Round 12, 2012

Carlton 2.3 15 4.4 28 8.8 56 10.9 69 West Coast 3.3 21 5.12 42 6.17 53 10.19 79
Venue:	Subiaco
Date:	Thursday, June 14, 2012 (night)
Result:	Lost by 10 points
Crowd:	34,224
Goalkickers:	M. Kreuzer 2, L. Henderson 2, A. Walker, J. Garlett, D. Armfield, Z. Tuohy, K. Simpson & A. Collins 1.
Reports:	Nil
Umpires:	L. Farmer, D. Margetts & B. Rosebury
Injuries:	Nil
Ladder:	9th

Game Review

Two contentious umpiring decisions – both paid against the Blues - tarnished this vital game against the West Coast Eagles played on a Thursday evening at Subiaco Oval. Although visiting teams have had to accept that umpires in the west are routinely influenced by vocal home crowds, Carlton supporters still came away highly aggrieved after this ten-point loss to the home side.

Contesting their third tough match in 12 days, against an Eagles line-up fresh from a bye, the Blues took it right up to West Coast and briefly hit the front after a determined third quarter surge. But mid-way through the last term, a controversial 50-metre penalty against Carlton captain Chris Judd gifted the Eagles a steadying goal, and stretched their advantage to 17 points. Although tiring in the last few minutes, the Blueboys gutsed the game out, and the final margin was a fair reflection of the difference between the two teams.

Six days on from their disappointing fifth loss of the season to Geelong, Carlton burst out into the twilight at Subiaco Oval strengthened by the welcome inclusions of running machines Andrew Carrazzo and Heath Scotland, both of whom had recovered earlier than expected from shoulder and calf injuries respectively. Josh Bootsma and Aaron Joseph were the original omissions, but Joseph earned a reprieve when Shaun Hampson was a late withdrawal. Andy Collins slipped on the red vest as his team’s substitute, and the match began at a frantic rate on a surface sodden by days of heavy rain, with more threatening.

Each side missed early opportunities, before Matthew Kreuzer snapped a neat left-footer from deep in a pocket at the six-minute mark. Quinten Lynch replied for the Eagles, but from that moment on the ‘Q-Stick’ was kept under a tight rein by tyro Matthew Watson, who gained in confidence the further the match unfolded. Late in the quarter Eagle Jack Darling blatantly (and unsuccessfully) staged for a free kick, and the ball was forced forward where Eddie Betts cleverly kicked it into the path of Andrew Walker for the Blues’ second. At quarter time, the Eagles were in front by six points.

The Weagles came out smokin’ in the second term, wresting the early initiative and bombarding the goal-front. Their radar was off however, and a succession of points was only broken when Darling was awarded a controversial free against Aaron Joseph directly in front of the Eagles’ goal. Fighting for the ball on the ground, Joseph was pounced upon by Darling and two others, who pinned him to the turf and held the ball underneath him. Aaron had no opportunity - and no means whatsoever - to move the ball on, but the umpire still penalised him.

Darling’s resulting goal snatched the initiative for the Eagles, and when Ashton Hams added another, West Coast skipped away to a 25-point advantage. Meanwhile, Carrazzo, Scotland, Dennis Armfield and Nick Duigan were all standing tall for the Blues, despite the dominance of Eagles ruckmen Cox and Natanui. Late in the quarter, the Blues rallied once more, and majors to Jeff Garlett and Armfield in the last few minutes saw the teams separated by 14 points at the long break, as rain began to fall.

Thankfully, the showers passed before play recommenced in the third quarter, and Kreuzer got the Blues rolling with the first goal of the term from a free kick. Carrazzo – who had started the match as a defensive forward on Shannon Hurn, before being switched into the midfield to shadow Daniel Kerr – continued to rack up possessions, while Kade Simpson and Mitch Robinson were creating real problems for the Eagles around the stoppages. On the other hand, Carlton captain Chris Judd was strangely subdued. Well-held by tagger Scott Selwood, Judd was lacking his customary acceleration through the contest, and more than once, fumbled the ball badly.

Another string of minor scores by West Coast made the difference one straight kick half-way through the third term. By then, the Eagles had scored 2.11 since quarter time, and Lachie Henderson’s big mark and goal – after some excellent lead-up work by Carrazzo – locked the scores. The next three minutes provided two of the game’s real highlights - the first when Natanui won the tap at the centre bounce, then swooped on the ball and charged forward on a jinking solo run. Had his shot split the posts it would have been one of the all-time great goals, but it just missed.

The second came immediately from the kick-in, when Carlton swept the ball to Robinson in the centre square. Robbo spotted Zach Tuohy, and hit him with a clever pass. Cool as you like, the pup from Portalois went back, and banged through a big right-footer from the 50-metre line to put the Blues five points up. Cox and Henderson added majors for their respective sides late in the quarter, and at the last change the Blues were clinging to a 3-point lead.

Carlton’s intensity in the first minutes of the last stanza was matched by the Eagles, who snatched back the ascendancy with two quick goals to Darling. The well-built youngster was being given plenty of space by the other Eagle forwards, and was proving a difficult assignment for Blues full-back Michael Jamison. Ten points in arrears after six minutes, yet still well in contention, Carlton coach Brett Ratten called his substitute Collins into the game, as Chris Yarran’s barren night ended early.

