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| Venue: | MCG | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date: | 2.10 pm, Sunday, 2 May 2010 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Result: | Lost by 53 points | ||||||||||||||||||
| Crowd: | 80,645 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Goalkickers: | S. O’hAilpin (5), E. Betts, M. Murphy (3), C. Yarran (2), J. Garlett, R. Houlihan, S. White (1) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Reports: | Nil | ||||||||||||||||||
| Umpires: | R. Findlay, S. McInerney, M. Stevic | ||||||||||||||||||
| Injuries: | Nil | ||||||||||||||||||
| Ladder: | 9th | ||||||||||||||||||
Game Review
Pitted against traditional rivals Collingwood, despite it not being rivalry round, was always going to test whether Carlton could bring their A-game two weeks in a row. The Blues, on the back of an impressive victory against quality opposition in Geelong, were matched against the Magpies, whose only defeat had been a narrow one at the hands of the Saints. It promised a lot on paper and in many ways delivered, certainly as far as being an entertaining and high-scoring game, but the cold hard reality was a less than flattering 53 point defeat by a harder, deeper, cleaner team.After confirmation that Andrew Walker’s collarbone injury would keep him out for about six weeks there was always going to be at least one change to the round five team. The less predictable change was Robert Warnock’s omission. With five solid games under his belt, admittedly without setting the world on fire, it was Warnock’s turn to face the axe. In came forum favourite Sam Jacobs for his first run of 2010, not having suited up since a string of games early last season. In place of Walker was Paul Bower whose return had been keenly anticipated since his injury in round one.
It went goal for goal in much of the first quarter as a certain amount of arm-wrestling, testing the water, to-ing and fro-ing was played out. The Blues had more than their share of football early on but couldn’t make the most of their forward opportunities. Chris Yarran and Marc Murphy provided answering goals each time Collingwood went one up, but the Magpie goals were coming far more efficiently. They seemingly had a more direct route to goal on the back of tidy ball movement and neat finishing. The Blues on the other hand were handball happy, always trying to make just one more to get the elusive break away, but often coming unstuck. The Pies managed to open up a handy two goal lead before Setanta O’hAilpin grabbed a late one to reduce the margin to a solitary goal at the break.
Much of the second quarter was dominated by Collingwood. Winning the stoppages and somehow clearing the ball, when all the Blues around them could not, they opened up a commanding 39 point lead. It took the Blues until the 21st minute to register any score and it came on the back of some individual brilliance from O’hAilpin. A lunging mark in the pocket close to goal, followed soon after by a heart-in-mouth spin around, play on, deadly accurate stab on his right. It started the first of two periods of Carlton ascendency during the game. Setanta Ó hAilpín and Chris Judd were the instigators of the first resurgence. Judd started to win more stoppages and broke away from the congestion several times to drive the Blues forward. O’hAilpin gave off another, with a nicely weighted lob, as Yarran streamed towards the unguarded goal and then Setanta snagged his third individual goal soon after. Despite the momentary change of momentum Collingwood’s lead still sat at 28 points when the half-time siren sounded.
If the start of the second quarter had been all Collingwood, then we had clearly shifted to a parallel universe in the third, where life was better, more enjoyable, more Blue. Carlton dominated the opening part of the quarter with a desperately needed display of attacking, exciting football to get themselves well and truly back in the game. It started from the middle, as ever, with Judd and Matthew Kreuzer instrumental in winning the stoppages and belting the ball forward. Four unanswered goals reduced the margin to less than a kick and the large crowd was loving it. Simon White will have great pleasure telling the grandkids about his first goal in the AFL in years to come. His text book drop punt from the boundary line followed snaps from O’hAilpin and Eddie Betts, while Ryan Houlihan completed a strong mark and goal for the fourth. But the goal to claim the lead never materialised. On three occasions the Blues closed to less than a goal during the quarter and each time Collingwood responded with one of their own. In fact the Pies finished with the last four of the quarter meaning for all Carlton’s huff-n-puff the lead had only been reduced by a solitary point at quarter’s end.
When Betts jagged the first goal in the last quarter hopes were high for a third and final period of resurgence from the Blues, but it simply wasn’t to be. Heath Scotland missed a chance that he would’ve eaten for dinner on another day and with it went the Blues chance of revival. Collingwood booted seven goals for the quarter to give them a convincing victory. Carlton paid the price for over using the footy, far too many turnovers and not enough team defence across the ground. Tackling and defensive pressure were a long way down from their best, with the Magpies showing exactly how it should be done. This loss saw the Blues slip out of the eight, with no let up in sight as they faced St. Kilda and Port Adelaide, both away, in the two weeks ahead.
Although this was a Carlton home game, the Blues were directed by the AFL to wear their "clash" socks with a one white hoop. Collingwood wore their traditional black socks.
Team
| B: | 4 Bryce Gibbs | 40 Michael Jamison | 43 Simon White |
| HB: | 45 Aaron Joseph | 2 Jordan Russell | 18 Paul Bower |
| C: | 6 Kade Simpson | 5 Chris Judd (c) | 29 Heath Scotland |
| HF: | 7 Brock McLean | 17 Setanta O'hAilpin | 44 Andrew Carrazzo |
| F: | 33 Ryan Houlihan | 23 Lachlan Henderson | 13 Chris Yarran |
| Ruck: | 8 Matthew Kreuzer | 19 Eddie Betts | 3 Marc Murphy |
| Interchange: | 24 Kane Lucas | 27 Dennis Armfield | 38 Jeffery Garlett |
| 39 Sam Jacobs | |||
| Coach: | Brett Ratten | ||
| Emg: | 12 Mitch Robinson, 16 Shaun Grigg, 30 Jarrad Waite | ||
Milestones
First Goal : Simon WhiteIrish Goal Kicking Records : With 5 majors in this game, Setanta Ó hAilpín set a new mark for Irish recruits to the AFL. The previous best was 4, kicked by Tadgh Kenneally of the Sydney Swans.
Brownlow Votes
3. Chris Judd, Carlton2. Dane Swan, Collingwood
1. Luke Ball, Collingwood
Best & Fairest Votes
41 Chris Judd, 38 Jordan Russell, 33 Setanta O’hAilpin, 32 Aaron Joseph, 4 Eddie Betts, Paul Bower, Ryan Houlihan, Marc Murphy, Kade SimpsonLadder
| P | W | D | L | For | A | % | Pts | ||
| 1 | Sydney | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 639 | 437 | 146.22 | 20 |
| 2 | Collingwood | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 654 | 463 | 141.25 | 20 |
| 3 | St Kilda | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 509 | 361 | 141.00 | 20 |
| 4 | Fremantle | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 672 | 503 | 133.60 | 20 |
| 5 | Geelong | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 731 | 531 | 137.66 | 16 |
| 6 | Brisbane Lions | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 570 | 540 | 105.56 | 16 |
| 7 | Port Adelaide | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 481 | 553 | 86.98 | 16 |
| 8 | Western Bulldogs | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 559 | 483 | 115.73 | 12 |
| 9 | Carlton | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 592 | 544 | 108.82 | 12 |
| 10 | Melbourne | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 517 | 479 | 107.93 | 12 |
| 11 | North Melbourne | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 483 | 578 | 83.56 | 12 |
| 12 | Essendon | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 497 | 597 | 83.25 | 8 |
| 13 | Hawthorn | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 484 | 572 | 84.62 | 4 |
| 14 | West Coast | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 496 | 623 | 79.61 | 4 |
| 15 | Adelaide | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 379 | 614 | 61.73 | 0 |
| 16 | Richmond | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 372 | 757 | 49.14 | 0 |
Round 5 | Round 7