Round 16, 2016

Carlton 3.0 18 6.1 37 6.2 38 7.5 47 Adelaide 4.3 27 9.6 60 12.10 82 16.11 107
Venue:	MCG
Date:	Sunday, July 10, 2016. 1.10 pm
Result:	Lost by 60 points
Crowd:	32,430
Goalkickers:	D. Armfield 4, L. Casboult , J. Silvagni, M. Wright 1.
Reports:	Levi Casboult (Carlton) for unduly rough play against Kyle Hartigan (Adelaide) during the second quarter - suspended for 1 match.
Umpires:	C. Deboy, J. Mollison, J. Schmitt
Injuries:	Dale Thomas (right calf).
Ladder:	14th

Game Review

Twelve minutes into the second quarter of this Sunday afternoon match against the Adelaide Crows at the MCG, Dennis Armfield ran onto a slick handpass and kicked his fourth goal of the game from the 50-metre line. A few minutes earlier, the Carlton crowd had erupted after Jack Silvagni won a free-kick in the left forward pocket, and coolly slotted his first career major. Although those two goals drew the Blues to within three points of the fast-starting Crows, that was as close as the home side was destined to get. From then on, Adelaide shifted up a gear, and their dominant defence shut the Blues out the match in the second half to set up a 10-goal victory.

This game always loomed as mission impossible for the home side, given that Adelaide had won their last six matches to sit equal second on the ladder, while the Blues were facing their fourth straight loss. In the only change to the line-up beaten by Collingwood in round 15, Armfield was welcomed back to cover for the injured Ciaran Byrne, and a cold, cloudy day didn’t deter a reasonable crowd of 32,000-plus from thronging the undercover sections of the MCG.

It didn’t take long for Armfield to impact on the game. After Adelaide had registered the first three scoring shots, Carlton found cohesion and Ed Curnow found Armfield with 20-metre pass. From outside 50, Dennis launched a bomb that sailed straight through. Three minutes later, in almost the same circumstances, he goaled again from a Kade Simpson pass, then laid a strong tackle and won the free-kick that brought up this third. Meanwhile, two former Blues – Sam Jacobs and Eddie Betts – were creating headaches. Jacobs had seized control of the ruck from the opening bounce, and Betts kicked two clever goals in two minutes midway through the term. At quarter-time Adelaide led by 9 points, but Carlton was right in the contest.

Levi Casboult took his first mark on the lead and kicked truly in the first minute of the second term, before Armfield and Silvagni followed up. An upset was on the cards briefly, before Betts fired out a handpass to Jacobs at the top of Adelaide’s goal-square, and “Sauce” kicked his second to restore the Crows’ advantage by 22 points. Right on the half-time siren, Casboult rammed his fist into the midriff of Adelaide's Kyle Hartigan in full view of an umpire, and was reported. The 50-metre penalty as well should have cost Carlton another 6 points, but the shot missed.

As the third term began, light rain started falling and Adelaide asserted their authority. Composed in defence and swarming through the midfield, the Crows added 3.4 to one solitary point by the Blues, stretching the margin beyond seven goals. Carlton’s only major of the second half came 12 minutes into the last quarter when former Crow Matthew Wright found space in a pack and snapped truly. Meanwhile, Adelaide added another four, to make the final margin an even ten goals.

So, after an early-season revival that produced six wins in seven games between rounds 5 and 11, the Blues fell back into mediocrity and remained 14th on the ladder with matches against top eight sides West Coast, Sydney and Hawthorn to come. Once again, too much was left to too few, with the forward line and midfield well beaten. Apart from Dennis Armfield, who was outstanding throughout, only Patrick Cripps, Sam Rowe, Kade Simpson, Zach Tuohy, Bryce Gibbs and Sam Docherty matched or shaded their Crows opponents. Dale Thomas struggled with an injury to his right calf for much of the game, and left the field at three-quarter time.

Team

B:	20 Lachie Plowman	17 Sam Rowe	23 Jacob Weitering
HB:	15 Sam Docherty	42 Zach Tuohy	6 Kade Simpson (Acting Captain)
C:	27 Dennis Armfield	4 Bryce Gibbs	11 Sam Kerridge
HF:	2 Jack Silvagni	1 Andrew Walker	39 Dale Thomas
F:	8 Matthew Kreuzer	41 Levi Casboult	19 Liam Sumner
Ruck:	34 Andrew D Phillips	9 Patrick Cripps	46 Matthew Wright
Interchange:	13 Jed Lamb	33 Andrejs Everitt	35 Ed Curnow
	43 Simon White
Coach:	Brendon Bolton
Emg:	7 Dylan Buckley, 22 Jason Tutt, 32 Nick Graham

Changes

In : Dennis Armfield
Out : Ciaran Byrne

Milestones

50 Games (Carlton) : Sam Docherty, Andrejs Everitt
First Goal : Jack Silvagni

Brownlow Votes

3. Rory Sloane (Adelaide)
2. Sam Jacobs (Adelaide)
1. Rory Laird (Adelaide)

Best & Fairest Votes (6 votes+)

Dennis Armfield 12, Zach Tuohy 9, Bryce Gibbs 7, Sam Rowe 7

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Round 15 | Round 17