Game Review

Blues fans were nervous heading in to round 2 after a mediocre effort first up. Sure, the hierarchy had made some seemingly impressive list switches over the pre-season, but the round 1 performance didn't seem to match where we had got to in 2014. We were shaking!

The match committee responded on selection night by replacing the injured Kristian Jaksch and Dale Thomas with Levi Casboult and first-gamer Jason Tutt, before David Ellard was called in shortly before the start of the match.when Patrick Cripps' back didn't respond to treatment as hoped.

Notwithstanding an Eagles goal in the first 15 seconds of play, the Blues started well. Some slick clearances from the centre through Chris Judd and Tom Bell, and strong defence, saw the Blues two goals up within 10 minutes. The rest of the term featured some entertaining play by both teams, before a last minute Marc Murphy goal restored the 12-point advantage. A vintage quarter from Judd was a delight to watch, but the inevitable 'Selwood drop' and resulting goal from Luke Shuey was a blot on our great game. And when Simon White was substituted out of the match very early it didn't bode well.

It soon got worse. The Eagles switched Matt Rosa on to Judd with immediate effect, and the run from our midfield all but evaporated. With Bryce Gibbs tagging West Coast's danger man Matt Priddis, and our key runners Docherty, Simpson and Yarran all in the last line, our midfield was swamped by the quality and quantity of the opposition. And with each turnover, a mark inside their 50-metre arc by Josh Kennedy seemed inevitable.

All too soon Carlton was 50 points down, and the latter stages of the match were an Eagles jamboree. Kennedy versus Carlton became the focus, despite the fact that many Blues fans retain affection for the young man we gave up for the great Chris Judd. On this day Josh had a day out, delighting non Carlton-supporting trivia buffs by kicking 10.1 off his own trusty right boot - one point less than Carlton's total score.

Aside from some impressive aerial work by Levi Casboult, the Blues were destroyed in the midfield and demolished on the scoreboard. We had been spanked.

Subs: Clem Smith replaced Simon White during the first quarter.

Team

B:	15 Sam Docherty	40 Michael Jamison (VC)	17 Sam Rowe
HB:	13 Chris Yarran	42 Zach Tuohy	43 Simon White
C:	35 Ed Curnow	5 Chris Judd	33 Andrejs Everitt
HF:	46 David Ellard	41 Levi Casboult	28 Tom Bell
F:	2 Troy Menzel	14 Liam Jones	23 Lachie Henderson
Ruck:	36 Cameron Wood	4 Bryce Gibbs (VC)	44 Andrew Carrazzo
Interchange:	3 Marc Murphy (Captain)	6 Kade Simpson	22 Jason Tutt
Substitute:	22 Clem Smith
Emergencies:	27 Dennis Armfield	38 Ciaran 'Casey' Byrne	9 Patrick Cripps
Coach:	Mick Malthouse

Changes

In: Levi Casboult, Jason Tutt
Out: Kristian Jaksch, Dale Thomas
Late Change: David Ellard replaced Patrick Cripps in the selected side

Milestone

Debut (Carlton): Jason Tutt

Footnotes

Interesting Fact : This was the first time an individual opponent had kicked 10 goals against Carlton since 2007.
Interesting Fact : This was Mick Malthouse's 300th loss as a League coach, bringing his record to 712 games with 405 wins, 7 draws and a winning ratio of 57.37%.
Interesting Fact : Josh Kennedy's tenth goal was the 300th of his career.

Brownlow Votes

3. Josh Kennedy, West Coast
2. Matt Priddis, West Coast
1. Andrew Gaff, West Coast

Best & Fairest Votes

Sam Docherty 6, David Ellard 5, Zach Tuohy 5, Andrejs Everitt 3, Kade Simpson 3