Game Review

The Blues began 1944 in disappointing fashion with a 27-point loss to South Melbourne, and caused a near-riot. During the match, Carlton ruckman Ron Savage crashed through South Melbourne’s 1940 Brownlow Medallist Herbie Matthews with a ferocious tackle that broke one of Matthews’ legs and sidelined him for much of the year. The field umpire saw nothing untoward in the incident, but sections of the crowd believed that Ron had deliberately injured their star centreman, and were baying for blood on the final bell. In alarming scenes, a mob surrounded the Carlton dressing rooms for an hour after the game, and Savage needed a police escort to get him to the nearby railway station in safety.

This loss saw the Blues in 9th place with a percentage of 69.3 after the first round, but a spate of wins to follow would shortly see us right up top.

Team

B:	9 Bob Atkinson (Acting capt.)	1 Frank Anderson	12 Harold McDonald
HB:	18 Arthur Sanger	6 Bob Chitty	26 Jim Clark
C:	32 Bob Green	15 Vin Brown	11 Ron Hines
HF:	7 Herb Turner	28 Jack Wrout	30 Mick Price (vc)
F:	20 Graham Tudor	5 Ted Tuohill	31 Charlie McInnes
Ruck:	24 Ron Savage	3 Jack Bennett	16 Jim Mooring
19th Man:	33 Ernie Spence
Coach:	Percy Bentley

Image: Age May 08

Milestones

Debuts: Herb Turner and Ernie Spence
Debut and Only Game: Harold McDonald