Game Review

The Bears were in the middle of a sensational run to the finals, their first finals campaign, and it was only stopped by Carlton by 14 points. In a season with a very even middle tier of teams, the Bears – currently in 12th (before this game) would run through Richmond, Essendon and Melbourne to leapfrog a number of teams to finish 8th, and bring with them a fast and committed game that was arguably our biggest threat on the run to the 1995 Grand Final.

A young Michael Voss was making his mark for the Bears, who in combination with Adrian Fletcher and Craig Lambert (ex-Tigers), all players who generally did well against the Blues, formed a threatening midfield. For us, the hard-working Fraser Brown would earn 33 possessions and BOG with his efforts in the middle. Brown’s role in 1995, together with Ratten’s emergence in the middle, allowed Greg Williams to be played up forward on occasion – in this game Diesel would earn a lazy 21 stats and kick 2 goals.

Also of importance to Carlton were the forward line efforts of recent recruits Dean Rice, with 2 goals 3, and former Bear Brad Pearce who kicked yet another 4 goals to lead the forward line. These two players were responsible for the end of our permanent small forward selection, with Brent Heaver, Troy Bond and indeed Luke O'Sullivan getting limited opportunities at times because of the emergence of the pacey Pearce and strong marking Rice.

The Blues were wasteful in front of goal, with 11 goals 19 and Rice / Pearce kicking 6 behinds, which kept the Bears in the game. But I remember feeling relieved at the end of this game, relieved that the Bears couldn’t possibly make the finals. Or could they?

Team

Milestones

Last game (Carlton): James Cook