Round 5, 2009

It was a big week down at Eddie-Betts Stadium, with a massive win over a real Top 4 contender placing the Blues in third spot. Add some good goal kicking by our mids and forward flankers, some Betts’ brilliance and some showtime from young Marc Murphy and we left the stadium a pretty happy group of fans. In fact, some of Murphy’s showtime moments were enough to see him land Play of the Week amongst some pretty stiff competition.

Marc, you win this week's Play of the Week for that sublime pick-up and delivery to Fev. You could have also got it for your show-candy or your mark - do you have any other party tricks up your sleeve?

Thanks guys, it’s always nice to pick up the Play of the Week. I put up a few “plays” for nominations this week which is good, but I’ll try and bring a few more out over the next couple of weeks.

How does M&D's play of the week rank in your football playing awards and honours?

It’s up there!

In one of the post match interviews you joked about that mark and rarely getting off the ground. Do you remember a bona fide speccy from your junior days or is that the first one?

No I can’t think of one. Not in a game that’s for sure. It was a massive leap for me, I think I leaped above his calf!

We make that nine straight goals for this year - a magnificent effort. Tell us about how you've straightened up your goal-kicking.

Thanks, it is nine straight. I’ve worked on it with our development coaches. Darren Harris has worked on a routine with me, but my work with the coaches has really to been to kick more goals full stop. Yes accuracy is very important and we have worked on that but a lot of work has also gone into working my way into positions where I can kick more goals. And that’s the same for a number of players, in particular midfielders.

Chris Judd has commented that Greg Williams has been helping him with his handball. Has Diesel been giving you advice with shots at goal as well?

Haha, I have actually done a little bit of work on my goalkicking with him also. It is great to have people like Greg around the Club. The knowledge people like him, Braddles, Sticks have about the game is unmatched and throw in Robert Harvey and it’s a pretty special place to be at the moment.

We noticed Wiggo handball to dead-eye Houlihan to make sure the goal was scored. Will you be lining up next to Wiggo in future for such handballs?

I think if you are going to give one up to a player on the run it would be Hoops, he’s a great kick, especially on the run, but if Wiggo is offering I definitely won't say no!

Do the midfield group discuss and compete over who gets the best tagger from the opposition - for example on the weekend you got Picken and Judd got Boyd. Who wins the argument of getting the #1 Tagger?

Not really something we discuss individually, but I am quiet happy for Juddy to get the number one tagger! We obviously work on our own set up and the oppositions set ups throughout the week with Mark Riley our midfield coach. So we are pretty much across all likely midfield opponents.

The Dome gave us much more space than the SCG - we actually seem to play that ground really well now. Are there stadiums you prefer to play at?

Nothing beats the MCG at full capacity on a big occasion. I don’t mind the Dome, but as I said I don’t think you can beat the ‘G.

Apparently this week will be your 50th match straight since that shoulder injury to the Lions. Do you play sore or have you been lucky with injuries?

I wasn’t aware of that but it sounds about right. I suppose I have been pretty lucky with injuries since I injured my shoulder. I think all players have a few niggles every now and again, but you really just have to manage it. We’re pretty fortunate at Carlton now, we have an extremely good strength and conditioning team who not only monitor us closely but really look after any niggles you may have.

Much has been made of the so-called "fab four", but can any of you actually play music?

Not at all! Guitar Hero on PS3 is about as good as I get.

Most attention with Hawthorn is on Franklin and Roughead, but which other players do you think we need to be wary of on Saturday?

Yeah Hawthorn have got a super midfield. If you watched last week's game they got numbers behind the ball and carry it forward through their midfield players. You need to watch them running off half back as well; Mitchell had 40 touches last week and really rebounded well for them. Cyril is really growing as a player, Sewell, Hodge, Bateman the list goes on.

You had 36 possessions in our last game against Hawthorn. Who do you expect will match up on you this time?

I'm not too sure who will play on me this week. Last time we played I had a few players come to me. But I think that’s modern day footy, with all the rotations it’s not unusual to have five or six different opponents throughout a game.

The last two times we've played the Hawks they've smashed us, even though we've gone in with some optimism. What do you think is different this time?

You’re right, they have smashed us. It’s a huge challenge for us, they’re the reigning premiers and are getting some players back. I suppose our challenge this week is to see what progress we have made and to be more consistent throughout the game. These are the games we are going to need to be competitive in and win if we are going to develop into the team we desire to be.

If the weather is good we could be looking at a 70,000 plus attendance on the Weekend - does a big crowd add to the excitement?

Absolutely! As I said before it doesn't get any better than hearing to roar at the MCG when you play a big game. Playing in front of big crowds and playing under that sort of pressure is something that I love doing, it’s what AFL footy is about.

Your player sponsor is Crivelli Fine Coffee. Do you caffeine-load before matches?

