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| Venue: | The Gabba | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date: | Saturday (twilight) May 31, 2014 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Result: | Lost by 7 points | ||||||||||||||||||
| Crowd: | 24,625 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Goalkickers: | J. Garlett 3, L. Henderson 3, D. Ellard, T. Menzel, A. Everitt, M. Murphy, S. Docherty, J. Waite, Z. Tuohy . | ||||||||||||||||||
| Reports: | Chris Yarran (for striking Pearce Hanley in the last quarter) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Umpires: | D. Harris, C. Kamolins, B. Rosebury | ||||||||||||||||||
| Injuries: | D. Ellard (Achilles) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Ladder: | 12th | ||||||||||||||||||
Game Review
In difficult, slippery conditions on this Saturday evening at the Gabba, Carlton’s slapstick season continued when they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and lost by seven points to the Brisbane Lions. Ahead by 16 points halfway through the final term, the Blues conceded the last four goals of the game, to be all but humiliated by a team languishing at the bottom of the AFL ladder. Brisbane adapted to the conditions better than their visitors, and overcame the early loss of their principal ruckman to celebrate just their second win of the season.
Carlton had been heavily favoured beforehand, especially since the northerners had lost all four of their previous home games in 2014 and hadn’t beaten the Blues since 2010. Carlton’s match committee made two changes to the side that had vanquished Adelaide in round 10, bringing in Mitch Robinson and Andrew Carrazzo for the injured pair of Dennis Armfield and Andrew Walker. Rain earlier in the day had eased by the late afternoon start time, although light showers persisted and made the surface slippery. For the third game running, Jeff Garlett warmed the Blues’ bench in the substitute’s green vest, and a good crowd of more than 24,000 watched on as Brisbane’s Daniel Merrett started the game in spectacular fashion with a freakish goal from deep in Brisbane’s right forward pocket.
The Lions were intense and aggressive in the early stages, and Dylan Buckley was fortunate to survive a smashing tackle by Brisbane captain Jonathan Brown. David Ellard kicked Carlton’s first major at the 10-minute mark of the quarter after being awarded a 50-metre penalty, but from then on Brisbane dominated the rest of the term and added three unanswered goals to take a 28-point lead into the first break.
The second quarter began with a lovely left-foot snap by Troy Menzel for Carlton’s second major, and the Blues began to lift as both teams lost a player to injury. Ten minutes into the term, Ellard limped to Carlton’s bench with a strained Achilles tendon, then Brisbane’s only specialist ruckman Trent West buckled a knee, and the Lions were forced to call Merrett on to the ball. This left Brown as the Lions’ only real marking target up forward, and the Blues seized their opportunity. With Robbie Warnock well on top in the ruck, Carlton kicked six majors in succession (including two by substitute Jeff Garlett) before Brown answered for the Lions. At half-time, Brisbane was still in front by four points, but facing a Carlton team gaining in confidence.
Brown kicked the first major of the third quarter for Brisbane, quickly answered by Lachie Henderson’s bomb from outside the 50 metre arc. Blues captain Marc Murphy, former Lion Sam Docherty and Chris Yarran at half-back stood out for Carlton in this quarter, although Murphy’s counterpart Dayne Zorko was equally as effective and his two goals for the term kept the Lions within 5 points of the Blues at the last break.
The whole atmosphere of the game suggested that Carlton were poised to over-run Brisbane in the last quarter, especially after goals to Henderson and Tuohy put the Blues ahead by 16 points after 12 minutes’ play. One more major would probably have broken the Lions at that stage, but it didn’t come. Instead, Brisbane struck back twice and with ten minutes remaining there was just three points in it. It was then that Jarrad Waite allowed himself to be provoked into retaliation against his opponent, and the resulting 50-metre penalty gifted the Lions a goal that put them back in front.
On the cusp of time-on, a long kick sailed into Brisbane’s attacking goal-square, and Chris Yarran flew from behind the pack to take the ball on his chest. Beneath him, Brisbane captain Brown wrapped his arms around Chris’s ankles, and the ball spilled free when Yarran crashed to ground. Neither the mark nor the free-kick were paid, allowing Brisbane’s Josh Green to swoop and kick the goal that won the match and plunged Carlton back into crisis.
For the second time in 2014, the Blues had lost to a team sitting last on the ladder, and squandered a real opportunity to gain some traction in a deeply disappointing season for all concerned. Perhaps the most galling aspect of this defeat was that despite Carlton’s massive dominance of the ruck (70 hit-outs to Brisbane’s 16) the Blues only edged the Lions in clearances by 44 to 41 and tackles 64 to 60.
Twelfth on the ladder after this round, Carlton’s immediate future continued to be precarious, with matches against top-eight sides Geelong, Hawthorn, Collingwood and Sydney to come over the next six weeks.
Subs: Jeffery Garlett replaced David Ellard during the 2nd quarter.
