You can sense that buzz around Carlton in 2024, the scent of something special brewing. Photo: GETTY IMAGES

A team’s rise from the wilderness to a power is usually marked by important symbolic milestones along the journey. Carlton is starting to clock up so many it’s hard to keep up.

Last year, it was a first finals appearance for a decade. Then a first preliminary final for nearly a quarter of a century. Now it’s second spot on the ladder and back-to-back 10-goals-plus victories for the first time since early in 2012.

Indeed, given the identity of those two most recent opponents dispatched, it’s almost a case of symbolism overload.

First on the hit list was Geelong, which had dispensed of the Blues 18 times in their past 23 meetings over a couple of decades. Then Richmond, which had tormented Carlton for at least 10 years, winning 13 of their 15 clashes since 2014.

In either case, Carlton held the opponent at bay for a while, then put the foot down with a devastating second-half display of power. You could see the Blues move through their gears, always another good indicator of a seriously good team. And you surely can no longer question that’s exactly what the Blues now are.

In some ways, it feels sudden. After all, it’s only just over a year now since Carlton sat 15th on the AFL ladder after a sixth loss in a row, there were boardroom rumblings, and some fairly deafening supporter demands for the head of coach Michael Voss.

Which is why the rejection of that pressure should already stand as another significant moment in the club’s storied history.

It may have taken too long, and the Blues aren’t the first club to end up shackled by the hubris of their own historical success, but the wins now are only possible because a notoriously-impatient club these days has a different DNA about it, with the mercurial finally having made way for the methodical.

That refusal to bow to the white noise was a stand taken in the correct belief that the foundations of a bright on-field future were very solid, even whilst they weren’t delivering the instant sugar-hit of victories frequently enough. And the payoff is already looking substantial.

The most obvious dominance Carlton has currently is in attack and midfield, where its numbers are terrific, the Blues ranked No.1 for pressure and No.2 behind Sydney for points scored.

The one-two midfield punch of Patrick Cripps and Sam Walsh is unsurpassed for impact, Cripps currently ranked No.1 in the competition for contested possession and centre clearances.

Ditto the combination of Charlie Curnow and Harry McKay up forward, the pair having kicked a collective 79 goals between them. The Blues have now booted 20-goals plus in three games this season, and topped 100 points four games of the past five, and seven times overall in 2024.

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And the monster scores are coming from more sources. Small forward Matt Owies’ pressure and scoreboard contribution has been valuable, Elijah Hollands chips in, Zach Williams has added a new dimension as a defensive forward, and Cripps is also hitting the scoreboard a lot harder, his 11 goals in 15 games thus far already more than he kicked in 24 games last season.

The improved depth has been underlined by the performances this season of the likes of Jordan Boyd, Alex Cincotta, Lachie Cowan, Matt Cottrell and Brodie Kemp. And young ruckman Tom De Koning isn’t just promising, but in a short space of time has rapidly become one of the most damaging big men in the game.

The Blues are highly efficient, too, ranked No.1 for scores per inside 50 entry, and second for scores from both clearances and turnovers. And for Carlton, even the not-so-impressive numbers at the moment come with a positive qualifier or two.

While the Blues rank only 13th for fewest points conceded, five of the six lowest opposition scores against them have come in the past five games, not one rival in that time managing more than 76 points.

The other noteworthy point is that when Carlton was struggling last season, its defence was actually holding up OK, despite the Blues not being nearly as adept a turnover or territory team. Getting those numbers for defensive stinginess up again, then, shouldn’t require too much remedial work.

Carlton has another eight weeks to get all of it right, too, with arguably the best draw of any team, just two of the Blues’ last eight against current top eight rivals, and after this week’s game against the Giants, just one more road trip.

No wonder the crowd noise at any Carlton game these days is louder than you’ll hear for anyone else. A proud, successful club has finally emerged from by some measure the darkest era of its history, one in which it was doomed to its only five wooden spoons.

And there’s a genuine electricity around it all, the same sort of buzz and momentum Richmond began to generate in 2017. And we all remember what fruits that delivered.

It’s been nearly 30 years since Carlton’s last premiership, and 15-odd since the club came up with a much-pilloried marketing slogan. But the dream of another flag is finally now so close that a long-suffering fan base can almost, dare we say it, smell what the Blues are cooking.

This article first appeared at ESPN.