Australian Football

Match Report

Carlton reignited hopes of playing finals football with a crushing win over arch-rival Essendon at the MCG on Saturday. Just under 60,000 fans saw the Blues extract a measure of revenge on the Bombers, who had inflicted on the Blues their first loss of the season in round 4. Essendon's season is now in free-fall and, despite being just a game from top spot after round 14, it is now almost certain to miss out on September action. Carlton, on the other hand, will sneak back into the eight if it can win its last two matches, and Fremantle loses one of its remaining games.

The first 15 minutes of this match gave little indication of the blow-out it was to become. The Bombers went forward regularly and led by seven points at the 16 minute mark of the first quarter. The margin could have been greater but for some errant kicking at goal. But the Blues closed out the first term with last four goals to take a 16-point lead into the first break. Two of Carlton's first quarter goals were kicked by Jarrad Waite who, in his three games back after a long injury lay-off, has demonstrated his importance to the side.

Essendon's resistance lasted until the six-minute mark of the second term, at which point a goal to Hurley brought the Bombers deficit back to less than two goals. From that moment Carlton bombarded the goals and, when Brock McLean kicked his first at the 34-minute mark, Carlton had notched up ten goals for the quarter. The Blues took a 52-point lead into the second half, and things got no better for Essendon after that, as Carlton kicked 9.8 to 2.6 after the main break to register a whopping 96-point win.

Waite finished with five goals, while fifth-gamer Levi Casboult gave Blues' fans a glimpse of the future with three. Meanwhile, Brock McLean's remarkable renaissance continued. The ex-Demon had managed just 10 games in two previous seasons with the Blues, and had played just the one game in 2012 before being recalled in round 10. McLean has since been a revelation and arguably his side's best player since then. His 27-touch game was complemented by three goals. Kade Simpson returned similar figures, while Murphy and Gibbs were also valuable contributors.

Essendon had little to smile about. The Bombers lost veteran Dustin Fletcher to a hip flexor injury in the first term and, outside of captain Jobe Watson, had few contributors. With tough games against Richmond and Collingwood to come, the Dons could finish the 2012 in as low as 12th position on the ladder, a scenario unthinkable barely seven weeks ago.

GOALS
Essendon: Crameri, Ryder 2; Watson, Lonergan, Stanton, Hurley
Carlton: Waite 5; McLean, Simpson, Walker, Garlett, Casboult 3; Betts, Murphy 2

BEST - SPORTAL.COM.AU
Essendon: Watson, Hocking, Hibberd, Heppell, Dempsey
Carlton: Murphy, McLean, Gibbs, Carrazzo, Simpson, Waite, Garlett

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Essendon: Watson, Browne, Hooker
Carlton: Murphy, Gibbs, McLean, Waite, Simpson, Judd, Betts, Casboult

COACHES' COMMENTS
James Hird (Ess): The way we played in the first half of the year compared to the way we played today is totally different. It's my job to work out why and go and fix it.

Brett Ratten (Carl): Across the board I thought that was as close to 22 contributors as you can get. When we get [the way we want to play] right, we're a pretty dangerous team.

Umpires: McBurney, Farmer, Schmitt