THE BEST thing about bad teams is that they get first shot at the better young players in the draft. Which, provided the best young players are picked, usually can't help but make them better.
The best thing about new coaches is that they bring new ideas, and often seem inclined to let their players do what they do best. At least for a little while. Which might make their team better, and at the least will make it look and do things differently.
Put all those things together and what have you got? Last night was fast, and free-flowing, filled with long runs, pot shots, one-handed marks, mid-air soccer snaps and various other party tricks. It was entirely about which team could kick the most goals, and it is a good place to start.
Before you got to Brendan Fevola's eight goals, and Chris Judd's 12-possession third term, the Carlton team contained such names as Marc Murphy, Bryce Gibbs and Matthew Kreuzer. It didn't seem right that the Blues were playing to avoid matching their longest losing streak since people got around on horses.
This game was all about turning things on. The Blues got close because Fevola kicked goals, and Judd got running, and the likes of Nick Stevens and Murphy followed and because Eddie Betts tried to do some ridiculously ambitious things — and pulled almost all of them off.
In his first match, Kreuzer was what he was six months ago, when Carlton chose him. The question of the No. 1 draft pick always centred on what he was — was he a ruckman (at a smidgen under 200 centimetres, was he tall enough, with a big enough leap?) Could he play as a pure onballer (he runs his heart out) or could he end up as a forward?
Last night, the 18-year-old did a little bit of everything, and did it well. He got his hands to the ball in the ruck, no problems at all. He grabbed his first clean mark crisply in the forward line, looked around as if wondering why that was so simple, and slotted the goal.
He smothered an Essendon kick on the edge of the goal square, snatched the ball up and dished off a handball to Stevens, who kicked his second goal in a minute. There are reasons why Carlton can't be bad for too much longer, and Kreuzer is a big one.
The Bombers have not sunk as low as the Blues in recent times, and the players who played last night were at Essendon before Matthew Knights got his new job, if not all in the senior team.
Last night, they did what they did against North Melbourne, and what they tried to do against Geelong. They ran and spun and bounced and ran a bit more. In the second quarter, Leroy Jetta almost twirled out of a pack and handballed off to Andrew Lovett, who glided from the back edge of the centre square to the other end, and kicked a goal.
They played with urgency, but without any obvious sense of panic when Fevola started scoring and the Blues took over the third term. They were predictable in their unpredictability and at times ran a little too hard: a week after Courtenay Dempsey's hamstring stretched a little too far, Jetta's did the same thing.
Most Essendon supporters probably started the season having little if any idea what they were likely to see this year. They can now be sure of one thing — that they're going to see lots of goals kicked. Perhaps not all by their team, but a lot of goals, some lows and some exciting highs.
Carlton finished last night a few steps behind, and ended up matching the 14-loss team of 1901-02 in the "really bad" stakes.
But Fevola was good, Judd was good, and Murphy, Gibbs and the rest are well on their way. The Blues still have some work to do and still have some players to find.
But they played last night like they were trying to start something, not end it, and surely life will become a little more exciting soon.
Carlton's longest losing streaks in VFL/AFL history
14
14
11
11
* Still going
