CARLTON produced the upset of the AFL Women’s season last Sunday when it toppled Brisbane at Brighton Homes Arena to move to 2-1 for the year. The Blues piled on five goals to one in a stunning second term which was enough to see them get home, 9.4 (58) to 6.8 (44).

Blues coach Matthew Buck said it was an incredible performance and he said it was “more about the reward and effort” for the players after working hard in his first two seasons at Ikon Park.

“We’ve been big over the first two years around high performance standards and ensuring that we turn into professional athletes,” he said. “We don’t really talk about that any more as our girls do that automatically. “So now to come up and get that reward, and say hey you’re doing that bit really well, keep learning the gameplan, keep leaning into the education that’s really important for how we play.

“I think it just gives them the lift that hey we’re on the right track and we’re doing the right things. “A lot of games to go in the season, a great win and we’ll celebrate it, but it’s important we take the learnings from the second half and improve as well.”

There was little doubt in the coach’s mind that it was the best footy that they had played thus far.

“Absolutely,” Buck said. “We’ve been chasing that, we’ve had a strong preseason to focus on our ball movement. “We’d like to think our contest and our defensive acts can stand up, but we really needed to add that layer, and I thought the second quarter was a real highlight with how we’ve grown in that area so proud of the girls in that one.”

There were winners across the board for the Blues, with Carlton’s defence drawing praise from the coach including young gun Poppy Scholz who took four marks – including one contested – from 10 disposals.

“I think defensively our backs are really organised and even our young players are back there have bought into how we want to play,” Buck said. “We like the way we educate and our players like to put in the time to learn how we want to play.

“Poppy Scholz was an example of that tonight, I thought she had a great night, but she’s well supported by another six backliners who help her get into the right spots. “We’re big on where we need to be to defend the ground and I thought we executed that really well tonight.”

Up the other end of the field, ex-Sun Tara Bohanna booted three goals in her first game back in the Sunshine State since exiting Gold Coast for Princes Park.

“She’s been a really impactful player from day one when she walked into the place.” Buck said. “She’s part of our leadership group and has a major influence on how our players turn up and train, and how they learn and how they prepare so to see her get the reward of that tonight was really pleasing, and I know she wanted to have a big game back up here in Queensland and it was great to see her hit the board.”

As for the skipper Abbie McKay, the midfielder lead the charge in the second term, and amassed game-highs of 32 disposals and seven clearances in what Buck described as a “huge game”.

“Early in the game the Brisbane mids got a hold of us and we challenged the midfield to get out there in the second and see if we could get our first possession numbers up and Abbie lead the way in that,” he said. “She had a major influence on how we played, well captained, well lead, well played.”