We’re facing down a hoodoo on Friday night. Make no mistake. We haven’t beaten the Hawks since Round 6, 2005. To put it in context, Kouta was still the captain. Scott Camporeale was vice captain. With Fev rubbed out, we turned to Lance Whitnall to prop up a young Jarrad Waite Jarrad Waite in the forward line. Dennis Pagan was in his 50th match as Carlton’s coach. We won by a goal with Jarrad Waite and a young whippersnapper named Eddie Betts kicking 8 between them. We didn’t win again until round 18. And we lost to Hawthorn the next seven times we met. That my friends, is a hoodoo.

What is a hoodoo exactly? Well, it’s a kind of folk magic. Like a spell or a potion. And like any spell, it takes a little magic to break it. We haven’t always had the magic the past few seasons. But if this year can show us anything, it’s that Carlton is capable of magic. And hoodoos can be broken.

North had beaten us 7 out of the last 8 encounters when we met at Docklands a few weeks ago. We shrugged that one off, a little shakily at times, but firmly enough in the end. Hoodoo: broken.

In April, there was one weighed on us. Heavily. We hadn’t beaten Sydney since round 22, 1993. Brett Ratten was a fresh-faced midfielder, probably being sledged for his big ears. But that night, in teeming rain, while some beaming young kids got married on the other side of the world, we found something special. We broke the unbreakable. And now hoodoos don’t have the same voodoo they once had.

So when we run onto the field on Friday night, let’s hope we have our mojo working and we’ve listened to our gurus. But it will be the hard work we’ve out in all year, rather than mere magic, that will help us break one more hoodoo.

Which hoodoo have you most enjoyed breaking?