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Sport Nation
Massive error Blues star and coaches must take responsibility for
SEN • May 19th, 2025 1:13 pm
David King has called on Carlton coaches to take responsibility for losing a key battle in Friday’s loss to Sydney at the SCG.
The Blues led at every break but ultimately went down by 16 points, leading coach Michael Voss to say post-match that the Swans finished the game better and that Carlton had the battle "where we wanted it, but couldn’t finish off the game".
While it was obvious that the Blues didn’t finish as well as they would have liked, King thinks that Carlton’s coaches got one matchup incredibly wrong all night as Jacob Weitering was nullified by defensive forward Joel Hamling.
Even though Hamling had just three disposals, Weitering had only four marks - less than half of his average.
“I think they have to take some responsibility, the Carlton coaches,” King said on SEN Breakfast.
“The game right now, it's never been more important to prioritise your elite players, your prime pieces.
“All games are being separated by the top four or five players. Every game, wherever you look, if the top four or five are not doing what they need to do (you won’t win often).
“This is to the point now, we've got half-backs just running around unopposed, because coaches need to get the ball in their hands.
“So, how are they going to allow Hamling to tag Weitering out of the game? They (Sydney) were using a pawn, essentially, to take away a power piece for the Blues. I think it is just a massive error that the defensive coach should take accountability for.
“He had five intercepts and was dragged out of the way (by Hamling), he couldn’t help anyone, he was on an island, he was either too wide, too deep or blocked from intercept marking.”
King also called on the player himself to dictate terms better when he’s getting attention from the opposition, urging the Carlton star to take command by not falling into the trap of playing one-on-one against a defensive tall forward.
“Weitering has got a role to play in this as well,” King said.
“Don’t pick him up, just ignore him, get someone else to pick up Hamling, he's going to come back to you.
“Go and stand where you want to stand. Jeremy McGovern does this better than anyone else.
“He just says, ‘The ball is a 90 per cent chance of coming here, that's where I'm going to stand’.
“I have the same conversation about Jacob Weitering in the middle of every year, he's 27 years of age.
“Take command of this role before the season is shot to bits.”
Weitering and the 4-6 Blues next face the Giants at Marvel Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
