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The Carlton versus Port Adelaide AFL game on Saturday afternoon was a thriller of a match.
The Power went into the match as strong favourites despite their dismal recent form. Carlton, after their disaster start to the season where they lost 9 of their first 10 matches, lost their coach Mick Malthouse and legendary midfielder Chris Judd.
They were hardly expected to give a contest. But a contest they certainly did bring…
Even though Port led at quarter time, it was already apparent that Carlton had come to play. The Blues then made a move in the second term, booting six goals in 20 minutes and putting the Power right under the pump.
And the rest is history.
Port Adelaide, time and time again, threatened to take the game away from Carlton, but each time Carlton had just enough to keep the lead. Even in the final quarter, when the Blues seemed to have sealed the game with a Tom Bell goal early in the term to stretch their lead to 29 points, Port Adelaide had an answer.
They booted goal after goal and did everything right besides leading when the final siren went.
But that is not the full story. A vast array of incidents made many wonder whether Port Adelaide had been robbed.
First of all, Carton’s style of play. Clearly the Blues had gone into the game intending to play a rough, aggressive style of footy and they certainly did. There is nothing wrong with this, but did they take it too far?
The tactic was obvious early on when the Blues seemed to unnecessarily push and rough up the Port Adelaide players, especially Chad Wingard, after the Power players had marked the ball. It then reached its peak near the end of the second quarter, when Bryce Gibbs sling tackled Port star Robbie Gray, who then left the ground concussed on a stretcher.
From there Carlton continued to go hard at it all game, with a few tackles just like the Gibbs one on display by Carlton players.
The Blues played inspired football, and showed confidence and pride like nothing we’ve seen this year from them.
The second issue that went against the Power was the umpiring. I’ve never seen a game quite so one-sided in terms of umpiring decisions.
‘When your struggling for form, nothing goes your way’ is the unwritten law of football, and Port Adelaide certainly found that out on Saturday.
The start of it all was when Hamish Hartlett of the Power went to take his kick after a Carlton footballer booted the ball out on the full during the second quarter. Hartlett went to centre the ball to a number of Power players but the umpire got in the way and actually caught the ball about five metres away from Hartlett, intercepting his kick.
This would’ve been fine, except that the umpire then did a ball up, rather then letting Hartlett take his kick again, or at least giving the ball back and calling play on.
After this incident the umpiring just went downhill.
The final quarter was filled with an incredible number of missed calls, silly free kicks and constant mistakes from the men in green, all going against Port Adelaide. There were so many that I have been able to create a top five worst umpiring calls of the last quarter.
5. During the Power’s spirited comeback, when they were two goals behind and the ball was deep in their forwardline, Angus Monfries of the Power was stopped from getting to the ball by being ‘rag dolled’ by his opponent. No whistle.
4. Late in the quarter, with the Power four points behind, the ball was bombed deep into Port Adelaide’s forward line. Power skipper Travis Boak was the target at full forward, but the the best attempt at mark he could make was a one hander. His Carlton opponent not only held onto him and took one arm but then just about tackled him to the ground once the ball had spilled toward the boundary. No whistle.
3. Halfway through the term, the ball was booted long into the Power forwardline, deja vu, to a one on one. Justin Westhoff used his body intelligently and took the mark before running into an open goal to put Port Adelaide within two goals. Whistle. Carlton free kick. Goal disallowed.
2. At a crucial stage during the final quarter, when the Blues were up by just four points, they finally managed to get the football inside their forward fifty. Lachie Henderson of Carlton took a kick on the chest after it bounced just before him. Whistle. Mark paid despite Port Adelaide’s Jack Hombsch’s complaints. Goal kicked.
1. Finally, the big one.
Picture this.
Carlton lead Port Adelaide by just four points with a minute to go in the match. The Power get a clearance and Power midfielder Brad Ebert kicks the ball to Sam Colquhoun, who takes the mark inside the Power’s forward fifty.
Carlton veterans Marc Murphy and Kade Simpson appeal that the ball was touched off the boot, which leads an umpire fifty metres away to call it ‘touched, play on’ despite the umpire nearby paying the mark.
The umpire nearby (in his second game) then balls it up instead because the rule is that if two umpires can’t agree on a decision, it’s a ball up. Either way Port Adelaide would’ve had a shot on goals though, whether he had taken the mark, or if it was play on, so the ball up was a case of the umpires completely robbing Port Adelaide.
So, it’s your call. A great game, but one where all the luck went one way.
Did the best team win?
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