After our disappointment at watching yet another game slip away last week, wasn't it fantastic to have the Blues take home the bacon on Sunday? I was sooooo excited to see them win this time, not only because I got to hear the Carlton song played on the MCG loud speaker over and over again at the end of the game, but also because other than my first live AFL experience back in 2004 when I saw the Blues pip the Crows at the post in Adelaide in the most exciting game EVER (remember Fev kicking that massive goal from the boundary line?), I've only ever seen them lose. Not any more! I've seen first-hand such a great and hard-fought win by my Blue Boys that I simply must tell you all about it..........
This time we were staying at a hotel on
AND THEN it was time to go to the MCG! When we got there, Daddy gave me some money to buy the Footy Record - we thought it was a good omen that the front cover feature story was all about Kouta, that players like him only come along once in a decade and if he hadn't chosen to play footy he would have been a world-class decathlete (we're so pleased he chose to play footy!):
As soon as we got into the ground Mummy said we had to look for the magic statue of the MCG where you can spin the cricket balls and then rub the centre of the oval, close your eyes and make a special wish for your team. We found it after a while, and then of course we all made a wish for the Blues to win.
Then we found the Carlton Social Club in the Lindsay Hassett Room on Level 2. Not as big as the Stephen Kernahan Room at the Dome which is great for kids like me to be able to run around in, with so much more room for all the Carlton Social members to fit into. We had some lunch there (while Mummy & I lined up to order our meal we spoke to Lance Whitnall's wife and two kids - both boys), and listened to Digby Morrell interview some injured and unselected players. And then Zoe, who works for the Carlton Footy Club in the Membership area, gave me some
We watched Captain Carlton do dozens of continuous standing up back flips along the boundary line, and cheered when the
Mum and I went for a quick walk at quarter time and she bought me two badges of
The second quarter saw Bryce Gibbs doing some great handballing in tight spots, and Fev getting a really raw deal from the umpires. But, to his credit, he didn't argue with them much but got on with the game. One time in particular, he chased and tackled so well after he should have been paid a free for being pushed in the back when going for a mark, only to have the umpire pay a 50 metre free against him! Mummy has never booed the umpires and has told me I mustn't do that either, but she actually joined in the rest of the
We went back to the Lindsay Hassett room at half time, where Mummy stayed in case we won the raffle (we didn't), while Daddy and I went to one of the merchandise shops so he could buy me a present. I chose a little Captain Carlton mascot! And we got another badge for me, of Marc Murphy (the place Mum & I had been before didn't have any of his badges). Quick - siren's sounding! Back to meet Mum at our seats.
The Bulldogs scored the first goal of the second half - uh oh! That put them 22 points ahead.
Enter Matthew Lappin.
Skinny Matty kicked the next three goals - in less than five minutes! Boom Boom Boom! He more than made up for his disappointing game last week. One of these goals was given to him by Tasmanian Simon Wiggins. We spent the previous week in
After that rush of goals the Bulldogs unfortunately stemmed the flow with one of their own, before some excellent tackling by Wiggins, handballing to Carrazzo, who in turn handballed to Kouta (who had been rested on the bench pretty well until now), who kicked a humungous kick to Fisher.....goal! And THEN another fantastic team goal, starting with Bryce Gibbs as he fell to ground doing a very clever push of the ball along the ground back away from the Bulldogs players (who would have otherwise broken away for a sure goal), through to several Carlton players, then Bentick handballing to Fisher in the goal square.....another goal! Bannister did so well in his first game of the year in such a tough job against Brad Johnson, and one of his marks led to a kick from Kouta to.....another Lappin goal. Three quarter time had us in front 18 goals to 14. COULD THIS be the game we will win????? We were certainly playing like a true team, showing some real grit and determination and belief in each other, all playing unselfishly, deserving nothing less than the four points on the board. This was in contrast to the Bulldogs, who sometimes when going towards their goals seemed to play like individuals rather than gelling as a team (e.g. many of them tried kicking goals from the boundary rather than centreing the ball to one of their free players).
The final quarter saw Jordan Bannister taking a great mark in the forward line - he kicked it to Kouta who we all thought also took a big mark at the top of the goal square. Not paid!! (grrrrrr umpires again). Jarrad Waite goaled, but then came the Bulldogs. They kicked two in a short space of time - 19.8 to us and 16.13 to them. Catching up! The Bulldogs kicked the next one too, thanks to the umpires (they were definitely not liking us today!). Bulldog number 36 Brian Harris was killing us - he is so big and seemed to be everywhere! But we had an answer - Jordan Bannister ran down from defence and made a huge kick towards goal. It looked as though Fev was going to pull off a big mark on the goal line, but instead he unselfishly shepherded it through for a goal to Bannister! We like him because he wears the number 31 which was my Daddy's number when he played footy for Penola. Soon after Bret Thornton, in his 100th game for the Blues, completed the absolute best smother on the far wing, stopping the Bulldogs from kicking towards their forward fifty. From then on there was lots of hard and tough play, with neither side giving an inch, just the way footy should be. One of our players kicked a long and bouncy ball towards our goals.....bounce.....bounce.....would it be the match-sealer? No! Only a point. Instead the Bulldogs goaled, so we were only TWO POINTS in front - this was getting a bit too scary for our liking!! Please don't let us lose yet again after trying so hard and being in front for so long!! Fev made a great lead around the fifty metre mark and lined up for goal - there was a big build up to this one......but another point. Then it was kept in our goal square again by our forwards playing so well defensively.....Marc Murphy was held without the ball.....NOT PAID!! WHAT? (Mummy wanted to join in the booing again but held herself back). The umpire must have realised his error because soon after he paid Murphy a free for a push in the back, and he kicked a goal! Well done Murph under such pressure. So at the 25 minute mark we were nine points in front.
