Carlton will be out to end a four-match losing streak when they meet St Kilda at Etihad Stadium tonight. We’ll have live scores from 7.40pm AEST.
To be fair, all four loss have been against top-six opponents but the month since the bye has crippled the Blues’ chances of making finals football.
At 6-8 and in 11th position, Carlton face a number of 50-50 games in the last two months of the season proper.
If they’re to get anywhere near the top eight they need to pick off the sides below them, starting with St Kilda tonight – something they weren’t able to do when the two sides met back in Round 7.
Playing on Monday night at Etihad Stadium, St Kilda won by 11 points to stretch their winning run over the Blues to four games.
In fact, St Kilda has dominated Carlton like virtually no other side in the AFL in the past decade, winning 16 of 18 matches.
But the current St Kilda side is arguably the worst they’ve put out in 10 years. Since getting over the Blues earlier in the year they’ve won just once, against 17th-placed Melbourne, out of the seven matches they’ve played.
Saints coach Scott Watters has the luxury of recalling Steven Milne and Nick Riewoldt back into the team for tonight, with Ahmed Saad and Nathan Wright both omitted.
Sam Rowe and Heath Scotland come back in for Carlton, with Jarrad Waite unavailable due to a knee injury and Levi Casboult omitted.
Despite Carlton not having won since Round 10, they’ve played the better football of the two sides and rightly go into this game as favourites.
They should prove why tonight, but St Kilda match up well against the Blues and they could make it closer than expected.
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