---

Game Review

If our Round 2 win was a most enjoyable come from behind win against the Bombers, then our come-from-the-front loss to Collingwood in Round 3 was a most horrible form of football justice. On a stinking hot 33 degree day, where the Umpires were testing the new ‘chop the hands’ rule, generally in our favour, the Pies would kick 15 goals in the second half to rip the game from our control.

In the first quarter it was clear that we were the better team. We had control of the midfield- Nick Stevens (in his 150th AFL game) would end up with 29 possessions and Barnaby French 28 hitouts- but could not put the pressure on the scoreboard. Of the 4 behinds in the first quarter, many shots were right in front and both Davies and Waite had shots that went out of bounds. There’s no doubt that we should have been further ahead, and in the heat, you can never tell which team will surge as fitness comes into play. Other solid contrinutors were Ryan Houlihan (in his 100th game) and Matthew Lappin, who each had 21 possessions, Lappin also kicking 3 goals.

And it would come home to roost in the second half, as the Pies would kick goals from all angles and their forward line would come alive. Tarrant, held goal-less in an out-of-sorts first half, would kick 5 against Karl Norman as we caught a glimpse of how our under-sized defence would cope in 2005. At this stage both Livingston and Thornton were out injured, of course. And the umpires, by paying many frees to us, seemed to inspire the Pies to run harder.

In the last quarter, Carlton controlled the first 10 minutes but could not break ahead. In the middle part of the quarter, Collingwood would kick 4 straight to take an unbeatable lead. A late goal to Deluca would be in vain.

The Pies would win by 20 points in a game we should have won. This continued our topsy-turvy early season form and had us 1 and 2 to start the season. The misery would be compounded over the next few days, with suspensions to Scotland (2 weeks) and Camporeale (1).

Team

B:	44 Andrew Carrazzo	37 Karl Norman	15 David Teague
HB:	36 Trent Sporn	3 Digby Morrell	33 Ryan Houlihan
C:	20 Cory McGrath	24 Nick Stevens	16 Scott Camporeale (vc)
HF:	12 Matthew Lappin	25 Brendan Fevola	19 Eddie Betts
F:	26 Adrian Deluca	8 Lance Whitnall	30 Jarrad Waite
Ruck:	11 Barnaby French	43 Anthony Koutoufides (c)	29 Heath Scotland
Interchange:
	7 Justin Davies, 10 Brett Johnson, 28 Ian Prendergast, 34 Simon Wiggins
Coach:	Denis Pagan
Emg:	Jordan Bannister	Glen Bowyer	Andrew Walker
In:	Brett Johnson
Out:	Kade Simpson

Milestones

200 Goals (AFL): Matthew Lappin
150 Games (AFL): Nick Stevens
100 Games: Ryan Houlihan, who would become the third youngest Blue to ever achieve this feat. Houlihan would be pipped by Marc Murphy for this record in 2010

Brownlow Votes

3: Anthony Rocca (COLL)
2: Nick Stevens (CARL)
1: Chris Tarrant (COLL)

Best & Fairest Votes

Nick Stevens (36), Barnaby French (34), Matthew Lappin (30), Ryan Houlihan (21), Jarrad Waite (15), David Teague (10), Trent Sporn (5)