Kysaiah Pickett turns Carlton inside out with his presence, power and raw talent

Kysaiah Pickett turns Carlton inside out with his presence, power and raw talent | Jonathan Horn

about 8 hours ago

Carlton games usually come with a sense of impending doom.They’ll ping the gates.They’ll crash and they’ll bang.They’ll do all the things the coach values.But their opponents know, and the Blues fans certainly know, that the key to beating Carlton is to absorb what they throw at you, to lay back on the ropes, to let them tire themselves out and to unleash.

The evidence has been there for years now – their failure to run out games, their woeful skills under fatigue, and their ongoing inability or unwillingness to adapt when the opposition gets a run on.On Sunday, in their 11.11 (77) to 15.10 (100) loss to Melbourne, you could add another factor to the mix – the presence, the power and the raw talent of Kysaiah Pickett.Pickett is the son of a standup comedian and the Carlton fans scurrying for the exits had the exact same look I had after being subjected to an hour of Dave Hughes.

Their team had been 43 points up.The triumvirate of Patrick Cripps, Jagga Smith and Sam Walsh had cut the Dees to ribbons.It should have been a foregone conclusion.But this was Kozzy Pickett.And this was Michael Voss’s Carlton.

Pickett’s stats – 24 kicks, 11 contested possessions, and 10 score involvements – don’t quite do justice to the impact he had on this game,You can zero in on the trademark Pickett moments – the way he scudded out of stoppages, the way he hit packs at full speed, the way he mowed down opponents from behind,But that doesn’t do him justice either,You can focus on the subtle parts of his game – the way he never blazed, the way he checked and weighed his kicks, the way he was always on his toes at stoppages, cutting, slicing, and weaving his way through heavy traffic,But that doesn’t fully explain it either.

The best way to understand Pickett’s game on Sunday was through Carlton eyes.When he started motoring in the second half, the Blues were entirely, and understandably, Kozzy conscious.When they had the ball and he was in the vicinity, they would take panicked steps.At stoppages, they’d all be watching him, and he’d invariably hovercraft his way through them.When the ball was in transition, he’d be the second, the fourth and sometimes the sixth link in the chain and the Blues would be pointing fingers and shaking heads and bumping into one another.

And with the game in the balance, when he brought a hurried high ball to ground with one arm and thumped home the sealer off one step, every Carlton head dropped,When you play like Pickett, it helps the have a ruckman of the calibre of Max Gawn,A fortnight ago, Gawn ground the coltish Tom De Koning to dust,It was as though he took the St Kilda ruckman’s pay pocket personally,It was a reminder, in this hyperinflated market, that many of the most valuable footballers in the country are much further down on the pay ladder.

Gawn’s 250th game showcased everything that makes him one of the greatest ruckman in the history of the game – his craft, his ability to withstand blows to every organ and his endurance,That’s the thing about Gawn – the longer the game goes, the fresher he looks,And when you’re playing a team like Carlton, it’s a good trait to have,Voss says his focus is on accentuating the positives and celebrating the little victories,But he said he was “filthy” on Sunday night.

Winning the ball is not their problem.Every kid at Auskick is taught how important winning the hard ball is, and Voss drums it home constantly.But their kicking is often atrocious, especially the 20-metre scene setters.Few can match Brisbane in that regard.But that initial short kick is the key to so much of what they do well.

Carlton just don’t have that confidence or that capability.Much mirth was had with footage of them butchering a serious of short kicks in February.It as windy, it was pre-season, it was nothing, right? But it continues to cost them dearly and it might end up costing Voss his job.Elsewhere, St Kilda’s clash with Brisbane was a dreadful state of affairs early, but gradually and mercifully turned into a goal for goal battle.Halfway through the final term however, Brisbane flexed and St Kilda stood revealed.

With the game up for grabs, there were several passages of play that said so much about the difference between these two teams – Kiddy Coleman goaling on the lope after a razer-sharp left-hand handball from Cam McCarthy, a perfectly weighted around-the-corner kick from Zac Bailey and three kamikaze defensive efforts from Darcy Wilmot.St Kilda brought effort, as always.But they simply didn’t have the depth and the talent to go with Brisbane.And unusually for a Ross Lyon team in March, they are clearly struggling to run out games.The Lions wore that wonderful maroon Fitzroy jumper, complete with dark navy collars and shoulders.

It was great for nostalgists but more problematic for anyone, including the players, trying to work out which team was which.All that was forgiven however when they played the Fitzroy theme song after the siren.My train (at 10.30 on Saturday morning, as befitting the early start) was packed with old Fitzroy supporters wearing the colours.That song, and that final quarter, would have warmed their Roy Boy hearts.

