Goalkickers: Betts 3, Garlett 3, Murphy 2, Waite 2, Yarran 2, Henderson, Judd, Hampson 1.

Reports: Ashton Hams (West Coast) for engaging in rough conduct on Dennis Armfield in the second quarter. Jarrad Waite (Carlton) for engaging in rough conduct on Adam Selwood in the fourth quarter.

Umpires: C. Donlon, T, Pannell, J. Schmitt

Injuries: Armfield (compressed vertebrae)

Ladder: 7th

Game Review

A win’s a win’s a win. What a relief it must have been for Ratten & Co to get back into the winner’s circle after such a disappointing run of late. Just when everything appeared to be sliding into the abyss, following ten consecutive quarters of woefully inadequate football, something in the water sparked a revival. A stunning third quarter offensive from the Blues turned the game on its head and proved the impetus for a morale boosting victory. That said, it was a victory, over the bottom of the ladder Eagles, which should be taken with a large dose of perspective.

When the match committee handed out the plane tickets to Perth three unfamiliar faces found them in their kit bags. Robert Warnock, not sighted since round five, got the call to return to the scene of most of his 27 AFL games. Subiaco specialist David Ellard had to wait two and half seasons to get his second crack at the highest level, while Chris Johnson resurfaced from the VFL for his fourth appearance of season 2010. Kane Lucas was the only forced change after his season ending hamstring injury last week, while Sam Jacobs and Mitch Robinson would both have to be content with bus tickets to Preston.

After so much media focus on Carlton’s slow starts during their extended run of poor form you’d be hoping for a flyer when matched against the 16th placed team in the competition, but sometimes things just don’t work out as planned. Confidence can be such an elusive beast and it was still nowhere to be seen during the first quarter. Numerous turnovers from poor kicks or bad decisions in the early going had the Blues on the back foot and struggling to keep themselves in the contest. The narrow four point quarter time deficit wasn’t for lack of trying though. Effort was there and plenty of chances were had up forward, but lack of quality finishing let the Blues down where it counted most.

The Blues started the second in the worst possible fashion when the Eagles goaled after a minute. Jarrad Waite responded with his second of the night to square the ledger, but the signs were looking ominous when Eagle Mark LeCras got his tail up and kicked a couple of rippers to put the Blues right back under the pump. It wasn’t until later in the quarter that the Blues finally got one back, through a touch of Chris Yarran silk, but despite this goal and plenty of hard work from Shaun Grigg the comeback was short lived. The Eagles goaled again late in time-on to extend their lead to 26 points and the Blues staggered into the main break.

With a fifth loss in six rounds looming large for the Blues and their season well and truly on the line something inexplicable happened. The midfield knuckled down, kicks started hitting targets, defensive pressure intensified all over the ground, the forwards found some space and goals rained (eventually).

After opening the half with four consecutive behinds it was looking like a case of what might have been until Eddie Betts and Lachie Henderson managed back to back goals and sparked some confidence in the beleaguered Blues. Not to be out done the Eagles responded with two of their own and stretched the margin back to 20 points before the Blues came again. A goal from Jeff Garlett started the resurgence and during the next 15 minutes four more followed including a Judd trademark on the run, another classy finish from Yarran and two late ones from Marc Murphy. More accurate kicking may have almost sealed the game by three quarter time, but the Blues’ domination of the term had been wasteful with 7.9 and their lead at the final break was a mere 11 points.

Betts opened the scoring with his second goal after a few minutes which gave the Blues some much needed breathing space but when Shaun Hampson soared across the pack and clamped his big hands around the pill just 15 metres out the sighs of relief were palpable. When he slotted the resulting kick the lead was out to four goals and the Eagles looked gone. A run of four behinds from the Eagles squandered any chance they had of a comeback and when Betts and Garlett each sprinkled salt on the wound the lead was at 33 points, the largest on the night. The Eagles grabbed a late one in junk time to reduce the final margin to 26 points.

It was a much needed win for Carlton sparked by some midfield magic thanks largely to Kade Simpson, Judd, Murphy and Grigg. The little helpers (Betts, Garlett and Yarran) all contributed up forward while lesser lights Chris Johnson, Aaron Joseph and David Ellard all showed something. Ellard’s tackling and superb stopping job on Priddis went some way to countering his awful kicking night.

With other results falling the Blues way, they found themselves, somewhat surprisingly, sitting in seventh place on the ladder - four points and plenty of percentage clear of ninth. However, with a white-hot Collingwood to come next round, we weren't getting too comfortable in that seat.

Team

Milestones

100 Games : Andrew Walker
Interesting Fact : David Ellard played his second game in three years at Carlton. He made his debut in Round 7, 2008 - also against West Coast.

Brownlow Votes

3. Kade Simpson, Carlton
2. Marc Murphy, Carlton
1. Chris Judd, Carlton

Best & Fairest Votes

40 Kade Simpson, 35 Shaun Grigg, 34 Chris Judd, 32 Marc Murphy, 25 Eddie Betts, 23 Jeffery Garlett, 15 Heath Scotland, 11 Paul Bower, 9 David Ellard, 8 Jarrad Waite, 6 Aaron Joseph, Robert Warnock

Ladder