Brilliant Blues pile on HUGE score in stunning upset of Lions.
Carlton had 16 individual goalkickers in a 76-point thumping of reigning premiers. - By Dylan Bolch at Marvel Stadium.

Carlton has pulled off one of the upsets of the season and kept its wildcard chances well and truly alive after a rousing 76-point win over Brisbane. It was the young Blues who led the way at Marvel Stadium, giving Carlton fans a glimpse of what is to come in an eye-catching 24.10 (154) to 11.12 (78) victory. The result breaks Brisbane's seven-match winning streak, putting its chances of a top-two finish in jeopardy, while seriously enhancing Josh Fraser's coaching credentials at the Blues. Attack was the name of the game in the first quarter, as both sides went goal for goal in an entertaining blitz. The Lions' loss by 76 points tonight is their second-biggest loss over the last eight years. They lost the clearance count by 10, scoring just 5.4 to 11.3 from this source. Their pressure rating of 150 was also their lowest rating of the season. The Blues recorded 20 marks inside forward 50 tonight - the highest tally recorded against the Lions since Round 9, when the Blues also recorded 20 that day. The Blues recorded 62-49 inside 50s, including 13-7 from defensive-midfield chains which they scored 6.2 to 1.1 from for the night. Carlton managed six goals in the opening stanza, the second-highest first-quarter score against the Lions all season. The Blues controlled the play throughout the second term too, before some individual brilliance from Will Ashcroft in the dying minutes of the first half sparked life into the two-time reigning premiers. A pair of goals and an inspiring chasedown tackle meant the Lions went into the main change trailing by just 18 points. But from there, the Blues dug deep, piling on six goals to two in a pressure-filled third term to extend the margin to 42 points at the final change. Carlton was good enough to get the job done from there, kicking six unanswered goals as it put together arguably its most impressive victory of 2026. Young gun Jagga Smith was immense at the coalface, racking up 28 disposals, 12 score involvements, six clearances and two goals to win the Robert Walls Medal as best on ground. His poise and composure with ball in hand was impressive, especially for a youngster playing just his 20th AFL match. Veteran onballer George Hewett was also enormous around stoppage with a game-high 33 touches, 11 marks, 11 score involvements and eight clearances, while midfielder Sam Walsh worked hard all day with 26 disposals and a goal. In the front half, it was tall forwards Brodie Kemp and Harry McKay who did the bulk of the damage, booting eight goals between them. The duo ruled the airways in the front half, regularly outmarking their opponents or bringing the ball to ground for Carlton's smalls to go to work. Ex-Sydney pair Will Hayward and Oliver Florent were also solid contributors, amassing 25 and 22 touches, respectively. But it was the fact that the Blues had a whopping 16 individual goalkickers that would have pleased the coaching staff the most. For the Lions, Ashcroft (32 disposals, two goals) worked hard on a difficult night, while tough onballer Josh Dunkley also tried his heart out. It takes the Blues' win-loss record under Fraser to 9-2 as he ponders whether to throw his hat into the ring for the permanent job.

Father-son bleeds navy blue
Marvel Stadium went into raptures when Harry Dean snapped his first ever AFL goal. The 18-year-old, who is the son of premiership Blue Peter, snuck forward and got on the end of a handball chain, kicking truly before celebrating the goal in style with his teammates and the Carlton faithful. Dean, who was taken with pick No.3 in last year's draft, played an outstanding match in defence for the Blues, regularly repelling Brisbane's forays forward. The star youngster finished with 15 disposals and four marks. Despite the absence of star defender Jacob Weitering, Dean and the inexperienced Wade Derksen held the key defensive posts incredibly well against an experienced Brisbane attack.

Lions experiment gets exposed
With youngster Ty Gallop out due to suspension, Brisbane coach Chris Fagan was forced to move the magnets and swing Eric Hipwood into the back half. Hipwood, who was often tasked with playing on Brodie Kemp or Harry McKay, struggled to compete in the air as the crafty duo put him under some serious pressure playing out of position. Half-back Keidean Coleman will miss the next week with concussion, while veteran Ryan Lester also finished the match on the bench with a shoulder complaint. Dayne Zorko should be available to return next week, but all of a sudden Brisbane's usually staunch defence has had a few key players taken out of it in consecutive weeks.

