| Venue: Brunswick St | Date: Saturday July 22, 1961 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Result: Loss by 9 points | Umpire: Brophy | Crowd: 24,561 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Goalkickers: T.Carroll 4, M.Cross 2, M.Sankey 2, I.Collins 1. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Reports: | Injuries: | |||||||||||||||||||
Game Review
Despite Nicholls and James being away on state duty, the Blues were set for this match to stay in finals contention. At three quarter time, we were up by a good five goals, and should have been further ahead, but bad kicking (9 goals, 21 behinds) is bad football. And when the Lions kicked early goals in the last term, they rode their luck and finished much better to steal the match. This was Max Miers last game for the Blues, before he crossed to Fitzroy. Tom Carroll's 4 goals lifted him to the top of the VFL goal-kicking table, after Geelong's Doug Wade was injured in the Cats' loss to South Melbourne.The Football Record reported the following week:
"Lions’ captain Alan Gale was an inspiration to his side in the last quarter and was largely responsible for their victory. Best of the defenders was Ian Powell in the back pocket, while John Powell dominated the centre until he was moved to the wing. Ian Aston was fast and elusive both on the wing and on the half forward flank, while Brian Barclay was reliable at centre half back. Ron Harvey was solid and supported by Rod Vernon, with his safe marking and good disposal.
Outstanding player for the Blues was winger Chris Pavlou, who gave a great exhibition of pace and long kicking. John Heathcote played well on the other wing, while Graham Donaldson was very capable at centre half-back. Maurie Sankey and Sergio Silvagni were dependable and battled hard all day, while full-forward Tom Carroll (4 goals) showed his best form for the season, and has now moved to the top of the list of leading goalscorers."
Chris Pavlou spoke to the Blueseum about this game and why it was still memorable to him all these years later. To read more about this game, please click here.
Team
| B: | 15 Bruce Comben | 14 Bob Crowe | 4 Brian Buckley |
| HB: | 32 Vasil Varlamos | 13 Graham Donaldson (c) | 8 John Benetti |
| C: | 37 John Heathcote | 9 Berkley Cox | 35 Chris Pavlou |
| HF: | 19 Ian Collins | 17 Gordon Collis | 18 Peter Barry |
| F: | 26 Max Miers | 22 Tom Carroll | 7 Bruce Williams |
| Ruck: | 16 Maurie Sankey | 1 Serge Silvagni | 23 Martin Cross |
| Res: | 31 John Williams | 11 Barry Bryant | |
| Coach: | Ken Hands | ||
In: G. Donaldson, J. Benetti, B. Bryant
Out: J. James, D. Nicholls, W. Lofts
Milestones
Last Game (Carlton): Max MiersRound 12 | Round 14