While the Demons were awesome in winning their fifth successive game since their opening round mauling at the hands of Hawthorn, this was a performance that would have crushed the spirit of even the most hardened Blues fans.
The 25.10 (160) to 8.7 (55) defeat was as bad as any Carlton suffered during 2002 and 2003 – the two worst years in the club’s history when they finished 16th and 15th – including last year’s club record 124-point loss to the Kangaroos in the final round.
And to put the result in perspective, it was the Demons’ biggest-ever win over Carlton with their previous biggest of 81-points coming in 1897 – the very first year of the competition.
And what made it even more disappointing for Blues fans and coach Denis Pagan was this performance came just as the proud club was showing signs of emerging from its worst ever decline in its history.
Last week’s emphatic win over the highly-rated Eagles was the club’s second in five matches before this game, and came after the Blues had also thrashed Geelong at their Optus Oval home earlier in the season.
But if the Blues are going to become truly competitive again under the respected dual Kangaroos’ premiership coach, they have to learn to perform at venues other than their century-old home.
Melbourne coach Neale Daniher said that he was delighted with his team’s overall efforts.
“It’s been a terrific start to the year after round one, where we were very, very ordinary, but we’ve been able to regroup and now we’re playing some very competent footy,” Daniher said.
“(We were) very happy today with the evenness across the four quarters.”
“It was very pleasing that we kept the door shut all game.”
On a windy and cold day when scoring should have been difficult, the Demons booted six goals to one in the first quarter, another six to one in the second quarter and then seven to two in the third term as the Blues made the kind of errors even a schoolboys’ team would have been ashamed of.
For example early in the second quarter Heath Scotland and last week’s impressive debutant Andrew Walker flew for the same mark on the outer wing when neither had a Melbourne player anywhere near them.
As a result they managed to spoil each other resulting in a turnover and a goal to the exciting Aaron Davey for Melbourne.
Even worse was Carlton’s complete refusal to man-up as Melbourne midfielders such as Adem Yze, Scott Thompson and Travis Johnstone had a field day and ensured numerous opportunities for the Demons’ forward line while Chris Heffernan played his best game for Melbourne since crossing from Essendon in totally eclipsing Scott Camporeale.
The emphatic victory was even more remarkable considering Melbourne skipper David Neitz managed just two goals with young Blues full-back Bret Thornton one of the few Carlton players who could walk off the field with his head held high.
But such was the Demons’ dominance that they didn’t need their 2002 Coleman Medalist to kick goals as Cameron Bruce did as he pleased in attack.
Bruce kicked seven goals in a best-on-ground performance and the amount of space he was afforded by the generous Blues defence would have infuriated Pagan.
If Bruce didn’t mark the ball then Davey grabbed virtually every loose ball on the ground and set up several goals for his teammates with his blistering pace and great ball-use.
Even the much-maligned Ben Holland got in on the act, finishing with four goals, and it perhaps said everything about Carlton’s defensive efforts throughout the day that in the final quarter the big former Tiger – who is hardly noted for his agility – was able to grab the ball out of the ruck and snap a goal on his non-preferred left foot while off-balance.
And in complete contrast, the Melbourne defence was again superb with Jared Rivers again showing he is one of the finds of the season while late inclusion Nathan Carroll clearly outpointed Brendan Fevola.
After the massacre, Denis Pagan described his team as 'dishonest'.
“We have been very honest in all of our other games and even when we have been beaten we could take positives out of them – even in Fremantle (a 47 point loss in round one).
“But we got so far in front of ourselves today and you say - how can you be so ferocious with your attack on the ball and our body work eight days ago and then be like we were today?"
Melbourne: 6.3 12.5 19.9 25.10 (160)
Carlton: 1.3 2.5 4.7 8.7 (55)
Goals: Melbourne: Bruce 7, Holland 4, Green 3, Neitz 2, Davey 2, Armstrong 2, Thompson, Miller, Yze, White, Robertson
Carlton: Whitnall 3, Fevola 2, Houlihan, Davies, Camporeale
Best: Melbourne: Bruce, Yze, Johnstone, Heffernan, Rivers, Holland, White, Thompson, Green
Carlton: Houlihan, Stevens, Johnson
Injuries: Melbourne: Bizzell (achilles) replaced in selected side by Carroll
Carlton: Koutoufides (hamstring) replaced by Davies in selected side
Reports: Nil
Umpires: McLaren, Rowston, Hendrie
Crowd: 38,799 at MCG
