IT WAS a key game, and it was a game of keys.

Whether it was Sam Darcy or Jacob Weitering, Rory Lobb or Brodie Kemp, Buku Khamis or Charlie Curnow, this thrilling encounter was shaped by the big guys. But it was defined by the one whose impact, right up until the final moments, had been barely felt.

BLUES V BULLDOGS Full match coverage and stats

Aaron Naughton was beaten all night by Jack Silvagni. In fact, as the game ticked into its dying embers, the Western Bulldogs key forward was goalless with just four measly disposals to his name. A few seconds later, that mattered little.

With his side trailing by less than a kick with under five minutes remaining, it was Naughton's that brought the Dogs back from the brink to secure what had just moments earlier appeared an unlikely 12.11 (83) to 11.9 (75) win.

His next, setting up Darcy for another, extended the margin to one Carlton couldn't whittle back. The Blues falling to a dismal 0-3, the Dogs getting the result their effort and application had perhaps deserved last week.

Carlton had started hot. It had kicked the game's opening three goals and leapt into a 24-point lead, supercharged by Kemp's five goals, Curnow's three and Weitering's effective shutdown job on Darcy through the game's first three quarters.

But, as Darcy grew into the game to finish with two majors, Tom Liberatore (30 disposals, 10 tackles, one goal), Sam Davidson (31 disposals, 10 marks) and ex-Blue Matt Kennedy (22 disposals, two goals) drove the Dogs to victory.

Carlton's start was almost like a sneak attack. Playing a brand unrecognisable from the opening fortnight of the season, the Blues had three goals on the board before the Bulldogs could blink. The question was whether they could sustain the momentum and, while the answer wasn't a resounding yes, there were positive signs.

The Dogs eventually settled into their groove and had four more entries and close to 75 percent of the ball in their forward half to quarter time, yet Carlton grew optimistic through its resilience. It held its opponents goalless in the opening term – and indeed for the first 37 minutes of the match – adding to the lead through Curnow's second.

As the pattern of play evened out in the second quarter, so too did the scoring. Both sides traded goals, including a Kennedy snap against his former side and Curnow slotting his third, with neither side able to put a sizeable dent in the margin.

Instead, it fluctuated on either side of 20 points. Where the Blues couldn't get the advantage beyond four goals, the Dogs struggled to get within two at the other end. The result was a cage fight, as the contest grew into a scrappy tug of war.

Darcy eventually got the better of Weitering to kickstart the third term, before Kemp – having an impact at the other – kicked his third, as the game hovered through a precarious period. Carlton's lead simply wasn't big enough to be comfortable, giving the Bulldogs a sniff of hope.

They seized on that glimmer late in the third. Laitham Vandermeer's pressure got one back, Lachie McNeil's smarts brought it closer, before Kennedy's second of the evening drew the scores level for the first time since the game's first moments.

The Blues needed a circuit-breaker. Kemp, his influence on the match growing as it went on, proved exactly that. Spotted up by George Hewett, he kicked his fourth from an intimidating angle to restore a slender lead at the final change.

But the Dogs now had a pulse. Spurred on by Rhylee West's unnerving set-shot on the three-quarter time siren, they sought to gain their first lead of the night. A flashpoint involving a lengthy score review, which determined a touched Darcy shot, delayed their hopes, but not for long.

Darcy beat Weitering on the lead, eventually had his second of the night, and the Bulldogs saw an advantage for the very first time. Now, it was up to the Blues to respond and, once again, it looked to Kemp. A dolly over the top, from Francis Evans' pass, brought about a fifth and the restoration of a buffer that had just evaporated.

But the Dogs never wavered. Now full of belief following their fightback, Naughton kicked the goal that put them in front and then set up O'Donnell for the one that denied any hopes of the Blues getting back in the match.

Blue dealt another frustrating blow
The disappointment in Zac Williams' face as he made his way to the changerooms midway through the second term said it all. For a player that has already suffered one ruptured Achilles in 2018, then came dangerously close to another in 2022 – that time it proved to be a high-grade calf injury that ruled him out for three months, rather than another Achilles issue – his latest setback was a frustrating one. Williams limped off with what Carlton described as 'Achilles soreness', having just moments earlier sparked the Blues' lightning start. Jordan Boyd came on as the substitute, with Williams now facing the prospect of yet another dispiriting period on the sidelines.

The battle of the night
An unstoppable force against an immovable object. The best young key forward in the game against the reigning All-Australian full back. Jacob Weitering had got the better of Sam Darcy in their ongoing sparring match on Friday night, until a third quarter moment lit the fuse for the contest's most intriguing matchup. The pair went at each other when Darcy complained about a non-call. They went at each other again moments later when Weitering gave away a free kick to hand his opponent his first of the night. Tensions grew more fraught in the final term, when a lengthy score review determined Weitering touched a Darcy shot off the boot to deny him a second. Weitering, for all his efforts in the first three quarters, perhaps ended coming up second best as Darcy's second major proved crucial in the Dogs clawing back the victory.

Old Blue shows new Dog tricks
The last time Carlton saw Matt Kennedy, he cut a forlorn figure on the Gabba bench after he was substituted just minutes into the second quarter of the side's dismal elimination final loss to Brisbane. The next time it saw him, he was having his say on a whirlwind night for both sides. Kennedy, who crossed to the Dogs last October despite still having a season to run on his contract at Ikon Park, made his former side pay with a performance that included a couple of clever goals on Friday night. Handed the midfield minutes he was desperately after, Kennedy finished with 22 disposals and nine clearances to go with his crucial pair of strikes.

CARLTON                              4.3     7.5     9.9     11.9 (75)
WESTERN BULLDOGS           0.4     4.5     9.7    12.11 (83)

GOALS
Carlton: Kemp 5, Curnow 3, Young 2, Motlop
Western Bulldogs: Darcy 2, Kennedy 2, O'Donnell 2, Sanders, Liberatore, Vandermeer, McNeil, West, Naughton

BEST
Carlton: Kemp, De Koning, Silvagni, Weitering, Cerra, Curnow
Western Bulldogs: Liberatore, Davidson, Darcy, Harmes, Williams, Sanders

INJURIES
Carlton: Williams (Achilles)
Western Bulldogs: Baker (quad)

SUBSTITUTES
Carlton: Boyd (replaced Williams in the second quarter)
Western Bulldogs: Dolan (replaced Baker in the fourth quarter)

Crowd: 44,894 at Marvel Stadium