CARLTON’S spiritual home of Princes Park provided the backdrop for one of the truly cracking encounters of 1991 – the Round 14 match with the highly fancied West Coast where the 10th-placed home team toppled the visiting Western Australian powerhouse.

In a contest boasting more twists and turns than a snakes and ladders game board, Stephen Silvagni was stretchered from the field with a season-ending knee injury after being caught under an oncoming pack in a marking contest – and his replacement Darren Tarczon wasted no time acclimatising, in taking out Guy McKenna with a sickening shirtfront.

The match, so eloquently called for Seven by Dennis Cometti and Bruce McAvaney reached its zenith with four minutes left on the clock, and the Eagles having wrested the lead with a Brett Heady goal to the Garton Street end.

From the ensuing centre bounce, Andrew Phillips took a hit for the team, Adrian Bassett took possession off half-back and a subsequent succession of handballs involving Adrian Gleeson and Glenn Hawker led to a deft short kick from Tarczon to the leading Simon Minton-Connell.

04:04

Round 14, 1991 | Blues seal late win over Eagles

Simon Minton-Connell was the hero when Carlton met West Coast in Round 14, 1991.

From the 50-metre line in the shadows of the now-demolished Richard Pratt Stand, Minton-Connell threaded what proved to be the sealing six-pointer, with delirious Carlton fans jumping the fence at the Heatley Stand end to join the officiating goal umpire in signalling a sausage.

Carlton v West Coast at Princes Park - Round 14, Saturday 22 June, 1991

Carlton                 4.3          9.7          9.10        12.11 (83)

West Coast         3.4          5.7          6.11        11.14 (80)

Goalkickers (Carlton): Hawker 2, S. Kernahan 2, Minton-Connell 2, Tarczon 2, Fotia, Phillips, Rieniets, Sartori

Best players (Carlton): Madden, Bradley, Dean, Phillips

Brownlow Votes

3 - Peter Dean (Carlton)

2 - Craig Bradley (Carlton)

1 - Craig Turley (West Coast)

 

B:            Mil Hanna                           Peter Dean                         Tom Alvin

HB:         Tim Rieniets                       Michael Sexton                 Darren Tarczon

C:            Adrian Gleeson                 Michael James                  Adrian Bassett

HF:         Stephen Silvagni               Stephen Kernahan (c)    Simon Verbeek

F:            Peter Sartori                       Simon Minton-Connell  Brett Ratten

Ruck:     Justin Madden                  Craig Bradley (vc)             Andrew Phillips

I/c:         Dom Fotia                           Glenn Hawker  

Coach:  David Parkin