Round 22, 2014

Carlton 1.2 8 2.4 16 3.7 25 5.7 37 Port Power 5.6 36 9.12 66 16.15 111 20.20 140
Venue:	Adelaide Oval
Date:	Friday night August 22, 2014
Result:	Lost by 103 points
Crowd:	51,599
Goalkickers:	J. Waite, B. Gibbs, S. White, L. Casboult, C. Yarran 1.
Reports:
Umpires:	D. Margetts, M. Nicholls, J. Schmitt.
Injuries:
Ladder:	13th

Game Review

In front of the largest crowd yet seen at the revamped Adelaide Oval, the shell of a once-mighty football club was laid bare when Carlton was outclassed by Port Adelaide on this clear, calm Friday evening. Already heavily depleted by injury, the Blues lost their captain Marc Murphy to concussion midway through the second quarter. From then on, they were steamrolled by a relentless home side that primed their finals campaign with a huge, percentage-boosting win.

Carlton travelled to Adelaide without Dale Thomas and David Ellard, both of whom suffered ankle damage during the previous week’s narrow loss to Geelong - increasing the list of Carlton players who would not appear again in 2014 to more than a dozen. First-year recruits Blaine Johnson and Nick Holman (on debut) were called up as replacements, along with the all but forgotten Kane Lucas, who had been languishing in the VFL with the Northern Blues since early May. ‘Sugar’ won back his place at the expense of Dennis Armfield, but was once again named as Carlton’s substitute. The Power too, had suffered their share of injuries through the season, before returning to something like their best and consolidating sixth spot on the ladder by beating Gold Coast in round 21. Port coach Ken Hinkley promised that his team would go all out to beat Carlton at home, so a bumper home crowd of 51,599 packed into the stadium intent on helping him keep his word.

From the first bounce, some dills in crowd booed Chris Judd every time he was near a contest, which was often. Still, the first 13 minutes of the match were a stalemate, until the boos turned to cheers when Port midfielder Chad Wingard took an uncontested mark in the goal-square and kicked the first goal of the night. Jarrad Waite opened Carlton’s account from the 50-metre arc three minutes later, but Port seized the initiative from that moment on, and their fifth major for the term – 4 seconds before the quarter-time siren – put them comfortably in front by 28 points.

Two minutes into the second term, Bryce Gibbs kicked Carlton’s second major with a clever set-shot from deep in the left forward pocket. Blues fans found a brief flicker of hope, only for Port to ramp up the pressure. When Murphy was stretchered off the field after slamming his head into the turf in a marking contest, the Blues seemed to lose purpose, and at half-time Port Adelaide led by an imposing 50 points.

The pain continued in a miserable second half for the visitors. Carlton could add only 3.3 in an hour of football, while Port continued the rout and kicked 11.8. In winning by 103 points, the Power registered their biggest-ever victory over the Blues, and their first win by three figures. Carlton’s final score of 5.7 was their worst effort for the year, and their lowest total against Port Adelaide since the Powers’ entry into the AFL in 1997.

So ended another black night for Carlton, when Gibbs, Judd and Sam Rowe battled hard against the odds and Cameron Wood stuck to his task in the ruck. Apart from that, the less said the better.

Subs: 9 Kane Lucas replaced Marc Murphy during the 2nd quarter.

Team

B:	43 Simon White	40 Michael Jamison (DVC)	17 Sam Rowe
HB:	6 Kade Simpson (VC)	42 Zach Tuohy	47 Ciaran ‘Gus’ Sheehan
C:	35 Ed Curnow	5 Chris Judd	20 Nick Holman
HF:	3 Marc Murphy (Captain)	30 Jarrad Waite	13 Chris Yarran
F:	2 Troy Menzel	41 Levi Casboult	32 Nick Graham
Ruck:	36 Cameron Wood	4 Bryce Gibbs	44 Andrew Carrazzo (VC)
Interchange:	15 Sam Docherty	28 Tom Bell	45 Blaine Johnson
Substitute:	9 Kane Lucas
Emergencies:	10 Matthew Watson	16 Patrick Cripps	27 Dennis Armfield
Coach:	Mick Malthouse

• Chris Yarran started as a loose man in defence

Milestones

Debut: Nick Holman

Brownlow Votes

3. Robbie Gray, Port Adelaide
2. Travis Boak, Port Adelaide
1. Hamish Hartlett, Port Adelaide

Best & Fairest Votes

Bryce Gibbs 6, Sam Rowe 6, Cameron Wood 5, Levi Casboult 1,

Ladder

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	For	Agn	Stk	Chg	%	Pts
1	Sydney	21	17	0	4	2061	1420	4W	-	145.14	68
2	Hawthorn	21	16	0	5	2337	1690	1W	U1	138.28	64
3	Geelong	21	16	0	5	1890	1706	1L	D1	110.79	64
4	Fremantle	21	15	0	6	1924	1459	2W	-	131.87	60
5	Port Adelaide	21	14	0	7	2083	1573	2W	-	132.42	56
6	North Melbourne	21	13	0	8	1903	1638	3W	-	116.18	52
7	Essendon	21	12	0	9	1738	1629	2W	-	106.69	48
8	Richmond	21	11	0	10	1819	1719	8W	U1	105.82	44
9	Collingwood	21	11	0	10	1710	1755	1W	U1	97.44	44
10	West Coast	21	10	0	11	1894	1651	1W	U2	114.72	40
11	Adelaide	21	10	0	11	2034	1845	2L	D3	110.24	40
12	Gold Coast	21	10	0	11	1818	1894	3L	D1	95.99	40
13	Carlton	21	7	0	14	1801	2017	2L	-	89.29	28
14	Western Bulldogs	21	7	0	14	1675	2062	2L	-	81.23	28
15	Brisbane Lions	21	7	0	14	1451	2069	1L	-	70.13	28
16	GWS Giants	21	5	0	16	1665	2211	1L	-	75.31	20
17	Melbourne	21	4	0	17	1243	1831	9L	-	67.89	16
18	St Kilda	21	4	0	17	1418	2295	4L	-	61.79	16

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	109	78	97	76	37
OppScr	120	98	138	81	91	89	104	69	...	76	98	107	118	100	91	66	122	86	83	58	82	140
W/L	-33	-12	-81	-23	28	3	-34	32	...	5	-7	-5	-28	-8	-15	85	-71	23	-5	39	-6	-103
Ladder	12	13	15	17	16	16	16	13*	13	12	12	12	12	12	14	13	14	13	13	13	13	13
%	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	91.4	91.5	94.0	93.9	89.2

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Round 21 | Round 23