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Brownlow Medal | 3 Patrick Cripps (CARL) | 2 Bryce Gibbs (CARL) | 1 Kade Simpson (CARL) |
For the Melbourne Football Club, Sunday at the MCG presented a simple equation and a seemingly fairly simple task: defeat Carlton, a team which had lost its last nine matches in a row, and stay in the hunt for a top-eight finish and the opportunity to play finals football for the first time in a decade. But from the very beginning of the match, the Demons gave the impression that the task was going to be unachievable, falling behind early and rarely, if ever, looking like they could bridge the gap. The Blues opened up a 15-point lead at quarter time and Melbourne never got within fewer than 11 points, ultimately going under by 20, ending its finals hopes.
It took less than a minute for Carlton to set the tone, Bryce Gibbs running down the wing and passing to Dylan Buckley, who converted for a goal. Aaron Vandenberg gave Melbourne a brief spark with a behind and then a goal giving the Demons a one-point lead but they lost it soon after when Andrejs Everett marked and kicked Carlton's second goal, giving the Blues a lead they would hold for the rest of the day. Matthew Wright extended the lead to 11 with his first goal at the eight-minute mark and when Buckley kicked his second four minutes later, Carlton's lead was three goals and things were looking ominous for the Demons. They recovered slightly with a late goal to Jayden Hunt but were still 15 points in arrears at quarter time.
Carlton continued to control the game in the early stages of the second term, with majors to Patrick Cripps and Liam Sumner extending the margin to 28 points after 10 minutes. Melbourne then had its most dominant period of the match, attacking heavily over the next 12 minutes but for all that dominance the Demons managed only two goals, one each to Jesse Hogan and Clayton Oliver, while Vandenberg, Bernie Vince, Nathan Jones and Dom Tyson all recorded costly misses. That left Melbourne still 12 points adrift and a goal to Blue Nick Graham just before the half-time siren was a dagger to Demon hearts, the margin three goals at the long break.
Melbourne had an early chance to get back in the match in the third term but, after taking a strong mark, Jack Watts missed an easy shot. Rain began to fall at that point and it appeared to favour the Demons for a short while, with a goal to Tomas Bugg cutting the margin to 12 but Nick Graham responded with his second and the lead was back to 18 points six minutes in. The next 15 minutes were an arm-wrestle but Liam Jones broke the deadlock broke the deadlock with a decisive goal as the term entered time on, putting the Blues four goals clear. Alex Neal-Bullen pulled one back for the Demons but another late heartbreaker from Buckley saw Carlton turn with a four-goal lead.
Max Gawn gave Melbourne brief hope with the first goal of the final term but Carlton, as it had done all afternoon, answered soon after with a strong mark and goal at the four-minute mark. Incredibly, that proved to be the last goal of the match as defences ruled and the Blues were happy to defend their lead. The Demons had several chances but four shots, two each from Hogan and Christian Petracca, ending any last hope of a comeback, and Carlton prevailed by 20 points.
Patrick Cripps had an outstanding match for the victors, collecting 30 possessions and laying 13 tackles. For the Demons, Jack Viney continued his fine season, with an 11-tackle, 27-dispoal match.
Having broken a long losing streak, the Blues will be hoping to finish off the year with two wins by getting over Essendon at the MCG on Saturday. Melbourne, meanwhile, will look to put the disappointment of missing the finals behind them and upset Geelong's applecart at Kardinia Park. The Demon had a surprise win over the Cats at the venue last year.
GOALS
Carlton: Buckley 3; Graham 2; Wright, Everitt, Cripps, Sumner, Jones, Phillips
Melbourne: VandenBerg, Hunt, Hogan, Oliver, Bugg, Neal-Bullen, Gawn
BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Carlton: Cripps, Gibbs, Buckley, Docherty, Simpson
Melbourne: Tyson, Viney, Hunt, Jones, Oliver
BEST - THE AGE
Carlton: Cripps, Gibbs, Docherty, Simpson, Buckley, Curnow
Melbourne: Viney, Tyson, Jones, Oliver, McDonald, Petracca
INJURIES
Carlton: Silvagni (soreness) replaced in the selected side by Graham, Kerridge (illness) replaced in the selected side by Everitt, Buckley (head), Curnow (left knee)
Melbourne: Watts (right eye), Kent (right leg)
UMPIRES: Donlon, Rosebury, Mitchell
TELEVISION BROADCASTER: Fox Footy
COMMENTATORS: Dwayne Russell, Jason Dunstall, Danny Frawley, Cameron Mooney
Video sourced from YouTube, courtesy of the AFL.
