Carlton survives Geelong’s last-quarter onslaught to cause boilover at GMHBA Stadium
When Carlton needed a hero to end its first-quarter hoodoo, there was Eddie Betts. When the Blues needed a saviour in the last quarter, Betts again. A favourite son announced his return on Saturday to lead the club to an unthinkable win over Geelong.
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It was fitting that three minutes of madness buried Geelong.
After being completely outplayed by Carlton for three quarters — the Blues led by 42 points at the 10-minute mark of the third quarter — the Cats launched one of their typical withering comebacks.
When Gryan Miers kicked Geelong’s fourth goal of the final quarter at the 14-minute mark they were suddenly within 11 points.
Then the madness happened.
Tom Williamson âž¡ï¸ Eddie Betts!#AFLCatsBlues pic.twitter.com/PfdZsTKVqs
— AFL (@AFL) June 20, 2020
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Miers inexplicably played on when his teammate Gary Rohan had won a free-kick 20 metres out with his screw kick touched on the line.
A minute later Mitch Duncan appeared to have kicked a brilliant left-foot goal only for a score review to show that Carlton veteran Kade Simpson had got a finger on it.
And then Gary Ablett, the greatest player of the modern era, missed a simple set shot from 30m out directly in front.
Even after blowing those golden opportunities, the Cats still closed to within two points when Tom Atkins kicked truly with less than 90 seconds remaining.
Carlton desperately needed a hero. Enter Eddie Betts.
The veteran found a way to drag down Geelong defender Jack Henry to win a holding the ball free-kick which sealed his team their first victory at GMHBA Stadium since 1996.
There had been murmurings after the first look at Betts in a Carlton jumper for six years last week.
That’s the brutal reality when you’re a 33-year-old in this business and you open the season with a quiet showing.
But Blues fans shouldn’t fear, there is still plenty of life left in their cult hero.
Betts kicked the opening goal of the night inside 45 seconds and added another one in the final 40 seconds of the first term.
He was buzzing around all over the place and in the third quarter he had a hand in all three of the Blues goal before producing the matchwinning tackle.
Slow starts had been the elephant in the room for Carlton across the opening two rounds.
Blues coach David Teague was desperately looking for a pressure release on that front and his men responded.
Five goals in the first quarter was more than they had kicked to three-quarter time the previous week against Melbourne.
They continued rolling in the second quarter finishing with nine goals for the half, something they hadn’t done since Round 10, 2016 which was ironically also against Geelong.
Jack Steven’s Geelong debut started well enough with a possession within seconds of him running onto the ground.
The former Saint started on the bench and was called into the action five minutes in with his first stat a potential shot at goal from 45m which he rushed and ended up screwing it into the pocket.
A couple of minutes later he had his first howler in a Cats jumper when an errant handball set up a goal for Carlton veteran Marc Murphy.
At the start of the second quarter Cats coach Chris Scott threw Steven into the middle of the ground as he looked for a spark but he was unable to provide it with just five possessions in the opening half.
He then didn’t touch the ball in the third quarter before his inglorious evening finished with just six possessions.
BETTS’ RESPONSE TO RACIAL SLUR HELPED GALVANISE BLUES
- Scott Gullan
Carlton was “galvanised” by the Eddie Betts racial slur scandal last week with the veteran inspiring the Blues shock two-point victory over Geelong.
Betts kicked two goals and then produced a game-saving tackle in the final minute to cap off a brilliant second game back in a Carlton jumper
Blues coach David Teague praised the 33-year-old for how he’d handled a social media troll after last week’s loss to Melbourne.
“He is a phenomenal individual when it comes to dealing with adversity,” Teague said.
“Those who know his story, he has dealt with different situations throughout his life.
“In this situation what I am super proud of is he believes strongly and he is calling it out.
“And I love the way his teammates particularly and then the club get behind him because we want to support all Aboriginal players, not just Eddie.
“We believe strongly in that cause as a club and I think it galvanised our players a little bit.”
Betts posted to his Instagram a picture of a tweet that read:
“I here (sic) master Eddie Betts is training the house down...” along with a picture of a monkey.
He also shared a message with the picture, asking others to call out racial abuse.
“To ignore it is to be part of the problem, to call it out is to be part of the solution. #itstopswithme #bepartofthesolution”
Carlton led by 42 points at the 10-minute mark of the third quarter before Geelong produced an extraordinary final quarter comeback, kicking five unanswered goals to get within two points with less than 90 seconds on the clock.
It was then left to Betts to save the day with a desperate tackle on Geelong defender Jack Henry earning the Blues veteran a free-kick which then enabled his team to run the clock out.
Teague said his team played safe in the final quarter but he was more excited about what he’d seen for the first three quarters.
“It’s exciting, we played three really good quarters and we get some great learning in the last quarter,” he said.
“We’ve probably set a standard we know we can play at now and we just need to do it more.”
It was a horror night for the Cats who lost Luke Dalhaus through concussion midway through the first quarter while Sam Menegola (back) sat out most of the second half.
Jack Steven’s debut was also forgettable with the former Saint having just six possessions.
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CARLTON 5.3 9.5 12.6 12.7 (79)
GEELONG 1.2 4.6 6.7 11.11 (77)
Goals: Carlton: E Betts 2 L Casboult 2 M McGovern 2 M Murphy 2 P Cripps 2 H McKay M Gibbons. Geelong: G Rohan 2 T Hawkins 2 C Guthrie G Miers H Taylor J Bews J Selwood R Stanley T Atkins.
SCOTT GULLAN’S VOTES
3 – Eddie Betts (Carlton)
2 – Jacob Weitering (Carlton)
1 – Patrick Cripps (Carlton)
Best: Betts, Weitering, Cripps, Pittonet, Docherty, Gibbons, Curnow, Martin
Geelong: Duncan, Rohan, Dangerfield, Guthrie.
Originally published as Carlton survives Geelong’s last-quarter onslaught to cause boilover at GMHBA Stadium
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