PIPPED at the last.

Carlton has fallen by six points to old enemy Collingwood, with a last-minute Nick Daicos goal confining the Blues to a 12.7 (79) to 12.13 (85) defeat.

After kicking five goals in the opening term, the Blues were shackled by the Pies’ pressure, conceding a bevy of inside 50s but able to stand tall to turn the game into a fight until the last.

Nic Newman and Blake Acres were both excellent with 32 disposals apiece, while Harry McKay contributed four goals in what was the Blues’ second consecutive narrow defeat at the MCG.

Quarter one

After an emotional pre-game scene with Carlton, Collingwood and a capacity crowd coming together, it was a hot start as soon as the ball was bounced. Both teams traded two goals apiece in the early going, with Harry McKay looming as the danger man in attack for the Blues. The 2021 Coleman Medallist contributed three goals in the opening term alone, with the Blues able to set up a wall and lock the ball inside their forward half. In something of a surprise, the Blues - who are usually such a prominent contested possession side - dominated the uncontested count in the first term, picking their way through the Magpies while also applying plenty of pressure when the ball was on the deck. Blake Acres ran rampant on the wing with 12 possessions, with Nic Newman - who was one of the Blues’ best the last time these two sides met - not far behind him with 10 disposals. Carlton’s defensive setup was able to hold firm in the second half of the term, keeping the Magpies goalless after the 12-minute mark of the quarter. A late contested mark and goal to Charlie Curnow was the perfect finish to the term for the Blues opening up a 14-point gap.

Quarter two

The Blues looked to pick up from where they left off in quarter one, and when some slick transition down the ground ended in the returning David Cuningham finding Curnow for his second, the Blues pushed out to a 19-point lead. However, from there, the game was well and truly played on the Pies’ terms, with the Blues unable to generate any run from out of their back half. The Blues were only able to generate six inside 50s for the quarter compared to the Pies’ 16, with Carlton’s defence under serious strain. The dam wall burst in the second half of the quarter with Collingwood piling on five consecutive goals, with the Blues’ lead rapidly turning into an 11-point half-time deficit. Sam Walsh (18 first-half disposals) and George Hewett (17) were busy around the ball, but the Blues couldn’t muster anything meaningful from there, with the Pies’ pressure forcing errors and restricting the Blues’ time on the ball. Collingwood’s contribution across the board was clear, with eight individual goalkickers to Carlton’s three (McKay, Curnow and Matt Owies) at the main break.

Quarter three

After Owies kicked the opening goal of the third term, the quarter followed a similar pattern to the previous, with nearly 80 per cent of the game played in Collingwood’s forward half inside the first 10 minutes. However, the Blues were able to hold firm where they couldn’t in the second term, restricting the Magpies to just three behinds as they fought to get their own game going. It was a grind, but eventually the Blues were able to break through, spending more time in their forward half and generating repeat entries. It presented the opportunities the Blues’ forwards had been lacking, with Owies roving his third. It wasn’t long after when Curnow found McKay, giving the Blues a lead from out of nowhere. Acres continued what he’d done all night, getting up and back on the wing to assist the Blues on the last line, accumulating nine disposals in the third term — more than anybody else on the ground. 

Quarter four

It was clear from the outset that the Pies started the fourth term making all the running, kicking two goals inside the first couple of minutes to open up a gap on the Blues. Carlton was scrapping for each opportunity, unable to get the usual flow in their offensive game with Collingwood able to restrict its ball movement. However, as has been the case with the Blues so often, they weren’t going to go down without a fight, with Tom De Koning bobbing up with consecutive goals to give the Blues the lead back. An excellent Charlie Curnow assist to Matthew Cottrell ensured the Blues had an instant response to Scott Pendlebury’s goal, with scores tied inside the final five minutes in front of what was a record Carlton-Collingwood home-and-away record. The Pies had 20 last-quarter inside 50s compared to the Blues’ six, and the barrage of forward entires eventually broke the Blues. A Nick Daicos goal with just over a minute remaining took the result out of the Blues’ grasp, falling by a solitary kick to the old enemy.

CARLTON                  5.4     6.5     9.7       12.7 (79)
COLLINGWOOD      3.2     8.4     8.8       12.13 (85)

GOALS

Carlton: McKay 4, Owies 3, Curnow 2, De Koning 2, Cottrell

BESTS

Carlton: Newman, McKay, Acres, Weitering, Hewett, Walsh