Game Review

Blues flip script on Crows to stake claim among comp's elite.
Carlton has continued its red-hot start to the season, defeating Adelaide by 27 points on Sunday afternoon. - By Sarah Black

Carlton has consigned Adelaide to a 0-2 start, clearly a step above the Crows in its 27-point win at Ikon Park. The Blues led for the entire match, and capitalised on some shaky Crows disposal when attempting to clear the footy from danger zones to record the 7.8 (50) to 3.5 (23) victory. Adelaide may be a team in transition, but its defence led by Sarah Allan, Chelsea Biddell and new half-back Eloise Jones remains as steady and experienced as ever, repelling a number of Carlton forward forays throughout the game. But the Crows' entries into their own attacking 50 left much to be desired, with high hooping kicks easily picked off by the equally tight-knit Carlton backline, and too often the diminutive Christina Leuzzi was picked out as the target sitting under the footy. In an attempt to employ new coach Ryan Davis' fresh game plan, the Crows became too corridor-happy in the first half, continually trying to pull of risky kicks regardless of the game situation. At half-time, Adelaide actually led the inside 50 count by one, despite trailing by 15 points and having conceded five more scoring shots, and it was a sharper visiting side who came out after the main break. Maddi Newman dominated on the wing in the third term with 11 touches and a goal (finishing with 30), dragging her side back into the mix, but Carlton did enough to maintain a two-goal buffer heading into the final quarter. "Their (Carlton's) ability to spread from contest, and ours (inability) to snap and seal and force them into more of a long down the line game was probably where they got us," Adelaide coach Davis said. "We were plus-12 inside forward 50s, but I think they were still too shallow, and their defensive unit gets back and covers really well, so definitely a hard game for our forwards. We do need to look at getting some entries better to their advantage and give them the best look they can get."

Darcy Vescio put in a claim for a mark of the year nomination with a classic hanger, launching off the back of Niamh Kelly in the second term. Adelaide spearhead Caitlin Gould was well held by Maddy Hendrie, who had recovered from an ankle injury suffered in the round one match a fortnight ago in order to play. Carlton speedster Erone Fitzpatrick had a very hot start on the wing with 10 disposals in the first quarter, and finished with 29 and three behinds for the match, rotating to half-forward, while Claudia Whitfort (23, five clearances) and Mimi Hill (28 and three) were strong in the stoppages and Nell Morris-Dalton booted three, all from the goal-square. Ebony Marinoff (30, four clearances) battled hard through the middle of the ground, but didn't have nearly enough support. Carlton coach Mathew Buck was pleased with the maturity shown by his side. "Credit to Adelaide, I thought across the whole game they brought a lot of pressure. Our team had to show a lot of resilience throughout each quarter, I thought, to defend hard at different times," Buck said. "That required some strong contest effort round the middle of the ground, but also for our defenders to get the job done. To their credit, I thought they held up well." Carlton's win was set up by their ability to score on transition. The Blues scored 4.3 (27) from defensive half chains compared to 1.1 (7) for the Crows. Erone Fitzpatrick has set a new career high of 29 disposals. Her previous best was 24 against West Coast in 2025.

Does the stuttering Adelaide attack need some stability?
It was always going to be a tricky changeover period for Davis to manage, but he would have been counting on having Chelsea Randall (concussion-enforced retirement during pre-season), the pregnant Danielle Paredes (née Ponter) and India Rasheed (conditioning block) in his forward line. Jones has been moved to defence to help shore things up and rebound, but given her marking prowess, is it a change that needs to be reversed?

Carlton belongs in the top echelon
While this Adelaide isn't the old AFLW powerhouse we've come to know over the first decade of the competition, there's still plenty of wise, premiership-hardened players scattered among the 21. Carlton is looking to back up its preliminary final exploits last year, and were tougher and disciplined for far longer against the Crows. The deepened midfield is humming, and there are plenty of options in attack. The Blues are looking dangerous indeed.

Up next
Adelaide face the under-fire West Coast on Saturday afternoon at Unley Oval, while Carlton heads west to take on Fremantle at Cockburn ARC Oval.

Best: E. Fitzpatrick, M. Hill, C. Whitfort, D. Finn, N. Morris-Dalton, M. Hendrie.

Buck credits maturity, individuals in key win.
Mathew Buck's post-Round 2 press conference. - By Carlton Media.

A mature performance. The Blues didn't have it all their own way on Sunday afternoon, but come the final siren, they marked their first home game of the season with a 27-point victory. Carlton had contributors all over the park, with defenders Harriet Cordner and Maddy Hendrie, midfielder Erone Fitzpatrick and forward Nell Morris-Dalton all earning credit from AFLW Senior Coach Mathew Buck. Here's what he had to say post-match.

