2006 Pre-Season
NAB Pre-Season Cup
| Venue: Telstra Dome (Night) | |||||||||||||||||||
Date: Saturday February 25, 2006 7:40pm | Result: Loss by 28 points | |||||||||||||||||||
Umpires: L Farmer, M James, M Jennings & J Schmitt | Crowd: 31,297 | |||||||||||||||||||
Goalkickers: NINE POINT: N Stevens 1; SIX POINT: B Fevola 2, B Fisher 2, J Waite 1, D McLaren 1, M Murphy 1 & S O'hAilpin 1. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Best: L Whitnall, M Lappin, A Koutoufides, R Houlihan, B Fisher, S O'hAilpin & N Stevens. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Reports: Nil | Injuries: Nil | |||||||||||||||||||
Game Review
The Blues' defence of its 2005 Pre-Season premiership would be short lived. Ironically this would turn out to be a clash of the 2005 and eventual 2006 Pre-season premiers, with Geelong ultimately going all the way. Carlton went in to this match at full strength.
They kicked the first 3 goals but then Geelong got going with the next 5, all through Kent Kingsley, to take an 11 point lead at the first change. Goals then became hard to come by, both sides managing to add just a solitary goal in the second quarter and 2 in the third, though one of these was the night's only 9-pointer, through Nick Stevens. Carlton had plenty of the ball in its foward line but managed 11 behinds in the middle 2 quarters, lacking system and fluency and making numerous skill errors. At 3/4 time, the Blues trailed by 2 points despite having 5 more scoring shots. The Blues kicked the first goal of the last quarter to hit the front but then Geelong responded, outscoring the Blues 7 goals to 3 to run out 28 point winners. 4 of those came from Kingsley, who had been held goalless in the middle 2 quarters. It was the game of his life for him- 9 goals being his best ever effort and he would fail to reach those heights again for the Cats, in what would turn out to be his final season with that club.
Ryan Houlihan and Matthew Lappin were the leading possession winners for the match with 25 disposals each, while Stevens had 24. Lance Whitnall played well across half-back and had 20. Brad Fisher booted 2 goals from 8 marks.
Team
B: | 20 Cory McGrath | ||
HB: | 12 Matthew Lappin | 8 Lance Whitnall | |
C: | 33 Ryan Houlihan | 40 Adam Bentick | |
HF: | 24 Nick Stevens | 30 Jarrad Waite | 14 Brad Fisher |
F: | 17 Setanta Ó hAilpín | 26 Adrian Deluca | |
Ruck: | 19 Eddie Betts | ||
Interchange: | |||
Coach: | |||
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NAB Challenge Practice Match #1
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Game Review
The Blues were simply no match for Port Adelaide and overused the ball. Matthew Lappin, Heath Scotland and Ryan Houlihan all won plenty of the ball, while Brad Fisher offered an option in attack and Adam Bentick battled hard. The timing of this loss at its traditional home ground could not have come at a worse time, given Carlton was using the day to try and boost its membership. Coach Denis Pagan pleaded with supporters for another chance over the final 2 weeks of the pre-season.
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NAB Challenge Practice Match #2
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Game Review
Carlton responded to its big loss a week earlier by recording a strong victory against the eventual 2006 premiers. Both sides were without many of their stars (including Koutoufides, Whitnall and French). They held the Eagles goalless in the first quarter and were always in control. Matthew Lappin was made stand-in captain and led the way with 27 possessions. Nick Stevens and Andrew Walker had 25. Brendan Fevola kicked 5 goals.
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NAB Challenge Practice Match #3
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Game Review
Carlton treated this final 2006 Practice match as a full dress rehearsal for round one of the premiership season, going in with its strongest side. The Bulldogs were also close to full strength. The match was tight early but a 4 goal to 1 third quarter gave the Blues an 11 point lead at the final change. The last quarter was error riddled, with both sides missing easy shots at goal but the Blues withstood the challenge to score a 3 point win. Eddie Betts kicked 3 crumbing goals, while Brendan Fevola and Brad Fisher worked hard to each kick 2.
Last updated by Jamie Sanderson ·