|
|||||||||||||||||||
| Venue: | Western Oval | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date: | Saturday 1 September 1945 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Result: | Won by 53 points | ||||||||||||||||||
| Crowd: | 30,000 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Goalkickers: | K.Baxter 4, R.Savage 3, R.Hines 3, H.Turner 2, R.McLean 2, K.Hands, L.Collins 1. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Reports: | |||||||||||||||||||
| Umpire: | Sawyer | ||||||||||||||||||
| Injuries: | |||||||||||||||||||
| Best: | |||||||||||||||||||
Game Review 
On the eve of this last round of the season, the top four sides were South Melbourne, Collingwood, Footscray and North Melbourne. Carlton was fifth, equal on points with Footscray and North, but trailing the Shinboners by a hefty 8 percentage points. To make the finals, we faced the enormous task of beating Footscray - on their home ground - by eight goals or more, while trusting that eighth-placed Essendon could get up against North Melbourne.Switched on in the sheds by the calm wisdom of their coach Percy Bentley and the fiery intensity of their captain Bob Chitty, the Navy Blues took the Bulldogs by the scruff of the neck in the first quarter, kicking seven goals to two and establishing a break that the home side couldn’t overcome. Carlton was five goals up at half-time, and from there the margin steadily increased to 53 points on the final siren.
Minutes afterward, amid the celebrations, news came through that Essendon hadn’t managed to knock over North Melbourne – but they had hung on to lose by only six points. Carlton had displaced Footscray in the final four, by 2.04%! To point out how 'unfortunate' the Bulldogs were, this was the first 20 game season as previously there were only 18 rounds, and if this was the same for this season the Bulldogs would have been contesting the finals rather than the Blues.
This was a mini-final as the Blues trailled Footscray by a small percentage margin. The Blues were faster, handled the ball better and, with the defenders showing fine form, never looked like losing. It was a meritorious performance. Carlton's stars were Bert Deacon, Jim Baird, Jim Clark and Ken Baxter (four goals). - The Herald.
Team
| B: | 18 Arthur Sanger | 15 Vin Brown | 25 Jim Baird |
| HB: | 6 Bob Chitty (c) | 23 Bert Deacon | 26 Jim Clark |
| C: | 12 Doug Williams | 10 Clinton Wines | 8 Fred Fitzgibbon |
| HF: | 11 Ron Hines | 1 Ken Hands | 5 Lance Collins |
| F: | 14 Rod McLean (vc) | 21 Ken Baxter | 7 Herb Turner |
| Ruck: | 24 Ron Savage | 3 Jack Bennett | 30 Mick Price |
| 19th Man: | 9 Wal Alexander | ||
| Coach: | Percy Bentley | ||
Round 19 | Semi Final