‘Had all summer’: Blues’ bust that should never have happened… and it left them ‘losing their minds’

There’s no two ways to spin it; Carlton’s start to the 2025 season came in the form of a hit square between the eyes.

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And in the words of Blues great Brendan Fevola, their 13-point loss to Richmond on Thursday night will go down as “one of the darkest nights in Carlton’s history”.

Leading by 41 points halfway through the second quarter, a triple-figure win wasn’t out of the question for Michael Voss’ side.

But from that point forward, it was the slipperiest of slopes for the Blues, who went on to concede 12 of the last 14 goals in from of a crowd exceeding 80,000 people at the MCG.

Speaking post-game on Fox Footy, St Kilda great Leigh Montagna spoke in a similar vein to Fevola given how inexperienced Adem Yze’s Tigers side were heading into their season opener.

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“It’s one of the biggest upsets of all-time, not just because Richmond were given little chance coming into the game, but they were then 41 points down – and somehow found a way to come back and win. That’s what makes it even more remarkable,” Montagna exclaimed.

“We’ll give the Tigers all the love in the world, but I’ve never seen a team panic and as fluttered as Carlton were. It was one of the worst performances I’ve seen from a team that has got enough experience out there.”

“From Carlton’s points of view, you don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water. Their first half was very good, their second half was very poor,” three-time premiership Tiger Jack Riewoldt added.

“This has been Carlton’s problem for a period of time now is how can they arrest momentum in games – and unfortunately when the Tigers challenged them today, they couldn’t arrest the momentum.

“A lot of the time it comes down to No.9 Patrick Cripps to arrest momentum – and he can’t do it by himself and it’s becoming evidently clear he needs more players around him to step up and help him to make sure that two, three-goal surges against don’t turn into four, five or six.”

In a show of just how extraordinary this Richmond win was across all facets, dual Kangaroos premiership winner David King revealed that Carlton’s loss was the biggest loss on record for a team that won the contested possession count by at least 20, and the inside 50 count by at least 25.

Voss’ side also finished +53 for disposals, +22 for marks and had 11 less turnovers. But regardless of how in the green they ended up in certain stat lines, King flagged the navy Blues’ lack of accountability as one of their biggest weaknesses.

“You’ve got to call a spade a spade: They looked timid in the second half, they looked like they were a rabbit in the spotlight there for a while,” King said.

“I’ve never seen players just lose their minds, bomb the ball long and panic. They didn’t want to take responsibility for the football. They just needed someone to play with composure – and outside Cripps, De Koning and Weitering, there really wasn’t a lot else to look forward to steady the ship.

“This is what we’re talking about, the growth of Carlton. Do they have the system and the composure to take that next step and go from a 13-win team to 15, 16, 17? In games like this, they just need to be measured and clinical and stick true to what they’ve done during the summer, not lose their minds and they tick this box and move on. But now, the pressure is enormous.”

Montagna added: “As soon as the pressure came, they reverted back to their old ways … That is a big concern, that is the worry for Michael Voss. They’ve had all summer to train it and prepare for it – and as soon as the pressure came, they crumbled. He’s got a lot of soul-searching to do as a coaching group and with the players and how they can recover.”

AFL legend and Hawthorn’s all-time leading goalkicker Jason Dunstall was reluctant to let Thursday night’s performance speak too loudly of their profile, but had no doubt over just how sub-par their start to 2025 was.

“I’d love to be a fly on the wall when Michael Voss reviews this game because he is going to see some things where he’s going ‘I didn’t think we had this in us’,” Dunstall stated.

“Let’s not crucify them on the strength of one performance. It’s a really, really bad one – and one that might haunt them later on – but we give everyone a mulligan, don’t we? So you’d expect to see a much better effort next week.

“They’ll go through some of those things and say this just isn’t acceptable. But there are some losses that are that bad that you wipe them and say ‘I’ll give you guys an out’ – otherwise you’re chasing your tail from Round 1. And it’s no good doing that. It’s a long year ahead and you’ve got to give them an out and an opportunity to redeem themselves. If I was Hawthorn next week, I’d be expecting a fierce Carlton outfit to come out at them.”

Carlton’s first chance at redemption comes next Thursday night over a red-hot Hawks, again at the MCG. Conversely, Richmond will have the chance to go 2-0 next Saturday evening in their clash with Port Adelaide.