Carlton | Match Stats | Career | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
# | Player | K | M | H | D | G | B | HO | T | FF | FA | Age | Games | G |
27 | Armfield, Dennis | 14 | 4 | 5 | 19 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 29y 243d | 139 | 71 |
7 | Buckley, Dylan | 7 | 3 | 5 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 23y 158d | 37 | 15 |
41 | Casboult, Levi | 6 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26y 159d | 71 | 70 |
9 | Cripps, Patrick | 10 | 3 | 20 | 30 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 21y 156d | 43 | 16 |
28 | Cuningham, David | 4 | 2 | 7 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 19y 144d | 2 | 0 |
35 | Curnow, Ed | 13 | 2 | 10 | 23 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 26y 288d | 109 | 16 |
15 | Docherty, Sam | 19 | 6 | 7 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 22y 309d | 69 | 10 |
33 | Everitt, Andrejs | 9 | 6 | 7 | 16 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 27y 161d | 131 | 93 |
4 | Gibbs, Bryce | 17 | 4 | 16 | 33 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 27y 159d | 208 | 120 |
32 | Graham, Nick | 14 | 2 | 5 | 19 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 22y 70d | 27 | 7 |
14 | Jones, Liam | 9 | 2 | 8 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 25y 179d | 82 | 84 |
8 | Kreuzer, Matthew | 8 | 3 | 4 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 21 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 27y 100d | 139 | 71 |
34 | Phillips, Andrew | 4 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 25y 49d | 29 | 11 |
20 | Plowman, Lachie | 4 | 5 | 6 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 21y 345d | 38 | 1 |
17 | Rowe, Sam | 7 | 5 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 28y 276d | 72 | 15 |
6 | Simpson, Kade | 21 | 5 | 5 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 32y 108d | 263 | 127 |
19 | Sumner, Liam | 5 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 23y 5d | 27 | 17 |
39 | Thomas, Dale | 11 | 3 | 5 | 16 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 29y 61d | 199 | 141 |
42 | Tuohy, Zach | 11 | 3 | 4 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 26y 255d | 119 | 40 |
23 | Weitering, Jacob | 8 | 8 | 8 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 18y 272d | 19 | 2 |
43 | White, Simon | 7 | 6 | 10 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 28y 65d | 75 | 12 |
46 | Wright, Matthew | 13 | 3 | 7 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 26y 251d | 115 | 82 |
Rushed | 2 | |||||||||||||
Totals | 221 | 86 | 153 | 374 | 11 | 12 | 37 | 83 | 20 | 5 | 25y 173d | 2013 | 1021 |
Melbourne | Match Stats | Career | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
# | Player | K | M | H | D | G | B | HO | T | FF | FA | Age | Games | G |
10 | Brayshaw, Angus | 6 | 3 | 12 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 20y 225d | 30 | 11 |
32 | Bugg, Tomas | 7 | 2 | 7 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 23y 138d | 82 | 23 |
17 | Frost, Sam | 5 | 3 | 9 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 22y 359d | 39 | 7 |
11 | Gawn, Max | 10 | 6 | 6 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 33 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 24y 235d | 60 | 34 |
1 | Hogan, Jesse | 11 | 14 | 7 | 18 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21y 191d | 40 | 84 |
29 | Hunt, Jayden | 12 | 3 | 4 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 21y 140d | 18 | 3 |
39 | Jetta, Neville | 12 | 6 | 6 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 26y 191d | 93 | 21 |
2 | Jones, Nathan | 12 | 5 | 17 | 29 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 28y 214d | 222 | 105 |
16 | Kent, Dean | 5 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 22y 179d | 52 | 49 |
28 | McDonald, Oscar | 10 | 3 | 10 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 20y 156d | 16 | 0 |
25 | McDonald, Tom | 10 | 5 | 9 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 23y 338d | 103 | 8 |
22 | Michie, Viv | 7 | 4 | 13 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 24y 180d | 22 | 1 |
30 | Neal-Bullen, Alex | 5 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 20y 225d | 15 | 8 |
13 | Oliver, Clayton | 5 | 6 | 19 | 24 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 19y 30d | 13 | 6 |
5 | Petracca, Christian | 13 | 2 | 8 | 21 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 20y 230d | 16 | 12 |
15 | Stretch, Billy | 4 | 3 | 10 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 19y 348d | 26 | 5 |
12 | Tyson, Dom | 16 | 8 | 14 | 30 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 23y 74d | 70 | 37 |
37 | vandenBerg, Aaron | 7 | 3 | 8 | 15 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 24y 171d | 27 | 16 |
23 | Vince, Bernie | 13 | 4 | 9 | 22 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 30y 324d | 192 | 110 |
7 | Viney, Jack | 13 | 6 | 14 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 22y 130d | 69 | 19 |
4 | Watts, Jack | 6 | 3 | 8 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 25y 148d | 136 | 121 |
26 | Weideman, Sam | 2 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 19y 56d | 2 | 2 |
Rushed | 2 | |||||||||||||
Totals | 191 | 93 | 202 | 393 | 7 | 16 | 35 | 67 | 5 | 20 | 23y 12d | 1343 | 682 |