On the game as a whole:
“Credit to Adelaide, I thought they brought some great pressure. Our team had to show some great resilience throughout each quarter, to defend hard at different times. That required some strong contest effort in the middle of the ground, but also for our defenders to get that job done. To their credit, they held up well. “Harriet Cordner in her 75th game having 11 intercept possessions, she was an absolute rock back there again for us. It’s the combination of those defenders that helps Harriet do those things: Maddy Hendrie plays her role very well, Ciara Fitzgerald put another great game together.”

On Maddy Hendrie’s performance:
“It’s a credit to Maddy to be able to get up - it took from the minute we finished at Marvel to the minute we started today to ensure she could play. She’s a real professional away from the track. To see her get out there and play the way she did… to be honest, it’s the way she plays each week. “We think Maddy is a special talent, she had a great year last year and she has started really strongly again this year. Jesse Wardlaw into Caitlin Gould, they’re pretty tough match-ups and she might have Eden Zanker waiting on the other end as well. It doesn’t stop for her, but she continues to turn up.”

On Erone Fitzpatrick’s career-high:
“It was a special game from Ronnie. She really hit the metres gained stat and she had a career-high for disposals as well. She has such an impact with her disposals. To have her on the wing, half-forward or even jump into some centre bounces here and there, she’s a nice piece to be able to move around. “She was put into our leadership group after being voted in by her peers earlier this year, she goes from strength to strength in how she conducts herself from week to week, lifting up her younger teammates around her.”

On the maturity shown in the win:
“You set yourself for Adelaide, who have been a great club throughout the whole competition. We knew they’d come with some real bite today. The maturity in the performance was ‘When it’s your turn, go and hit the scoreboard and play fast, but we’re also going to have to stand up and play smart at different times.’ “That was the maturity in the performance, that when they really tested us, we were able to take some heat out of the game or defend for a bit longer to get through to the end of the quarter.”

On the impact of Nell Morris-Dalton:
“I just shouted her out to the whole playing group, and give a special mention to our entire VFLW program. Nell came in earlier this year into our VFL, and we want our VFL to replicate our AFLW system. What that has meant for Nell is she came in not long ago - only a few weeks - and we haven’t had to teach her much, because she knows how we want to play and what we want to be about. “Nell turned up in pre-season in great shape and didn’t take a backwards step after being delisted from Collingwood. She’s a great athlete, probably underrated in how great of an athlete she really is. She’s fit in seamlessly into our group and fit into our forward line, giving the likes of Poppy and Darcy room to move. It was a great game from Nell and really pleasing to see, but not surprised.”

On players missing out on the team:
“We’ve got a really strong squad we feel like, and that shone through in our performance. We don’t feel like we’re carrying any players that aren’t contributing. That goes for the players that we’ve had to leave out: Brooke Boileau was incredibly unlucky to miss, she played some great footy earlier in the year, and Tara Bohanna is the same. “It’s a little bit that you’ll have to take your turn at different times. You can’t play everyone, but when you get your turn, it’s important you turn up and go. We saw that today from Soph and ‘Keels’, who stepped in for their first game. We certainly have a squad mentality, and we know it’ll take a squad to get us through the season.”

On the momentum created at the start of the season:
“I was really happy with our pre-season, and we’ve been set up by a great high performance team who have our players fit and firing. We executed pre-season well, we go to Marvel for a big game which was fantastic, we have a hard-fought win here at IKON Park. “It was great to be back at IKON Park with our fans, you can certainly hear them. Hopefully we continue to build that momentum across the year.”

In: Keeley Sherar, Sophie McKay.
Out: Brooke Boileau (omitted), Tara Bohanna (omitted).

Umpires

Matthew Baigent, Ray Chamberlain, Sophia Tozer.

Reports

Teah Charlton (ADEL) was reported for rough conduct on Mimi Hill (CARL), it was rated as careless conduct, low impact and high contact. With an early plea, she was fined $250.

Milestones

First Goal: Yasmin Duursma
First Goal (Carlton): Claudia Whitfort

Interesting Points

1: This is the first time that these two teams have played against each other since AFLW Round 5, 2022, in which the Crows won by 18 points.
2. Nell Morris-Dalton kicked a career high 3 goals.
3. Harriet Cordner played her 75th game; just over half of these games (38) have been with Carlton.

AFLW Coaches Votes

10 - Erone Fitzpatrick (CARL)
8 - Dayna Finn (CARL)
4 - Claudia Whitfort (CARL)
4 - Mimi Hill (CARL)
3 - Nell Morris-Dalton (CARL)
1 - Ciara Fitzgerald (CARL)

AFLW Best and Fairest Votes

Club Best and Fairest Votes

Match Highlights