Could we hold on for our first win in seven weeks?
The ball went down to their forward line and Kouta saved the day - again - deep in the forward line, somehow extracting the ball from a big pack as he often does so well and getting it towards our players. BUT oh no! Jarrad Waite kicked the ball out on the full! Luckily from their kick-in T-Bird marked it, and then Wiggins was so courageous running flat out to mark the ball almost knocking himself out as he reached out and dived (much like SOS that time when he DID knock himself out well before I was born). Wiggins missed the mark but brought the ball down to ground - the Bulldogs took it but then Lappin did the most brilliant tackle on Akermanis (who we thought played pretty well, despite what some of the media this week have written) and Fev took a mark at the top of the square! No! The siren beat him! The crowd was so deafening that we hardly heard it! The game was over!!
Carlton 21.12 to Bulldogs 19.14 - we won by ten points. Yippee!! We went berserk singing the theme song at the top of our lungs along with everyone else around us - Mum and I waved our flags madly and cheered all our players. They stayed on the ground a while and clapped their hands at all of the crowd who had given them such good support. I told Mum that the Blues must have won because we made our special wish!
It was an amazing game in that there were 25 different goal kickers in total, equal to the current AFL record. It was yet another one in which the Blues had kicked over 18 goals this year - only one other team has scored more so far than us this whole year out of all 16 teams in the AFL. That says something of the way the Blues have been playing: big scoring, one-on-one contests, no flooding, fantastic to watch. In this game, players for the Blues worth mentioning (although they ALL played so well and contributed as a team) were Jason Saddington who spoiled a lot of their marks in defence, Carrazzo who got 37 possessions and 10 tackles, Kouta who still has what it takes and really helped out in the last quarter with his fresh legs, Bannister who played so well after not having played in a while, Cain Ackland and Setanta who battled hard in the ruck, Bryce Gibbs who tagged Akermanis a lot, Brad Fisher who showed us how strongly he can mark the ball, and Matthew Lappin who gave us the spark in the third quarter when we made the 41 point turnaround (going from 22 points down to leading by 19 points at three quarter time). Good news for the Blues is that Fevola and Whitnall may have been quiet but we still had plenty of goal scoring power. Poor Fev has three players on him every time he goes for a mark, and Whitnall often also provided backup for him. We sometimes lacked a small running player to remain on the ground when the big guys went up for marks- like an Eddie Betts.
After the excitement was over we wandered back to the Social Club where we waited for the players to arrive. I saw my friends Liam, Jesse, Corey & Bailey again who I'd played with the weekend before - unfortunately being in a much smaller room this time we weren't able to play footy, though. We all watched Denis Pagan's press conference, where he predicted that Bryce Gibbs would be nominated for the Rising Star award (Bryce is South Australian like me and Denis was right, as he was nominated later that night). We were able to see and talk to lots of players after they finished their showers and came up to the Social Club, the first being Matthew Lappin. I showed him my scar from my heart surgery (which he'd seen when it was fresh just three days after my surgery as a baby in March 2003) and then he undid his shirt buttons and showed me a scar that he has - just above his belly button!
Next I had my photo taken with Eddie Betts - he's really nice, too, and seems to be a bit of a prankster. Daddy spent quite a bit of time talking to Eddie, talking about the game and how the players go about getting the ball down to Fev who is so tagged these days, and the umpiring, and he admitted how much he wished he were out there to do the crumbing when Fev and Whitnall go for the big marks. We asked how his hamstring is going and when he might return to playing footy again. He told us after the break. Eddie and I gave the thumbs up in our photo:
We also spoke to Lance Whitnall, Brendan Fevola and a few other players, before finally talking to Marc Murphy. Mum told him how impressed we'd been with his tackling in the game last week against the Crows, and how I'd picked up a few pointers from him when playing with Jesse, Corey, Liam & Co. I showed him my badge with him on it, and then he too picked me up for a photo:
And that was the end of our night! Kouta didn't come into the room, unfortunately, as he has his family with him, so I didn't get to see him. But still, I'd had the most wonderful day, and was totally pooped from all my cheering and running around. I love the Blues a lot - almost as much as Mummy does! I really look forward to seeing them play again one day. If only we lived closer to Melbourne!
Until next time,
goodbye to you all in Carlton land,
from Jesse Hanel in SA