Team
| B: | 15 Sam Docherty | 17 Sam Rowe | 40 Michael Jamison (DVC) |
| HB: | 7 Dylan Buckley | 43 Simon White | 33 Andrejs Everitt |
| C: | 6 Kade Simpson (VC) | 44 Andrew Carrazzo (vc) | 39 Dale Thomas |
| HF: | 13 Chris Yarran | 30 Jarrad Waite | 14 Brock McLean |
| F: | 41 Levi Casboult | 12 MitchRobinson | 2 Troy Menzel |
| Ruck: | 11 Robert Warnock | 4 Bryce Gibbs | 3 Marc Murphy (Captain) |
| Interchange: | 23 Lachlan Henderson | 42 Zach Tuohy | 46 David Ellard |
| Substitute: | 38 Jeffery Garlett | ||
| Emergencies: | 37 Jaryd Cachia | 32 Nick Graham | 45 Blaine Johnson |
| Coach: | Mick Malthouse | ||
*Chris Yarran started off the back of the square and was playing a loose man in defence
Milestones
Interesting Fact: In the previous six games (including this one) Carlton had worn six different styles of guernsey. In Round 5, each player's surname was displayed on the back. In Round 6 we played in the regulation 2014 strip. Round 7 saw the 150-Year Heritage guernsey with 16 Premiership cups on the back and in Round 8 we played in the clash white strip. The Heritage guernsey returned for Round 10, with the names of all CFC league players on the back, and fee-paying supporters' names on the front. In Round 11 the Blues' strip was designed to honour players of indigenous descent.Brownlow Votes
3. Tom Rockliff, Brisbane2. Marc Murphy, Carlton
1. Robert Warnock, Carlton
Best & Fairest Votes
Andrejs Everitt 6, Brock McLean 5, Chris Yarran 5, Sam Docherty 4, Lachie Henderson 4, Robert Warnock 4, Marc Murphy 3, Kade Simpson 1, Simon White 1,Ladder
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | For | Agn | Stk | Chg | % | Pts |
| 1 | Port Adelaide | 10 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 1094 | 760 | 7W | - | 143.95 | 36 |
| 2 | Hawthorn | 10 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 1162 | 787 | 1W | U2 | 147.65 | 28 |
| 3 | Sydney | 10 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 971 | 697 | 6W | U2 | 139.31 | 28 |
| 4 | Collingwood | 10 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 905 | 763 | 2W | U2 | 118.61 | 28 |
| 5 | Gold Coast | 10 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 950 | 884 | 1L | D2 | 107.47 | 28 |
| 6 | Geelong | 10 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 873 | 862 | 1L | D4 | 101.28 | 28 |
| 7 | Fremantle | 10 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 865 | 711 | 2W | - | 121.66 | 24 |
| 8 | North Melbourne | 10 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 838 | 758 | 1W | - | 110.55 | 24 |
| 9 | Adelaide | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 918 | 868 | 1W | U1 | 105.76 | 20 |
| 10 | Essendon | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 814 | 774 | 1W | U1 | 105.17 | 20 |
| 11 | West Coast | 10 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 904 | 767 | 2L | D2 | 117.86 | 16 |
| 12 | Carlton | 10 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 842 | 964 | 1L | - | 87.34 | 16 |
| 13 | Richmond | 10 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 853 | 881 | 1L | - | 96.82 | 12 |
| 14 | Western Bulldogs | 10 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 796 | 973 | 2L | - | 81.81 | 12 |
| 15 | Melbourne | 10 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 644 | 818 | 1L | - | 78.73 | 12 |
| 16 | St Kilda | 10 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 671 | 1046 | 5L | - | 64.15 | 12 |
| 17 | GWS Giants | 10 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 817 | 1158 | 7L | - | 70.55 | 8 |
| 18 | Brisbane Lions | 10 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 648 | 1094 | 1W | - | 59.23 | 8 |
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| Game | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 |
| Agst | PA | RI | ES | ME | WB | WC | CO | SK | Bye | AD | BR | GE | HA | GWS | CO | SK | SY | NM | FR | GC | GE | PA | ES |
| Carlscr | 87 | 86 | 57 | 58 | 119 | 92 | 70 | 101 | ... | 81 | 91 | ||||||||||||
| OppScr | 120 | 98 | 138 | 81 | 91 | 89 | 104 | 69 | ... | 76 | 98 | ||||||||||||
| W/L | -33 | -12 | -81 | -23 | 28 | 3 | -34 | 32 | ... | 5 | -7 | ||||||||||||
| Ladder | 12 | 13 | 15 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 13* | 13 | 12 | 12 | ||||||||||||
| % | 72.5 | 79.36 | 64.6 | 65.9 | 77.0 | 80.8 | 78.9 | 84.8 | 84.8 | 86.7 | 87.3 | ||||||||||||
Round 10 | Round 12