No, it’s got nothing to do with Sgt. Pepper, but everything to do with Craig Bradley and quite probably the greatest goal ever booted by a Blue at Princes Park.
It happened on the afternoon of Saturday, August 21, 1994, in a match against West Coast. Aside from Malcolm Blight’s post-siren “torp”, no other six-pointer kicked at Carlton came close to the Bradley banana which somehow found the big sticks despite the best efforts of the lunging Glen Jakovich.
The clinical Bradley finish more than measured up to the manner in which the goal itself was audaciously crafted by Carlton’s most capped player. It all began on the defensive side of the wing in the shadows of the Richard Pratt Stand, where ‘Braddles’ forced a spoil on Peter Matera in a marking contest. After then gathering the footy and evading the lunging Guy McKenna in the process, Bradley duly took a bounce, completed a one-two with Andrew McKay, took another bounce, then coolly slotted the banana from just inside 50.
The famed Bradley goal iced the cake on a 64-point demolition of the Malthouse-coached Eagles, on a day in which Greg Williams accumulated an astonishing 45 possessions and the Carlton captain Stephen Kernahan slotted a lazy six.
Twenty-eight thousand people turned out at the old Carlton ground for the Round 22 match that day, each leaving with their own vivid recollections of THAT goal.
Kernahan, the game’s longest-serving captain, was of course on hand for Bradley’s majestic feat.
“People talk about ‘Blighty’s’ after the siren, but what a goal Braddles’ was – the one-two with ‘Macka’ and the old checkside kick,” Kernahan said.
“What I remember about that goal was that ‘Braddles’ was still a fair way out after completing the one-two, but he still found time to steady, straighten himself and beautifully slot it. That was typical ‘Braddles’.
“I used to say to him ‘you should square those kicks to the big forwards’, but if you kick them you get away with it – and 20 years on he’s still got away with it.”
Reminded that Bradley’s goal somehow ran second to Mick McGuane’s seven-bounce running goal against Carlton on the MCG in the second round of that season, Kernahan responded: “I blame McGuane’s direct opponent ‘Diesel’ (Greg Williams), for not chasing him down”.
