"The ball was coming in pretty hot, especially in that last quarter in the second half, and we're playing such consistent defence at the moment."
Reflecting on the Fremantle clash on Friday, key defender Harriet Cordner was proud of the defensive efforts from the team.
Cordner spoke to Carlton Media post-match, breaking down the game.
"I think coming off the loss last week against North Melbourne, we really just wanted to get back on the winner's list, but also back to our footy. It didn't quite look that way for the whole game, but the win is great and to be five and two at this point in the season is a really good achievement for us," she said.
"We've added some players to our backline, Darc has come back, Poppy's come in, so I just think everyone's really contributing and the other players around me really helped me to be able to play my game. We kind of know everyone's strengths and I think we allow each other to play that and so that's allowing me to play well.
"We've really gone after possession and kick, kick, mark, and we want to find marks around the ground and probably with the wet footy and the heavy footy and a bit of wind early on as well, probably hampered our ability to do that, and there was a bit more territory involved, which we didn't love, but I mean our ability to still go and win the game, I think is really pleasing. Hopefully in other games when the weather is a bit nicer to us, we might be able to show some of that footy again."
Corder is currently leading marks taken in the 2025 season, with a total of 48 marks.
"In the offseason two years ago, bought myself a marking bag. I definitely go really hard after my marking, do a lot of it pre-training, a lot of it pre-game, I'm happy it's starting to translate. Still a few that I would have liked to have taken today, but I do a lot of work with it and the coaches, Lloyd and Glenn do a lot of work with me as well, I'm pleased that that's a cool little stat," she said.
Breann Harrington, Erone Fitzpatrick and Meg Robertson were some of Carlton's goal kickers. Robertson trained as a back liner, moved up into the forward line to kick her first AFLW goal.
"Breann Harrington, she always stands out to me. I'm in awe standing behind her and seeing the way she crashes packs and, I always think her game is incredible. Bucky said it during the week, she's someone who just makes us stand taller when we're on the field with her," she said.
"Ronnie's running ability, that goal she kicked where she gave it to Goody, got it back and ran through and kicked the goal, was just so impressive, but she's been a great addition back into our side this year coming off her knee last year.
"Bucky touched on it after the game, just players taking their moments. I think for Meg, she's trained as as a defender with us last year and had some really great games in defence last year and then has been thrown forward and I think it's a really different look for us. She was able to keep some length in the ground for us, which is really positive, but then to take a moment... but to go back and slot the goal was really nice.
"I was waiting for a better celebration from her, but that's all right, I'll talk to her about that during the week," she joked.
In the 2024 season Carlton finished 14th in the league, to now being fourth on the ladder.
As a senior player, Cordner has seen not only the changes in the team but since the AFLW began.
"I think W is interesting. I've been in it for a long time now, and I think often apart from the kind of teams that have been right at the top all the time, there's a lot of change season to season. Some of that you can expect, but I also think we really went to work on our game style, and we also bolstered our team with some really great talent to kind of be able to execute the game style," she said.
"It's not just something we've gone to work on this offseason. We're in our third season under Bucky now, third season playing this game style, so I think we're just starting to see that come to fruition now, and I think that's really pleasing as players to start getting the reward for the effort that we've put in."
Now into the second half of the season, the Blues have won five out of seven games to currently sit in fourth position.
Carlton will now face Geelong who are in eigth postition, on Sunday at 3:05pm (AEST) at GHMBA Stadium.
"We're one game over halfway now, but we've got a couple of days off to just go and sort of reset, recharge, we've got a nine day break before we play Geelong," she said.
"This is a bit of a turning point in the season, we're kind of calling this our halfway point, and to be five and two at this point is really great and we can see the reward for all the work we've done in the preseason.
"Now we just shift our focus to having a really strong back end of the season, and we've got some really tough opponents coming up. We'll probably just narrow narrow our focus to Geelong and Sydney in the next two games, and they're both really great opponents."
