The tipsters may all be on the West Coast bandwagon for tonight’s Round 12 match at Patersons Stadium, but looking through the history of Carlton/West Coast games there is a positive sign for the Blues.

The only time these teams have played at Subiaco (now Patersons Stadium) in Round 12 saw the Blues enjoy a 50 point victory: Carlton 128 defeated West Coast 78.
 
These sides have built up a healthy rivalry and tonight it will be Carlton’s turn to spoil the Eagles party as West Coast looks to celebrate playing its 600th AFL game. The teams have played 37 matches with Carlton winning 19 and the Eagles 18. Nineteen of these games have been away games for Carlton and three have been finals matches, two in Perth and one at the MCG. While 10 games have been decided by less than two goals, there has never been a drawn game. While the Blues have the edge in victories it is the Eagles who lead in terms of total score during the 37 matches played:

Carlton: 493 goals - 457 behinds - 3,415 points
West Coast: 504 goals - 517 behinds - 3,541 points
 
The Eagles have scored 11 more goals and 60 more behinds to lead total score by 126 points. The Blues best quarter has been the first, scoring one more point (844 to 843) in the 37 first quarters played. The Eagles have scored 30 more points in the second quarter and 24 in the third and it is the final quarter that has been the best for them in the 37 games, having scored 73 more points than Carlton (948 to 875).

Shaun Hampson will be keen to keep his unbeaten record against the Eagles having played two games for two victories. Hampson being one of a number of key players who missed last year’s Semi-Final in Perth. Eddie Betts, Jeff Garlett and Andrew Walker have each kicked three goals in a game against West Coast, the most in a match by a current player. Carlton supporters will be hoping for all three to equal or better this in tonight’s match. While David Ellard will be hoping for a repeat of his AFL debut when Carlton defeated West Coast at Subiaco in round 7, 2008 in what was Chris Judd’s first game against his former club.
 
It is a 5:40pm start time in Perth tonight but that is not expected to stop a big crowd attending the match. The average home & away crowd at Patersons Stadium for these two teams is 36,971, with the largest crowd of 41,705 at the Round 21 game in 1995 (Carlton by 1 point) and the smallest of 23,644 in round 21 in 1989 (West Coast by 76 points). The largest crowd at the venue was last year’s Semi-Final when 42,803 saw the Eagles win a thriller by 3-points.
 
It is all part of history and tonight another chapter will unfold, and may it be another positive story for Carlton.