Round 17, 2014

Carlton 1.2 8 5.5 35 5.6 36 7.9 51 Sydney Swans 2.4 16 6.6 42 16.10 106 18.14 122
Venue:	SCG
Date:	Saturday July 12, 2014 (night)
Result:	Lost by 71 points
Crowd:	34,965
Goalkickers:	L. Henderson 2, B. McLean, S. White, T. Bell, B. Johnson, A. Everitt 1.
Reports:
Umpires:	D. Harris, J. Mollison, B. Rosebury
Injuries:
Ladder:	14th

Game Review

Once again, the glaring deficiencies in Carlton’s list, and the gulf between the top clubs and the also-rans on the AFL ladder were laid painfully bare when the Sydney Swans destroyed the Blues by 71 points in this Saturday night encounter at the SCG.

After an even first half, Sydney’s high profile recruit Lance Franklin broke the shackles as Sydney took complete control in the third quarter, slamming through 10.4 to one solitary point by the Blues. In a devastating 35 minutes of football, Franklin kicked five of those goals off his own boot, and finished the game with six as the ladder-leading Swans posted a record-equalling twelfth straight win.

Earlier in the week, Carlton had lost Troy Menzel and Andrew Carrazzo to injury, so David Ellard and Nick Graham were called up for this match. Graham was designated Carlton’s substitute, before Blues captain Marc Murphy won the toss to at least start proceedings on a positive note. In front of a good crowd on a cool Sydney evening, with light showers persisting, both teams were ultra defensive at first, as Carlton employed flooding tactics and tried to bottle up play. Scores were hard to come by for both sides, and at quarter time, Sydney led by 8 points.

From a Carlton point of view, the second term was the best of the match. Throughout 30 minutes of hard, intense football, the Blues matched the Swans on the ground and in the air, and when Blaine Johnson marked in space and kicked truly for his first career goal right on the half-time siren, the Blues remained only 7 points behind. Although Sydney’s star midfielder Josh Kennedy was proving impossible to contain and already looking like a match-winner, the Swans’ big forwards; Franklin, Adam Goodes and Sam Reid were being kept in check by Michael Jamison, Sam Rowe and Andrew Walker. Meanwhile, Bryce Gibbs, Murphy and Kade Simpson were working hard around the stoppages, and both Lachie Henderson and Levi Casboult had taken some strong marks in attack.

The rain stopped during the long interval, then, three minutes after the restart, a mix-up in Carlton’s defence saw Franklin opposed to the much smaller Dale Thomas. When a long kick sailed toward them, Thomas clung desperately to “Buddy,” and gave away a free-kick 30 metres out on a tight angle. Franklin kicked truly for his first goal of the match, and from that moment on, the flood-gates crashed open. Sydney’s Canadian import Mike Pyke got right on top of Rob Warnock in the ruck duels, and the Swans’ midfielders took full advantage.

Time after time, the ball was pumped into Sydney’s attack, where Franklin and the other Swan forwards grew in confidence with every possession. Buddy’s second goal for the term – an outrageous, booming set-shot from 55 metres out - was followed by three more during the remaining 17 minutes. Sydney outscored the Blues by an extraordinary 63 points in half an hour of complete dominance, to put the result beyond doubt with a quarter left to play.

After that, the last term was an anti-climax for Carlton fans - devoid of the smallest glimmer of encouragement. Franklin’s sixth goal came three minutes into the term, when he snapped truly with his left foot from deep in the left forward pocket. Scoring 2.3 to Sydney’s 2.4 in the quarter, the Blues at least prevented further damage, but as a contest, the game was well and truly over long before the final siren.

Subs: Nick Graham replaced David Ellard last in the 3rd quarter.

Team

B:	17 Sam Rowe	40 Michael Jamison (DVC)	1 Andrew Walker
HB:	6 Kade Simpson (VC)	42 Zach Tuohy	13 Chris Yarran
C:	33 Andrejs Everitt	14 Brock McLean	35 Ed Curnow
HF:	43 Simon White	41 Levi Casboult	28 Tom Bell
F:	46 David Ellard	23 Lachlan Henderson	39 Dale Thomas
Ruck:	11 Robert Warnock	4 Bryce Gibbs	3 Marc Murphy (Captain)
Interchange:	5 Chris Judd	15 Sam Docherty	45 Blaine Johnson
Substitute:	32 Nick Graham
Emergencies:	10 Matthew Watson	27 Dennis Armfield	38 Jeffery Garlett
Coach:	Mick Malthouse

Milestones

First Goal: Blaine Johnson

Brownlow Votes

3. Josh P. Kennedy, Sydney
2. Lance Franklin, Sydney
1. Jarrad McVeigh, Sydney

Best & Fairest Votes

Marc Murphy 5, Zach Tuohy 5, Sam Docherty 4, Simon White 4, Bryce Gibbs 2, Ed Curnow 1, Lachie Henderson 1, Kade Simpson 1,

Ladder

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	For	Agn	Stk	Chg	%	Pts
1	Sydney	16	13	0	3	1547	1078	12W	-	143.51	52
2	Fremantle	16	12	0	4	1486	1043	8W	U2	142.47	48
3	Hawthorn	16	12	0	4	1826	1305	1W	D1	139.92	48
4	Geelong	16	12	0	4	1451	1291	3W	U1	112.39	48
5	Port Adelaide	16	11	0	5	1687	1260	3L	D2	133.89	44
6	North Melbourne	16	10	0	6	1400	1212	2W	U1	115.51	40
7	Essendon	16	9	0	7	1318	1198	2W	U3	110.02	36
8	Collingwood	16	9	0	7	1355	1271	2L	D2	106.61	36
9	Gold Coast	16	9	0	7	1451	1459	1L	D1	99.45	36
10	Adelaide	16	8	0	8	1500	1384	1L	D1	108.38	32
11	West Coast	16	7	0	9	1397	1291	1W	-	108.21	28
12	Richmond	16	6	0	10	1399	1397	3W	-	100.14	24
13	Western Bulldogs	16	6	0	10	1286	1514	1W	U1	84.94	24
14	Carlton	16	5	0	11	1404	1568	1L	D1	89.54	20
15	GWS Giants	16	4	0	12	1300	1793	3L	-	72.50	16
16	Melbourne	16	4	0	12	971	1353	4L	-	71.77	16
17	Brisbane Lions	16	4	0	12	1033	1632	2L	-	63.30	16
18	St Kilda	16	3	0	13	1009	1771	11L	-	56.97	12

2014
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	102	90	92	76	151	51
OppScr	120	98	138	81	91	89	104	69	...	76	98	107	118	100	91	66	122
W/L	-33	-12	-81	-23	28	3	-34	32	...	5	-7	-5	-28	-8	-15	85	-71
Ladder	12	13	15	17	16	16	16	13*	13	12	12	12	12	12	14	13	14
%	72.5	79.36	64.6	65.9	77.0	80.8	78.9	84.8	84.8	86.7	87.3	88.1	86.9	87.3	87.1	93.5	89.5

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Round 16 | Round 18