THE CARLTON Reserves put on a show on Friday evening, recording a thumping 52-point win against Sydney at the SCG.

After a competitive two quarters, the Blues started to take control with a strong second half, booting 10 goals to take home a much-needed win.

The Blues shared the love as there were 11 different goalkickers for the match, with Ned Cahill leading the pack with three. Zac Fisher (40 disposals, one goal) and Paddy Dow (36 disposals, one goal) got the Blues going out of the midfield, while Alex Mirkov (37 hitouts) was again busy in the ruck.

Quarter one

Lochie O’Brien opened proceedings with the first major of the match two minutes in, while the Swans struggled to convert despite some early hands on the footy. Mirkov did well early and Jack Silvagni made an impact in a new role, having a strong presence in the backline. Sydney kicked the next two goals, but some good work from Harry Lemmey ended in Josh Honey taking a strong mark and rewarding himself with a goal. Ben Ronke had some excellent defensive highlights against some familiar faces, as did Luke Parks, who was typically combative in defence. The Blues’ midfield did well at creating plays further afield, with Fisher, Dow, O’Brien and Jaxon Binns all involved: however, the Swans were able to grab a two-point lead at the first change.

Quarter two

Both teams came out hard fighting for the contest, but Ronke would snap one in to strip the lead from the Swans: it was only up from here for the Blues. Binns continued to work the ball nicely down the wing, while Fisher continued to see plenty of the ball with 20 disposals to the main break. The Sherrin found skipper Ben Crocker, who in turn assisted Liam McMahon after a pack mark close to goal. Domanic Akuei provided a defensive highlight with a brilliant one-handed intercept mark, before an answering goal from Sydney was immediately countered through Fisher. Mirkov’s ruck work saw the Blues start to dominate the midfield battle, while Lemmey and Crocker - via a remarkable snap - extended their buffer. However, a burst of momentum from the Swans saw them record back-to-back goals late in the quarter, cutting the Blues’ lead to nine points at the end of the first half.

Quarter three

Two minutes into the third quarter, Cahill scores back-to-back goals to stretch the Blues’ lead. Silvagni and Parks continued their solid showings down back, as did Caleb Marchbank, who found more and more of the ball in his second game of the season. A long-range goal to the Swans was matched by Hudson O’Keeffe, before McMahon collected his second shortly after with some great ball movement from Fisher. Archie Stevens continued to be busy in the midfield, and beautiful ball movement from the Blues ended in Cahill’s third of the quarter. Dow polished the third term off with a goal moments before the siren, given the Blues a 34-point lead heading into the final term.

Quarter four

A perfect transition down the line ended in O’Brien who ran into an open goal converting his second of the match 3 minutes into the quarter. The Blues were dominant in the first half of the final term, as the ball lived mostly in their forward half. Ronke collected his second from a set shot, with the Blues’ on-ball brigade given them the upper hand. There was no slowing down for Carlton, with a running goal from Binns followed by Crocker’s second. The Swans kicked their first goal of the quarter 23 minutes in, but the damage was done for the Blues, with a massive second half securing their fate in a 52-point win.

CARLTON RESERVES        2.2     7.4     13.6       17.8 (110)
SYDNEY VFL                     2.4     5.7     7.8         8.10 (58)

GOALS:
Carlton: Cahill 3, Ronke 2, O’Brien 2, McMahon 2, Crocker 2, Binns, Dow, Fisher, Honey, Lemmey, O’Keeffe

BESTS
Carlton: Fisher, Dow, Stevens, Silvagni, Cahill, O’Brien

Samantha Smith is a student at La Trobe University, undergoing her Bachelor of Media and Communications (Sports Journalism). She is currently undertaking an internship at the Carlton Football Club as part of its partnership with La Trobe University.