| Venue: Princes Park | Date: Saturday April 24, 1954 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Result: Loss by 19 points | Umpire: Frood | Crowd: 21,000 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Goalkickers: N.O'Brien 4, J.Howell 3, G.Kerr 2, D.Beasy 1, K.Hands 1, J.Mills 1. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Reports: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Injuries: Howell (back) replaced by Sullivan second quarter. English (broken collarbone and concussion) replaced by Spencer third quarter. Hands (groin). Zeunert (thigh) shifted to forward pocket. McKaige (cramps). G. Kerr (thigh). Comben (shoulder) replaced in selected side by Munro. Wenn (shoulder) replaced in selected side by McKaige. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Game Review
"Carlton ended the game with 10 players on its injured list...""In addition to three players who could not be considered for selection on Thursday night, the Blues had to make two more changes just before the match as Max Wenn and Bruce Comben had not recovered from injuries. After playing well in the first quarter, big Jack Howell had to leave the ground. Later, Vin English took a bad tumble and was taken off on a stretcher suffering from concussion and a broken collarbone. Captain Ken Hands was forced to play, although he had a back injury which would normally have kept him out of the side."
Another handicap was the strong wind, and first time umpire Frood who stated his authority by over-umpiring the match. Melbourne were too quick and kept the Blues under pressure by tackling them at every opportunity. Howell's loss was a major blow. In the first quarter when Carlton kicked with the wind, he was the dominant big man on the ground, winning in the ruck, and taking many marks around the ground.
With Howell off the ground, Melbourne outscored the Blues by 5 goals in the second term. 'Chooka' had been reluctantly included in the team by the selectors as the Blues had so many injuries, but the gamble backfired when he aggravated his back complaint. (On the previous Tuesday it was reported that he could walk, but was unable to bend over).
Beasy was moved to the centre and Warburton to centre-half forward after half time. These moves worked, but Carlton wasted their chances and only managed to score 4 goals from 11 scoring shots. Against the wind, Melbourne kicked 3 goals from 4 shots and won by 19 points. Future Carlton captain-coach Ron Barassi was at full-forward for Melbourne in this game - and by his own admission, was given a football lesson by the Blues' star full-back George Ferry.
Best:
Ferry, Warburton, Chick, O'Brien, Mills, Hands
Team
| B: | 38 Frank Munro | 25 George Ferry | 14 Vin English |
| HB: | 16 John Brown | 8 Ken McKaige | 19 Denis Zeunert |
| C: | 28 Graham Gilchrist | 7 Keith Warburton | 23 John Chick |
| HF: | 10 John James | 17 Doug Beasy | 27 George Ilsley |
| F: | 2 Bill Milroy | 26 Noel O'Brien | 9 Jack Mills |
| Ruck: | 13 Jack Howell (vc) | 1 Ken Hands (c) | 35 Graham Kerr |
| Res: | 3 Harry Sullivan | 32 Jack Spencer | |
| Coach: | Percy Bentley | ||
Late Changes
Comben and Wenn, named in the team on Thursday night, were replaced in selected team by Munro and McKaige.
Milestones
150 Games: Ken Hands50 VFL Games: Bill Milroy
Debut: Frank Munro
Last Game: George Ilsley
Round 1 | Round 3