IT WAS a quarter that even coach Matthew Buck could not believe, and in the blink of an eye, Carlton’s hopes to making the preliminary final skyrocketed in an unforgettable 20 minutes. The Blues piled on 4.7 (31) to 0.0 (0) against Hawthorn in a jaw-dropping opening term, the highest score the brown and gold have ever conceded in an opening quarter.

While Buck said the messaging around bringing a “finals” intensity was crucial, he would not have ever expected the scores to read as they did after one term.

“We’ve spoken a little bit around finals and the intensity shift that you need to make,” he said. “It’s really important that comes from us and we wanted to ensure that was the case. We probably didn’t expect to roll out and that to be the scoreline at quarter time, but we had some non-negotiables and the way we attack contest etc. But its probably been true of our whole year to be honest that has given us these opportunities, so to see it come true on a really big stage, was really great.”

Despite being one of the neutral fan’s favourites in the finals series thanks to their “fun element” on and off the field, Buck said the playing group “don’t listen to the noise” outside the four walls be it good or bad.

“There’s a fun element to it, but there’s also a high standard element to it as well and a culture that the players have built from early preseason in February, so its credit to the work they’ve put in and right now they get to enjoy the spoils of that and it was great to see that tonight,” he said.

In elaborating what made the club so fun, Buck gave a little more of an insight into how the players balanced the enjoyment and social factor with the hard work required to succeed at the top level. Unsurprisingly at the top of the list are first-year players Poppy Scholz and Sophie McKay, both of whom had massive semi-finals.

“If we want to talk about athletes and players is they certainly want to have some fun,” Buck said. “What they’re really great at is balancing that fun with the hard work that they bring during the week. It’s do the work and have the fun and we’re starting to see if you’re relaxed and you enjoy that, you can play really great footy as well.

“At the moment we’re leaning into it really hard and it just seems like we’re riding that wave. Up the front’s Poppy and Soph and that’s fantastic, but in and under the packs Lily Goss and Maddy Guerin doing some really great grunt work which we reward during the week. Whole team focus definitely but its certainly fun seeing those girls lead the way.”

That fun and work combination ultimately resulted in a comprehensive 46-point win over the Hawks, getting up 11.13 (79) to 4.9 (33). Buck said he felt “really good and proud” about the performance.

“Thought the team was incredible out there tonight and from the very first centre bounce turned up and played a very exciting brand of footy I think our whole footy club would be proud of for sure,” he said.

Carlton do not have too much time to celebrate, with a seven-day turnaround until the Blues face Brisbane up in Queensland, a result that went in the underdog’s favour early in the year, however Buck expects it to be a “completely different” contest this time out.

“Brisbane have been one of the great teams in the competition since day one and to go up there and have to beat them in a really big game is no mean feat,” he said. “What we’ve done across this year is certainly look to the oppo and see what we can take off them, as long as it doesn’t hurt us too much.

“We’ll continue to lean into how we want to play and needing out best footy stacked up early in the year up there but this will be a completely different game. We think our best footy can stack up which is what we want to bring.”