Without Matt Cottrell, Carlton midfielder Blake Acres might need struggled to be so deep in defence for these essential, game-saving moments towards Sydney.
Acres thwarted two sure Swans targets in final Friday night time’s AFL elimination ultimate, which the Blues gained by six factors, by getting a finger to the ball earlier than it went by means of.
His means to be so deep in defence emphasised the spectacular two-way working from the Blues that helped arrange their Friday night time semi-final towards Melbourne on the MCG.
As spectacular as Acres was, he says Cottrell’s intestine working is even higher.
Cottrell was a fireplace starter for the Blues with two first-half targets in his finals debut and the utility crucially ran down Swans star Errol Gulden late within the third time period as Sydney challenged.
“Cottrell was outstanding – he’s half the reason I get off my man and support the defence,” Acres mentioned.
“He does it every week for me. It probably doesn’t get seen as much on the stats sheet, but I thank him a lot.
“He’s been nice for me personally, made my life very easy.
“He’s probably a better runner than I am – sometimes he gets past me and gets back into defence.”
And the sensation is mutual.
“Blake buys into defence so much and he’s done it on a number of occasions – I remember against Collingwood he got a smother deep in the goal square,” Cottrell mentioned.
“He’s been super for us. I love it.”
A 12 months in the past, Carlton famously misplaced to Collingwood within the final sport of the common season to botch their finals spot.
While Cottrell mentioned there have been a couple of robust classes out of the final quarter within the Sydney win, he notes the Blues are a a lot steadier workforce now.
“Our identity is much clearer and the game plan is much more simple,” he mentioned.
“We probably didn’t know what we were capable of last year – we won games early and then we probably didn’t deserve to play finals.
“But this 12 months, clearly we did not begin properly, we have actually honed in on our id – contest and stress – and we nailed that.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
