Carlton vs Melbourne Round 21

[Barra13]

THAT'S WHY THEY CALL IT "THE BLUES" by Whispering Jack

The Carlton Football Club and all those associated with it must be collectively heaving sighs of relief about the events at Essendon.

They came in the week after the Blues managed only three goals after quarter time in an 83-point turnaround that saw them capitulate to fellow wooden spoon contender Brisbane by 64 points. Former player Mitch Robinson added to the humiliation by sticking it to his old club with a display that saw him amass 34 disposals and lay 15 tackles. It was an unspoken gesture that spelled out "bruise-free" if there ever was one.

Had it not been for the troubles at Essendon which, earlier on the same day lowered its colours to Adelaide at Etihad Stadium by 112 points and a few days later parted company with coach James Hird in strange circumstances, the media would have been all over Carlton.

And if not Carlton, it would have had far more to say about Melbourne's pitifully weak and inept performance against the Western Bulldogs which saw another bloodbath at the Docklands, giving the stadium under the roof a combined losing margin from two AFL games of 35 goals.

If that's not a very good advertisement for our game then I would like to know what could be worse than those two results and how the AFL managed to sell six years of broadcast rights in their aftermath for $2½ billion. Even if you leave Essendon and its drug issues aside, if Gillon McLachlan can pull off that sort of thing then what price the Sydney Harbour Bridge?

Which brings us to this week's game.

Well actually ... er, um no. The garbage served up by both teams last week won't bring many people to the MCG to watch the slopfest of embarrassing, coach killing skill errors and the kaleidoscope of half-hearted weak efforts that we saw from both these teams last weekend.

What more can you say about a match between teams where a 98 point last start loser is a firm favourite to win according to the betting agencies?

In fact, the match up is threatening to revive the horrors of that game between the two sides on the same ground eight years ago which lives in infamy and is known as "The Kreuzer Cup". We know who won that because it was one of the few games in AFL history where the loser got the four points. The man after whom it was named will be turning up for that game's winner this week. Despite what was obvious to all and sundry at the time, his team was strangely enough, never really investigated for bringing the game into disrepute.

And on form, we can expect more on-field disrepute this week although this game has one thing going for it - the fact that the two leading contenders for the NAB Rising Star award, Melbourne's Jesse Hogan and Carlton's Patrick Cripps, will both stand out as quality footballers among a fairly dismal lot.

THE GAME

Carlton v Melbourne at MCG Sunday 23 August, 2015 at 3.20pm

HEAD TO HEAD

Overall Carlton 115 wins Melbourne 89 wins Drawn 2

At MCG Carlton 48 wins Melbourne 49 wins

Past five meetings Carlton 4 wins Melbourne 1 win

The Coaches Barker 0 wins Roos 0 wins

MEDIA

TV - Fox Sports Channel 3 @ 3.00pm live

RADIO -

THE BETTING

Carlton to win - $2.80 Melbourne to win - $1.44

THE LAST TIME THEY MET

Melbourne 12.9.81 defeated Carlton 7.15.57 at the MCG Round 4, 2014

Carlton was on top early but the Demons slowly wore their more fancied opponents down and provided an early season upset. James Frawley was on fire for the Demons with 24 touches and Rohan Bail had 10 tackles. Both kicked a couple as did Chris Dawes and Jack Watts.

Strangely enough, Carlton had more disposals, marks, scoring shots and inside 50s but still lost.

THE TEAMS

CARLTON
B: Zach Tuohy, Michael Jamison, Sam Rowe
HB: Dylan Buckley, Sam Docherty, Matthew Dick
C: Marc Murphy, Andrew Carrazzo, Kade Simpson
HF: Tom Bell, Andrejs Everitt, Blaine Boekhorst
F: Andrew Walker, Levi Casboult, Troy Menzel
Foll: Matthew Kreuzer, Ed Curnow, Patrick Cripps
I/C: David Ellard, Kristian Jaksch, Jason Tutt, Mark Whiley

MELBOURNE
B: Colin Garland, Lynden Dunn, Jeremy Howe
HB: Daniel Cross, Tom McDonald, Christian Salem
C: Billy Stretch, Bernie Vince, Heritier Lumumba
HF: Viv Michie, Chris Dawes, James Harmes
F: Jeff Garlett, Jesse Hogan, Jack Watts
Foll: Max Gawn, Nathan Jones, Jack Viney
I/C: Angus Brayshaw, Ben Newton, Alex Neal-Bullen, Jack Grimes

[Purple 77]

I'm really, really, really uncomfortable with the consensus of people and Journo's that reckon this is a sure win for Melbourne.

HAVE YOU GUYS NOT BEEN PAYING ATTENTION?!

These are EXACTLY the kind of games where we will do everything we can to lose. And I bet ya that will happen again. Whether we win or not is another question.

Confidence level 0.

Also, as always, cheers for these threads barra, and the stats in the other threads :)

[Purple 77]

Riley, Bail and Jamar emergencies plz.

[Barra13]

You got your wish. :)

[Purple 77]

You got your wish. :)

Roos watches my posts confirmed

[Barra13]

Updated first post.

I just hope ANB is the sub

[Purple 77]

Updated first post.

I just hope ANB is the sub

+1

[meow meow]

Updated first post.

I just hope ANB is the sub

+1

Really? He looked like one of the few who were having a crack last week. Kanye should have been dropped 10 weeks ago, make him the sub instead.

[Purple 77]

Updated first post.

I just hope ANB is the sub

+1

Really? He looked like one of the few who were having a crack last week. Kanye should have been dropped 10 weeks ago, make him the sub instead.

It's more to do with wanting Grimes, Brayshaw and Newton to play full games rather than to limit ANB.

But ideally I want it to be Stretch, but I'm assuming the sub will come from the interchange.

[nrich102]

Pls lose Melborne or win by llike 1 point. I want pick 1  :P

[ossie85]

I think this is just about Melbourne's most important game of the year

Melbourne is a better team than Carlton

Prove it

[Big Mac]

I think this is just about Melbourne's most important game of the year

Melbourne is a better team than Carlton

Prove it

I don't want to lose it, but I don't really think it's more important than any other game

We got belted by an undermanned GWS at the end of last year, but after 3 days no one cared anymore

[ossie85]

I think this is just about Melbourne's most important game of the year

Melbourne is a better team than Carlton

Prove it

I don't want to lose it, but I don't really think it's more important than any other game

We got belted by an undermanned GWS at the end of last year, but after 3 days no one cared anymore

I really hope that's not the attitude the players have (doesn't matter, people won't care), because after the first quarter they are sure playing that way.

It isn't like you are playing a team gunning for finals or top 4, you are playing a team who have had far worse results this year, also praying for the season to end

[Big Mac]

I think this is just about Melbourne's most important game of the year

Melbourne is a better team than Carlton

Prove it

I don't want to lose it, but I don't really think it's more important than any other game

We got belted by an undermanned GWS at the end of last year, but after 3 days no one cared anymore

I really hope that's not the attitude the players have (doesn't matter, people won't care), because after the first quarter they are sure playing that way.

It isn't like you are playing a team gunning for finals or top 4, you are playing a team who have had far worse results this year, also praying for the season to end

Imo every game is important. I just don't think this game is more important than last week's for example

Trust me I am still incredibly pissed off right now

[ossie85]

Imo every game is important. I just don't think this game is more important than last week's for example

Every game is important, but not every game has the same importance.

I.e. losing by 90 points to a top 4 side (Bulldogs) isn't as bad as losing by 90 points to a bottom 4 side (Carlton).