Round 23, 2014

Carlton 6.3 39 7.4 46 11.4 70 14.6 90 Essendon 1.3 9 9.6 60 11.11 77 13.12 90
Venue:	MCG
Date:	Saturday, August 30, 2014
Result:	Draw
Crowd:	56,663
Goalkickers:	M. Watson 4, C. Yarran 2, T. Menzel 2, D. Armfield, T. Bell, J. Waite, K. Lucas, B. McLean, C. Wood 1.
Reports:
Umpires:	J. Dalgleish, R. O'Gorman, S. Wenn
Injuries:
Ladder:	13th

Game Review

With less than a minute of play left in this see-sawing encounter on a perfect Saturday afternoon at the MCG, Carlton and Essendon were locked on 90 points apiece when Bryce Gibbs marked right on the Blues’ attacking 50-metre arc. Bryce’s kick for goal seemed good off his boot, but it felt a metre short, and the Bomber defence rushed it away to bring up the first draw of the 2014 season.

In a game remarkable for big momentum swings – each team led by five goals at various stages – Carlton tyro Matthew Watson revived his career, kicking four majors in a breakout performance. Veterans Chris Judd, Andrew Carrazzo and Brock McLean, along with big-hearted ruckman Cameron Wood controlled the midfield for long periods, while key defenders Michael Jamison and Sam Rowe finished off their impressive individual seasons with solid efforts.

After Carlton’s abysmal 103-point defeat by Port Adelaide in round 22, few pundits gave the Blues any chance of upsetting Essendon. In spite their ongoing legal disputes over allegations of systematic doping at Windy Hill, the Bombers were entrenched in the top eight and assured of a place in the finals. On the other hand, Carlton had only the club’s tarnished reputation to defend at the end of a truly bleak season. The Blues’ cause wasn’t helped either, by the late withdrawal of captain Marc Murphy, who hadn’t recovered from severe concussion suffered against Port Adelaide. Murphy’s absence saw the Blues start this match with four changes from the previous week - Nick Holman, Blaine Johnson and Nick Graham as well as Murphy came out, replaced by Watson, McLean, Dennis Armfield and late inclusion Patrick Cripps, who was named as the Blues substitute. In bright sunshine on a perfect Melbourne Saturday afternoon, the two teams ran out to a mixed reception from the crowd of more than 56,000, and the first quarter was a cracker.

Prior to his recall for this match, Watson had been groomed as a defender. However, he started forward in this match, and had an immediate impact when he won a free kick and goaled from 25 metres to draw first blood for the Blues. Essendon struck back with their only major of the term, before Carlton exerted real authority on the contest and slammed through the next five. With Judd, Gibbs, Carrazzo, Wood and Sam Docherty influential around the packs, Carlton skipped away to lead of 30 points at quarter-time, in one of the Blues’ best quarters of football for the year. Highlights for Carlton fans included Chris Yarran’s slashing 2-bounce run and goal after 18 minutes, and Watson’s classic left-foot snap from the boundary line deep in the left forward pocket – a brilliant kick that arrowed through for Matthew’s second.

Bomber coach Mark Thompson ripped into his team during the break, demanding that they lift, and they did. From the first bounce of the second term, Carlton’s defence was under constant pressure. Wave after wave of Bomber attacks swept into their forward 50, and their persistence was rewarded with three unanswered majors. At the 15-minute mark of the quarter, Essendon’s Joe Daniher added another two goals in two minutes, and suddenly the Bombers were in front. They kept their foot on the throttle, and at half-time they had snatched back the initiative by 14 points.

The third quarter turned in to an arm wrestle, as both sides tightened up and scoring became more difficult. Carlton chipped away at the deficit, and when Troy Menzel brought up his second goal of the term with a neat set-shot from deep in the left-forward pocket shortly before the three-quarter time siren, there was only seven points in it.

Armfield was subbed out of the game at the last break, allowing Cripps to savour the atmosphere of his third senior match. Early on, McLean fired up the Carlton crowd when he ran on to a perfect handpass from Judd, and kicked truly to get the Blues back to within one point. Essendon quickly replied, but McLean bobbed up again, and his pass to Watson produced the big number 10’s fourth major. Fourteen minutes in, Wood won the ball in the middle of a pack. Somehow, he snapped a crucial goal over his shoulder, and put Carlton ahead by 5 points. Essendon responded once more, then Zach Tuohy just missed with a set shot from 45 metres to level the scores with 26.45 on the clock. In the very next passage of play, Gibbs marked and missed as previously described, before the final siren sounded with the score all square.

