| Venue: MCG | Date: Saturday August 5, 1972 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Result: Won by 11 points | Umpire: J.Sutcliffe | Crowd: 33,364 Receipts: $21,426 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Goalkickers: P.Jones 2, G.Kennedy 2, J.Nicholls 2, B.Armstrong 1, A.Gallagher 1, S.Jackson 1, T.Keogh 1, D.McKay 1. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Best: A.Gallagher, G.Southby, T.Keogh, B.Armstrong, P.Jones, S.Jackson. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Reports: | Injuries: B.Crosswell (strained ankle) replaced during first quarter by N.Chandler. A. Jesaulenko (broken nose) replaced by B.Quirk in last quarter. N. Chandler (broken nose), G.Kennedy (bruised thigh), G.Southby (bruised thigh). | |||||||||||||||||||
Robert Walls (virus) was replaced in the selcted team by Kevin Hall
Game Review
Perhaps because they were already assured of a top-two finish to the home and away season, the Blues eased off in the final quarter against Melbourne at the MCG, and escaped with an 11-point win.Meanwhile, Richmond easily beat North Melbourne to stay within two points of the Blues, and remain our only threat for the minor premiership. Collingwood, Hawthorn and St Kilda made up the top five.
The Blues were unimpressive in recording their 14th win of the season over Melbourne, when they kicked 11.11 - their lowest MCG score against the Demons since 1964. Melbourne finished strongly to score 5.8 to 2.0 in the last quarter, but ran out of time to stop the Blues making their third win in a row over the Demons. - Football Record.
Carlton need to focus
At the moment, the Blues have a few problems. These became evident on Saturday when Melbourne was able to slam on 5.8 (38) to the Blues 2.0 (12) in the final quarter to lose by only 11 points after being well behind all day. It is no secret that John Nicholls is not as tough or demanding a coach as his Carlton predecessor Ron Barassi, and this might be showing up in the side's lack of killer instinct. Besides this, Carlton also has worries at full-forward. Greg Kennedy is a highly promising player but he does not yet appear to be the answer at full-forward. Kennedy was well beaten by Melbourne full-back Ray Biffin, and only managed to kick two goals to boost his tally to 46 goals from 15 games. - Graeme Kelly; The Australian.
Team
| B: | 19 John O'Connell | 20 Geoff Southby | 30 Vin Waite |
| HB: | 15 Phil Pinnell | 11 Bruce Doull | 7 Andy Lukas |
| C: | 27 David Dickson | 25 Alex Jesaulenko | 8 Trevor Keogh |
| HF: | 43 David McKay | 3 Kevin Hall | 5 Syd Jackson |
| F: | 28 Peter Jones | 16 Greg Kennedy | 12 Barry Armstrong |
| Ruck: | 2 John Nicholls (cc) | 17 Brent Crosswell | 10 Adrian Gallagher |
| Res: | 22 Neil Chandler | 32 Bryan Quirk | |
| Coach: | John Nicholls | ||
Changes
In : K. Hall, B. QuirkOut : G. Crane, R. Walls
Note : Andrew Lukimitis had changed his name to Lukas from 1971.
Milestones
100 Games : Vin WaiteRound 17 | Round 19