Best: J.Smith, G.Hewett, M.Pittonet, S.Walsh, B.Kemp, H.Dean, H.McKay.

A team-first performance in big Blue win.
A summary of Josh Fraser's post-Round 21 press conference. - By Carlton Media

"Hopefull our supporters are starting to see an identity." Not the finished product, but a team-first performance - that was Josh Fraser's summation of Carlton's big win over Brisbane in Round 21. An incredible advertisement of attacking football in the first half eventually saw the Blues kick away in the second, producing their biggest score since the corresponding round 14 years ago. Equalling the VFL/AFL record for most individual goalkickers in a game (16), Fraser hailed an "encouraging" showing as the Blues enter a critical final three weeks of the home-and-away season. Here's what he had to say.

On the game as a whole:
“It was nice to see some complementary football from our boys and phases linking together pretty well. We know the quality of Brisbane and how good they’ve been for a long period of time, sometimes you can have these nights where you’re marginally off. “We can’t necessarily control that, but what we can control is the plan we had going into the game, what we wanted to take away from them and what we wanted to bring as well. By and large, it was pretty consistent over four quarters: there were still moments in the game where we left some chances out there and didn’t quite defend the way we wanted to. It’s an imperfect game… it was a pleasing result overall.”

On equalling the VFL/AFL record for individual goalkickers:
“We’ve spoken a lot about being team-first and really predictable in our offence. Our players are buying into that and acknowledging that just as much as we’re acknowledging the person kicking the goal. It’s not only that. “It’s encouraging to hear the spread of goalkickers, but the spread of players taking their opportunities defensively and buying into that side of the game is equally important to us. I thought we defended the ground quite well as a unit.”

On lifting for the two 250-gamers:
“We spoke about it during the week and pre-game. I love to think the win wasn’t just the emotion of the that, but it was more the process we’ve been tipping into over the last 10-11 weeks. “With that said, both players - ‘Crippa’ and ‘Haynesy’ - have huge standing amongst the group. There would’ve been an awareness that if we can just take a little bit of what ‘Crippa’ does and a little bit of what ‘Haynesy’ brings, it’s going to help us.”

On Patrick Cripps:
“I think we’re at a stage where we don’t need him to be our best player each week. That’s not to say he’s not going to have games where he’s influential, but part of where we’re going to leave the Club in a better place is to make sure that other players assume responsibility and ‘Crippa’ doesn’t have to feel like he needs to do everything. “I think he’s doing an incredible job at empowering others around him and making others better. Sometimes that means his possession rate comes down, but it doesn’t mean his impact and influence on the game is any less significant. “He’s leading incredibly well, the way he’s uniting the group, driving our training standards. While his game down was maybe down possession-wise on previous weeks, I thought it was just as important.”

On the continued impact of Jagga Smith and Harry Dean:
“We’ve got exciting youth, really exciting youth. They bring a youthful exuberance to the way they play. ‘Deany’ kicking that goal, you could see what that meant to him and those around him. Jagga has been very consistent for a while now. “Lachie Cowan doesn’t get spoken about a lot, but he’s a young player that is so important for us. Billy Wilson is growing his game, Cooper Lord has come in and playing important roles. And there’s other guys that are performing at a high standard, so I’m really excited about the youth of the group. “We know we’ve got more work in front of us, but what they’ve been able to bring has elevated our performance across the board. Those guys are as hungry as anyone to get better, the way they’re tipping into their game and investing in their game.”

On the message at half time:
“We spoke about being predictable. We probably went away from that marginally. Our challenge has been to manage momentum when the game is going against us, and our next challenge is to manage momentum when we’ve got it and what that looks like. That’s staying disciplined to the way we’re playing and disciplined to each other. That’s the growth in the group. “I thought in the second half we were pretty predictable: it’s just understanding the moments and the time in the game, it’s something we’re educating them on and they’re doing a pretty good job.”

On what the game represented:
“We understand that you don’t have the game on your terms for four quarters, and Brisbane challenged us in different ways. The scoreboard at the end maybe doesn’t reflect that, but they did. They’re a fantastic side - the importance of being able to play our way and potentially play slightly differently when the game demands it, each week looks different. Teams are trying to take things away from you and you have to adapt. “Tonight’s result is pleasing from a scoreboard perspective and the way we played, but I sit here going ‘We’ve still got things to get better at’. We’re far from a finished product in terms of the way we want to play. “But hopefully our supporters are starting to see an identity not just with the way we’re moving the ball, but around the way we pressure and turn up at contest and how connected we are and celebrating. It’s getting there, but we’ve got work to do.”

