A Tigers great is helping this former Sun spark a Blues revival for the ages

Carlton forward Ben Ainsworth concedes the Blues’ miraculous resurgence is ripped from the pages of a Ted Lasso script.

“It’s pretty crazy to be in this position,” he said ahead of his team’s elimination final against Geelong on Friday.

“Obviously, playing in our first elimination final off the back of the wildcard final, and where we were at 1-8 [win-loss record] at the start of the year, to be here now is pretty incredible.”

The Blues’ remarkable uprising continued last weekend with a thrilling win over Melbourne in a high-pressure wildcard final. Ainsworth was a key part of the victory, booting three goals in front of 91,733 fans at the MCG.

He said new coach Josh Fraser had instilled “a great sense of belief” in the group since he took over from Michael Voss mid-season.

“A lot of the pillars at the start of the year were laid in terms of the foundation of how we want to play and things like that,” he said.

“But it’s probably the small acts that we’re celebrating internally that probably doesn’t get blown up in lights externally, and I think everyone’s valuing that, and that’s incentivising our fans as well, which is good.”

After nine seasons and 158 games for Gold Coast, the dynamic forward was traded to Carlton at the end of 2025, reuniting with his former Victorian Country teammates from underage football Harry McKay and Jacob Weitering.

Ainsworth revealed he’d been doing “a lot of work” on his mindset this season with Richmond premiership great Alex Rance.

After announcing his shock retirement in 2019, Rance departed Richmond to focus on his family and faith – as a devout Jehovah’s Witness. Rance has since worked with Gold Coast as a leadership consultant and mental-performance coach.

“He’s [Rance] obviously still up on the Gold Coast, but he’s a fantastic person to have in my corner ... pretty much just to filter out all the stuff throughout the week and over the game, and then reset for the coming week,” Ainsworth said.

Even since his move to Carlton, Ainsworth still catches up with Rance each Monday, describing the former Tiger as “a great support network”.

“[We] filter out everything, whether it was good or bad, just be refreshed for the coming week. And then also focusing on my strengths; just bringing them to the forefront of mind before the game on the weekend,” he explained.

When asked what the quirkiest piece of advice he’d received from Rance, Ainsworth grinned.