Round 14, 2010

Carlton 2.4 16 8.9 57 12.9 81 18.12 120 Brisbane 4.5 29 5.7 37 8.8 56 9.11 65
Venue:	Docklands Stadium
Date:	7.10 pm, Thursday, July 1, 2010
Result:	Won by 55 points
Crowd:	35,623
Goalkickers:	Betts 5, Garlett 2, Henderson 2, Yarran 2, Simpson 2, Scotland 2, Houlihan, Gibbs, O'hAilpin 1.
Reports:	Nil
Umpires:	D. Margetts, S. McInerney, S. Meredith
Injuries:	Nil
Ladder:	6th

Game Review

After a disappointing couple of weeks leading into the mid-season break the little respite it offered from the grind of the home and away season clearly came at a time of need for Carlton. Whilst the first quarter showed they hadn’t exactly morphed their form from boiled lollies to chocolates with a click of Brett Ratten’s fingers, the longer the game progressed the sharper the Blues became and with their lead over the hapless Lions growing all the while, a comfortable nine goal victory ensued.

There was plenty of action on the whiteboard when the team for another Thursday night encounter against the Lions was announced. A few forced changes including the heart breaking, season ending injury to Matthew Kreuzer, serial offender Jarrad Waite to suspension and Paul Bower with general soreness plus the omissions of Richard Hadley and Kane Lucas paved the way for a fresh look to the round 14 team. Returning from injury were Marc Murphy and Setanta O’hAilpin, while Mitch Robinson came back after missing the clash against Fremantle. To complete the five changes two old faces appeared for their first hit-out of season 2010 with Shaun Grigg and Shaun Hampson both getting a call up.

The opening minute showed why Eddie Betts can be such a difficult player to match up against when on song. Well known for his superb ground level skills, evasiveness in congestion and slick ball handling, on this occasion he gave a glimpse of one of his lesser known attributes - overhead marking. After a nicely judged grab, he kicked truly to get the Blues off to the best possible start inside the opening minute. In truth it was one of very few highlights for Carlton during the quarter. Poor disposal and costly turnovers again played their part for the Blues and allowed an, on paper, average looking Lions side appear much better in the flesh. The Lions had the best of the first quarter and, but for some poor finishing, could have been further in front than the 13 points shown on the scoreboard.

The Blues in the second term were everything they weren’t in the first. Their intensity clearly lifted as they put the Lions under a lot more pressure with hard chasing and tackling. The resulting turnovers from the Lions allowed the Blues to take control of the game and quickly turn around the quarter time deficit. It wasn’t a single burst of power-play or one dominant forward for the Blues, but a solid team effort across the ground for a sustained period that saw the momentum turn their way. With midfielders Kade Simpson, Heath Scotland and Chris Judd leading from the front and six individual goal kickers up forward the Blues took confidence and a 20 point lead into half time.

After the resumption Brisbane seemed to have found some of what had been missing during the second and had the better of the first five minutes reducing Carlton’s lead to seven points. The Blues withstood the initial resurgence and after stopping the Lions scoring, regained the ascendency with a wonderful 10 minute burst leading into three quarter time. Betts featured prominently with two goals, while Chris Yarran and Lachie Henderson each contributed their second (Note this was Carlton's 28,000th goal!) as the lead grew to 31 points before the Lions grabbed a late one after yet another 50m penalty (an all too prominent feature of this game).

Any thoughts of another Brisbane fightback were snuffed out in the opening five minutes when Betts, Simpson and Scotland all kicked goals. The Blues pretty much did as they pleased in the last adding another three goals, to the Lions one, clearly missing Jonathon Brown and Brendan Fevola up front. Betts got his fifth while Gibbs and O’hAilpin got the others and the multi-pronged forward line appeared to be alive and well and functioning as planned with six multiple goal kickers.

This steadying win, with a handy percentage boost, saw the Blues retain sixth spot on the ladder, with 8 wins and 6 losses. With the next couple of games against other sides in the top eight (in the Bulldogs and Swans) Carlton had a great opportunity to consolidate their position and throw out a real challenge for a finals berth.

Team

B:	32 Bret Thornton	40 Michael Jamison	1 Andrew Walker
HB:	4 Bryce Gibbs	2 Jordan Russell	45 Aaron Joseph
C:	29 Heath Scotland	5 Chris Judd (c)	27 Dennis Armfield
HF:	19 Eddie Betts	17 Setanta Ó hAilpín	38 Jeff Garlett
F:	23 Lachlan Henderson	22 Shaun Hampson	33 Ryan Houlihan
Ruck:	39 Sam Jacobs	44 Andrew Carrazzo	6 Kade Simpson
Interchange:	3 Marc Murphy	12 Mitch Robinson	13 Chris Yarran
	16 Shaun Grigg
Coach:	Brett Ratten
Emg:	10 Richard Hadley, 24 Kane Lucas, 34 Simon Wiggins

Milestones

50 Goals (Carlton) : Heath Scotland
Interesting Fact: This game marked the 25th anniversary of Carlton's first match under lights for Premiership points.
Interesting Fact : When Chris Yarran scored Carlton's 12th major in the third quarter of this match, he brought up Carlton's 28,000th League goal.

Brownlow Votes

3. Chris Judd, Carlton
2. Kade Simpson, Carlton
1. Eddie Betts, Carlton

Best & Fairest Votes

40 Eddie Betts, 37 Heath Scotland, 35 Chris Judd, 33 Andrew Carrazzo, 22 Bryce Gibbs, 21 Marc Murphy, 19 Lachlan Henderson, 18 Kade Simpson, 12 Jordan Russell, 6 Sam Jacobs, 5 Aaron Joseph, 4 Andrew Walker

Ladder

		P	W	D	L	For	Agn	%	Pts
1	Geelong	14	11	0	3	1639	1095	149.68	44
2	St Kilda	14	11	0	3	1224	952	128.57	44
3	Collingwood	14	10	1	3	1494	1127	132.56	42
4	Fremantle	14	10	0	4	1481	1212	122.19	40
5	Western Bulldogs	14	8	0	6	1366	1075	127.07	32
6	Carlton	14	8	0	6	1380	1208	114.24	32
7	Hawthorn	14	8	0	6	1235	1199	103.00	32
8	Sydney	14	7	0	7	1239	1163	106.53	28
9	North Melbourne	14	7	0	7	1172	1424	82.30	28
10	Adelaide	14	5	0	9	1150	1275	90.20	20
11	Brisbane Lions	14	5	0	9	1209	1417	85.32	20
12	Essendon	14	5	0	9	1214	1441	84.25	20
13	Port Adelaide	14	5	0	9	1091	1376	79.29	20
14	Melbourne	14	4	1	9	1081	1249	86.55	18
15	Richmond	14	4	0	10	1063	1455	73.06	16
16	West Coast	14	3	0	11	1091	1461	74.67	12

---

Round 13 | Round 15