1. It's not easy being Gary
Gary Ablett may be one of the greatest players of his generation, but being the Little Master doesn't come without its challenges. The Carlton players started hassling Ablett before the opening bounce, with Bryce Gibbs – his opponent early – particularly keen to remind Ablett of his presence. Gary did his thing in the first, coolly racking up 10 touches, but struggled in the second with just one. He was bumped, battered and bruised off the ball, but pushed through to top his team's disposal tally with 25. While it was a game most AFL players would be happy with, by Gary's standards it was far from his best performance, and he may be rightly annoyed at the lack of support from teammates in the first half.

WATCH: Match highlights

2. Gibbs the hero, Carlton one game out of the top eight
Rewind nine months ago, Carlton had finished 14th with seven wins and Bryce Gibbs was close to becoming a Crow. After Saturday night's 10-point win over the Suns - the Blues' second in a row - Carlton is now just one win out of the top eight with five wins already on the board. And Bryce Gibbs? He is in close to career-best form. He was the difference in a close match, kicking two fourth-quarter goals, while accumulating 43 disposals, eight marks, seven clearances and 10 tackles. The Blues, and Gibbs, will make some top sides very nervous in the run home to September. 

WATCH: Gibbs provides game for the ages

3. Barlow suffers yet another bad break
Michael Barlow has been more than handy after crossing the country from Fremantle to Gold Coast in the off-season, but is set for an extended stint on the sidelines after suffering a broken leg. The midfielder's left leg got caught underneath him in a tackle halfway through the fourth quarter, and he remained remarkably calm while in considerable pain, sitting on the ground and waiting for assistance from trainers. Barlow was stretchered off the ground and given the "green whistle", a strong pain reliever, straight away. It was the same leg Barlow badly broke back in 2010, his debut season, which kept him out of the game for a year.

4. Next on "Liam Jones: Surprise Defender"
Liam Jones was the talk of the football world last week after putting in a stunning performance in defence, as far from his usual forward position as possible. He faced a tough challenge against Gold Coast co-captain Tom Lynch, and performed with aplomb. Lynch kicked seven goals the last time these two sides met, but did not even take a mark until the third quarter. Jones held front position in most contests, at the very least neutralising the contest, and kept Lynch goalless. The surprise story of the year continues.

Full match coverage and stats 

5. And the trumpet, it goes…
For the first half of the match, nearly the only highlight for the Suns was its trumpeter in the cheer squad. A constant feature at Suns' home games, the trumpeter plays a different tune after each goal. The mystery musician is quite versatile, trotting out well-known tunes including the Chicken Dance, Eye of the Tiger, the Indiana Jones theme, Final Countdown and even a snippet from the Phantom of the Opera. Unfortunately for the Suns, in a match where they could have asserted their finals credentials, the trumpeter was not heard nearly enough.