Essendon killed the contest with as sharp a first term as we've seen so far this season, nailing six unanswered goals to lead by 36 points at the first change. It was the biggest quarter-time lead between the clubs since round 13, 2008 (when the Bombers led by 39 points). The Dons' domination was complete, obliterating the Blues in disposals (130-74), uncontested possessions (97-46) and marks (48-18). They extended their lead to 43 points early in the second term before the Blues' goalless sequence was broken when Troy Menzel snapped his side's first goal eight minutes into the term. The lead ballooned to 50 points just before half-time. 

The Blues enjoyed a brief purple patch early in the third term, with consecutive goals to little man David Ellard reducing the margin to 38 points. Jarrad Waite had a chance to dig further into the deficit but his shot on the run from 40 metres faded for a behind. Suddenly challenged, Essendon went into overdrive, slamming on the next five goals to lead by 67 points. Jason Winderlich, playing his first game since round 20 last year, displayed typical class by kicking the third of his four goals, Paul Chapman slotted the second of his four, and Brent Stanton snapped his third. The Dons then went on with the job in the final term.

Mick Malthouse agreed to wear a heart-rate monitor to provide insight to Channel Seven's coverage of the match, but from the Carlton coach's perspective there probably couldn't have been a worse match to allow such personal access. The Blues made mistakes galore – a floating Troy Menzel kick across goal proved costly, as did his miss from 10 metres; Andrew Walker also made a couple of uncharacteristic clangers by foot; the Bombers always seemed to have great time and space … and so it went. Malthouse coached against Mark Thompson for the first time since the 2010 preliminary when they were at different clubs (Malthouse's Magpies thrashing Thompson's Cats). Thompson leads their head-to-head clashes 10-7.

On a night when the two rivals were playing for the Madden Cup, named in honour of durable ruck greats Simon and Justin Madden, it was ironic that both clubs were missing first-choice big men to injury. Essendon was without Tom Bellchambers and Paddy Ryder, and had to make do with pinch-hitting key forwards Joe Daniher and Jake Carlisle, while Matthew Warnock will shoulder the bulk of Carlton's ruck load in the absence of Matthew Kreuzer. The Blues were better equipped, given Warnock is arguably his club's best tap-ruckman anyway, with relief from Sam Rowe. As expected, the Blues won the majority of hitouts and the clearances, but Carlisle was a terrific linkman with his mobility, claiming six marks in the first quarter alone.

The AFL's decision to stage one of the biggest rivalry clashes on a Sunday night has been the subject of much discussion, and not a lot of it positive. It's the start of school holidays but there is little doubt some families were deterred by the scheduling. In their previous seven clashes since 2011, Essendon and Carlton had attracted an average crowd of 73,054 – this time they played before 62,730. The Essendon fans who attended didn't seem to mind though, as they enjoyed a landslide victory.