Round 4, 2008

In any great game and any great win such as our riveting defeat of the ‘Pies, there are bound to be many moments that could be considered your Play of the Week. It could have been Fevola’s goals – particularly the last one, or his ferreting and tackling to give Grigg his moment in the sun (itself a highlight), or Bower’s game on Cloke, or Gibbsy’s tackles…but this week the fellows from Mike & Dan all agreed that Murphy’s brilliant extraction and kick to advantage was the pinnacle which we would reward with our Play of the Week.

Marc, you’ve won this week’s Play of the Week for that outstanding clearance and movement forward that set up Fevola’s last goal, right when the Pies were surging and the game was up for grabs. Great effort. Did you realise the game was won at that stage?

Yeah thanks guys…nah probably once Grigga kicked his goal after Fev’s two great tackles, I think that’s when I thought, we’re home here.

Thankfully it was hard to pick out a Play of the Week for the sheer number of choices – and your overall game was very impressive. What were the instructions through the week?

I know it’s a bit of a cliché but we really needed an all round even team performance. The week before we had some good individual performances, but we needed a team effort across the board and I think we delivered that on the weekend and that needs to be our benchmark going forward.

It wasn’t just you, but some of the other younger players had stand-out games. Tell us abit more about Bower and how he has been training?

Yeah Paul had a standout game on the weekend, he is a pretty quiet fella, but has been pretty impressive on the track and if he can keep up the form he showed on the weekend, all of a sudden the backline looks a lot stronger.

Gibbsy delivered a great goal and some huge tackles. How do you rate his progress this year as part of the midfield?

The thing people forget about Gibbsy is that he was drafted as a bottom age player. He has just turned 19, he is still extremely young, and I think Carlton people are still pretty excited about the kind of player he will be.

This was the first time our defence has really 'clicked' together with Waite, Jamison and Bower. Do you see them as a long term backline trio?

I don’t see why not - Waitey once again proved he can do one of the tough jobs, Jammo has really been fantastic and is a player that has well and truly slipped under the radar, he has probably played about 10 games and has done some really good jobs, Paully Bower is the same. But as a team we really need to assist the defence as much as possible, defence is a team game and shouldn’t be left to the back six.

Most people would say that Collingwood are a better team than Richmond and Essendon. How did we manage to beat them and yet fall down against the lesser teams?

Good question, I think it just proves that any team can beat any side on any given day, if you prepare and play the standard of footy required at this level you will be in with a show of beating anyone.

On this theme – did Carlton just ‘click’ or did we rise for the game? Was it the record losing streak or the hatred of Collingwood??

No we didn’t talk about the record, and you always get yourself up for the big games. There is a new feel around the Club this year; I think the positive thing going forward is that we can now benchmark ourselves going forward, anything less than the effort on the weekend is unacceptable.

You seem to attract a fair bit of physical attention ala Maxwell's elbow but
it doesn’t seem to phase you much. We are starting to think you enjoy it…

Ahh, wouldn’t want to cop that every week… that’s football.

Many pundits predicted that you would get an easier run with the opposition now focussing on shutting down Judd and Stevens, whereas last year you were the number one marked man. Have you noticed a change in the players who are picking you up?

Yes and no, there’s always going to be an opponent. I’m not really looking at it like ‘how good’s this going to be?’ I’m still going to work hard and try and draw some of the tagging attention away from those guys along with Andrew Carrazzo, Kade Simpson and Bryce Gibbs because that’s how we’ll develop into a strong midfield unit.

In the St Kilda game in Round two there were some incidents where Carlton players back-chatted umpires and gave away 50 metre penalties. The last two weeks it seems that every player has been very disciplined in not disputing decisions. Was this discussed as a team after the St Kilda game?

No, players know now if you backchat you will more than likely give away a 50.

Growing up the son of a VFL champion, what impact did that have on you as a junior player and as a kid?

I certainly didn’t appreciate how good Dad was until I was a teenager, and that goes for my Grandfather as well. Dad played well over 200 games, represented the state and won multiple Best & Fairests. As a kid he always supported me as well as my brothers Leigh and Brett.

Is your Dad still someone that you turn to for advice? Does he give it even when you don't ask?

