Another week, another second half slump for the Blues.
It's becoming harder and harder for me, as a Carlton fan, to pretend I don't see the pattern: a promising first half that offers me hope before a depressing second half snatches that hope away.
Thursday's Carlton vs Collingwood game did, for a minute, seem like it would break the pattern. When Carlton kicked the first goal of the fourth quarter, there was a beautiful moment where it seemed like maybe, maybe this time, we could do it. And then, unfortunately, we were Daicos-ed. In a big way.
It took the Magpies an embarrassingly short nine minutes to make up an 18-point deficit and take the lead. The rest of the (agonisingly long) final quarter was just Carlton trying to play catch up.
However, when I left the 'G I couldn't quite muster up any real disappointment. Maybe it's because I've become numb to seeing a Carlton loss or maybe it's because I didn't go into last night hoping for a Carlton win.
Of course, I would have loved to see it happen. But I didn't dare hope for it.
What I instead chose to hope for was an entertaining fight. I didn't want to see a smashing. I didn't want to see disappointed fans streaming out at the start of the fourth quarter. I wanted to see old rivals fighting tooth and nail, the entire game. And the game result coming down to an after the siren free kick? That's about as good a fight as I could have hoped for.
I'm not suggesting it was an incredible game of football. The third quarter, in particular, featured an ugly amount of fumbles, dropped marks and missed kicks, from both sides. But when both sides are playing equally badly ... it does make for an entertaining watch.
So maybe I'm just looking for a silver lining. I certainly can't deny that it's a hard pill to swallow, particularly as this marks Carlton's eighth loss to Collingwood out of their last nine clashes. But, unfortunately for Blues fans, it's the world we have to learn to live in.
My advice?
Enjoy the fact that we didn't lose by too much. And hold on to the fact that we're one loss closer to ensuring we get Cody Walker.
