The Blues did it again, hanging on to knock over a gallant Richmond in front of over 83,000 at the MCG.
It wasn’t a beautiful game by any stretch, with errors plentiful from both teams, but with Charlie Curnow thrown behind the footy to stabilise the defence late in the game, Carlton got big last-quarter performances from Adam Saad and Tom De Koning to hold on.
The Tigers lost the walking soft-tissue injury, Dion Prestia, in the first quarter. They then lost Josh Gibcus in a horrible incident that looks too much like an ACL injury to ignore, and finally, had Tylar Young sit out with concussion. Down on rotations, the deck was stacked against them. However, the Tigers stuck at it to remain a chance to grab the lead in the last minute as Shai Bolton looked to swoop on a loose ball inside 50.
Of course, Shai Bolton didn’t gather the hot footy cleanly and slot the winner, meaning the Blues ran out victorious.
Carlton head into their Round Two bye (how dumb is that, by the way?) with two wins on the board and plenty of momentum, whilst Richmond fall to 0-2.
Luck? Skill? A combination of both?
Let’s jump into the Mongrel’s Big Statements to find out.
Oh what? A Mongrel paywall? Yep, my game reviews are behind the wall – sometimes I open them up after a day. Sometimes, I don’t. I like to give members value for their money. I believe my work is worth twenty-five cents per day. If you don’t, that’s fine. You’re welcome to join and keep reading if you do.
