy.

At the start of the year, if someone had offered the team to be 6 and 5 after 11 rounds, would you have taken it?
 
Good question - in several games we’ve underperformed for sure – we’ve had some close losses.  One less mistake and we’d have won some of those games. 

We know Victoria has been hit by swine flu, and it has now permeated the ranks of the NRL - what precautions is the club taking to make sure you guys don't get infected?

Yes actually – the Doc made it clear that we all had to wear a mask.  Everyone had one – both up on the plane and back down again!

Did you stay up and watch the soccer on Sunday morning after the good win on Saturday night? Do you still follow the game closely?

No I didn’t get to watch this game, but I watch it as much as I can.  I’m a Liverpool fan – Dad trained with them when he was younger – so I tend to follow Liverpool and the EPL a fair bit.  It’s a bit hard to watch with the time it’s on.  I like to watch the Socceroos as well.

Last time we interviewed you, it was so long ago that you paid out on Luke Blackwell when we gave you the opportunity to slander any of your teammates! Anyone else with annoying habits at the club?

Well…I mean you’ve really put me on the spot with that.  I’d say either Armfield and his dirty long blonde hair who needs a good haircut, or even Jacobs who’s ‘changed’ a lot since he played a few games.  It’s all good fun, but he’s a bit arrogant these days!

It sure was a great win on the weekend, but perhaps the greater outcome is a sign of the future where our ruckmen decide to sprint with the ball and take pot shots from the 50 metre line!

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.