CARLTON has suffered a disappointing loss to traditional rivals on Sunday afternoon at the MCG.

Wet weather conditions made it a fairly lacklustre affair between the two teams, while Essendon’s energy around the ground and the Blues’ inaccuracy in front of goal saw them go down by xx-points.

Q1:

It was a tightly contested first quarter, with neither team truly able to break away. The Blues’ defenders set up well to restrict the Bombers’ ability to move the ball with pace into their attacking 50. At the other end, the Blues’ forwards struggled slightly against a mature backline, but seemed to find a bit more rhythm towards the end of the term. A goal after the siren to Harry McKay saw the Blues head into the first break trailing by one point.
 

Q2:

The skies opened during the second term making it an even scrappier affair. Two quick goals to the Bombers at the start of the term saw them extend their lead, while the Blues were only able to get two behinds on the board. A heavy knock to Sam Petrevski-Seton in a marking contest saw the silky midfielder spend an extended amount of time on the bench. Sam Walsh was classy around the contest, running hard and collecting 12 disposals to the main break.

Q3:

The Bombers were able to control the tempo of the game in the third quarter to swing the game well and truly in their favour. Carlton was finally able to hit the scoreboard with two goals to Charlie Curnow, but two of Mcdonald-Tipungwuti’s own saw the Bombers take a 21-point lead into the final change.

Q4: 

Another early goal to the Bombers pushed their lead out to 27-points early in the quarter, before a goal to Darcy Parish all but sealed the Blues fate. Late goals saw the final margin extended to 41-points.

Three things from the game:

  1. Caleb Marchbank and Jacob Weitering led the charge from the backline, stepping up and showing plenty of poise throughout the game. The duo combined for 16 one-percenters in a game that was played in Carlton’s defensive half.
  2. Ed Curnow seemed to thrive in his more traditional position on the ball. The veteran played an important role on Essendon’s Zach Merrett, able to restricting the midfielder’s overall impact on the game.
  3. Matthew Kreuzer continues to show plenty of class right around the ground. The 30 year old finished with 21-disposals, 32 hitouts and a goal. 

ESSENDON   2.3   5.4   8.5   11.8 (74)
CARLTON     2.2   2.4   4.8   4.9 (33)

Best: Kreuzer, Walsh, Dow, Weitering, Marchbank

NJURIES 
Essendon: Nil
Carlton: Nil

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Power, Stevic, Mollison

Official crowd: 50,423 at the MCG