| Venue: Football Park | |||||||||||||||||||
| Date: Sunday 3 August, 1997 | Result: Lost by 41 points | |||||||||||||||||||
| Umpires: Rich, Harvey, Forbes | Crowd: 42,548 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Goalkickers: B.Pearce 3, J.Murphy, M.Allan, A.Whitehead 2, S.Kernahan, M.Clape, A.Hamill, A.Koutoufides 1. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Best: C.Bradley, M.Allan, A.McKay, B.Pearce, S.Silvagni, B.Ratten. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Injuries: M.Sexton (collar bone), S.Kernahan (calf), A.White (concussion). | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Reports: L.O'Sullivan (4 week suspension). | ||||||||||||||||||||
Game Review 
On an historic day for the Carlton Football Club, Stephen Kernahan became the longest-serving captain in VFL/AFL history when he returned to his home state to lead the Blues in this clash against the second-placed Crows, on a Sunday afternoon at Football Park. Struggling in twelfth place on the ladder, Carlton was given little chance - especially on foreign soil - but set themselves to dig deep in honour of their champion skipper.
However, after an even first quarter, the match turned into an anti-climax for the Blues with injuries to key talls Kernahan and Michael Sexton. This gave the Crows a huge advantage, and they gradually took control of the game. Had it not been for their inaccurate kicking in fact, the margin would have been greater than 41 points.
Even so, Craig Bradley was Best on Ground with 40 possessions (32 kicks, 8 handballs) while Brett Ratten gained 24, and Andrew McKay gathered 20 disposals from defence. Matthew Allan worked hard in the ruck, and Brad Pearce was dangerous up forward. Pearce kicked three goals, and had a hand in setting up several others. Another popular clubman and crowd favourite in Luke O'Sullivan played his last game for Carlton this day, before retiring at season's end. The Rhino copped a 4 week suspension for 'squaring up' up with Trent Ormond-Allen after the Crow had cleaned up Sexton earlier in the game.
This was a forgettable game for utility Adam White who had just 3 possessions before being KOed when he accidentally ran into an umpire!
Team
| B: | 18 Justin Murphy | 13 Mil Hanna | 35 Peter Dean |
| HB: | 5 Andrew McKay | 14 Michael Sexton | 23 Dean Rice |
| C: | 27 Luke O'Sullivan | 7 Brett Ratten | 33 Matthew Hogg |
| HF: | 6 Matt Clape | 4 Stephen Kernahan (c) | 8 Lance Whitnall |
| F: | 19 Brad Pearce | 1 Stephen Silvagni | 32 Adrian Whitehead |
| Ruck: | 24 Matthew Allan | 43 Anthony Koutoufides | 21 Craig Bradley (vc) |
| Interchange: | 36 Aaron Hamill | 47 Darren Hulme | 30 Adam White |
| Coach: | David Parkin | ||
| In: | Darren Hulme | Lance Whitnall | Adam White |
| Out: | Scott Camporeale (suspended), Mark Porter (injured), Adrian Hickmott (injured) | ||
Milestones
250 Games : Stephen KernahanLast Game : Luke O'Sullivan
Captaincy Records : Stephen Kernahan became the longest serving captain in VFL/AFL history (224 games)
Brownlow Votes
3: Craig Bradley (CARL)2: Shaun Rehn (ADE)
1: Kym Koster (ADE)
Round 17 | Round 19