Game Detail

Round: 4   Venue: M.C.G   Date: Sat, 21-04-2012 1:45 pm   Attendance: 73,172
Carlton	4.4.28	4.7.31	5.12.42	11.13.79	C:
Essendon	3.6.24	8.11.59	12.17.89	15.19.109	C:
	CA by 4	ES by 28	ES by 47	ES by 30

Weather

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Match Report

For a team that was unbeaten, it seemed strange that Essendon was paying close to $8 to win this match against Carlton. The Blues’ win-loss record was also 3-0, but they had been vastly more impressive in the opening rounds than their opponents. The Bombers were missing a number of key players which didn’t help their cause, but that mattered little. They ended up demolishing their traditional rival by 30 points (after the margin had been 47 points at the last break), which took the Bombers to their best start to a season since 2000. A dominant five-goal-to-nil second quarter from the underdogs shocked the Blues, and they were never able to recover. The Bombers had winners all over the ground, with forward Stewart Crameri kicking 5.6 and midfielder Brent Stanton continuing his superb start to the year with 36 possessions and a goal. The Blues’ dirty day was further soured when midfielder Andrew Carrazzo broke his shoulder, an injury that will sideline him for 12 weeks. Essendon didn’t escape without injury either, as Michael Hurley strained his hamstring, continuing the trend of Bombers players suffering soft-tissue injuries in 2012. The Bombers had just four days to recover before their next game, the Anzac Day blockbuster against Collingwood.

GOALS:

Carlton: Betts 4, Robinson, Garlett, Murphy, McLean, Gibbs, Judd, Hampson

Essendon: Crameri 5, Davey 3, Melksham, Stanton, Ryder, Zaharakis, Hurley, Fletcher, Monfries
 


BEST - AFL.COM.AU

Carlton: Simpson, Murphy, Judd, Scotland, Henderson, Waite

Essendon: Watson, Stanton,  Crameri, Hardingham, Ryder, Davey, Heppell, Hibberd, Fletcher

BEST - THE AGE
Carlton: Simpson, Waite, Murphy, Judd, Henderson
Essendon: Stanton, Watson, Crameri, Hibberd, Heppell, Melksham

COACHES COMMENTS
Brett Ratten (Carl): Teams will face these challenging times to reshape their teams and that's the beauty of coaching - you don't know if it's going to be a beautiful day or if it's going to rain or lose players and you have to change your plan.

James Hird(Ess): I think the boys were terrific. We went in with a very strong game plan that we wanted to execute and the boys took it up to Carlton. You don't know all the time whether the confidence levels are there to execute a game plan like the one we went in with today but you've got to be so proud of your players.

Umpires: Margetts, Rosebury, Leppard
 

Player Stats