Hello again! After the game in Sydney last month I was lucky enough to see my Carlton heroes do battle again, this time in my home state against Port Power on Sunday. It sure was a game of two halves, both with the weather and with Carlton's skill level.......
 
I had been really looking forward to this match, especially because my teacher Mr Hambour is a Port Power supporter. He wore his Port tie to school during the week, because he knew my Mum would be wearing her Carlton scarf when she took me to school. I hoped that I would be able to go to school on Monday with a smile on my face! Our friends from Melbourne, all Carlton members like us, drove over to our place on the Saturday to spend the weekend and go to the footy with us. We were all sitting together, 11 rows from the boundary in the same bay as the Carlton cheer squad. The weather had been forecast for rain, but it had been sunny all day, even when we got to the footy ground for the 4.10pm start. I loved hearing the Carlton song being played over the loud speakers as the players ran through the banner, which read "Only 2 losses, not we play Port - should be easy, nice and short". Mum also thought it would be easy, with us winning by ten goals. I hoped she was right.

The Blues started badly. It was nice and sunny, and the ball was dry. But what terrible skill errors we showed - my Under 9 team could kick, handball and mark better than them! We kicked a point early, but Port had two goals on the board before we even looked like doing anything. Power player Justin Westhoff (he's related to me as our great grandfathers are brothers) dominated the first quarter, kicking three goals, but for us we had Murphy playing well. Port was really flooding our forward line - a lot of the time there was just one of their players outside our 50m arc! Juddy laid a great tackle that led to Andrew Walker's goal from a set shot, which Mum captured on camera. Quarter time had Port 4-2 (26) to Carlton 3-3 (21).

Walker and Duigan played well in the second quarter, but Port was by far the better team. We were fumbling the ball a lot, though Hampson took some good marks. Jamo looked like he hurt his ankle - I hoped he'd be okay. Waitey took a mark but missed his shot at goal - we needed better accuracy than this. Walks took a mark and played on for a goal, so we were only four points down. Then Yazza did a great running dodge around players, bounced the ball, running towards goal - "Kick a goal!" we yelled, but no, he kicked short to Waitey - who missed. We'd had 11 scoring shots to 9, but we were losing. Typical Carlton - I think our players need to practice their goal shots much more at training! I noticed the sliver of moon up in the sky as now the day had turned to night. Gibbsy, Murph and Walker were all doing well for us. At last Eddie got a goal, and almost another before the siren beat us. Half time scores 6-4 (40) to 5-7 (37). Time for Mum & me to have a stretch and buy some hot chips for tea. In the line-up a Port lady asked me if I was enjoying the match, and I shrugged. I didn't tell her that while we were only three points down, we weren't looking much like a top four side against a bottom two side!
 
The third quarter we played much better, though still kicked too many points instead of goals. I was getting worried that my friend Charlie would tease me at school tomorrow (he's a Power supporter), and of course Mr Hambour would have a huge smile on his face. But then at long last we hit the front, which made ME smile. I'd been cheering very hard all match, and was already starting to lose my voice. Dad turned to Adrian and said "Game over, we can go home now!" and both agreed that Carlton would go on to win by plenty. Port kicked only one goal in the third quarter, while Carlton booted four. Three quarter time has us in front 7-7 (49) to 9-11 (65). I wondered if Carlton could end the match with more goals than points. Mum decided she'd better put on her Carlton guernsey to bring us better luck.
 
Early in the last quarter the rain started to fall softly - I was glad we had eaten up our chips by now! I also was pleased we were the team in front, because the game would probably become even more scrappy when the ball was wet & the ground slippery. However, Carlton seemed to lift up a notch. Eddie slipped a slick handball to Walks who goaled within the first minute - his sixth goal of the match! Jamo was subbed off for Irish boy Zach Tuohy's first ever AFL game. Thornton was great at defending, while Murphy & Gibbs continued to play brilliantly - some of the rare players who'd not made loads of disposal errors. The rain began POURING then, and the other five headed back for undercover seats, but Mum & I stayed where we were. I played my Under 9s match in the rain on Friday night, and the players were all still playing out there, so we figured we could also stay out in it! Waitey kicked a point and Port's terrible kick-in went straight to Garlett who played on & kicked a goal - we waved our wet flags. We were already up by 29 points and now I was sure we would win easily. The rain was absolutely PELTING down, but after a woeful first half with skills, Carlton was now playing as if the weather were dry, kicking properly and taking marks. Another goal! The rain was SO HEAVY but it didn't stop Mum & me cheering excitedly - luckily our rain coats were keeping us dry. Then all of a sudden the rain stopped, and the Carlton cheer squad started singing the Carlton theme song, so confident they were that we'd win, even though there was still more than 10 minutes to go. Murphy kicked a ripper bouncing goal as we edged close to doubling Port's score, 49 to 90. Mum asked me if I thought we could get another three goals to make her ten-goal prediction come true, but we both decided that in this weather that might be a hard ask. Then Yazza did a great bounce, dodge, snap & goal! Now we were MORE than double the score, 49-99, can you believe it?! Simmo then kicked to Garlett, who took a fantastic mark in slippery conditions (the rain was drizzling again) and goaled, followed by kicking another goal! We were actually in front by more than ten goals now, with Port not even kicking a point in this last quarter!! The final scores were 7-7 (49) to 16-15 (111). I was thrilled.


 
And yes, we even managed to finish with more goals than points. The players all looked very happy, giving each other high fives as they wandered over to the boundary to thank all of the Carlton supporters in the crowd for cheering them on.

There certainly were many Carlton supporters there, maybe numbering 9,000 out of the overall crowd of over 23,000. By this stage many of the Power supporters had left, but all of the Carlton faithful hung around, with many in our bay. I went down to the boundary with Adrian, Talia & Lara in the hope that the players would come over to us, and they certainly did. I got a high five from first-gamer Tuohy, as well as Carrazzo, Betts, Duigan, Ellard & O'hAilpin! I really like how the players take the time out to thank us for being there to support them.

Before we made our way back to the car, Mum took a photo of me with Lara & Talia. Carlton has many, many junior members just like us who really love the Blues!



Then it was time for us to make the hour's drive back to our house, with me chatting excitedly the whole way. I had had SUCH a great day, starting with the pre-match Carlton function (I'll tell you about that, when Mummy met her childhood hero, a bit later in the week). I was feeling very proud of our players for putting that first half behind them and coming out with all guns blazing in the second. But I was also feeling rather sad at not knowing when I'd next get to see my heroes in action. Hopefully we'll make it over to at least a game or two in Melbourne later in the season, and maybe even to my first ever AFL final!
 
Until then, keep on cheering our Blue Boys,
from Jesse (Jezza) Hanel