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| Venue: | Docklands Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date: | Saturday night, July, 13, 2013 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Result: | Win by 36 points | ||||||||||||||||||
| Crowd: | 30,949 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Goalkickers: | L. Henderson (4), J. Garlett, S. Rowe (3), C. Judd, M. Kreuzer, B. McLean, M. Murphy, Z. Tuohy, A. Walker (1). | ||||||||||||||||||
| Reports: | |||||||||||||||||||
| Umpires: | A. Mitchell, B. Rosebury, B. Ryan | ||||||||||||||||||
| Injuries: | M. Robinson (shoulder) replaced in selected side by M. Watson | ||||||||||||||||||
| Ladder: | 9th | ||||||||||||||||||
Game Review
With their backs to the wall after four straight losses, the Navy Blues stopped the rot and kept their finals hopes flickering with this six-goal demolition of St Kilda on a Saturday night at Docklands. In an often ill-tempered clash between two teams with little regard for each other, there was a melee even before the first ball was bounced, and few players from either side escaped without a physical battering.Somewhat surprisingly, Carlton made only two changes to the line-up badly beaten by Collingwood in round 15, including Heath Scotland and Sam Rowe for the injured Jarrad Waite and the omitted Levi Casboult. When Mitch Robinson withdrew a few hours before the match, he was replaced by Matthew Watson, and Eddie Betts was named as Carlton’s substitute. A good crowd of almost 31,000 turned out under the closed roof, even as heavy rain persisted across most of Melbourne.
Somewhat tarnishing the occasion of Matthew Kreuzer’s 100th game, St Kilda ran out to an emphatic chorus of boos directed squarely at Saint Stephen Milne. Widely despised and a thorn in Carlton’s side for a decade, Milne was playing his first match since being charged with rape the previous month, so the reaction from the crowd was not unexpected. Nor was the fiery opening, when throats were grappled and jumpers ripped in a wild series of scuffles. In something of a panic, the central umpire bounced the ball 20 seconds early and the game was underway.
In the absence of Jarrad Waite, Lachie Henderson and Sam Rowe had been asked to provide targets in attack for the Blues, and both responded with lively first quarters. Henderson took three big marks and booted two goals, and Rowe added another, although a quarter-time St Kilda deserved their narrow 3-point advantage after 30 minutes of engrossing end-to-end football.
In spite of the many physical clashes, Blues captain Marc Murphy was awarded only Carlton’s second free-kick at the 4-minute mark of the second term, and coolly put his team in front with a set-shot goal from 30 metres out. Soon afterwards, Zach Tuohy left Milne in his wake and curled through a right-foot banana as Carlton’s midfield brigade (led by Simpson, Judd and McLean) seized the initiative. St Kilda clung on however, and at the long break the Blues led by only 9 points.
For a brief period midway through the third quarter, Milne slipped away from Tuohy to snap two clever majors, but the determined Irishman wouldn’t tolerate that for long and immediately put the clamps back on. Meanwhile, Rowe and Henderson had their tails up in Carlton’s forward half with six goals between them, and by three-quarter time the Blues were 11 points up and travelling well.
Eddie Betts – having replaced Andrew Carrazzo late in the third term – fired out a clever handpass to Chris Judd three minutes into the final quarter, and the former captain drilled the goal that set the Blues up for a much-needed victory. Although St Kilda persisted, a series of near-misses and mistakes sapped their confidence and they were over-run in the closing stages to be beaten by an immensely-satisfying six goals.
Outstanding all night for Carlton were Kade Simpson (28 possessions, 9 marks) Chris Judd (26 possessions - 13 contested - plus 6 clearances) Lachie Henderson (16 disposals, 12 marks, 4 goals) and Matthew Kreuzer (14 possessions, 33 hit-outs, 1 goal). The Blues had almost balanced their season with a 7-8 win loss record, and were back in contention for a finals berth.
