1975

An amazing start to the season for Carlton, winning 13 from their first 14 games. Even more amazingly, Hawthorn managed the same feat, and Carlton was only second on the ladder (by only 4%), but was 20 points clear of Richmond in third place. Three times during this period we smashed the opposition, including Collingwood (round 2, 93 points), Geelong (round 12, 71 points) and Essendon (round 14, 80 points). Our only loss during this period was in round 4, by 17 points to Essendon at Waverly Park.

Our form fell away badly in the last 8 weeks, though, and the club could only manage 3 wins from its last 8 home and away games. Amazingly the Hawks fell away as well, winning only 4 games in their last eight, and the Blues finished in second place on the ladder, only 1 game away from top stop and 2 games clear of North Melbourne in third place.

Unfortunately, the team wasn't able to resurrect its early season form in the finals, and lost narrowly in both the Qualifying Final (to North Melbourne by 20 points) and Semi Final (to Richmond by 9 points).

One of the signs of our early season domination was having 3 players in the top 10 goal scorers for 1975 - Robert Walls (second place, 59 goals), David McKay (equal eighth place, 42 goals) and Peter Jones (equal eighth place, 42 goals).

Ladder

People of 1975

Coach: John Nicholls
Captain: Alex Jesaulenko
Vice Captain: Robert Walls
Leading goal scorer: Robert Walls - 59 goals

Debuts

Round 17: Rod Galt*
Round 16: Garry Higgins
Round 13: Danny Halloran
Round 10: Wayne Deledio
Round 9: Russell Ohlsen
Round 1: Mike Fitzpatrick

NB * denotes Carlton debut
Debuts (Carlton): Rod Galt

Practice Match v St.Kilda at Princes Park, March 15

Carl; 3.4 4.10 8.16 10.18.78
St.K. 2.4 5.6 6.7 9.10.64
Won by 14 points.
Coach John Nicholls experimented by playing Alex Jesaulenko at half-back.
Goals; G. Kennedy 3, B. Armstrong 2, M. Fitzpatrick, B. Walsh, R. Walls, C. Davis, T. Keogh
Best; D. McKay, B.Armstrong, R. Walls, P. Jones

Practice Match v Hawthorn at Princes Park, March 29

Carl; 4.7 9.12 14.17 17.24.126
Haw; 0.7 3.7 5.10 7.15.57
Won by 69 points.
Goals; G. Kennedy 4, R. Walls 3, S. Jackson 2, R. Ashman 2, D. McKay 2, B.Walsh, E. Pascoe, B. Armstrong
Best; R. Walls, B. Doull, E. Pascoe, A. Jesaulenko, B. Armstrong, G. Kennedy.