“Fitzroy, Fitzroy, the club we hold so dear …”

politicsSee all

Badenoch criticised for ‘peddling dangerous fantasy’ about North Sea oil drilling

Kemi Badenoch is “peddling a dangerous fantasy” about North Sea energy in her attempt to reverse a ban on new oil and gas licences, a leading campaign group has said.The Conservative leader is expected to call on the government to lift its suspension of the licences as part of a drive to reduce energy prices, as the party launches a new campaign aimed at boosting the fossil fuel sector.However, critics have questioned the efficiency of the policy, claiming it would be unlikely to cut household bills.Tessa Khan, executive director of the renewable energy campaign group Uplift described it as “vapid, political game playing at the expense of ordinary people”.“Kemi Badenoch is peddling a dangerous fantasy on the North Sea and is completely out of step with the UK public who just want an affordable supply of energy,” Khan said

1 day ago

Reform UK’s ‘pro-family’ policies are an exclusionary sham, minister says

Reform UK’s “pro-family” policies are a sham and exclude non-traditional families, the government’s early years minister has said before the rollout of hundreds of new Sure Start-style family centres across England on Monday.Olivia Bailey said she wanted the hubs to be inclusive for all families and transform communities, after what she called the “criminal” dismantling of Sure Start under the last Conservative government.“Sure Start is one of our proudest achievements as a Labour party,” she said. “Best Start is central to what we’re trying to do as a government. For the first time in a long time, even ever, this is a government that is really focusing on the early years and making sure that we give every child the best possible start in life

1 day ago

‘We’re quietly chirpy’: some Tories glimpse ray of hope, but others see abyss at May elections

“The Conservative party is coming back,” Kemi Badenoch declared at her party’s local election launch last week, surrounded by cheering supporters. And it’s fair to say that many of her MPs are, relative to their mood in recent years, quite cheery.To others in the Conservative family, though, this optimism appears disconnected from the reality of the situation facing the party. Even the MPs backing Badenoch agree that the Tories face heavy losses on 7 May, not just across English councils, but particularly in votes for the Scottish and Welsh parliaments, where in both they are expected to be reduced to a handful of seats.This is in part a factor of circumstance

1 day ago

Reform candidate in Wales steps down after apparent Nazi salute

A Reform UK candidate for the Welsh Senedd elections in May has announced he is standing down because of his mental health, after a photograph emerged of him apparently making a Nazi salute as an imitation of Adolf Hitler.The announcement by Reform comes a day after Nigel Farage defended Corey Edwards, its lead candidate for the Pen-y-bont Bro Morgannwg constituency, saying he may have instead been impersonating the John Cleese character Basil Fawlty.Reform has also experienced problems with candidate selection in Scotland, where four of its picks for elections there in May stood down or were suspended within a week of being announced by Farage.The photograph of Edwards, an ex-adviser to the Conservative former Welsh secretary David TC Davies, was published by the Nation.Cymru website and showed him raising his right arm, with a finger of his left hand under his nose

2 days ago

Former miners can finally speak the truth about Orgreave, says inquiry chair

Former miners will finally get the chance to speak the truth about their experiences after four decades of silence during a public inquiry into infamous clashes with police at Orgreave, the inquiry’s chair has said.Pete Wilcox, the bishop of Sheffield, said only an inquiry could help South Yorkshire move on from the events of 18 June 1984, when striking miners unexpectedly found themselves in a pitched battle against thousands of police officers brought in from forces across the UK.The Hillsborough-style inquiry, officially launched by Sarah Jones, the policing minister, in parliament on Thursday, will examine how 6,000 police officers were deployed to a picket at Orgreave coking plant three months into a National Union of Miners strike over planned pit closures.About 8,000 people – miners and their families – were on the receiving end of what was described as heavy-handed policing, with witnesses and images from the day detailing how mounted police charged at the pickets and hit them with batons.Many were injured, some seriously, but it was the moral injury that the injustice caused in the minds of South Yorkshire miners and wider working-class communities that was the lasting effect

2 days ago

Police find no evidence of criminality in Gorton and Denton byelection

Police have found no evidence of criminality in the Gorton and Denton byelection after claims by Nigel Farage that it was “a victory for cheating”.Reform UK had asked Greater Manchester police (GMP) to investigate allegations of corrupt voting in the Greater Manchester contest, which the Green party won.The election observers’ group Democracy Volunteers said it had witnessed “concerningly high levels” of so-called family voting, where one family member dictates how others cast their ballot. However, GMP said on Friday its investigation had found “no evidence of any intent to influence or refrain any person from voting”.Four observers from Democracy Volunteers had given accounts to police of about 32 potentially suspicious voting habits

2 days ago

foodSee all