Carlton again caused headlines on the weekend, this time in a positive sense after thrashing Gold Coast 120-61 at the MCG on Sunday.
That win was set up by a blistering second term where the Blues piled on nine goals to none in an attacking onslaught.
Kane Cornes was shocked when that burst came from the Blues after they struggled in the first quarter when kicking just one major.
“I want to start with Carlton and what they produced,” Cornes told SEN Breakfast.
“In the first quarter, I'm going, ‘It's the same old story, they can’t score, stagnant, it’s ball movement, no efficiency going inside 50’.
“Gold Coast really dominated the first quarter of footy.
“Players just looked out of touch, like Harry McKay leading out dropping simple marks under no pressure, skill errors left, right and centre. It was very symptomatic of what has gone on for the year.
“Then in the second quarter, they played as good a football as you've seen any team play this year.
“You could see the belief in the group grow, and you could see the fans get behind them and that just gave them a boost.”
After losing six straight games in the lead-up to Sunday’s contest, that perfect quarter of football was truly out of the box and Cornes says it would have been a relief for coach Michael Voss to see his game plan finally click.
While there’s no doubt Carlton executed to perfection across that purple patch, he asked co-host Garry Lyon whether he could put his finger on just how they managed to flick the switch.
“It had me thinking, it is great watching Carlton when they're at the top of their game at the MCG and the crowd comes in behind them, it’s one of the great sights and we have missed it on the bigger stage (this season),” said Cornes.
“But it was done through the midfield and the damage that they did from centre bounce was extraordinary, they kicked eight centre bounce goals for the game.
“(Patrick) Cripps got himself back into form, (Sam) Walsh was getting the ball front of centre and streaming out of stoppage and (Adam) Cerra was excellent as well.
“Then their forwards … they got some isolation and got it done.
“It was a relief for Michael Voss, he spoke about that after the game.
“But have you got a theory on how you can be so poor and then you can flick a switch like that in one-quarter of footy and kick nine in the second quarter to none?”
While Lyon was also impressed, he questioned whether the out-of-the-box performance was just that as he’s not sure even the Blues would have expected to dominate in such a fashion, particularly from centre bounce.
“They wouldn't want to be relying on that style of footy to win them games going forward because history suggests that this doesn't happen,” Lyon said.
“But if you're a Carlton fan … you’ve been kicked around a bit throughout the year and rightfully so because you haven't been getting the job done.
“I think if you start a game in that fashion that they did and I don't want to be too negative on it, then I go, ‘Ok, they’ve made some adjustments and now they had a great week of planning, they've got their centre bounce set up working’, but it wasn't in that first quarter, it was in the second.
“So I'll be really interested to know whether they know what it was … because if you planned to have some centre square dominance, then you'd think you'd see some results in the first quarter and we didn’t.
“It didn't come until the second and not only did we see results, we saw results that are out of whack with the competition.
“It doesn't matter how good you are, you don't kick eight goals from centre-bounce clearances at all.
“They’ve got the bye coming up, which I don't think is a great time, I think they'd rather be writing this wave, but that's just the way it goes.
“Did they see it coming at quarter-time or not? I'm not overly convinced, sometimes it just happens, it just rolls and you go with it but you don't really know how.”
Carlton now earns a break with the Round 15 bye, before their next game against Hawthorn at the MCG in Round 16.