Dad is always there to offer advice and he is really supportive, sometimes he tells me what I don’t want to hear, but need to, but I see it as a great advantage to have someone like Dad that has achieved so much and passionate about footy.

Have you converted your old man to Carlton yet? Has he bought a membership?

Yes and he’s got his seat at every match.

Melbourne has been down recently. How do you balance the enthusiasm after a win with a potentially dangerous game that you are now expected to win?

You’re right, they will be feeling the same as we did last week, we know that and we have to play the same type of footy again this week, it’s an exciting challenge for us.

Sometimes we ask our Blues players about which names are on their locker? We reckon there’s 5 Blues Champs on your locker – can you name them all?

Yeah I think I can, Bruce, Clarke, Bennett, Hall and of course the AFL Chairman Fitzy.

We’re pretty sure Marc knows his history and isn’t just reading his Locker….for all details on blokes to have worn Marc’s jumper in the past, click here….

Marc, sometimes we offer the players the chance for a free plug. So tell us – where do we go for the best pizza in town?

It’s too hard to split many of the fine eateries down Lygon Street, so my tip, if you want a good pizza, you can’t beat Lygon Street.


Marc’s arrival at Carlton was filled with fanfare, and now his games are too with highlights aplenty. From hard-ball gets, a large number of Inside 50’s (6 last week) and or trying to avoiding errant arms and shoulders, Murphy’s the man.

If the measure of a man is how well he times his leaving of this world, then no one would begrudge ‘Northeast’ Noel Duckworth exiting stage left in the hours immediately following Carlton’s magnificent victory over Collingwood last weekend.

Northeast Noel was a Carlton member for 52 of his 72 years until ‘the dancer’ finally robbed him of seeing any more than Carlton’s last eight flags. It was a good return for this battler from the bush who was instantly recognisable by his spade-handle grey beard and the twinkle in his eye.

After his funeral in Euroa next Tuesday, his ashes will be scattered at the Coliseum of our Conquering Champions. Then he will forever keep an eye on training sessions at Princes Park from his favourite possie in front of the old Harris stand.

He used to sit there week-in and week-out next to his old mate Frank ‘Wacker’ Strachan, a legendary Carlton character once famous among the players and the fans for his whacky annual Wacker Awards nights and his incomprehensible one-eyed Carlton column in The Melbourne Times.

Born at the Epworth Hospital in Richmond on August 16, 1935, Northeast Noel was initially a Fitzroy supporter because his beloved mother fancied the Gorillas from the other side of Nicholson Street.

His conversion to the True Blue Carlton cause came one day in his youth when one of the Fitzroy players had a Barry Hall moment and sunk the slipper into one of the Carlton Conquering Champions. Nicholson Street proved to be the road to Damascus.

Plutarch says the measure of a man is the way he bears up under misfortune. Young Duckworth contracted the debilitating polio disease as a kid and spent many years in a hospital at Macedon.

He could not walk properly when he got out of hospital but – if he took the back streets from his home in Thornbury and timed the traffic lights well enough – he could just manage to balance on his bicycle till he got to training twice a week at Princes Park.

With his awkward gait, he attempted to run with the players around the boundary line and received enormous encouragement for his efforts from the team doing circle work with cigarettes before going over the road to Naughton’s pub for a few sherbets to complete the training session.

He recalled last weekend before the Collingwood game that Jim Clark in particular was always there to lend young Noel a helping hand and see him safely on his bike for the perilous journey home through the traffic – where balance depended on perpetual motion and hang time on footpath fences.

Like most Carlton supporters, Northeast Noel lists “the last one” as his favourite Carlton premiership. When pushed, he says 1970 was an absolute beauty because it came at Collingwood’s expense.

However, he can not split his all-time favourite player from between Big Nick and Jezza and demands to have both.

His current favourite is Heath Scotland. A get-well card from Heath Scotland and Brett Ratten will go into his coffin next to one from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

Oh, and two bottles of Jimmy Watson’s Trophy best reds from 1987 and 1995 which he insists on taking with him to Blue Heaven to share with the Good Shepherd of Princes Park.

Travel well, Blues Brother. The next flag is for you…