Game Review

Blues on the board with win over Bulldogs
For all the encouraging signs Carlton had displayed in the first month of the season, the zero in the win column was all that mattered to impatient Blues fans. That all changed against the Western Bulldogs on Sunday, with Carlton taking an enormous step in its development to close out its first win of the season at a rocking Marvel Stadium on Easter Sunday. The most pleasing aspect of the 44-point win over the Bulldogs for under-fire coach Brendon Bolton would have been his side's ability to respond when it was challenged through the third quarter, going on to an impressive 15.11 (101) to 7.15 (57) win.

Prized draftee Sam Walsh ensured the Blues would break the 100-point barrier for the first in 1051 days, kicking a beautiful banana goal on the final siren. Brilliant performances from Patrick Cripps (36 disposals) and Sam Petrevski-Seton (35) through the midfield set up the win, as the Blues dominated proceedings in the first half and made the Bulldogs' onball brigade look second-rate. Led by Cripps, who helped himself to a game-high 11 clearances (seven in the first half) and Petrevski-Seton, who achieved a career-high possession count in the third term, the Blues' midfield were outstanding. Cripps had the better of his battle with Marcus Bontempelli, who was a solid performer without having his usual influence on his way to 24 touches. But it was Blues forward Harry McKay who may have shaded every player on the ground when it came to the influence he had on the contest, with the 21-year-old enjoying a breakout individual performance. McKay was near unstoppable in the air against a Bulldogs defence that severely lacks a game-changing key tall, taking 11 marks (five contested) and kicking four goals from 20 disposals. The promising youngster could have had a fifth that would have gone close to taking out the Goal of the Year award, after a four-bounce running effort, akin to Lance Franklin's efforts against Essendon and Adelaide in years gone by, ended in an entertaining behind.

Even without Charlie Curnow, who was a late withdrawal, the Blues took 16 marks inside 50 as McKay, Levi Casboult and Matthew Kreuzer stretched an under-sized Dogs defence. Defensive playmakers Caleb Daniel (30 disposals) and Jason Johannisen (26) were the Bulldogs' best players, although the way the game panned out highlighted the run and gun game off half-back is just not sustainable in today's modern game. The Bulldogs threatened to make life difficult for the Blues late in the third term when Tory Dickson cut the margin to 18 points, but Beveridge's side lacked the firepower to overrun the Blues in the end. The Blues' clearance dominance (41-26) and possession advantage (395-355) was aided by the return of Kreuzer who fought an entertaining battle against Tim English – who was much better than he has been in previous weeks. - Ben Guthrie.

Best players: S. Petrevski-Seton, P. Cripps, H. McKay, M. Gibbons, L. Casboult, Z. Fisher

Team

B:	14 Liam Jones	20 Lachie Plowman	23 Jacob Weitering
HB:	6 Kade Simpson	22 Caleb Marchbank	24 Nic Newan
C:	3 Marc Murphy	9 Patrick Cripps (c)	18 Sam Walsh
HF:	35 Ed Curnow	11 Mitch McGovern	25 Zac Fisher
F:	1 Jack Silvagni	10 Harry McKay	40 Michael Gibbons
Ruck:	8 Matthew Kreuzer	5 Sam Petrevski-Seton	2 Paddy Dow
Interchange:	4 Lochie O'Brien	29 Cameron Polson	39 Dale Thomas
	41 Levi Casboult
Coach:	Brendon Bolton
Emg:	7 Matthew Kennedy, 19 Angus Schumacher, 27 Matthew Lobbe, 30 Charlie Curnow

In; Charlie Curnow
Out; Will Setterfield (suspended), Matthew Lobbe (omitted), C.Curnow (knee soreness) replaced in selected side by L. Casboult
*- Late change Charlie Curnow was replaced by Levi Casboult in the selected side

Milestones

First Goal: Michael Gibbons
Interesting Fact: (1) Marc Murphy 100th win
Interesting Fact: (2) Marc Murphy (254 games) and John Murphy (246 games) became the 7th Father / Son combination to reach 500 games
Interesting Fact: (3) Kade Simpson played his 312th game for Carlton becoming the equal 4th highest games played for the Mighty Blues with the Great Stephen Silvagni.
Interesting Fact: (4) Sam Walsh became the first player to record 24 disposals or more in each of his first five games.
Interesting Fact: (5) First time Carlton had scored more than 100 points in a game since Round 11, 2016 vs Brisbane Lions. There were 59 consecutive games in which the Blues failed to crack the ton. The talk was that this was the second longest such stretch in our history, the longest being 1897 to 1904 back in the Inception Blues days!
Interesting Fact: (6) Future Blue Will Hayes made his debut for the Western Bulldogs in this game.

AFLCA Votes

10 - Harry McKay (CARL)
7 - Patrick Cripps (CARL)
7 - Sam Petrevski-Seton (CARL)
4 - Zac Fisher (CARL)
1 - Lachie Plowman (CARL)
1 - Marcus Bontempelli (WB)

Brownlow Votes

3. Patrick Cripps
2. Sam Petrevski-Seton
1. Harry McKay

Best & Fairest Votes

Harry McKay 12, Sam Petrevski-Seton 12, Patrick Cripps 11, Lachie Plowman 10, Zac Fisher 8, Marc Murphy 8, Levi Casboult 7, Michael Gibbons 7, Sam Walsh 7, Liam Jones 6, Matthew Kreuzer 5, Nic Newman 5, Jacob Weitering 5, Kade Simpson 4, Dale Thomas 4, Ed Curnow 3, Jack Silvagni 3, Caleb Marchbank 2.

Footage

https://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2019/5/wb-v-carl