When and Where - Friday 27 April, 6.45pm (WST) bounce down, Patersons Stadium
Perth Broadcast information
TV: Live from 6.30pm on Fox Footy; Delayed telecast from 7.00pm on Channel 7
Radio: Live 6.30pm 720 ABC and 882 6PR
For the AFL national broadcast schedule, click here
Form-line
Freo - Rd 1 - W, Rd 2 - L, Rd 3 - W, Rd 4 - W
St Kilda - Rd 1 - W, Rd 2 - W, Rd 3 - W, Rd 4 - L
The medical room
Freo - Star ruckman Aaron Sandilands is out, but young sensation Nat Fyfe returns to bolster the midfield.
Carlton - The Blues have been hit hard by injury this week with exciting half-back Chris Yarran out, along with their best tagger Andrew Carrazzo. Defender Jeremy Laidler also misses. Carlton has solid depth, however, with experienced players Andrew Walker, Aaron Joseph, Dennis Armfield, Jordan Russell and Brett Thornton all returning.
Who’s hot
Freo - Stephen Hill: After a quiet first half, Hill exploded against St Kilda last Friday night, taking the game on at every opportunity. If he can continue in this vein of form, Carlton and the entire competition will be on notice.
Carlton - Marc Murphy: Murphy has been one of the AFL’s form midfielders in the first month of action. The brilliant Blue’s ball-winning ability and silky skills make him elite. The presence of Chris Judd in Carlton’s engine room means Murphy doesn’t always get all the attention from opposition stoppers.
X-Factor
Freo - Jonathon Griffin: Aaron Sandilands is out and Zac Clarke will continue playing predominately as a forward, so the task of leading Freo’s ruck will fall on Griffin. Carlton’s Matthew Kreuzer has been in excellent form, so it will be a big ask of him, but Griffin showed last year he was more than capable of doing the job.
Carlton - Bryce Gibbs: Freo assistant Peter Sumich says Carlton like to free Gibbs up on the half-back line and give him the ball to set up attacks. “We’ll make sure he won’t be running around by himself. We don’t want him having 40 possessions,” Sumich said. If Gibbs lines up at half-back, it is imperative that Freo limits the amount of ball he sees. The man charged with this task could be Mayne, who has shown he is well-capable of performing a forward tag.
Possible key match-ups
Ryan Crowley v Chris Judd or Marc Murphy: There is no better midfield duo in the AFL than Carlton’s Judd and Murphy. Crowley will go to one of them and look to do a similar shutdown job as the one he performed on star Saint Nick Dal Santo last week. Whoever Crowley gets, the winner of the match-up will go a long way to winning four points for his team.
Adam McPhee v Eddie Betts: McPhee blanketed dangerous Saint Stephen Milne last week. Milne is a similar size to Betts, so expect Ross Lyon to hand McPhee the task of shutting down another small sharpshooter.
Stephen Hill v Aaron Joseph: Carlton’s best tagger, Andrew Carrazzo, is out of tonight’s game, but Joseph is more than capable of performing a shutdown role. Look for him to go to Hill.
Stats that matter
- Carlton is 1st in the AFL at scoring from stoppages after four rounds (189)
- Fremantle is 3rd in the AFL for points allowed from stoppages (76)
- Carlton has allowed 149 points from stoppages
- Carlton is 2nd in AFL for points scored from kick-ins (36)
- The Blues have conceded only two points all season from opposition kick-ins
- Carlton is number 1 in the AFL for clearances after four rounds (171)
- Fremantle is sixth for clearances after four rounds (159)
- Matthew Pavlich is only six goals shy of 500 in his career
- Jack Anthony plays his 50th AFL game tonight
When they last met
Saturday 13 August 2011, Patersons Stadium
Fremantle 3.0 4.2 7.7 12.13 (85)
Carlton 5.5 7.10 11.16 16.19 (115)
GOALS
Fremantle: Ballantyne 2, Crowley 2, Sandilands 2, Pavlich, Clarke, Silvagni, Mzungu, Johnson, Barlow
Carlton: Betts 6, Gibbs, Armfield, Davies, Thornton, Walker, Judd, Garlett, Ellard, Yarran, Laidler
BEST
Fremantle: Barlow, Ballantyne, Silvagni, Broughton, Pavlich
Carlton: Judd, Gibbs, Betts, Murphy, Yarran, Thornton, Walker
SUBSTITUTES
Fremantle: Nick Lower replaced by Clayton Hinkley in the third quarter.
Carlton: Andrew Carrazzo replaced by Zach Tuohy at three-quarter-time.
Official crowd: 34,737 at Patersons Stadium
Brownlow Medal votes: 3- Judd (Carlton), 2- Betts (Carlton), 1- Murphy (Carlton)
Carlton kept its top-four ambitions on track and effectively ended Fremantle’s finals chances, notching a 30-point win at Patersons Stadium. The Blues had lost three of their last four matches against Fremantle - and 12 of its last 14 since 2002 - but recent history proved irrelevant in the 16.19 (115) to 12.13 (85) win, Carlton’s fourth on the trot.
Star Fremantle ruckman Aaron Sandilands returned from a toe injury, but his presence was not enough to prevent a stoppage domination from the Blues, who won the clearances 43-25. Star midfielders Chris Judd (34 disposals), Marc Murphy (31) and Bryce Gibbs (29) headlined a long list of Carlton players who ran harder than their often stagnant opponents to set up the important win. Small forward Eddie Betts kicked four goals in the first half and finished with six to be the dominant forward on the ground, with half-back Chris Yarran (17 disposals and five rebound 50s) superb on return to his home state.
Midfielder Michael Barlow (32 disposals) and forward Hayden Ballantyne, who booted 2.4 and had 23 disposals, were Fremantle’s main contributors, while Ryan Crowley held star Blue Heath Scotland to 16 possessions.
Toyota AFL Dream Team
Freo - Hayden Ballantyne: Ballantyne had 124 DT points when these teams last met and that included four behinds.
Carlton - Bryce Gibbs: The Blue has averaged an incredible 124.3 DT points-per-game against Freo over the past five contests.
Where Freo can win it - Stoppages
Freo assistant coach Peter Sumich says the key to stopping Carlton rests in winning the stoppages.
“Their midfield, with Judd and Murphy, is number one in scoring from stoppages, so we have to make sure we nullify them in that area and hopefully get a result,” Sumich said.
Sumich also pointed to Carlton’s dangerous small forward line as another area Freo had to contain.
The main beneficiaries of the club’s stoppage success have been Eddie Betts and Jeff Garlett.
“They (Betts and Garlett) seem to get up the ground and leave plenty of space behind,” Sumich said.
“Once Carlton wins it from the stoppage, they kick it in long and Betts and Garlett scoot onto it towards goal.
“We’ve got to watch that and that’s why stoppages are so important this week.”
