Suns set on Carlton season.
GOLD COAST 6.1 11.3 12.7 15.8 (98)
CARLTON 2.3 4.7 9.13 11.20 (86)
Gold Coast has pulled off a miraculous upset, all but ending Carlton’s finals hopes by 12 points at Metricon Stadium.
The Suns displayed maturity beyond their years right from the start as Brett Ratten could only watch his team’s season, and possibly his coaching career, gurgle down the drain.
Ablett was best on for Gold Coast in a display that won’t be his best of his career, though was still vital. Lynch, Stanley and Bennell were also great for the home team.
For the visitors, Judd stood out where others stagnated and Scotland was good in defense.
It was a horrible start for the Blues, with McIness going down in the first minute with what looks to be a serious injury to his right knee. The injury was followed by six consecutive goals to the Gold Coast to start the match, with four of the goals coming from Carlton turnovers.
You would be forgiven for thinking Gold Coast were the team playing for finals with the intensity of the respective teams.
It took the Carlton captain Chris Judd to finally step up and kick not only Carlton first, but also their second goal to kick start things. Yarran had an opportunity to kick another goal after the siren, however his kick faded to the right, leaving Carlton trailing Gold Coast by 22 points at quarter time.
It was a seemingly much better start to the second quarter for Carlton, with Eddie Betts kicking the opening of the quarter to seemingly restore order.
It wasn’t to be, in fact, the opposite happened.
Four consecutive goals to the Gold Coast via Horsley, Ablett, Caddy and Dixon showed that the first quarter was no fluke.
Carlton were playing like millionaires, a team who treated this match as a holiday rather than a business trip. Garlett managed to snag one back for the visitors, though Campbell Brown kicked the final goal of the quarter to give Gold Coast a half time lead of 39 points.
The third quarter witnessed the seemingly inevitable fightback from Carlton. The Blues had many opportunities to reduce the margin significantly, however inaccuracy in front of goal was proving costly. Chris Yarran finally managed to convert an opportunity for Carlton, which was followed by Betts and McLean.
A great piece of play between Ablett and Caddy resulted in a timely goal for the Suns, though further goals to McLean and Waite dragged the margin back to just two goals in favour of the suns at three quarter time.
The Suns were off to the best start in the final quarter, with Tom Lynch kicking the opening goal.
When Yarran and Waite converted chanced, it seems as if Carlton were going to finally gain some composure and run over the top of their opposition.
It wasn’t to be however, as Caddy kicked his third goal to put the margin back beyond a goal, followed by another goal to lynch to make the margin 16 points.
Carlton continued on with their inaccuracy to the very end, kicking the final four behinds of the game to lose by 12 points to the Gold Coast Suns, ending Carlton’s finals hopes and quite possibly Brett Ratten’s coaching career.
Gold Coast will end their season next Saturday when they take on Adelaide at AAMI Stadium while Carlton will be hoping for a Fremantle choke on the scale of their performance today before they take on St. Kilda next Sunday.
VOTES
3) G. Ablett
2) T. Lynch
1) D. Stanley
GOLD COAST 6.1 11.3 12.7 15.8 (98)
CARLTON 2.3 4.7 9.13 11.20 (86)
GOALS
Gold Coast: Lynch 4, Caddy 3, Brown 2, Ablett, Dixon, Hickey, Horsley, McKenzie, Weller
Carlton: Betts 2, McLean 2, Judd 2, Waite 2, Yarran 2, Garlett
BEST
Carlton: McLean, Judd, Yarran, Carrazzo, Scotland, Kreuzer
Gold Coast: Dixon, Coad, Ablett, Bennell, Lynch, Matera
INJURIES
Carlton: Andrew McInnes (knee)
Gold Coast: Taylor (abdomen) replaced in selected side by Josh Toy
SUBSTITUTES
Carlton: David Ellard replaced Andrew McInnes (knee) in the first quarter
Gold Coast: Josh Toy replaced Tom Hickey in the fourth quarter
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Hay, Ryan, Pannell
Official crowd: 15,251 at Metricon Stadium
