Without Matt Cottrell, Carlton midfielder Blake Acres might have struggled to be so deep in defence for those crucial, game-saving moments against Sydney.
Acres thwarted two certain Swans goals in last Friday night's AFL elimination final, which the Blues won by six points, by getting a finger to the ball before it went through.
His ability to be so deep in defence emphasised the impressive two-way running from the Blues that helped set up their Friday night semi-final against Melbourne at the MCG.
As impressive as Acres was, he says Cottrell's gut running is even better.
Cottrell was a fire starter for the Blues with two first-half goals in his finals debut and the utility crucially ran down Swans star Errol Gulden late in the third term as Sydney challenged.
"Cottrell was outstanding - he's half the reason I get off my man and support the defence," Acres said.
"He does it every week for me. It probably doesn't get seen as much on the stats sheet, but I thank him a lot.
"He's been great for me personally, made my life really easy.
"He's probably a better runner than I am - sometimes he gets past me and gets back into defence."
And the feeling is mutual.
"Blake buys into defence so much and he's done it on a number of occasions - I remember against Collingwood he got a smother deep in the goal square," Cottrell said.
"He's been super for us. I love it."
A year ago, Carlton famously lost to Collingwood in the very last game of the regular season to botch their finals spot.
While Cottrell said there were a few tough lessons out of the last quarter in the Sydney win, he notes the Blues are a much steadier team now.
"Our identity is much clearer and the game plan is much more simple," he said.
"We probably didn't know what we were capable of last year - we won games early and then we probably didn't deserve to play finals.
"But this year, obviously we didn't start well, we've really honed in on our identity - contest and pressure - and we nailed that."
