Here is the question for Carlton — did they know a draw was good enough to play finals and if they didn’t, why not?

Because if Corey Durdin knew a draw was enough, how did he ignore Harry McKay with a 10-metre gap on Darcy Moore with 72 seconds on the clock and the ball in his hands 65 metres from goal?

It was the easiest of kicks to hit up McKay, who could have called up on his left-foot snap to tie up scores.

Instead, he blasted the ball over his head where Jeremy Howe mopped up, given it was kicked to his advantage instead of Charlie Curnow in the square.

3. Durability

Carlton chief executive Brian Cook admitted on Monday some of the club’s injury issues were bad luck, and some due to the more ballistic style of play they want to produce.

The Blues lost the fifth-most games to injury from their best 22, according to Champion Data.

They included Mitch McGovern (14), Zac Williams (13), Marc Pittonet (12), Jack Martin (nine), George Hewett (seven), Matt Kennedy (five), Matt Owies (five) and Jacob Weitering (four).

Certainly Sam Walsh’s back injury was a critical loss, which combined with Matt Kennedy’s lisfranc injury and George Hewett’s ongoing back troubles.

To lose three of the club’s five starting midfielders against Melbourne and still dominate in contested ball is an indictment and an opportunity.

Those videos taken from behind the goals were horrendous the way we were set up before that last goal. While I didn't expect a complete defensive system to be developed in a week, at least put a couple back in the defensive 50 in the right spots. Being outnumbered 2 to 1 in that last situation was in excusable. Weitering was just standing there. As a leader he should have been trying to organise the defence. The leaders needed their ears to burn after the game. No lessens were learnt from the previous week.

Well, I'm still in a bit of a daze.
It was like watching a car crash over the past month or 6 weeks. I can handle losing to good sides and Collingwood are a reasonably good side and Melbourne are definitely good. As long as the players have a dip.
And I don't think anyone can doubt that about Sundays game. Some players made bad decisions and some poor skill execution but they all had a red hot crack. Same as the week before. We should have won both but it was moments that failed us, not desire and effort.

The killer for me was the Crows game. Not just that we lost but we lost by 5 goals. I said at the time that the percentage loss would come back to haunt us and it sadly did. They're the games good teams don't drop so we still have quite a way to go.

But I'll go with the positives and come out of my bunker in the near future. We lost to a team with more belief. I look at the Collingwood team and they had at least 5 players in their 30's. They had numerous players who have played finals footy and 9 players who have played in a grand final. Far more experience in life and finals football.
Our players have only known disappointment and failure. This should be our moment to put the past behind us and move into a period of success.
Our players have only known the feeling of not being good enough. Now they know they have the ability and resources to take on the very best. But they have to value every game and every moment. That is elite performance.
I suspect this will burn inside the players like it does us. And they will be far better prepared and far more resilient Round 1 next year. It's just going to be difficult to get this feeling out of our guts until next season comes around.

But so will we. Realistically even if we won tonight, we were not winning a flag this year.
We have so much upside its not funny. Look at how guys like Motlop took their chances tonight. His pressure and goals were super. He is a kid.
Lewis Young has been a revelation. He stood up again tonight. Just two examples of players with huge growth potential. TDK will come on again.
Charlie has a full season under his belt. We have young mids who will continue to get better.
With some clever recruitment to fill a few holes we can be a very strong team next year. Hopefully less injuries (a review of the high performance team essential).
I would be targeting a small or mid sized experienced forward during trade week. Some one like a Jack Gunston. Imagine if we had a wise head like him or a Jack Riewoldt type settling Charlie and young Corey Durdin down in the last. We need some experience in that forward line, someone who has been there before.
@#$%&! i was so heavily invested emotionally in the last fortnight but with a few hours to reflect, its not the end of the world. We lost finals like games. The intensity at the Gabba in two weeks wont be any higher than the last fortnight. We will learn and get better. I reckon that was a good taste of what is required for our boys to go away and think about in the pre season.

As much as I like Gunston, we could have a serious talk with Breust for this role.

Was the shepherd by Ginnivan blocking Saad from going for a mark? This may have been asked already.

No free.

Curnow kicked 64.42 for the year but also had 11 complete misses.

Harry McKay, who kicked 2.3 for the day, kicked 45.31 for the year, plus 11 total misses so was no better than a 50-50 shot at goal all year.

Don’t start me on the bias decisions favouring one team all day.

Most gutting moment for me was not the Elliott goal but the McCreery one. I don't know much about this bloke's level, but he didn't catch my eye at any other time in the game and it felt like the kind of out-of-the-arse, kissed-on-the-dick moment that defined the match, like Melksham's 1-on-4 and lying-on-his-back marks the previous week. That was the one that told me we were going to lose.

100%

He won't kick a goal like that ever again.

20-11 inside 50s in the last quarter. 24 pts up three quarter time.

How did we lose???!!!