Blues hold off plucky Richmond for seventh straight win
Oliver Caffrey |
Carlton’s stunning resurgence under Josh Fraser has yielded a seventh straight win, the Blues hanging on for a scrappy two-point victory over Richmond at the MCG.
Trailing by 18 points at quarter-time, Carlton put through eight of the next nine goals to set up their 10.14 (74) to 10.12 (72) win in front of 54,923 fans on a wet Saturday night.
Seemingly cruising when they led by 14 points with less than three minutes left, Richmond were the beneficiaries of two free kicks in front of goals.
The Tigers won the next centre clearance and had the ball inside their forward-50 in the dying seconds, but Carlton desperately hung on.
Staring at a wasted year when Michael Voss was sacked, the Blues have squared the ledger at 8-8 and jumped from 16th to 10th under their unassuming interim coach.
Under the newly introduced wildcard round, Carlton are currently in a finals position that seemed totally out of reach two months ago.
The Blues now face a defining month of games against Hawthorn, Collingwood, Gold Coast and Brisbane that will decide whether they progress to the post-season.
Carlton had to endure some nervous moments in the last quarter when the lead was cut to nine points, but held their nerve against the young Tigers to avoid an upset.
Rugged midfielder George Hewett, who was dropped during Voss’s finals weeks as coach, slotted the match-winning goal to cap off a best-on-ground performance.
Rising Star favourite Jagga Smith was superb with a game-high 29 possessions, earning the praise of former Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley.
In radio commentary, Hinkley compared him to in-demand Power superstar Zak Butters.
In a match that didn’t reach any great heights, tensions boiled over on quarter-time after a heated exchange between Blues ace Sam Walsh and Tigers youngster Jasper Alger.
The normally level-headed Walsh ran to push Alger over, giving away a free kick.
Alger booted the goal to give Richmond their best first quarter (5.3) of the season.
Nearly all players converged into the melee, forcing a late entry into their respective huddles.
Veteran forward Tom Lynch had a forgettable night, failing to redeem himself from the corresponding game earlier in the season when he kicked 2.7 in a close loss to the Blues.
Lynch sprayed his first set shot of the game, then kicked his two other shots on goal out on the full, stranding him on 499 career goals.
Richmond lost Jack Ross to concussion in the second quarter, the midfielder’s second head knock in a month.
Already without Jacob Weitering and Harry Dean, Carlton were also dealt a blow when Lewis Young was ruled out with concussion in the second term.
AAP