Round 12, 2010

Carlton 1.2 8 6.3 39 10.4 64 10.8 68 North Melbourne 4.5 29 8.8 56 11.11 77 14.13 97
Venue:	Docklands Stadium
Date:	7.40 pm, Friday, June 11, 2010
Result:	Lost by 29 points
Crowd:	43,732
Goalkickers:	E. Betts (5), J. Waite (3), M. Kreuzer, S. O’hAilpin (1).
Reports:	Nil
Umpires:	L. Farmer, H. Kennedy S. McLaren
Injuries:	E. Betts (knee), M. Robinson (quad)
Ladder:	6th

Game Review

All the build up was about celebrating North Melbourne’s 25th anniversary of Friday night football. All the expectation was for a comfortable Carlton victory. When all was said and done it really was about a North Melbourne celebration after a very disappointing Carlton performance, made all the more disappointing by squandering a top four spot in the process.

With a host of names listed as available for selection the Thursday night match committee had an usually pleasant selection headache. It was Joe Anderson making way, the only victim from last round’s victory over Melbourne, but who to choose? With the likes of Armfield, Bower, Henderson, Lucas, McLean and Yarran all ready for a run it posed a tricky decision. In the end it was a like-for-like replacement with Dennis Armfield getting the nod.

Sometimes you can just tell it’s going to be one of those nights, you know a bad one. As Dennis Denuto so eloquently put it in The Castle, “It’s just the vibe”. Even though the Blues didn’t get blown away on the scoreboard in the early moments all the feeling, all the energy, all the decisions had a distinctly Kangaroo flavour about them. Half way through the term it was four goals to none and it really was a case of wondering from where a goal might be conjured. Eddie Betts had offered tiny sparks on the odd occasion when the ball ventured forward and it was he who finally posted the Blues’ first very late in the term. It was all about turnovers (Carlton’s), gifting the ball to the Kangaroos time and again with poor disposals or bad decisions. It was excruciating to watch, but the scoreboard suggested we were still in it trailing by just 21 points at the break.

Things did eventually take a turn for the better during the second term, but not before the Kangaroos banged through another few to extend their lead to a worrying 38 points. When the Blues finally clicked it happened in a hurry. Five consecutive goals in the space of 12 minutes were largely inspired by Bryce Gibbs, Marc Murphy and Chris Judd in the middle and Betts with three more up forward. The gap had closed to just nine points before Kangaroo Lindsay Thomas (duelling with Betts) grabbed his fourth late in time-on to bring the run to a halt. The margin at the main change was 17 points and the momentum had definitely shifted.

The third was almost a carbon copy of the second. The Kangaroos started better with the first two goals, before the Blues steadied and went on a run of their own. Matthew Kreuzer got one against the flow after marking and then receiving a 50m bonus in what was an otherwise quiet night for him. However, it did seem to provide the spark and three more followed soon after (two to Jarrad Waite and Betts’ fifth) to make the margin as close as it had been since the early minutes of the game. Again it was Thomas, the thorn in our side, chiming in with his fifth late in the term to leave the game evenly poised at the final change; the Blues 13 points adrift.

The last quarter was all North Melbourne. Carlton couldn’t take a trick or score a goal. It was three goals to none in the last before the Blues were finally put out of their misery by the siren to go down by 29 points, though in truth the margin was probably a little flattering to the disappointing Blues.

In a game light on positives for Carlton, a solid victory in the midfield clearances was a small one. In addition to Gibbs, Murphy and Judd, Kade Simpson and Richard Hadley were both solid contributors, and all benefitted from neat work from the improving Sam Jacobs. Betts and Waite were the dominant Carlton forwards, while Jeff Garlett covered a lot of territory with little to show for it. A late injury (knee?) to Eddie Betts added salt to the wound. A spot in the four went begging and left the Blues mired in the middle with a bunch of other teams fighting it out for a spot in the lower part of the eight.

Team

B:	45 Aaron Joseph	40 Michael Jamison	2 Jordan Russell
HB:	44 Andrew Carrazzo	4 Bryce Gibbs	1 Andrew Walker
C:	29 Heath Scotland	5 Chris Judd (c)	27 Dennis Armfield
HF:	38 Jeff Garlett	30 Jarrad Waite	6 Kade Simpson
F:	19 Eddie Betts	17 Setanta O'hAilpin	33 Ryan Houlihan
Ruck:	8 Matthew Kreuzer	10 Richard Hadley	3 Marc Murphy
Interchange:	12 Mitch Robinson	15 Steven Browne	32 Bret Thornton
	39 Sam Jacobs
Coach:	Brett Ratten
Emg:	7 Brock McLean , 16 Shaun Grigg, 23 Lachlan Henderson

Milestones

Last Game : Steven Browne
Games Breakdowns : This was Carlton's 2,300th game of league football.

Brownlow Votes

3. Lindsay Thomas, North Melbourne
2. Scott Thompson, North Melbourne
1. Michael Firrito, North Melbourne

Best & Fairest Votes

39 Eddie Betts, 18 Bryce Gibbs, 7 Andrew Carrazzo, 5 Jarrad Waite, 4 Richard Hadley, 3 Bret Thornton, Jeffery Garlett

Ladder

	2010 Rd 12	P	W	D	L	For	Agn	%	Pts
1	Geelong	12	10	0	2	1495	962	155.41	40
2	St Kilda	12	9	0	3	1054	841	125.33	36
3	Collingwood	12	8	1	3	1263	1004	125.80	34
4	Fremantle	12	8	0	4	1270	1067	119.03	32
5	Western Bulldogs	12	7	0	5	1171	937	124.97	28
6	Carlton	12	7	0	5	1173	1047	112.03	28
7	Sydney	12	7	0	5	1083	978	110.74	28
8	Hawthorn	12	6	0	6	1054	1037	101.64	24
9	North Melbourne	12	6	0	6	980	1233	79.48	24
10	Essendon	12	5	0	7	1088	1215	89.55	20
11	Brisbane Lions	12	5	0	7	1058	1192	88.76	20
12	Port Adelaide	12	5	0	7	940	1132	83.04	20
13	Melbourne	12	4	1	7	943	1032	91.38	18
14	West Coast	12	3	0	9	980	1207	81.19	12
15	Adelaide	12	3	0	9	909	1162	78.23	12
16	Richmond	12	2	0	10	869	1284	67.6	8

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Round 11 | Round 13