CARLTON WELL AND TRULY GIVE GEELONG THE BLUES
Ben Jensen 29 May 2016

AFL ROUND 10 2016: CARLTON BLUES V GEELONG CATS CARLTON handed Geelong a shock loss at Etihad Stadium today, Brendon Bolton's boys leading for most of the first quarter and from the ninth minute of the second quarter did not surrender the lead. What made the win all the better was the Blues were down to just two on the interchange bench before half time, as skipper Marc Murphy and Liam Sumner suffered ankle injuries. The Cats made a very late change losing Tom Ruggles and recalling Jordan Murdoch, Ruggles not able to get over the effects of an eye infection. Social media such as the various Facebook groups dedicated to the Cats went into a fair old meltdown, the posts equally split between those complaining about Cat fans complaining and fans going fair off the scale with "Sack Chris Scott" type arguments.

The week's inclusions Billie Smedts and Jordan Murdoch didn't do too well while Josh Caddy played a bit of a shocker. Steve Motlop did not register a single tackle while even Joel Selwood and Patrick Dangerfield didn't do a hell of a lot. Cameron Guthrie and Jimmy Bartel were the Cats' best. Tom Hawkins and fellow forwards had dirty days with terrible accuracy, the scores were level at quarter time but the Cats had one less goal and six more behinds than the Blues who kicked four straight. This is the third week in a row Geelong has been atrocious in front of goal, one week they got away with it (against the Crows) but losses to struggling Carlton and Collingwood highlight there's a problem needing solving, quickly.

Carlton played extremely well, under new coach Bolton they are a totally different side than the one who looked years away from winning games such as these under Mick Malthouse. Dennis Armfield did a brilliant job kicking three goals but our pick and that of the K-Rock boys was Ed Curnow who completely took Selwood out of the game but still had just under touches himself. That's half the problem with Geelong at the moment, aside from goal kicking, there is no obvious defensive midfielder/tagger/stopper, call it what you like since Cameron Ling hung up the boots it's been sorely missed.

The road into the round 15 bye will be tough for the Cats who now stand at seven wins and three losses. First up at Simonds Stadium this Saturday in a twilight fixture is Greater Western Sydney who went down to Adelaide last night but had the Cats' better in round two. Next are three matches all at Etihad Stadium where the Cats haven't played well at it recent seasons against North Melbourne, the Western Bulldogs and finally St Kilda who can beat sides on their day. The Blues play an absolutely winnable match against Brisbane at Etihad.

CARLTON: 4.0, 10.4, 13.6, 16.8 (104)) DEFEATED
GEELONG: 3.6, 6.8, 9.11, 12.13 (85)

GOALS
CARLTON: Everitt 4, Armfield 3, Gibbs 2, Gorringe 2, Murphy, Curnow, Casboult, Walker, Lamb
GEELONG: Motlop 2, Gregson 2, Guthrie 2, Enright, Stanley, Bartel, Smedts, Smith, Hawkins

BEST
CARLTON: Gibbs, Docherty, Armfield, Curnow, Rowe, Cripps, Simpson
GEELONG: Guthrie, Dangerfield, Duncan, Bartel, Stanley, Henderson

CHANGES
CARLTON: Nil
GEELONG: Tom Ruggles, replaced by Jordan Murdoch due to an eye infection

INJURIES
CARLTON: Murphy (ankle), Sumner (ankle), Weitering (knee), Armfield (leg)
GEELONG: Stanley (foot)

REPORTS: Nil

UMPIRES: Foot, McInerney, Billy Pannell

CROWD: 33,535 at Etihad Stadium, Melbourne Docklands