Umpires: Vozzo, Stevic, Ryan

Goalkickers: Fevola 4, Wiggins, Longmuir, Chambers 2, Carrazzo, French, Houlihan, Lappin, Sporn, Waite 1

Reports: Nil

Injuries: Nil

Game Review

Any game against the reigning Premiers is going to be tough, let alone one on their turf. But at the start of 2005, the Blues appeared to be playing closer to their excellent pre-season form than what their final ladder position would suggest. In Round 4, Carlton went to Football Park and took 2 points in a thrilling draw against Port Power.

Port's Warren Tredrea was always going to be a key to this game, and without Livingston and Thornton (both injured), Lance Whitnall was sent back to mind the Power forward. Port would seemingly crack the game open in the first quarter, with Tredrea and Burgoyne running amok and they were up by 3 goals at the first change.

But the Blues would not be shaken off, fighting back with 4 straight goals in the middle of the second quarter, to level the scores entering time-on. But Port then kicked 4 of the last 5 goals to take a 19 point lead at the long break.

Pagan brought Glen Bowyer off the bench for the second half and told him to man up Burgoyne (P), who was a key player to that point in time. Without his drive, Carlton’s midfield seemed to improve and dominated the second half, enabling the Blues to outscore the Power 8 goals to 4. Whitnall held Tredrea, although typically he missed some easy shots on goal.

It was goal for goal in the final quarter, Barnaby French, Callum Chambers and Simon Wiggins kicking key goals. The Power in fact kicked 2.10 in this quarter to the Blues 4.2. An amazing 8 kicks would hit the post- Carlton 5, Port 3. The lead changed 5 times with Trent Sporn kicking the final goal of the match to give the Blues a slender 2 point lead. But 2 late behinds for the Power would tie the score until the final siren.

In the absence of the suspended Camporeale and Scotland, Ryan Houlihan, playing in the midfield for probably the first and only time of 2005, was dominating with 26 possessions, setting up a number of goals with precision passing to forwards such as Brendan Fevola, who would kick 4. Houlihan was probably Carlton's best for the game.

This game marked the debut of mature aged recruits Troy Longmuir and Callum Chambers, both from WA clubs, who would both kick 2 goals. Longmuir in particular looked good in his Blue debut, with 2.2 from 4 marks inside 50. If only he had kicked those 2 easy misses, perhaps he would have been a hero in his first game.

Playing against his former team, Nick Stevens set the all-time AFL record for most ever rebound 50s recorded in a match with a whopping 17 earning him 2 Brownlow votes.

This game only confused the fans more in terms of our expectations for the team. Cellar-dwellers, or near enough, over the past 3 seasons, but pre-season champions as well, Carlton fans were still to work out whether we were good, but in shady form, or bad, and had over-performed in the pre-season. In hindsight, any points against a reigning premier interstate is a fantastic effort, notwithstanding anyone’s form, so this was a great performance by the Blues.

Team

Milestones

Debuts (Carlton): Troy Longmuir and Callum Chambers

Brownlow Votes

3: Stuart Dew (PA)
2: Nick Stevens (Carl)
1: Peter Walsh (PA)

Best & Fairest Votes

Andrew Carrazzo, Ryan Houlihan (39), Barnaby French (36), Brendan Fevola, Brett Johnson (34), Glen Bowyer (21), Karl Norman (18), Jarrad Waite (17), Lance Whitnall (16), Anthony Koutoufides (11), Nick Stevens (6), David Teague (4)