CARLTON 3.1 3.7 5.9 10.12 (72) ESSENDON 1.1 1.4 4.8 8.9 (57)
Goals: Carlton: M Wright 2, A Phillips, B Gibbs, D Armfield, D Thomas, J Lamb, L Jones, L Sumner, M Murphy. Essendon: D Parish 2, M Brown 2, J Daniher, J Polkinghorne, O Fantasia, S Grimley.
BEST: Carlton: Murphy, Gibbs, Thomas, Docherty, Byrne, Curnow. Essendon: Dempsey, Cooney, Crowley, Merrett, Gleeson, Langford.
Injuries: Carlton: J Weitering (shoulder), P Cripps (calf – late withdrawal). Essendon: M Stokes (hamstring).
Umpires: Ray Chamberlain, Mathew Nicholls, Leigh Fisher.
Official Crowd: 43,827 at MCG.
Even an ugly game can be compelling. Tension does not require prettiness. Besides, for Carlton there are few things quite so beautiful as beating Essendon, no matter what the contest looks like.
Seldom will a game be as unsightly as the first half of the goal-starved Carlton-Essendon match at the MCG on Sunday. For a period, the interest lay only in what new and inventive ways the teams could contrive to miss shots at goal, or even passes to teammates.
Yet, as a contest it remained engaging because for all the clumsiness the scores remained close, the contest tight. A game that could not produce a goal in the second quarter, and saw nine in the first three quarters, then delivered nine in the last quarter.
A callow 20-game ruckman Andrew Phillips, a giant latterly of the Giants, calmly kicked the sealer from 50 metres out. When goals could not be found, the one to claim the game was kicked from the type of player the Blues have introduced hoping to carry them into the future.
Carlton, the team not expected to win many games this year, has now won two in a row.
But this was the sort of day it was: to half-time Bryce Gibbs had nine kicks and six of them missed their mark. Adam Cooney too had nine kicks and five went astray. When even the skillful could not hit a target, what hope for the young, the rehabilitated and the old?
Mercifully, the goalless second term meant the quarter only went for 24½ minutes, the shortest since late last year and first goalless quarter in four years.
For a Carlton side patiently building for tomorrow, the worst moment was when one of their brightest young talents, Jacob Weitering, was crunched, and went off dazed, cradling a shoulder that half popped out.
The moment the injury occurred typified the game to that point – Sam Grimley air-kicked when trying to soccer a ball off the ground five metres out from goal. It was comically clumsy … and then Weitering was crunched by Mitch Brown, which was half clumsy, but not comical.
That might have opened things up for the Bombers and given latitude to Joe Daniher, Mitch Brown and Grimley, but the stagnant and loose movement of the ball into the forward line meant it was still just a scrap.
Carlton had dominated in the first term but battled to translate it into a lead reflecting their superiority. Ciaran Byrne amassed possession early, sweeping across half-back while Ed Curnow was busy shutting David Zaharakis out of the early contest.
Dale Thomas continued his rediscovery of form after last week's three-goal game, with a strong showing that began with a bright first quarter. He crumbed a spoilt mark perfectly for the first goal, sweeping past at high pace, then snapped a high ball that offered Matthew Wright the Blues' easy second goal.
Carlton was harder around the ball, winning contested possession comfortably. Martin Gleeson was clever in defence for the Dons and Adam Cooney was industrious between the arcs but the Bombers could not hold the ball forward.
Their only goal of the quarter was from a wonderful turn of pace from Orazio Fantasia who ran onto a long ball from Courtenay Dempsey after Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti created the turnover in defence. Fantasia ran away from Simpson and curled a long ball to the open goal square to bounce through.
The interest in the second half then shifted for a period to the game itself as the tension of tight scores overwhelmed the silliness of sloppy movement.
Dempsey continued to rebound and Darcy Parish worked his way into the game and, with some forward targets bringing the ball to ground, the Bombers booted three unanswered goals to hit the front.
The tension grew. Carlton responded with a buffering couple of goals through Lamb and Gibbs before the last break and then had the greater composure in the last quarter when the wind dropped and skills lifted. The ball movement remained tentative, but Essendon continued to press,
Daniher goaled early in the last but Marc Murphy lifted around the ball after a quiet third term and was a key reason why Carlton was able to hold on with five goals and gain a satisfying win.