Subs: Eddie Betts replaced Andrew Carrazzo during the 3rd quarter.
Team
| B: | 26 Andrew McInnes | 40 Michael Jamison | 10 Matthew Watson |
| HB: | 1 Andrew Walker | 42 Zach Tuohy | 6 Kade Simpson (VC) |
| C: | 4 Bryce Gibbs | 5 Chris Judd | 35 Ed Curnow |
| HF: | 13 Chris Yarran | 17 Sam Rowe | 38 Jeffery Garlett |
| F: | 9 Kane Lucas | 23 Lachlan Henderson | 14 Brock McLean |
| Ruck: | 8 Matthew Kreuzer | 27 Dennis Armfield | 3 Marc Murphy (Captain) |
| Interchange: | 29 Heath Scotland | 37 Jaryd Cachia | 44 Andrew Carrazzo (VC) |
| Substitute: | 19 Eddie Betts | ||
| Emergencies: | 41 Levi Casboult | 12 Mitch Robinson | 43 Simon White |
| Coach: | Mick Malthouse | ||
-* Matthew Watson replaced Mitch Robinson in the selected side
Milestones
100 Games: Matthew KreuzerBrownlow Votes
3. Kade Simpson, Carlton2. Lachie Henderson, Carlton
1. Chris Judd, Carlton
Best & Fairest Votes
Lachie Henderson 8, Kade Simpson 8, Chris Judd 7, Dennis Armfield 4, Sam Rowe 4, Ed Curnow 3, Matthew Kreuzer 3, Jaryd Cachia 2, Chris Yarran 2Ladder
| Posn | Team | Plyd | W | L | D | For | Ag | U/D | Strk | % | Pts |
| 1 | Hawthorn | 15 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 1769 | 1246 | +0 | W 1 | 141.97 | 52 |
| 2 | Geelong | 15 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 1654 | 1246 | +0 | W 3 | 132.74 | 52 |
| 3 | Essendon | 15 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 1604 | 1232 | +0 | W 5 | 130.19 | 48 |
| 4 | Sydney | 15 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 1550 | 1090 | +0 | W 3 | 142.20 | 46 |
| 5 | Fremantle | 15 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 1322 | 1047 | +0 | W 2 | 126.27 | 46 |
| 6 | Richmond | 15 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 1440 | 1234 | +0 | W 1 | 116.69 | 40 |
| 7 | Collingwood | 15 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 1432 | 1309 | +0 | W 2 | 109.40 | 40 |
| 8 | Port Adelaide | 15 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1396 | 1282 | +0 | L 2 | 108.89 | 32 |
| 9 | Carlton | 15 | 7 | 8 | 0 | 1441 | 1293 | +2 | W 1 | 111.45 | 28 |
| 10 | West Coast | 15 | 7 | 8 | 0 | 1497 | 1398 | -1 | L 1 | 107.08 | 28 |
| 11 | North Melbourne | 15 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 1540 | 1327 | -1 | L 1 | 116.05 | 24 |
| 12 | Adelaide | 15 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 1372 | 1339 | +0 | L 2 | 102.46 | 24 |
| 13 | Brisbane | 15 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 1250 | 1556 | +1 | W 2 | 80.33 | 24 |
| 14 | Gold Coast | 15 | 5 | 10 | 0 | 1241 | 1394 | -1 | L 4 | 89.02 | 20 |
| 15 | Western Bulldogs | 15 | 4 | 11 | 0 | 1192 | 1554 | +0 | L 1 | 76.71 | 16 |
| 16 | St Kilda | 15 | 3 | 12 | 0 | 1203 | 1447 | +0 | L 3 | 83.14 | 12 |
| 17 | Melbourne | 15 | 2 | 13 | 0 | 1011 | 1873 | +0 | L 2 | 53.98 | 8 |
| 18 | GWS Giants | 15 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 1045 | 2092 | +0 | L15 | 49.95 | 0 |
Round 15 | Round 17