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Venue: MCG | Date: Saturday June 4, 1955 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Result: Loss by 65 points | Umpire: Beitzel | Crowd: 34,669 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Goalkickers: N.O'Brien 5, P.Webster 2, D.Beasy 1, J.Mills 1. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Reports: Nil | Injuries: Ellis (cramp) replaced by Paice at three quarter time. Crowe (knee) replaced by G. Kerr final quarter. Milroy (cork leg) | |||||||||||||||||||
Game Review
The Blues took on the undefeated Melbourne, who it must be said were sitting bang in the middle of their 'golden era'. We were no match for the Demons who took the game by 65 points.The Blues fell to 8th after this loss, with a percentage of 103.1.
"The Demons were too big and strong in the ruck, too clever and fast in roving, and too cool, calm and collected in defence."
The Blues made too many mistakes with short passing on the backline and let Melbourne in for a few easy goals. Wingers Laurie Kerr and John Sullivan beat their opponents on the day. Carlton fought back in the third quarter to get within 14 points, but the Demons put the foot down and extended the lead to 43 points at the last break. An indication of Melbourne's depth was that their top goal kicker Clarke was unavailable, so they brought in a young Laurie Mithen who kicked a cool 7.2! At the other end, Noel O'Brien scored 5.3 plus 2 shots that failed to score. "He moved nicely and kicked well." Legendary Melbourne coach Norm Smith; "Bobby (Nobby) O'Brien, Carlton full forward, did a great job for his side. He is the best full forward we have met this season."
Carlton coach Perc Bentley
"We lost because we could not match Melbourne in the ruck and roving divisions. Our chief trouble this year is our followers. We miss Ken Hands, our captain, in the ruck, and we want several more tall players. Unfortunately injury has kept young 6ft. 4in. Graham Donaldson out of the side. Ground conditions were against us. The ball was not greasy, but the turf was holding, and Melbourne was more accustomed to the conditions. I feel the scores do not give a true indication of the relative strength of the two teams. It must be remembered we finished with only 17 men. Bill Milroy, our acting captain and hardest worker in the ruck would have left the ground if we had not already used our 19th and 20th men."Best
Noel O'Brien, Laurie Kerr, Bill Milroy, Denis Zeunert, John Brown, Jack Sullivan, Bob Crowe.Scorers
N. O'Brien 5.3, P. Webster 2.2, J. Mills 1.1, D. Beasy 1.1, B. Milroy 0.2, J. Ellis 0.1, J. James 0.2, Kerr 0.3, J. Sullivan 0.1Team
| B: | 15 Bruce Comben | 25 George Ferry | 14 Vin English |
| HB: | 16 John Brown | 34 Bob Crowe | 19 Denis Zeunert |
| C: | 30 Jack Sullivan | 10 John James | 11 Laurie Kerr |
| HF: | 8 Jack Ellis | 3 Peter Webster | 17 Doug Beasy |
| F: | 24 Bernie Moran | 26 Noel O'Brien | 29 Peter Aitken |
| Ruck: | 2 Bill Milroy (acting capt.) | 4 Bob Bosustow | 9 Jack Mills |
| Res: | 33 John Paice | 35 Graham Kerr | |
| Coach: | Percy Bentley | ||
Round 7 | Round 9