AFL 2021: News, scores and results from the Round 18 clash between Collingwood and Carlton

Carlton is making a very late run to the finals. And after a win over the old enemy, things could be about to get even better for the Blues.

Jack Silvagni kisses his armband after kicking a goal in Carlton’s comeback win.

Carlton coach David Teague has left the door ajar for Charlie Curnow to make his long-awaited return to the senior side in the Blues’ run home to the finals.

The Blues kept their finals hopes alive with a 29-point win over Collingwood as Curnow stepped out for the first time since his latest knee surgery in a multi-club match simulation session on Sunday morning.

Brilliant midfielder Sam Walsh was outstanding with 39 disposals and a superb late goal to rocket into Brownlow Medal contention as the Blues kicked nine of the last 10 goals to seal the comeback win over the Pies.

The 21-year-old Walsh, who is a $10 Brownlow Medal chance with TAB, could become the youngest winner since Chris Judd in 2004 to win the coveted award if he can roar home.

Curnow was rated one of the best young players in the competition before he went down with a career-threatening run of knee injuries but the Blues were impressed with how the goal kicker moved on Sunday.

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Carlton is not ruling out a Charlie Curnow return before the end of the season.

Teague said Curnow could yet play his first AFL game in two years this season with the Blues needing between three to five wins from their remaining five games to sneak into the eight.

“He looked good,” Teague said.

“His plan is to work his way back into the senior team, and from a conditioning point of view he will be able to do that but it will then come down to form.

“If he continues to grow, his form today was pretty solid, so we have a lot of confidence and belief in Charlie.

“It will probably depend more on how he is pulling up from each game so we will take it each week and see where it leads.”

Curnow participated in the match simulation with Melbourne, Collingwood, Hawthorn and Carlton players and while it wasn’t a regular VFL hitout Teague was pleased with Curnow’s output.

“His workload and what we require from a physiological load we got exactly what we wanted out of it,” he said.

The Blues only play one top eight side – Port Adelaide – in the run home and will welcome back inspirational skipper Patrick Cripps from soreness for this weekend’s clash against North Melbourne, pending a fixture switch.

Sam Walsh enhanced his Brownlow Medal claims.

Carlton chief executive Cain Liddle has made it clear “the period of development is over” for the Blues but Teague said the year would not be a failure if the team missed the eight.

“I don’t think it is a failure (if they missed the eight),” Teague said.

“It is about getting better, it is about connecting, it is about this group going forward.

“Particularly over the last four or five weeks we have seen growth.

“Yes this football club wants to play finals and we want to play finals every year but where we are at I’m really enjoying seeing some of the guys’ individual improvement and the collectiveness, the cohesion.

“Guys getting to play games together and to see Zac Williams and Adam Saad across half back and their ability to start to jell with their teammates and I think they will only get better.”

Jack Silvagni was in tears after the match after the passing of his grandfather and Carlton great Sergio. He pointed to the heavens after kicking his first goal and took a late screamer near the boundary to cap a memorable game.

“He’s handled it well, it is never easy,” Teague said.

“I felt for Jack, he actually got his hands to the few balls and they didn’t stick and I thought it could get frustrating, I didn’t know how much energy he had burned throughout the week.

“As the game went on he continued to bring effort and have a greater impact.

“He looked like he took a bit of a ‘hanger’ at one stage and I haven’t seen him get that high for a while so maybe had had a little bit of support from someone there.”

Jack Silvagni enjoys a goal with Eddie Betts.

BLUES SURGE FOR SERGE IN EMOTION-CHARGED WIN

Jack Paynter

Carlton shrugged off the loss of star skipper Patrick Cripps to claim bragging rights over arch rivals Collingwood at the MCG.

The Blues kept their slim final hopes alive as they staged a fourth-quarter comeback to down the Pies by 29 points on Sunday.

Carlton didn’t hit the front for the first time until midway through the final term as they stormed home with six final quarter goals.

Cripps was withdrawn from Sunday’s match due to soreness, with emerging superstar Sam Walsh shouldering the midfield load as the Blues shrugged off a slow start to square the ledger against the Pies in 2021.

Coach David Teague must also be looking forward to adding Charlie Curnow back into an exciting forward line after almost two years on the sidelines through injury, but he will have to wait another week to catch a glimpse of him as the VFL was called off due to Melbourne’s Covid outbreak.