So ended Carlton’s 2014 – a season that had begun amid confidence and optimism, but ended in mediocrity.

Subs: Patrick Cripps replaced Dennis Armfield at ¾ time.

Team

B:	6 Kade Simpson (A/C)	40 Michael Jamison (DVC)	17 Sam Rowe
HB:	13 Chris Yarran	42 Zach Tuohy	43 Simon White
C:	35 Ed Curnow	5 Chris Judd	15 Sam Docherty
HF:	2 Troy Menzel	30 Jarrad Waite	27 Dennis Armfield
F:	10 Matthew Watson	41 Levi Casboult	28 Tom Bell
Ruck:	36 Cameron Wood	4 Bryce Gibbs	44 Andrew Carrazzo (VC)
Interchange:	9 Kane Lucas	14 Brock McLean	47 Ciaran ‘Gus’ Sheehan
Substitute:	16 Patrick Cripps
Emergencies:	3 Marc Murphy (Captain)	20 Nick Holman	45 Blaine Johnson
Coach:	Mick Malthouse

*- Patrick Cripps replaced Marc Murphy in the selected side

Milestones

Last Game: Jarrad Waite, Brock McLean and Kane Lucas
Interesting Fact: With his 4 goals in this game, Matthew Watson tripled his career tally - to 6 majors!
Interesting Fact: This would be Ciaran Sheehan's last game for almost 3 years, and in the Guernsey #47

Brownlow Votes

3. Chris Judd, Carlton
2. Brock McLean, Carlton
1. Patrick Ryder, Essendon

Best & Fairest Votes

Chris Judd 10, Brock McLean 10, Matthew Watson 6, Bryce Gibbs 5, Ciaran ‘Gus’ Sheehan 5, Simon White 5, Sam Docherty 4, Michael Jamison 4, Zach Tuohy 4, Sam Rowe 1, Chris Yarran 1,

Ladder

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	For	Agn	Stk	Chg	%	Pts
1	Sydney	22	17	0	5	2126	1488	1L	-	142.88	68
2	Hawthorn	22	17	0	5	2458	1746	2W	-	140.78	68
3	Geelong	22	17	0	5	2033	1787	1W	-	113.77	68
4	Fremantle	22	16	0	6	2029	1556	3W	-	130.40	64
5	Port Adelaide	22	14	0	8	2180	1678	1L	-	129.92	56
6	North Melbourne	22	14	0	8	2026	1731	4W	-	117.04	56
7	Essendon	22	12	1	9	1828	1719	1D	-	106.34	50
8	Richmond	22	12	0	10	1887	1784	9W	-	105.77	48
9	West Coast	22	11	0	11	2045	1750	2W	U1	116.86	44
10	Adelaide	22	11	0	11	2175	1907	1W	U1	114.05	44
11	Collingwood	22	11	0	11	1766	1876	1L	D2	94.14	44
12	Gold Coast	22	10	0	12	1917	2045	4L	-	93.74	40
13	Carlton	22	7	1	14	1891	2107	1D	-	89.75	30
14	Western Bulldogs	22	7	0	15	1784	2177	3L	-	81.95	28
15	Brisbane Lions	22	7	0	15	1532	2212	2L	-	69.26	28
16	GWS Giants	22	6	0	16	1780	2320	1W	-	76.72	24
17	Melbourne	22	4	0	18	1336	1954	10L	-	68.37	16
18	St Kilda	22	4	0	18	1480	2436	5L	-	60.76	16

2014
Game	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23
Agst	PA	RI	ES	ME	WB	WC	CO	SK	Bye	AD	BR	GE	HA	GWS	CO	SK	SY	NM	FR	GC	GE	PA	ES
Carlscr	87	86	57	58	119	92	70	101	...	81	91	102	90	92	76	151	51	109	78	97	76	37	90
OppScr	120	98	138	81	91	89	104	69	...	76	98	107	118	100	91	66	122	86	83	58	82	140	90
W/L	-33	-12	-81	-23	28	3	-34	32	...	5	-7	-5	-28	-8	-15	85	-71	23	-5	39	-6	-103	---
Ladder	12	13	15	17	16	16	16	13*	13	12	12	12	12	12	14	13	14	13	13	13	13	13	13
%	72.5	79.36	64.6	65.9	77.0	80.8	78.9	84.8	84.8	86.7	87.3	88.1	86.9	87.3	87.1	93.5	89.5	91.4	91.5	94.0	93.9	89.2	89.7

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Round 22 | 2015