Round 9, 2010

Carlton 2.2 14 3.5 23 7.10 52 8.12 60 Hawthorn 5.3 33 9.8 62 11.12 78 16.14 110
Venue:	Docklands Stadium
Date:	2.10 pm, Sunday, May 23, 2010
Result:	Lost by 50 points
Crowd:	47,484
Goalkickers:	L. Henderson (3), M. Robinson (2), A. Joseph, M. Murphy, S. Jacobs (1)
Reports:	Nil
Umpires:	S. McInerney, J. Mollison & S. Wenn
Injuries:	R. Houlihan (hamstring), replaced in selected side by J. Anderson, C. Johnson (wrist), S. White (knee), C. Yarran (hip)
Ladder:	6th

Game Review

After a solid month of big contests for Carlton something had to give. The round nine game against the Hawks always loomed as a potential banana-skin game for the Blues even though their respective ladder positions, 5th pitted against 14th, suggested otherwise.

The first question asked was centred on the Blues’ depth and how they might hold up with three forced changes. Jarrad Waite was a mandatory replacement after accepting the early plea on a striking charge which saw him take a two week holiday. Both Kane Lucas and Ryan Houlihan had come out of the Port game with hamstring tweaks and though Houlihan was named in the initial 22 he was a late withdrawal on game day. Into the side came Lachie Henderson, Mitch Robinson and Joe Anderson.

In near perfect conditions, the roof open at the Docklands stadium and a gentle breeze ruffling Dennis Armfield’s semi-mullet, the game started in beautiful autumn sunlight. In hindsight that was about as good as the day got. The Hawks won the toss (Eddie Betts deputising for Chris Judd) and chose the shaded end to launch their assault. And assault they did. Playing a harder, more physical and aggressive brand of football right from the first bounce, the young Blues were under pressure from the outset as shades of Hawthorn circa 2008 appeared for the first time in season 2010.

The Hawks piled on five goals to two in the opening quarter and only inaccuracy on their part was keeping the Blues alive. Aaron Joseph delivered the first counter-punch after landing a long set shot from outside 50 inside five minutes, but it was a long time between drinks until Marc Murphy streamed towards goal and punched one through late in the quarter to reduce the Hawthorn quarter time lead to 19 points.

Injuries had forced the Blues’ hand at selection and they continued to drop like flies in the first half. First Chris Johnson suffered a suspected broken wrist and not too long after Simon White went down after landing awkwardly and straining a medial ligament in his knee; neither returned to the ground. On the scoreboard the Hawks continued ticking things over with another four goals while the Blues could manage a solitary major from the lumbering Mitch Robinson, who appeared to be struggling to muster a gallop. The Blues trudged off at half time seemingly out of reach 39 points in arrears.

When Hawthorn nailed the first shortly after the resumption, Carlton heads in the crowd dropped, but just when it seemed all but over the Blues had their most prosperous period of the match. A ten minute burst saw the Blues add four unanswered goals, three to young Lachie Henderson, and reduced the lead to a more manageable 23 points.

Judd and his midfield started to gain a little ascendency and the Blues reverted to an old fashioned brand of football, bombing it long to the big boys up forward. It did work for a time but when the game was still in the balance and the opportunities were presented, the Blues simply did not take them like a good side should. Bad misses from gettable shots to Henderson, Betts (twice), Judd (twice) and Setanta O’hAilpin saw many hands in heads in the stands and more than the odd expletive uttered. O’hAilpin’s was the pièce de résistance of bloopers. After marking strongly 30cm from goal, enigmatically he attempted to play on and kick the goal, but with Hawks all around the ball was bundled over for a rushed behind. It summarised Carlton’s day all too well.

The 26 points that stood between the Blues an unlikely victory as the final quarter started may as well have been 126 points. Hawthorn pumped through the opening three goals making the margin more than a little embarrassing for the Blues. To make matters worse Chris Yarran had joined the injured on the bench and the Blues were left with little in the way of rotation options, while the Hawks bumped theirs up significantly. Far too few of the Blues delivered anywhere near a benchmark performance, though Michael Jamison (playing well under duress from Franklin & Roughhead), Chris Judd and Kade Simpson fared best of a bad bunch, while youngsters Matthew Kreuzer , Sam Jacobs and Aaron Joseph all offered something. The final siren put the Blues out of their misery with 50 points the difference.

Team

B:	32 Bret Thornton	40 Michael Jamison	45 Aaron Joseph
HB:	26 Joe Anderson*	2 Jordan Russell	4 Bryce Gibbs
C:	29 Heath Scotland	5 Chris Judd (c)	27 Dennis Armfield
HF:	38 Jeffery Garlett	23 Lachlan Henderson	9 Chris Johnson
F:	13 Chris Yarran	17 Setanta Ó hAilpín	19 Eddie Betts
Ruck:	8 Matthew Kreuzer	44 Andrew Carrazzo	3 Marc Murphy
Interchange:	6 Kade Simpson	12 Mitch Robinson	39 Sam Jacobs
	43 Simon White
Coach:	Brett Ratten
Emg:	15 Steven Browne, 33 Ryan Houlihan* Rohan Kerr*

Late Changes :
Joe Anderson replaced Ryan Houlihan in the selected side, and Rohan Kerr replaced Richard Hadley as an emergency.

Milestones

50 Games (Carlton) : Chris Judd
Losing Streaks: With this 7th consecutive victory over Carlton, Hawthorn equalled their best winning streak against the Blues.

Brownlow Votes

3. Lance Franklin, Hawthorn
2. Heath Scotland, Carlton
1. Sam Mitchell, Hawthorn

Best & Fairest Votes

34 Kade Simpson, Aaron Joseph, 24 Lachlan Henderson, 20 Sam Jacobs, 9 Mitch Robinson, 6 Chris Judd

Ladder

.	2010 Rd 9	P	W	D	L	For	Agn	%	Pts
1	Geelong	9	7	0	2	1098	714	153.78	28
2	Collingwood	9	7	0	2	994	737	134.87	28
3	Fremantle	9	7	0	2	982	799	122.90	28
4	Western Bulldogs	9	6	0	3	857	669	128.10	24
5	St Kilda	9	6	0	3	749	639	117.21	24
6	Carlton	9	5	0	4	899	814	110.44	20
7	Sydney	9	5	0	4	824	764	107.85	20
8	Port Adelaide	9	5	0	4	792	888	89.19	20
9	Melbourne	9	4	0	5	740	734	100.82	16
10	Essendon	9	4	0	5	826	882	93.65	16
11	Brisbane Lions	9	4	0	5	825	901	91.56	16
12	North Melbourne	9	4	0	5	715	937	76.31	16
13	Hawthorn	9	3	0	6	777	820	94.76	12
14	West Coast	9	3	0	6	729	854	85.36	12
15	Adelaide	9	2	0	7	651	833	78.15	8
16	Richmond	9	0	0	9	607	1080	56.20	0

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Round 8 | Round 10