The most controversial moment of the game came at the 10-minute mark of the quarter, after Eagle Dean Cox earned a free-kick and lined up a shot on goal from the 50-metre arc at left half-forward. Nearby, Chris Judd and Matt Priddis were jostling each other, and Judd whacked a forearm into his tagger's bicep. Unbelievably, umpire Dean Margetts called “high contact!” and Carlton fans across the country fell off their seats in shock. Cox was marched to the goal-square, kicked the goal, and the match was all but over – more so when Eagle Brad Sheppard steered through the sealer shortly afterwards.

To their credit, the Blues kept fighting on, and majors to Simpson and Collins reduced the margin to ten points at the final siren. No-one could argue that the Eagles didn’t thoroughly deserve their win – after all, they had ten more scoring shots – but that ridiculous penalty imposed on Carlton’s captain in the last quarter will be long remembered.

On a more positive note, Andrew Carrazzo could scarcely have been more impressive upon his return. ‘Carrots’ collected 28 possessions, 5 clearances, 10 tackles - and set up two of Carlton’s goals while keeping a tight rein on the Eagles’ clearance maestro Daniel Kerr. He was clearly Carlton’s best contributor, along with Heath Scotland, Bryce Gibbs, Dennis Armfield, Kade Simpson and Nick Duigan.

Subs: Andrew Collins replaced Chris Yarran six minutes into the last quarter.

Team

B:	10 Matthew Watson	40 Michael Jamison	45 Aaron Joseph
HB:	42 Zach Tuohy	34 Nick Duigan	46 David Ellard
C:	6 Kade Simpson	5 Chris Judd (c)	29 Heath Scotland
HF:	19 Eddie Betts	23 Lachie Henderson	38 Jeffery Garlett
F:	12 Mitch Robinson	8 Matthew Kreuzer	44 Andrew Carrazzo
Ruck:	11 Robert Warnock	4 Bryce Gibbs	14 Brock McLean
Interchange:	1 Andrew Walker	13 Chris Yarran	27 Dennis Armfield
Substitute:	16 Andrew Collins
Coach:	Brett Ratten
Emg:	9 Kane Lucas, 21 Joshua Bootsma, 22 Shaun Hampson

-* Late Change Joseph for Hampson

Brownlow Votes

3. Scott Selwood, West Coast
2. Nic Naitanui, West Coast
1. Andrew Carrazzo, Carlton

Best & Fairest Votes

Andrew Carrazzo 33, Kade Simpson 25, Michael Jamison 17, Heath Scotland 17, Bryce Gibbs 14, Mitch Robinson 13, Nick Duigan 10, Dennis Armfield 8, Zach Tuohy 7, Eddie Betts 6, Matthew Kreuzer 5, Andrew Walker 5, Matthew Watson 3

Ladder

Pos	2012 Rd 12	P	W	L	D	Bye	For	Agst	U/D	Strk	%	Points
1	West Coast	11	9	2	0	Rd11	1166	863	+2	W1	135.11	36
2	Adelaide	11	9	2	0	Rd11	1129	902	+3	W2	125.17	36
3	Collingwood	11	9	2	0	Rd12	1102	882	-2	W8	124.94	36
4	Sydney	11	8	3	0	Rd12	1113	807	-2	W2	137.92	32
5	Hawthorn	12	8	4	0	Rd13	1331	976	+1	W3	136.37	32
6	Essendon	11	8	3	0	Rd12	1131	855	-2	L2	132.28	32
7	Geelong	11	7	4	0	Rd12	1054	947	+0	W3	111.30	28
8	St Kilda	12	6	6	0	Rd13	1270	1044	+0	L1	121.65	24
9	Carlton	12	6	6	0	Rd13	1114	985	+0	L3	113.10	24
10	Richmond	12	6	6	0	Rd13	1141	1050	+1	W1	108.67	24
11	Fremantle	11	6	5	0	Rd12	839	888	-1	W1	94.48	24
12	North Melbourne	11	5	6	0	Rd11	1149	1144	+0	W1	100.44	20
13	Western Bulldogs	11	5	6	0	Rd11	843	949	+2	W1	88.83	20
14	Port Adelaide	12	4	8	0	Rd13	954	1097	-1	L2	86.96	16
15	Brisbane	11	4	7	0	Rd11	889	1053	-1	L1	84.43	16
16	Melbourne	11	1	10	0	Rd12	699	1250	+0	L1	55.92	4
17	GWS	11	1	10	0	Rd11	637	1273	+0	L4	50.04	4
18	Gold Coast	12	0	12	0	Rd13	781	1377	+0	L12	56.7	0

Game	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Agst	Rich	Bris	Coll	Ess	Frem	Gws	St.Kilda	Adel	Melb	Port	Geel	W.Cst
Carl	125	154	122	79	65	110	98	55	107	54	85	69
Opp	81	63	62	109	57	43	122	124	49	99	97	79
Ladder	4	2	2	4	3	2	4	7	6	7	9	9
%	154.3	193.7	194.6	152.3	146.51	157.8	140.2	122.2	128.8	118.6	115.3	113.1
Game	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23
Agst	BYE	Haw	Coll	N.Melb	W.Bull	Rich	Sydney	Bris	Ess	G.Cst	St.Kilda
Ladder
%

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Round 11 | Round 13