It had been fifty years since Carlton had beaten Richmond in a final, and heading into the 1972 VFL decider on the first Saturday in October it was the Tigers who were dead set, red hot favourites to knock off the Blues once again.
 
Off the back of a disappointing 1971 campaign, the Blues were to take out the minor premiership in 1972 and in doing so re-establish themselves as a genuine premiership contender. Richmond finished a game behind in second spot.
 
The top two sides would meet come September. In the second semi-final at the MCG, Carlton and Richmond played out a thrilling draw at VFL Park as Carlton legend Alex Jesaulenko failed to kick truly from 65m out after the final siren. As was the custom prior to 1994, every drawn final would require a replay and it was the replay the following week where Richmond disposed of the Blues comfortably by 41 points, going straight through the Grand Final, while the Blues would have to get past St Kilda in the Preliminary Final to once again book a shot against the Tigers.
 
Legendary Carlton forward and former Captain Robert Walls remembers feeling down and out after the second semi final loss: "We were beaten in the replay by 41 points, the next day we got into Carlton for our recovery session all feeling a bit flat and the coach John Nicholls got us into a meeting and injected us with confidence the we could win the flag despite still having to play off in a preliminary final. We pretty much walked in feeling despondent and walked out feeling buoyed."
 
With reinvigorated confidence, the Blues eventually booked a place in the '72 decider against Richmond thanks to a narrow win against St.Kilda.
 
Robert Walls recalls that Richmond had surpassed the Blues as favourites heading into Grand Final week: "Heading into the Grand Final we were feeling pretty confident, though Richmond probably were the favourites heading into the game thanks to beating us the week before." Despite the newly found confidence, Carlton hadn't beaten Richmond in a final since the Second Semi Final of 1920, so history and odds were against them.
 
Coach John Nicholls was instrumental in turning the Blues fortunes around, "The coach really injected confidence on us as a group and he was absolutely fantastic, they were (the coaching staff) bold enough to make changes, throw caution to the wind and implement a more attacking game style” as Walls fondly looks back on the decisions that were made leading up to the game.
 
According to Walls, the Blues had a terrific start to the game. "Percy Jones started in the ruck and Big Nick up forward. We had a fantastic start, it was an amazing game, and we felt that we always had it in control and in a sense to play out the last quarter knowing full well what the final result would be was a great memory obviously in comparison to 1968 and '70 where both games were in dispute right up until the final moments," Walls said.
 
The game itself is one that will forever live on in the hearts of many Carlton fans who witnessed the premiership win. More than 112,000 fans packed into the MCG to see the Blues jump Richmond from the first bounce thanks in part to Robert Walls who held the upper hand over opponent Rex Hunt from centre half forward.
 
"Rex was very strong overhead, though I was far more agile so I thought it would be important to move around and push up to the wings and really run Rex around," Walls recalls.
 
The 1972 premiership was in the Blues’ grasp come three-quarter time in due part to Walls’ haul for 6 goals in one of his best performances and also thanks to both Nicholls and Jesaulenko who were both amongst the goals.
 
The Blues would secure an 11th premiership with a 27-point win. A final score of a massive 177 points on a sensational Blue day would be the record for a Grand Final and still stands 40 years on. The aggregate total was the highest-ever at that time for any VFL match, and still remains the highest for a Grand Final.