A NINE-GOAL haul from Brendan Fevola has propelled Carlton to a hard-fought 20-point win over Richmond at the MCG on Saturday.

After a goalless first quarter Fevola exploded into action with his career-best effort the driving force behind the 16.13 (109) to 12.17 (89) win.

Carlton led by as much as 38 points early in the final term, but failed to finish off the Tigers who fought out the game well to outscore their opponents five goals to three.

After an even first quarter Carlton booted 10 goals to Richmond's four in the second and third terms to set up the match-wining lead.

Chris Judd and Andrew Carrazzo were important around the stoppages with 29 possessions apiece, with Shaun Grigg (28 touches) and Bryce Gibbs (24) also prominent.

Ben Cousins continued his good run of form with 35 possessions with Daniel Jackson (32) and Brett Deledio (29) working hard alongside him.

Jack Riewoldt was the Tigers' leading goal kicker with three.  

With the wind creating little pie wrapper tornadoes across the ground the first quarter certainly wasn't one for the vault despite a goal to the Blues within 15 seconds of the opening bounce.

Brad Fisher finished the quick passage of play, but Carlton was unable to build on that early advantage as the two sides traded goals for the remainder of the term.

Deledio and Riewoldt both bagged first-quarter majors, but each score was quickly negated by at the other end by Eddie Betts and then Gibbs.

Cousins fed Mitch Morton who snapped truly to give his side a one-point lead at the first break, but the Blues started to gain the ascendancy as the second term progressed.

It had looked like Fevola was on his way to an off day in the first quarter, but the big forward found his rhythm in the second with his four goals rewarding the hard work of the midfield.

Young Tiger Jayden Post took a huge mark that eventually led to a second Riewoldt major, but Carlton replied with the first back to back goals of the match thanks to Marc Murphy and Fevola.

Greg Bentley sent his set shot from outside 50m sailing through the middle to give the Blues the biggest lead of the half at 20 points, but Robin Nahas injected himself into the contest in no uncertain terms.

Two brilliant tackles inside 50 saw him rewarded with two free kicks that he duly converted, but Fevola capped a good quarter with successive goals to restore the 20-point advantage at half time.

The Tigers were well in the contest in the third quarter, but the Blues made them pay for their inaccuracy in front of goal.

Chris Newman's long bomb was the perfect answer to Fev's fifth, but his team soon went about kicking itself out of the game with eight behinds for the quarter.

Carrazzo kicked truly from a tight angle and Fevola continued to put on a show following his sixth goal with a brilliant volleyed, overhead effort that had Blues' fans on their feet.

Fevola's eighth goal opened the last quarter, but young Tiger ruckman Tyrone Vickery was sent forward where he booted two goals to keep his side's faint hopes alive.

Riewoldt's third goal dragged it back to 20 points with 18 minutes played, but Matthew Kreuzer's goal three minutes calmed the frayed nerves in the Carlton coaches box.

Jake King and Deledio were able to muster answering goals, but Betts found Fevola on his own in the goal square with his ninth and final goal ending up in the top tier of the Great Southern stand.  

Carlton  3.3  9.8  13.9  16.13 (109)
Richmond  3.4  6.6  7.14  12.17 (89) 

GOALS
Carlton: Fevola 9, Fisher, Betts, Gibbs, Murphy, Bentley, Carrazzo, Kreuzer
Richmond: Riewoldt 3, Nahas 2, Deledio 2, Vickery 2, Morton, Newman, King

BEST
Carlton: Fevola, Judd, Carrazzo, Grigg, Gibbs, Kreuzer, Murphy 
Richmond: Cousins, Tambling, Jackson, Deledio, Riewoldt, King, Vickery

INJURIES
Carlton: O'hAilpin (general soreness) out of selected side, replaced by Anderson
Richmond:

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Kennedy, Dalgleish, McInerney

Official crowd: 50,784 at the MCG

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.