heraldsun.com.au Herald Sun, Monday, July 9, 2007 41+
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ROUND 14
finishing schoolRED TIME
>> CARRAZZO’S BALLTHE ball spent almost moretime in Andrew Carrazzo’shands in the first quarter thanout of it. Carlton’s Carrazzohad 17 touches, including 10in the first 12 minutes. Hiseffort was the second bestsince Champion Data startedkeeping stats, one fewer thanLion Luke Power managed ina term against Port Adelaidein Round 17, 2004.
>> NEWTON’S LAWIN JUST his second gameDemon Michael Newtondisplayed the qualities of atrue forward. He had eightkicks, no handballs, andfinished with 3.3. Newton hadtwo opponents, Adam Hartlettand Paul Bower. Between thethree of them they haveplayed seven AFL games.
>> SLOW LEARNERFIRST-GAMERS always talkabout the extreme pace ofAFL football, and Carltondebutant Shaun Grigg foundthat out the hard way. Twicein the third quarter he wasrun down from behind, bothtimes by Demon ruckmanPaul Johnson. After thesecond offence, he wassummoned to the bench.
>> RUSSELL MANIARUSSELL Robertson touchedthe ball twice in the first half,but he kicked three goals inthe first 12 minutes of thethird term to put the Demonsup by 20 points, a break theBlues couldn’t reel in.
>> DAVEY SPECIALIT WASN’T a day for Demonlivewire Aaron Davey toremember, as he finishedwith just four touches. Buthe did his best to leave animprint on the game with astunning goal tucked upagainst the boundary in thesecond quarter. On thewrong side for a left-footer,Davey managed to float ahigh ball through a tight gapbetween the big sticks.
>> BETTS ARE OFFGOALSNEAK Eddie Betts’first kick of the game was agoal. But it was his only kickin a rotten day for thelivewire forward. Betts wouldhave had a second kick, buthis mark came just after thethree-quarter time siren anddidn’t count.
>> MARKED DOWNTHE Blues took six marksinside their forward 50m inthe final term when shots atgoal had to be converted. Butthey kicked only two goalsfrom those marks. Theykicked seven goals from 19marks inside their forward50m for the game. TheDemons also kicked sevengoals from marks inside50m, but they took only 12.
Russell Gould
Melbourne flyer: Aaron Davey didn’t have one of his best games at the MCG yesterday, but he made sure he got noticedwith this launch over Blue Adam Hartlett. Unfortunately, the ball came out on the way down. Pictures: COLLEEN PETCH
Deesmakemost ofchancesMichael Horan
Close again: Michael Newton rivalled Davey’s effort, but hecouldn’t make the ball stick either. Picture: WAYNE LUDBEY
The difference: Russell Robertson made his touches count.
MELBOURNE deliveredcaretaker coach MarkRiley a winning start to hissenior coaching careerwith a hard- fought23-point victory against awasteful Carlton at theMCG yesterday.
The Demons were smashed44 to 26 in clearances andconceded more scoring shotsand more inside 50s, but theymade more of their chances toshake off the Blues, who ralliedto launch three seriouschallenges.
In the second, third and finalterms Melbourne managed toslip out to a lead of more than20 points and each time lookedset to break the game open.
But the Blues fought back toregain the lead in the secondand third terms and then, inthe last, closed to within fourpoints.
In the third quarter Carltonkicked 2.7 to 5.2 and couldhave easily gone into the finalterm a couple of goals in front.
The Blues may be ponderingwhat might have been hadout-of-favour spearheadBrendan Fevola played, buteven in defeat the Carltonsupporters were treated to afighting performance from themost inexperienced team thatcoach Denis Pagan canremember having fielded.
In the other goalsquare theDemons had the statisticaldifference between winningand losing in the form ofRussell Robertson, whokicked five goals from sixkicks.
Melbourne had all theanswers whenever it was chal-lenged, but couldn’t putCarlton away.
The Blues conceded the firstgoal of the game within a minuteof the opening bounce to evokefears of a repeat of Carlton’sprevious two matches, a100-point rout at the hands ofHawthorn and a 77-point shel-lacking by Fremantle.
But riding on the back of aremarkable 17-disposal firstterm from Andrew Carrazzoand a busy onball unit, Carltontrailed by only three points atthe first change.
It stayed that way virtuallythe entire game.
Despite Jeff White dominat-ing the ruck to give the Dees a60-19 hitout advantage, actingBlues captain Kade Simpson,Carrazzo, veteran AnthonyKoutoufides, Marc Murphy,Ryan Houlihan and AndrewWalker made sure their coun-terparts James McDonald,Paul Wheatley, Nathan Brown,David Ward and Co. didn’thave things their own way.
The Demons better finishingand superior decision makingproved the difference.
Matthew Bate and MichaelNewton kicked three goalsapiece to give the three mark-ing forwards a cumulative tallyof 11.4. Their accuracy, in anutshell, finished off Carlton.
‘‘I’m just really pleased forthe boys and pleased for thefooty club. It’s been a tumultu-
ous year, to say the least,’’Riley said after his AFL debut.
‘‘It been an emotional yearand everyone needs theemotional nourishment thatwinning brings. We got thattoday.’’
As admirable as Carlton’sspirit and tenacity were, lapseswere punished badly.
For a quarter of an hour in thesecond half of the second termthe Blues attacked relentlessly,
but six straight behinds werecancelled when one Melbournesurge late in the term allowedLynden Dunn to kick a goal.
A dreadful error in judgmentby Blues defender Bret Thorn-ton allowed Simon Godfrey tomake the lead 22 points twominutes into the final termbefore yet another brave Carl-ton comeback was thwartedby two goals in three minutesby the more efficient Dees.
