AFTER two narrow losses to start the season, Damian Truslove said the group finally got the reward for its effort with a breakthrough win.
On the back of a dominant first half where they didn’t concede a goal, the Carlton Reserves ran out comfortable winners against Collingwood: here’s what the VFL Senior Coach had to say.
On how it felt to get the first win of 2026:
“It was very pleasing. The first two rounds we were very close, and we probably shot ourselves in the foot with being inaccurate in front of goal, but for the players it’s a sense of relief and being pleased about getting reward for effort.
“It put belief in our system and our game plan. We knew we were close to actually getting a win, and it builds a bit of excitement around the group - the boys really enjoyed it.”
On how the win came about:
“Our pressure, particularly in that second quarter, Collingwood only had three inside 50s for the term.
“We got the territory, we got the ball going forward and we just kept it in our front half with pressure. Our forwards were elite with pressure, our backs set the ground up really well and our mids managed to win the territory.”
On what the key focus was heading into the game:
“We knew Collingwood are elite coming out of our forward line, they play that really well. We had a big focus on getting after them, pressuring them and keeping it in our forward line as long as we could to give ourselves the best chance to score from there. That was excellent.
“Then Collingwood came at us in the second half and tested us, but we managed to fight our way through that and stay composed late in the game.”
Who were some of the standout performers?
“I thought our mids were really strong. George Hewett, Cooper Lord and Ben Camporeale fought really hard to get the ball going forward, and our forwards competed really well.
“Jack Ison’s pressure was excellent at times and then our backs set up the ground really well behind the ball with Billy Wilson and Jordan Boyd, and Adam Saad showed a bit of his dash which we loved to see.
“Overall there were some good performances, our wingers in Cottrell and Acres were strong performers. I also thought Flynn Riley came into the ruck, he did a good job when Liam Reidy came out.”
Bailey Walsh is a student at La Trobe University, undergoing his Bachelor of Media and Communications (Journalism and Marketing). He is currently undertaking an internship at the Carlton Football Club as part of its partnership with La Trobe University.
