Round 2, 2013

Carlton 3.0 18 7.3 45 12.8 80 15.10 100 Collingwood 3.3 21 5.5 35 10.10 70 17.15 117
Venue:	MCG
Date:	Sunday April 7, 2013
Result:	Lost by 17 points
Crowd:	84,247
Goalkickers:	A. Walker 3, C. Yarran 3, J. Garlett 3, K. Simpson, T. Bell, S. Rowe, J. Murphy, K. Lucas, L. Henderson 1.
Reports:
Umpires:	S.Jeffery, S. McInerney, S. Meredith K. Burgess replaced S. Jeffery during ½ time.
Injuries:
Ladder:	13th

Game Review

Six months of barely-concealed hostility between Carlton and Collingwood reached a climax on this Sunday afternoon at the MCG, when the Blues - under former Magpie Premiership coach Mick Malthouse – met a Collingwood side coached by his successor Nathan Buckley. Malthouse’s defection to Carlton had been the biggest pre-season football story of 2012, and this first clash between the pair was keenly anticipated.

Both sides were weakened by injury after contrasting fortunes in round one. The Blues had just failed to overhaul Richmond with a flying finish at the MCG, while Collingwood had held off North Melbourne to win a thriller at Docklands. Carlton’s absentees were Eddie Betts (who had suffered a broken jaw against the Tigers), Shaun Hampson (recovering after having his appendix removed) as well as Nick Duigan and Aaron Joseph who were both omitted. Named in their places were first-gamer Sam Rowe, midfielder Tom Bell, defender Jeremy Laidler and utility Marcus Davies, playing his 16th senior game on his 22nd birthday. Brock McLean was the designated substitute.

Indicative of the hype leading up to the match, more than 84,000 fans packed the MCG on a cool and windy Sunday afternoon, with rain threatening. Tension and emotion were at the maximum on both sides of the fence, as evidenced by a large Carlton supporters’ banner that was unfurled only briefly, but long enough for most to read the words; “Welcome MM, from the club of scum to club number 1.”

In the absence of the live-wire Betts, Chris Yarran, Jeff Garlett and Andrew Walker all started up forward, and in the first ten minutes or so, Walker ran riot to boot the Blues’ first three goals. Meanwhile, all attention was on Collingwood ruckman Darren Jolly, who had been taken from the field in distress after a heavy knock to his ribs. In his absence, Matthew Kreuzer took control of the ruck contests, but as steady rain began falling, Carlton couldn’t capitalise fully on their advantage and led by only three points at quarter time.

The second quarter was packed with highlights as both teams ramped up their intensity. Jolly returned to the field briefly, but his attempt was futile and he was soon back in the rooms waiting for an ambulance ride to hospital. This probably worked in Collingwood’s favour, because their back-up ruckman Quinten Lynch (renowned for his stamina) battled manfully against Kreuzer and Rowe from that point on, and his absence from Collingwood’s attack created extra space on a day when two tyros starred for Collingwood and the small forwards of both sides did most of the scoring.

Just as the rain began to clear around the mid-point of the second term, Jeff Garlett kicked a classy running goal, followed by Chris Yarran’s second major after a sensational contested mark. Both midfields won plenty of the football during this term, although Collingwood’s regular accumulators Pendlebury and Swan were noticeably restrained. Instead, two of the Pies’ lesser lights; Elliott and Dwyer, bobbed up to play like seasoned campaigners. Elliott in particular was looking dangerous, and both of his opportunist goals came from hard and clever running. Meanwhile, in Carlton’s defence, full-back Michael Jamison had corralled the Magpies’ key forward Travis Cloke, who was having to push well up the ground to find the football. At the long break, Carlton led by ten points.

The third quarter opened with Elliott running into an open goal for his third major for Collingwood, but the Navy Blues dominated the next ten minutes. Goals to Bell and Yarran – and a series of near misses – stretched Carlton’s advantage to 17 points, before Collingwood counter-attacked hard and cut the margin to two with six minutes left. Garlett then dodged his way through some heavy traffic and kicked long to where Sam Rowe flew high for a big mark. Taking his time, the big number 17 kicked truly from 30 metres to bring up his first senior goal, before Marc Murphy bounced another one through an unguarded goal-square, and stretched Carlton’s advantage to 13 points at three-quarter time. The ground was humming with excitement, and the television commentators were lavish in their praise for both teams.