I don’t know about the caffeine load before a game, but I definitely love my coffees during the week! The team at Crivelli Fine Coffee have been excellent to me over the past few years.

A weekend of highlights for Murphy and the Blues well and truly came crashing down with the news of Mr. Pratt’s passing, but have no doubt the Blues will be primed for this week’s match against the reigning Premiers. We look forward to some more show-time from Murphy and 21 of his closest mates…

We understand death for the first time when he puts his hand upon one whom we love. ~Madame de Stael

Though dad has been dead for almost a decade, memories of times spent with him linger still. They always will. Each trip to a football match brings some of the memories flooding back.

Standing with dad and his friends on a Saturday morning in the deep shadows of the front bar of a pub in Sydney road, the pub is dark, it smells of beer and cigarettes. Outside, the winter sun is just breaking through the black clouds. I’m about seven and I am drinking a raspberry lemonade while the men, his friends, speak in loud voices of football and especially of the game ahead.

The mad rush to the ground, always arriving at 2:10, never early, often late. The mad crush beneath the old clock, the cans as stilts, dad and Pop cheering each Carlton goal, the damp smell of woollen coats, the smell of men, and the voices, angry and joyful. The shout that filled the stands at each Carlton goal.

The sparkle in dad’s eyes after a win. His little jig of victory. His laugh when the goals came flooding in.

Waiting in the car with a brother or two as Melbourne sinks into a wintry dusk while dad has a couple of celebratory beers before we head home.

Standing beside him and my brothers at the ‘68 conquest against Essendon. Sharing his sadness in ’69. His laughter in ‘70, his anger in ’73. The many flags, the many great wins at Princes Park. Singing the song until our throats went hoarse.

Game after game, me as a seven-year old turning into me as a teenager and then a young man. Dad as a young man with Pop, then growing older, Pop aging until he could no longer make it to the ground and then dad getting older still.

The last match I went to with dad was again Melbourne when Brent Heaver went berserk kicking five goals against us. Dad older, grey haired, struggling up the stairs at the M.C.G. and then us sitting, watching our beloved Blues lose. No jig that trip, just a philosophical shrug. Dad had seen many flags, he could handle a loss or two.

Each week at the football I have a flashback to dad, a moment where I might see his hand raise a glass, or a hint of his voice crying out ‘yes!’ or his feet doing a little jig.

To me, Carlton and dad go hand in hand. So does Pop and Carlton and mum and Carlton. It was with mum after all where it all began. She was a mad Bluebagger and dad was madly in love with her so he gave his heart to Carlton too. He’d meet up with Pop at the Lygon street hairdressers where Pop worked and the two of them would rush off to see another game at The Park.

Carlton and my brothers, Michael who left the Bluebaggers because the rebel must always chose an alternate strip.
Pat who’d take me as a kid, the run from Royal Park Railway station to the ground, the memories of his talks after each game, his love of Kekovich and Racehorse Hall. Pat saying ‘he’ll kick this’ and Brian and I looking at each other with a silent groan of despair - a certain miss coming up. Brain and I meeting up in the social club for a few jars, his passion, his assurance when he knows we’ve got it won.

Carlton is shared with my nieces, and with my nephews and of course, my beloved son, who sits beside me so often, who has endured the hardest start and is now seeing the shining road opening up again. Carlton and family. They are so much a part of who I am.

And through it all the thread of dad, his voice, his laughter, his passion for the club and this great game.

When things turned dark and I began to fear for this club, it was as much about the loss of those memories with dad, the loss of sharing this club with family as anything to do with football itself.

So I must say this week, when the sadness of Richard’s Pratt’s death has filled the club, I must say, thank you Mr Pratt. Thank you for saving this club, for letting me keep those weekends with my son and my brothers, with my niece when she comes, with my nephews too. Thanks for letting me keep my history, my memories of dad at the ground beside me. Each glimpse of the jumper is another glimpse of his face, his voice, and his smiling eyes.

Richard Pratt may have been many things, I do not know, I never met the man. There is a single truth I know. For me, and for others like me, he was the man who gave me back my club. The man who saved my memories, my traditions.

I am sad that he has passed away, and my heartfelt best wishes goes out to his family. Having lost my father and my grandfather I know the pain that is involved. I understand death and the grief it brings to a family.

I am sad and I am forever in his debt. We all are. Richard, for me and mine, will always be a Great Carlton Man. He was our Lionheart, our champion on the white horse. He saved this great club; he gave it back to all of us, the Carlton family. We each have separate families, different lives, we are many strangers who have never met and yet – standing next to someone at the football when they cheer and I cheer we look at each other and we know, despite all the differences, we are family. We are part of the burgeoning Bluebagger army. This Saturday we will all be wearing a black armband in Richard’s memory.

To Richard and his family then,

Thank you - forever.