1977

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1977 Summary

After finishing on top of the ladder in 1976 Carlton was bundled out of the finals in straight sets. The early season form of 1977 seemed to indicate that the Blues would be in for another good season and were out to make amends for the finals series of the year before. Two thumping wins against Geelong and St Kilda (78 and 107 points respectively) and a solid 32 point win over Fitzroy opened the season. The club was riding high after the first three rounds and sat on top of the ladder.

Carlton then lost four games out of its next seven, and while six of the games were reasonably close, the exception was a worrying 102 thrashing at the hands of Collingwood in round 7. By the end of round 10 we had slipped to fifth place on the ladder.

The club would then show improved form, and after an eight goal victory over Footscray in round 11 and 5 close games in a row (one 14 point victory and 4 games decided by less than 10 points). The Blues had the better of these results, and by the end of round 16 had won 5 out of their last 6 games to improve to third on the ladder, two and a half games inside the top 5.

Unfortunately the team couldn't sustain this form, and won only 2 of its last 6 games. Agonisingly Carlton had maintained a top 5 position right through the first 21 rounds of the season, but a 3 goal round 22 loss to Footscray (who finished seventh) who see the Blues slip out of the finals after the last home and away game of the season. This loss and lack of finals action would claim the scalp of Coach Ian Thorogood, who was replaced by Ian Stewart for the 1978 season. The club had finished 1977 win a 13 win, 9 loss record in sixth place on the ladder, half a game behind South Melbourne in fifth.

Ladder

Pos	Team	Wins	Draws	Losses	Points	For	Against	%
1	Collingwood	18	0	4	72	363.382.2560	281.273.1959	130.7
2	Hawthorn	17	0	5	68	378.350.2618	283.261.1959	133.6
3	Nth Melbourne	15	0	7	60	307.282.2124	252.291.1803	117.8
4	Richmond	14	1	7	58	344.306.2370	299.291.2085	113.7
5	Sth Melbourne	13	1	8	54	310.288.2148	277.280.1942	110.6
6	Carlton	13	0	9	52	298.293.2081	267.257.1859	111.9
7	Footscray	10	1	11	42	309.316.2170	307.299.2141	101.4
8	Geelong	8	0	14	32	273.292.1930	329.359.2333	82.7
9	Essendon	7	1	14	30	298.297.2085	359.364.2518	82.8
10	Fitzroy	6	0	16	24	298.284.2072	351.368.2474	83.8
11	Melbourne	5	0	17	20	296.341.2117	365.302.2492	85
12	St Kilda	3	2	17	16	280.286.1966	384.372.2676	73.5

People of 1977

Captain: Robert Walls
Coach: Ian Thorogood
Leading Goal-kicker: Mark Maclure - 39 goals
Best & Fairest: Bruce Doull

Milestones

Debuts: Wayne Harmes, Michael Young, Ken Sheldon, Jim Canfield, John Tresize, Tony Southcombe
Debuts (Carlton): Peter McKenna, Peter Bedford, Renato Serafini
Last games: Peter McKenna

1977 Night Series Round: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 Playing List | Debuts | Brownlow Votes | B&F Votes | Season Image Gallery 1976 | 1978