Agree of Grimes. A game of two halves. Credit for a strong second half though. Hopefully he turns it around. Is going to ground easily and still not nearly as clean as he should be by hand under pressure. But he's defending well, nailed young Menzel and is attacking the ball like a skipper.

Disagree on Bail. He's always running to present. It's that running along with Dawes that allowed space for all the other forwards. I think he gets tired because he actually goes both ways. Same thing happened with Toumpas early in the year. It's much easier to not get tired at half forward if you never run to present! How many times was Bail the man open on the far side of the ground for the switch or next kick? That's how I judge a good half forward flanker.

We saw how tired the guys got at the end of the second half today because how effort it took to attack and win! I was never so happy to actually see a team burning through energy!

I don't disagree that Bail runs hard to present, it's when the opposition have the ball that he barely moves. A number of times Carlton were rebounding from defence and Bail was jogging inside our forward 50.

Was a great day.

Sat in the mcc with some mates and all our kids.

We all got to belt out the sing with gusto and was a great feeling waving goodbye to the blues supporters leaving early!!

Yessiree the Fence put a Rock lobster on it for a very nice sum.

Love the jangle of moola so did Mrs. Fence who negotiated for part of the stake!

I hope she enjoyed her "part of the stake".

Listening to 3aw on the way home because they were the only station still covering our games its amazing how many richmond, collingwood and even essendon fans were ringing up saying how good it was to hear the melbourne theme song at the end and it was good to see us win. Granted they were only happy because carlton lost but it was nice to have some love there for awhile.

That's almost exactly what I told my family tonight as well....

lol at those saying Grimes lifted.

He does what he did every week, some of you just get 'taken' by his occasional clanger.

It's hard to look good when you are in the middle of everything down at the Dees.

I don't disagree that Bail runs hard to present, it's when the opposition have the ball that he barely moves. A number of times Carlton were rebounding from defence and Bail was jogging inside our forward 50.

I just got back from super day - even caught Harry Kewell's last game.

I am not a huge Bail fan but he was very good today and his strength is his running ability and the reason he's in the side is that when he gets it, he runs quicker than what Trengove and Toumpas do and breaks lines.

It is also why he occasionally looks buggered - but that's after a 100m sprint from defence.

You may also want to note he laid 10 tackles today - so as soon as he got over his hard run, he was back in there doing the hard thing.

Basically if he keeps providing the number of contests he did today, then he's in our best 10 players - even if he does spray it on occasions.

Listening to 3aw on the way home because they were the only station still covering our games its amazing how many richmond, collingwood and even essendon fans were ringing up saying how good it was to hear the melbourne theme song at the end and it was good to see us win. Granted they were only happy because carlton lost but it was nice to have some love there for awhile.

[censored] them! We don't need their patronizing [censored]!! Tell them to [censored] off !

Edited April 12, 201411 yr by Bitter but optimistic

I recall that too but his overall effort can't be questioned surely. 10 tackles laid, as a forward. Just outside the votes for mine but he was very good today.

Grimes also was an absolute general off half back. Mopped up the mess and had his kicking boots on. I think you're being very harsh on both mate.

Bail was excellent in the second half. Maybe I am being a little harsh on him.

Grimes was certainly better. I'd take his second half performance every week.

As I think about the win more and more, it was a genuine 22 player team win, and it is a long time we have seen that. Most of our wins in the last 5 years or so have been in the wet, on the back of one or two individual performances. But a team win was great to witness.

At the same time, how bad are Carlton?!?! Our disposal efficiency was really high but I put most of that down to a constant lack of pressure from the Blues. They lost so many one-on-ones or two-on-twos by almost expecting to win contests against us. They were terrible.

Next week against the Gold Coast we need to be better by hand under pressure by hand and foot.

But let me type this one more time... how bad are Carlton?

We dodged a bullet with Warnock. Thank the heavens he chose Carlton over us.

We need to bring our A+++++ game against GCS

Another random thought: Tom McDonald seems to be playing better now that the responsibility for the backline has been dropped squarely on his shoulders. No Frawley or Garland and he's really stepping up and dominating games for us. Really good to see from him.

I thought he was pretty poor in the first half, looked like he was going through the motions a bit and constantly led to the ball by Henderson. His second half was great though he read the ball much better, outsmarted/out bustled his opponents and beat some of the smaller guys at ground level.

Ha ha - when I came home I told my family I had the best tasting pie today at half time at the footy - and it was nothing to do with the pie. I realised that's the way they should always tase - not clouded by disappointment.

mmm so good.