It was the Pies who had the better run of it early as both sides tried to transition quickly from defence into attack.

Jack Silvagni pays tribute to his late grandfather Serge.

Collingwood, who have been more direct with their forward entries under interim coach Robert Harvey, created better opportunities and opened the scoring with the first three goals of the match.

There seemed to be a lack of connection between the Blues on-ballers and forwards as they struggled to hit a target with only two marks inside 50 in the first term.

Harry McKay was barely sighted in the first half as All Australian ruckman Brodie Grundy had another standout game and managed to break free of young Blues ruck Tom De Koning.

Carlton found their run late in the second quarter with consecutive goals to reduce the margin to 10 points at the main break.

They again started slow in the third quarter as Collingwood stretched the margin to 20 points, but it was then one way running in the final term as McKay found his way into the game with four goals to help seal the win.

At the end of the match the Blues remarkably sat just four points out of the eight but would need everything to go their way to play finals this year.

TOUCHING TRIBUTE

In a tough week for the Silvagni family after the passing of Carlton legend Serge Silvagni, his grandson Jack was able to hit the scoreboard as the Blues honoured one of their champions.

Third generation Blue, Jack, immediately pointed to the sky after nailing a set shot in the second quarter, and was mobbed by teammates also sporting black armbands in memory of his grandfather.

Silvagni took a spectacular grab as the Blues stormed home in the final quarter and also spent time in the ruck on Sunday as the Blues tried to stem the influence superstar Grundy.

Sam Walsh soaks up his incredible last-quarter goal.

EMERGING SUPERSTAR

Sam Walsh backed up the midweek praise from Brownlow medallist Patrick Dangerfield with another stellar performance on Sunday.

Walsh, who Dangerfield believes is on track to have a “spectacular career”, was a prolific ball winner all day and nailed a miraculous goal from the pocket as the Blues edged out the Pies with a fourth-quarter comeback.

He then burst out of the middle moments later with another clearance to hit Coleman Medal leader Harry McKay as the Blues stormed home.

HENRY SOARS

It took a few games but young forward prospect Oliver Henry finally nailed his first goal of his career as he begins to find his feet at AFL level.

It was Henry’s fifth game for the Pies after a slow start but the 18-year-old showed impressive signs in last week’s win over the Tigers and backed it up against the Blues on Sunday with two first quarter goals and several strong contested marks.

Henry finished with three goals as the Collingwood forwards benefited from quicker ball movement which Pies fans hope can continue as they look to rebound from a poor season in 2022.

HENRY GIVES PIES REASON TO SMILE AFTER FADE OUT

Collingwood coach Robert Harvey says the breakout performance of young forward prospect Oliver Henry was a “real positive” from an otherwise disappointing loss against arch rivals Carlton.

The Magpies led all day until midway through the last quarter as the “dam wall broke” and the Blues stormed home with six goals to win by 29 points.

The 18-year-old was one of the standouts in the first half, and after nailing the first goal of his AFL career in the first quarter from a set shot near the boundary, he went on to kick another two in the half.

He was also a strong presence up forward with a number of impressive contested marks to finish with 12 touches for the day.

Oliver Henry played his best game for the Magpies.

“We understand his talent but he’s matching that with great work ethic and a desire to compete so he was a real positive on the day,” Harvey said.

“It’s real exciting for the future of the club to see him put his hand up like that and show what he’s got to contribute.”

But Harvey lamented the Pies inability to get their hands on the football in the second half as they were overrun in the last 70 minutes.

“The dam wall broke a bit in the last quarter,” he said.

“We’ve been finishing games well, whether that was a subconscious expectation we were going to do that again, I don’t know, but they just ran all over us in the last quarter, we just couldn’t win a contest anywhere.

“It was hard to get a gauge on anything given we couldn’t get our hands on the footy – they just got on top and we couldn’t stop it.”

Harvey said their stoppage work was an issue all day but they were able to “mask” over it with some “sharp” ball use in the first two and a half quarters before Carlton got on top.

Harvey said Josh Thomas, who was subbed out of the game with concussion, was a bit of a loss during the second half, but it seemed like a “straight forward concussion” and expected him to be right to go in a fortnight’s time.

“I spoke to him after the game, he seemed fine,” Harvey said.