Blues end run of outs in thriller
Carlton clung on to beat Port Adelaide by four points at the MCG to claim just their second win of the season and their first at home.
PT1M30S 620 349CARLTON 4.2 10.3 15.7 17.8 (110) PORT ADELAIDE 4.3 9.5 11.8 16.10 (106)
Goals: Carlton: A Everitt 3 L Henderson 3 D Armfield 2 L Casboult 2 N Graham 2 T Menzel 2 C Wood M Murphy T Bell. Port Adelaide: C Wingard 5 J Westhoff 2 R Gray 2 T Boak 2 A Monfries B Ebert N Krakouer O Wines S Colquhoun.
Best: Carlton: Cripps, Murphy, Rowe, Bell, Graham, Everitt, Henderson. Port Adelaide: Boak, Wines, Wingard, Krakouer, Hartlett, Broadbent.
Injuries: Carlton: M Murphy (corked quad). Port Adelaide: R Gray (concussion).
Umpires: Mathew Nicholls, Brendan Hosking, Brent Wallace.
Official Crowd: 27,693 at MCG.
Every close game has its debating points, and there was a long list of them after Carlton's thrilling four-point win over Port Adelaide at the MCG.
Lachie Henderson kicked three for the Blues. Photo: Getty Images
What impact did Robbie Gray's subbing out of the game with concussion at half-time have on the result, the Port star having helped drag his team back into the contest before he was controversially slung to the ground by Bryce Gibbs?
Why did Jarman Impey kick to Travis Boak instead of having a crack at goal to give Port the lead with under four minutes left? Why did the umpire call for a ball-up instead of just calling play-on after Brad Ebert's pass to Sam Colquhoun was ruled touched near goal?
Was Boak stiff to be pinged for a throw in the dying seconds? How about a free kick count of 24-10? And so on.
Ollie Wines handballs whilst being tackled by Dennis Armfield. Photo: Getty Images
But to labour too long on those isolated incidents would risk not doing justice to what was a terrific game of football. And to miss an important point.
Which was that Carlton played better football for longer than did Port Adelaide. And that given this was a side with one win to its name up against a team that pre-season was roundly expected to at least make the grand final, that the Blues' win was probably fair enough.
The portents certainly weren't good for the Blues with Port Adelaide two goals up in under five minutes, both kicked with a minimum of fuss.
Troy Menzel celebrates a goal. Photo: Getty Images
Justin Westhoff had the first after Nathan Krakouer expertly pulled a pass across his body into plenty of space, Westhoff's opponent Simon White powerless to do anything. A couple of minutes later, Angus Monfries' centre saw Chad Wingard at his acrobatic best, converting the spoils of a big grab.
But far from send Carlton into a spin, that opening salvo seemed only to spark the Blues into action. Lachie Henderson opened their account from a free kick, but the next goal was more telling, Port's Brad Ebert dropping a sitter of a mark midfield, the Power turning it over, and Nick Graham snapping another Carlton major.
When Tom Jonas, who'd conceded the Henderson free kick, gave away another to Andrejs Everitt when he made no attempt to get rid of the ball when wrapped up in a tackle, it was Carlton who now led by eight points.
Now it was Port's turn to get on the front foot again, Ebert atoning with a goal, Robbie Gray marking and converting from close range.
But the Power weren't helping their own cause with the some juicy clangers. The next one also cost a goal, Matthew Broadbent's very risky centre on his own defensive 50 going to a one-on-two contest, Everitt, gleefully snapping up the spills.
And so goal for goal it continued into the second term. Well, for a while, anyway. But Carlton made the next clean break, the Blues notably upping the ante in the pressure stakes, hassling Port into more fumbles, and proving remarkably efficient themselves with the ball in the scoring zone.
It was a good enough spell to reap four goals in seven minutes. First Troy Menzel, then Cam Wood off the ground, then Tom Bell on the run. And when Everitt booted his third, it was 23 points the difference approaching time-on.
Port were being beaten on two fronts, the contested and also for run and spread. They looked flat by comparison with the Blues and even skipper Boak was beginning to feel the pinch, penalised after throwing his arm back at an opponent prior to a ball-up.
They'd rally again, dragged back into this contest largely through the agency of Gray, Boak and Ollie Wines, which made the loss of Gray so pivotal.
The Blues continued to make the running with the first three goals after the long break, and indeed got out to a game-high 29-point lead after Menzel's first of the last term. Still you sensed the deal wasn't necessarily sealed.
And nor was it. Wingard booted a mighty goal from near the juncture of the 50 and the boundary line. Westhoff took a hanger. Krakouer, who'd been pivotal to several Port goals and was one of the few of his side to use the ball well all day, soccered another.
But it was acts of desperation by Carlton that fittingly not only clinched victory in the end, but symbolised what in the circumstances was a memorable one.
There was bravery from Bell, a game-saving mark and arguably a game-winning tackle from Sam Docherty, and 18 tackles combined between Cripps and Graham.
The latter pair are perhaps the two brightest lights on the Blues' horizon, one that on afternoons like Saturday, doesn't look so bleak after all.