However, in shades of Carlton’s first quarter, Collingwood seized the initiative in the early minutes of the last term. With their prime movers Swan and Pendlebury heavily involved once more, the Magpies banged through three quick goals to snatch back the lead, and never let it go. Garlett briefly stemmed the tide with a brilliant, long, over-the-shoulder snapshot, but from then on Collingwood were relentless in scoring 7.5 to 3.2 for the quarter to win by 17 points.

For the second week running, Carlton dominated periods of the game without applying enough scoreboard pressure to break the opposition. Instead, the Blues themselves wilted late in this match, and were beaten by a more confident and resolute opponent. Still, solace could be found in the fact that these were early days, and a long season stretched ahead.

Among Carlton’s better players on an afternoon that Blues supporters wanted to forget as soon as possible were captain Mark Murphy, who had 26 possessions (17 contested) and sent the ball inside the attacking 50 metre arc on eight occasions. Jeff Garlett deputised for Eddie Betts in style to collect 20 possessions, 6 marks, 8 tackles and three goals, while Matthew Kreuzer was credited with 13 disposals and 34 hit-outs. Sam Rowe managed 11 disposals, 4 marks, 8 hit-outs and three inside-50s in a solid debut, and Michael Jamison racked up ten one-percenters while keeping Collingwood’s Travis Cloke to zero on the score sheet.

Subs: Brock McLean replaced Jeremy Laidler at the 3-minute mark of the last quarter.

Team

B:	15 Jeremy Laidler	40 Michael Jamison	21 Josh Bootsma
HB:	42 Zach Tuohey	23 Lachlan Henderson	27 Dennis Armfield
C:	4 Bryce Gibbs	5 Chris Judd	9 Kane Lucas
HF:	38 Jeff Garlett	1 Andrew Walker	3 Marc Murphy (C)
F:	17 Sam Rowe	41 Levi Casboult	13 Chris Yarran
Ruck:	8 Matthew Kreuzer	12 Mitch Robinson	44 Andrew Carrazzo
Interchange:	6 Kade Simpson	28 Tom Bell	31 Marcus Davies
Substitute:	14 Brock McLean
Emergencies:	7 Dylan Buckley	34 Nick Duigan	43 Simon White
Coach:	Mick Malthouse

Milestones

Debut and First Goal: Sam Rowe
Last Game: Jeremy Laidler

Brownlow Votes

3. Jamie Elliott, Collingwood
2. Scott Pendlebury, Collingwood
1. Marc Murphy, Carlton

Best & Fairest Votes

Michael Jamison 9, Jeffery Garlett 7, Matthew Kreuzer 5, Chris Yarran 4, Lachie Henderson 3, Sam Rowe 2, Marc Murphy 1

Ladder

Posn	Team	P	W	L	D	For	Ag	U/D	Strk	%	Pts
1	Essendon	2	2	0	0	301	118	+2	W 2	255.08	8
2	Port Adelaide	2	2	0	0	267	132	-1	W 2	202.27	8
3	Sydney	2	2	0	0	220	149	+1	W 2	147.65	8
4	Fremantle	2	2	0	0	214	158	+1	W 2	135.44	8
5	CollingWod	2	2	0	0	220	187	+1	W 2	117.65	8
6	Richmond	2	2	0	0	205	183	+3	W 2	112.02	8
7	Geelong	2	2	0	0	205	194	+1	W 2	105.67	8
8	Western Bulldogs	2	1	1	0	205	165	-6	L 1	124.24	4
9	Hawthorn	2	1	1	0	234	191	+2	W 1	122.51	4
10	Adelaide	2	1	1	0	178	194	+6	W 1	91.75	4
11	Gold Coast	2	1	1	0	163	191	-4	L 1	85.34	4
12	North Melbournes	2	0	2	0	195	215	+1	L 2	90.70	0
13	Carlton	2	0	2	0	201	223	-3	L 2	90.13	0
14	St Kilda	2	0	2	0	159	189	-2	L 2	84.13	0
15	West Coast	2	0	2	0	178	256	-1	L 2	69.53	0
16	GWS Giants	2	0	2	0	154	240	-1	L 2	64.17	0
17	Brisbane	2	0	2	0	136	223	0	L 2	60.99	0
18	Melbourne	2	0	2	0	90	317	0	L2	28.39	0

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Round 1 | Round 3