The Pies won not because they had the best players on the field, but more better players. To borrow coach-speak, they had more who played their roles for longer.
Until the frantic last term, few players were more influential than Nick Daicos, whose dash out of stoppage shredded the Blues’ first layer of defence and left the rest of their defensive zone out of shape.
With his deft touch and vision to find space where others see congestion, Pendlebury was pivotal in the Pies’ surge in the middle two quarters and equally important as they sought to save the game at the death.
The speed of Bobby Hill and Will Hoskin-Elliott was a constant threat for the Blues’ defence, which though not well-equipped for this style of game held up manfully under heavy traffic.
Their tackle pressure hobbled the Blues, who generated few passages of play that had fluency. Jeremy Howe, Darcy Moore and Billy Frampton could not have asked for much more to curtail Harry McKay and Charlie Curnow, the latter having his streak of 66 games with a goal ended.
Darcy Cameron outplayed Marc Pittonet, overpowering his opponent at stoppages with his ruckwork and around the ground where his three contested marks were bettered only by Carlton’s defensive general Jacob Weitering.
It would have been particularly cruel if his game was to be remembered for the final boundary throw-in where he was out-muscled by Pittonet, whose ensuing hack kick found McGovern.
Nick Daicos of the Magpies in action.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
With 18 players from their premiership team on the field, this was the Pies’ strongest team on paper since, well, the last time they played Carlton.
They need to beat Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne to qualify for an improbable finals campaign. If they get there, few will want to play them.
“I think we’re building. We’re not quite hot but we’re simmering,” McRae said.
McRae disagreed with suggestions this performance was powered by the adrenaline rush of Pendlebury’s milestone, though the coming weeks will tell the story.
Whatever happens from here for the Pies, the season is not a complete loss.
“Eddie McGuire taught me early in my career, if you don’t make finals you best beat Carlton twice,” Mason Cox told this masthead.
The loss is a massive blow to the Blues top-four hopes. So much was riding on McGovern’s kick.
There are few players in navy blue teammates would have preferred in McGovern’s shoes. In 2017 at this very venue, his nerveless after-the-siren shot salvaged a draw for Adelaide against the Pies.
But from the moment he was accidentally collected in the head taking the diving mark, McGovern did not have the air of a man bound for glory. The uncertain look in his eyes and the seeking of direction from the umpire betrayed him.
In 1993, Kernahan, needing only a score to win the game, sprayed his shot out on the full. McGovern followed suit. Standing the mark, Cox was the first person in the MCG to know.
“I could see from the ball drop, it didn’t look too pretty,” Cox said. “You dream of being in that position after the siren. You’re excited he missed but at the same time you feel for the man.”
Second for much of June and July, the Blues will spend much of August uncertain if they will be there in September. The loss was compounded by another hamstring strain to Adam Cerra, his third for the season, and a shoulder injury to Matthew Cottrell.
The dropoff has been alarming, with four losses from their past five games. Such a scenario was unimaginable at quarter-time a month ago when they led Greater Western Sydney by 33 points.
It’s no coincidence the slump has come at the same time as the downturn in the Blues’ contested game. The Blues are bang average if they cannot win the ball on the inside, world-beaters when they do.
They have not looked anywhere near as strong in the guts since George Hewett was surprisingly left out to accommodate Cerra’s return, and a winning formula tinkered with.
Coach Michael Voss acknowledged the quality of the opposition in the losses to the Western Bulldogs, Giants, Port Adelaide and now the Pies, but conceded his team had not played with “edge” or at 100 per cent.
One quarter of midfield dominance, led by Patrick Cripps and Sam Walsh, was almost enough to pull the four points from the fire, but they now find themselves in the uncomfortable position of possibly being out of the eight next week if they lose to Hawthorn.
“For us everything’s urgent,” Voss said. “What we’ll do is stay composed through it as well.
“I thought tonight was a step in the right direction. We understand we’re not comp back with everything together, total connection if you want to call it that in all phases of the game. That’s something we’ve got to keep working on.
“The good thing about all this is it’s completely in our control.”
