ROUND one is always a little more anxiety inducing, but in a marquee game to launch the season Carlton just wanted to play its own way in Sunday's clash with St Kilda.
Celebrating Spud's Game, in a double-header with the AFL, on the Marvel Stadium deck, and opening the 2026 NAB AFLW season all drove the Blues to play a fun, entertaining brand of footy.
SAINTS v BLUES Full match coverage and stats
"Bring a showcase game, the only AFLW game on the weekend, we wanted to make sure we played a brand that our fans wanted to come and watch and be proud of," Carlton coach Mathew Buck said following his side's 26-point win in front of a crowd of 20,455.
"We want to do that every week. So, did we feel pressured to do that? Probably not. We want people to come and watch and just say 'Wow, that was great'. There'll be things we don't get right all the time, but they'll be able to walk away (and say) 'Gee, how was Poppy Scholz?'"
Kicking off the match with a strong offensive mindset helped set up the victory, piling on 41 points to St Kilda's eight across the opening half. And it was an attacking game built without the club's 2025 leading goalkicker Sophie McKay.
"I think we are starting to have some pieces that help complement the way that we play. Shout out to Nell Morris-Dalton, who comes in as an injury replacement player a fortnight ago and plays round one at Marvel and hit the scoreboard and competed for us really well… The personnel that goes through, it doesn't really bother me. I'm quite happy for any of our players to go and play that forward system," Buck said.
For St Kilda, it was some early defensive breakdowns that contributed to the loss, despite an impressive second-half comeback.
"We were actually in a really good space, we actually did a lot right, and just didn't capitalise at all, and on the flip side, I think in the first half (the Blues) were going one in every three (inside 50s) was a goal, one in every two was a score inside 50 for them," St Kilda coach Nick Dal Santo said.
"So that was pretty much the game early. To the Blues' credit, they’re a good team and we knew they were going to challenge us in a few areas. The frustrating bit was the areas that we probably identified. We weren't able to slow it down particularly early. When we were able to make those adjustments and got it done in the second half, it looked like a completely different game."
The Saints roared back with a three-goal third term, and then the first two of the last, to challenge Carlton, before the Blues were able to run away with it.
But it was Tyanna Smith who caught the eye, winning 24 disposals, eight clearances, 625 metres gained, and kicking two goals in an ominous round one performance.
"She's pretty good at footy," Dal Santo said.
"We know what we've got, and she's figuring out what she's capable of, and I think we saw that at different stages today. We've worked with her for her whole time at our footy club about what she's capable of, and she's a young lady still figuring it out. I think there's still a lot more to do, but I think you saw some of the best version of her today."
Dal Santo confirmed that a hamstring concern for forward J'Noemi Anderson was "enough not to come back on the ground", with scans to come throughout the week, and Carlton defender Maddie Hendrie tweaked an ankle but is expected to pull up okay.