Jus got back home. I loved Viney's work today. His skills were on show. T Mac Vs Henderson was good to watch. Salute captain obvious but Nate Jones is a star. JKH was all effort and a two pronged forward line is the structure we need. We didn't always look for the perfect option. On occasion we just banged it forward which is what you need to do sometimes and it worked. Is it a two horse race between Dunn and Jones for the Bluey? Also kudos to Greg Denham who said on friday that playing Dawes was a stupid decision and would hurt us more then help. You sir are a [censored].

We had to win this.

No Robinson, Judd, Waite (Thanks Mick), Garlett (Thanks Mick), Tom Bell (Thanks Mick).

Probably the 5 guys I'd pick to have out of the team if we played them. Mel/Mel double half/full time was paying 12/1 before Robinson's withdraw.

Good win and deserved. I thought Richmond (NAB) and St.Kilda were great games from us, but this Carlton side was at its weakest ebb.

Gibbs and Murphy were so overrated it aint funny. Penny is dropping though.

No Brock (in form) either.

I agree we had to win thing and Great to get a win but lets not got too ahead ourselves- were probably in the mix with the Saints and GWS, unlucky against the saints but lucky today against the Blues.

While I don't think there high possession count showed they were better, definitely our tackling devalued their possessions.

Would have been a tougher match with their full team

Watching GC right now. THey have very poor hands as a group. A LOT of fumbling.

A few more things on today.

1) We were really lucky that Mitch Robinson was a late withdrawal - as a result we looked physically stronger than them all day.

2) Sorry JKH lovers - I thought he was a little boy lost out there among the men for much of the game - obviously his super goal in third term showed his goalsmarts, but he's still just a kid with potential at this stage and I'd send him back to the magoos until his body builds a bit more.

3) The decision to keep Jones on Murphy proved very wise. There's always a game within a game at this level and the battle of the two skippers really summed it up and Jonesy won on points clearly. Now the big decision is whether to put the two baldheads on each other next week - ie: Ablett.

4) Well done to Spencil. Every time Warnock did something he seemed quick to comeback and match it. They even traded shocking disposal at times, but whilst Warnock won the taps, Spencil did more around the ground - his tackle on Yarran should stop anyone bagging him for the next five weeks at least.

5) Dom was tagged by Carrazzo - probably for the first time in his career. It's been a tough week for Dom given the media's interest in our draft choices, but from what I've seen of Dom so far, he's a super footballer that is smart and in everything. And he's only 20.

6) Sorry to others, but I had Grimes in my best three at half time. I thought his second quarter was superb and I just sensed we'd win the minute Jonesy and him took control - when you are skipper everyone looks to you to set the example and they did so in a big way in that second term and kept doing it.

7) How good was Chipper! And i reckon Gold Coast are going to have their hands full next week. I imagine Rory Thompson will get him, but he missed much of a pre-season, so good luck keeping up with Chip on a lead.

We dodged a bullet with Warnock. Thank the heavens he chose Carlton over us.

and yet he is better than Kreuzer!!!

[censored] them! We don't need their patronizing [censored]!! Tell them to [censored] off !

Agree. It was the same with the woman at the footy who told me that she 'liked Melbourne' but it was a disgrace that Carlton was losing to them. (She had her son with her so I decided not to start a shouting match by telling her that maybe her beloved Blue Boys weren't as good as she or most of the media suckholes think).

We are liked because we are benign and non threatening. That needs to change.

I don't disagree that Bail runs hard to present, it's when the opposition have the ball that he barely moves. A number of times Carlton were rebounding from defence and Bail was jogging inside our forward 50.

Could find the original post but anyone saying grimes had a poor first half is wildly wrong in my opinion - was enormous!

Won the game.

Won $100.

Won being able to rub It into my smug blues mates who have been giving me crap for years.

What a bloody win.

Frawley forward

Dunn forward

Pedo back

Howe back

A clear gameplan

This is why we are paying Roos 1.5 mil

WE JUST BEAT CARLTON!!!!!! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Most of this aint rocket science; but your right, most of our coaches since Barassi would not have dreamed of some of these moves.

5) Dom was tagged by Carrazzo - probably for the first time in his career. It's been a tough week for Dom given the media's interest in our draft choices, but from what I've seen of Dom so far, he's a super footballer that is smart and in everything. And he's only 20.

Not only is he only 20, he hasn't yet played 20 games. Before today he was 10th in the league for average possessions and 11th for contested possessions. Obviously those numbers will drop after being tagged out of it for a lot of the game, but it's a hell of an effort for such an inexperienced player.

Great photo

On the way to the ground today I said to Mrs Robbie that Carlton were a really carp side and she said, unfortunately we are even worse.

I got to the game little late and we were two goals down when I got there; not a good start but the boys really put in today; really proud of the way they played.

Oh! and being right made it even better.

next time robbie get there on time. that way we get the first two goals