1935

The Carlton team of 1935 played more like the side that had played in 7 consecutive finals series from 1927 to 1933, rather than in 1934 when the team had missed out on the finals. Under new coach Frank Maher, narrow losses by 6 points to Geelong in round 1 and to South Melbourne in round 4 were the only losses in the first 13 rounds. A round 7 draw with Footscray should have been a win to the Blues, but atrocious kicking by Carlton let the Dogs of the hook. Despite having 34 scoring shots to 19, we could only manage 79 points to draw the game. This good start to the season resulted in the club having a 10 win, 1 draw and 2 loss start to the season, to sit in second place only 6 points behind ladder leader South Melbourne.

Richmond, who had been the Blues bogey team in the late 1920's and early 1930's beat Carlton by 15 points in round 14. The team finished the year in the same good form that it had started the year, however, and won its last four games to finish third on the ladder at the end of the season. Amazingly the Blues would only finish third, South Melbourne finishing on top of the ladder, only losing 2 games all season, and Collingwood finishing second, with only 2 losses and 2 draws to pip the Carlton to second place by 2 points. The club's 58 points would have been good enough for second place on the ladder in any of the previous three years.

Finishing in third place at the end of the regular season proved crucial to Carlton's fortunes, as it meant another final against Richmond and no double chance. Kicking 7 goals to 2 in the first quarter, Richmond again asserted its finals authority over Carlton, and was never headed in a 19.11 (125) to 14.20 (104). Not for the first time in the year had the Blues had more scoring shots than the opposition without winning the game. The Tigers had knocked Carlton out of the finals yet again, after also doing so in 1932, 3 times between 1927 and 1929, and in 1921. We had lost seven consecutive finals against Richmond since our last win, in the semi final in 1920.

Ladder

People of 1935

Captain: Charlie Davey
Coach: Frank Maher
Leading Goal-kicker: Harry Vallence - 66 goals
Best & Fairest: Jim Francis
Most Improved Player, Terry Odgen Trophy: R. Green
Special Mention: Keith Shea & Frank Anderson

Debuts

Round 17: George Collard
Round 13: Bert Butler
Round 7: Don McIntyre
Round 4: Clen Denning
Round 1: Norm Le Brun, Clete Turner, Rod McLean

Blues vs Blue & White Practice Match, April 20

A rubber ball was used and it helped marking in the wet.
Blues team;
Backs; Mackie, Gill, Park
Half backs; Hamilton, Francis, Hale
Centres; Green, Stokes, O'Brien
Half forwards; Shea, Hunter or De Luca, Crisp
Forwards; Quinn, Vallence, Pollock
Followers; Davey (Capt), McLean
Rover; R. Cooper

Blue & White team;
Backs; A. Maskell, K. Maskell, Gilby
Half backs; Treweek, Anderson, Arrell
Centres; Watkins, Butler, Turner
Half forwards; J. Cooper, Hollingshead, Mutimer
Forwards; Vaughan, Shields, Denning
Followers; Cashman (Capt.), Dougherty
Rover; Patterson

Footnote

A total of 1,663, 867 attended the V.F.L. home and away matches this season
This is down by 69,533 on the 1934 season.