On George Hewett’s performance:
“He’s team-first, George. He’ll do whatever the team requires. We ask George to do a fair bit in games, he’s a bit of a Mr Fix-It for us. He’s a guy that is tipping into his game as much as anyone. “I spoke about 10 weeks ago that the challenge was our experienced players to find ways to get better, and George is no different. That’s setting the standard for our younger guys: he’s so reliable. I love how he goes about it.”

On a shoutout from the coach:
Can I shout out our coaching group, too? I sit up here talking about me, but our coaching group is doing a great job - Ash Hansen, Leigh Adams, Timmy Clarke, Jordan Russell on the bench and the development crew are doing an incredible job. They’ve been enormous for us.

Josh Fraser should be in the box seat for the Blues job.
Josh Fraser's stint as Carlton interim coach couldn't have gone any better. Since taking over from Michael Voss earlier in the year, Fraser has led the Blues to a win-loss record of 9-2, giving the club's fans something to smile about after a tough run in recent years. The Blues look rejuvenated with Fraser at the helm as they push towards a wildcard spot. The youngsters like Jagga Smith, Harry Dean and Lachie Cowan continue to develop, while the senior players, such as George Hewett, Patrick Cripps and Harry McKay have rediscovered some strong form. Fraser is set to make a decision about whether he puts his hand up for the full-time position, but he'd certainly be capable of ushering Carlton into its next era, if he wants to. - Dylan Bolch

In: Harry McKay
Out: Nic Newman (hamstring).

Milestones

250 Games (Carlton): Patrick Cripps
250 Games (AFL): Nick Haynes
First Goal: Harry Dean
Robert Walls Medal Winner: Jagga Smith (Carlton's inaugural winner)

Interesting Facts

1. The Lions' loss by 76 points tonight is their second-biggest loss over the last eight years.
2. This was the first time that Carlton had beaten the Lions at Marvel Stadium since David Teague's first game as the Carlton Coach in Round 12, 2019.
3. Brodie Kemp equalled his career high of 5 goals in a game.
4. Jagga Smith kicked a career high 2 goals.
5. Our highest score against Brisbane since the merging of the Bears and Lions in 1996. (Record score against Brisbane Bears Round 10, 1987)
6. 16 goal kickers equals Fremantle's AFL/VFL record tally set July 27 2008. A shot to break the record by Patrick Cripps was marked by Lion Noah Answerth deep in the goal square in the dying moments of the final quarter.
7. Jagga Smith (Robert Walls Medal winner) had a 97% disposal efficiency, along with his childhood friend Cooper Lord who had a 96% disposal efficiency!
8. Second time in Blues' history to have kicked exactly six goals in each quarter. The other time was Round 21, 2009 against Melbourne.
9. Wade Derksen - the fourth most intercept marks by a player after 11 matches.
10. Jagga Smith polled the perfect 10 AFL Coaches votes in a game vs the reigning premiers before turning 21, the only other players to do is Chris Judd and Nat Fyffe.

Free Kicks

Carlton 22
Brisbane 20

Radio station SEN list of free kicks so far this season has Carlton 388 For, 396 Against. 14th on the list.
St.Kilda top the list with +38 frees.
Interesting to see after next week's match.

Umpires

Nathan Toner, Craig Fleer, Andrew Heffernan, Brent Wallace.

Front Runners

1. Blake Acres 15.0km
2. Sam Walsh 14.4km
3. Oliver Florent 14.2km
4. Cooper Lord 14.1km
5. Adam Cerra 14.0km

Disposal Efficiency

1. Jagga Smith 97%
2. Cooper Lord 96%
3. Oliver Florent 92%
4. Lewis Young 90%

AFLCA Votes

10 - Jagga Smith (CARL)
7 - Brodie Kemp (CARL)
7 - George Hewett (CARL)
2 - Oliver Florent (CARL)
2 - Will Hayward (CARL)
1 - Harry McKay (CARL)
1 - Wade Derksen (CARL)

Brownlow Votes

3 Jagga Smith
2 George Hewett
1 Harry McKay

Best and Fairest Votes

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