Heartbreaking scenes for Carlton Blues veteran Marc Murphy

Former Carlton Blues captain Marc Murphy cut an emotional figure after he was subbed out of his 296th game with a leg injury.

Murphy cut an emotional figure as he sat on the bench.

Carlton veteran Marc Murphy has suffered a lower leg injury just four games short of 300.

The former club captain limped off the field in the first quarter of his side’s clash with Adelaide on Sunday.

He was replaced by medical substitute Nic Newman and did not reappear after the first change.

The injury was especially devastating given Murphy had been playing his first game back in the senior side after being dropped to the VFL.

“It’s heartbreaking for a player trying to get to his 300th game,” Fox Footy host Sarah Jones said.

Murphy, who has played his entire AFL career with the Blues, is vying to become just the fifth footballer to play 300 games for Carlton, after Craig Bradley, Bruce Doull, Kade Simpson and Stephen Silvagni.

The Blues are yet to confirm the extent of Murphy's injury.

Marc Murphy subbed out in game 296. Lower left leg injury. Nic Newman subbed in #AFLBluesCrows

— Mitch Cleary (@cleary_mitch) June 27, 2021

Carlton coach David Teague has been afforded a much-needed pressure release ahead of the club’s football review commencing on Monday with a hard-fought 10-point victory over Adelaide at Marvel Stadium on Sunday.

But the performance certainly won’t give Teague too much breathing space, as the Blues were outscored in each quarter except for the second, with their reputation for failing to run out games threatening to derail their victory after they got out to a 34-point lead in the first half.

However, the second quarter proved enough for the Blues, booting eight goals to three to turn a six-point quarter-time deficit into a 28-point half-time lead and the Crows weren’t able to reel them in thereafter.

The rest of the game still provided plenty for Carlton’s review committee to mull over and fitness looks like it will be close to the top of the agenda.

It was looking dire for Teague in the first quarter as the Crows had nine of the first 10 shots on goal, but they couldn’t make Carlton pay, only managing 2.6, with Taylor Walker kicking three behinds.

The Blues’ defence looked in disarray at stages, but despite taking 25 minutes to register their first score, they completely turned the game on its head as they kicked 10 of the next 12 goals.

Largely on the back of quicker ball movement, Carlton looked like a totally different team to the passive and unsure outfit they were in the first term. The Blues also beat the Crows soundly at the coal face in the second term, winning the contested possessions 38-31 and dominating the inside 50s 21-10 while controlling the ball, too, with 38 more disposals (111-73).

In the second half, Carlton lacked the energy that helped put them in a such a strong position in the first and the Crows made the most of it, kicking five goals to two.

Carlton players Lachie Fogarty (twice), Harry McKay, Sam Petrevski-Seton and Matt Owies missed a host of set shots for goal in the final term to keep the Crows in the game until late. Lachie Sholl had the chance to trim the margin to six points with 66 seconds left in the game, but he too missed a sitter from 25m out, sealing Adelaide’s fate.

A second quarter blitz helped the Blues to their fifth win of the year. Pic: Michael Klein

Betts still has it

Eddie Betts kicked the goal of the day late in the second quarter when he sold some candy to Jake Kelly and threaded a beautiful banana from a sharp angle in pocket. He could’ve also had the mark of the century, let alone the day, earlier in the quarter when he flew high over the pack in the goal square, but failed to hang onto the ball. The spectacular leap would’ve made Collingwood high-flyer Jeremy Howe proud.

Saad provides spark

With the Blues on the ropes late in the first term, Adam Saad gave them a timely boost just when they needed one. The former Bomber collected the loose ball in the middle of the ground, ran up the guts, took two bounces, and drilled it home from 55m out for his team’s first score of the game. Moments earlier the Crows had the chance to sprint forward themselves and potentially kick a similar goal, but David Mackay fumbled the ball and turned it over to Saad. What could’ve been a 24-point margin crucially for Carlton became a two-goal gap instead. It turned out to be a massive momentum shifter as the Blues kicked nine of the next 11 goals to open up a six-goal gap.

Crows rue poor discipline

Adelaide let themselves down with poor discipline at crucial times. Late in the first quarter with the Crows still well on top, Darcy Fogarty gave away a stupid 50m penalty to Lachie Plowman for punching Jacob Weitering in the stomach right in front of the umpire. It brought Plowman from the half-back flank to the 50m line and he set up Harry McKay’s first goal with 17 seconds left in the term to cut the Crows’ lead to six points. And late in the third quarter, just as Adelaide got themselves back in the contest with three consecutive goals, Ned McHenry gave away a silly downfield free kick to Jack Martin for an unnecessary late hit on Jack Newnes. Martin converted the set shot to put Carlton back in front by 21 points.

Fogarty in hot water

Darcy Fogarty could come under MRO scrutiny for a late hit on Weitering in the third quarter, which left the star Carlton defender grounded for a long time, before forcing him to leave the field for further medical attention. Weitering was able to return to the game fairly quickly, but the clash wasn’t a great look for Fogarty and it also sparked a huge melee.

Teague not fazed by review

Carlton coach David Teague insisted he was excited by the prospect of the club’s football department review commencing on Monday and was confident it wouldn’t serve as a distraction for his team.

Despite the process being widely interpreted as a direct threat to him hanging onto his job beyond the end of this season, Teague said he was looking forward to chatting with panel members Matthew Pavlich, Geoff Walsh and Graham Lowe.

“It will be exciting to see what they hear, we’ll get some great feedback from them, obviously three guys that have had great experiences in the game,” Teague said after the Blues beat Adelaide on Sunday.

“I’ve still got a job, though, at hand and that’s to make sure we’re playing our best footy, so my focus will mainly go on that rather than the review.

“We’re always looking to review and get better, this time we’ve got people externally coming in.”

Teague envisaged the panel would speak to a decent portion of the playing group as well to get their perspective.

Of more pressing concern for Teague is the fact that Western Australia has tightened its border restrictions in the wake of the country’s growing COVID outbreak.

Carlton are due to face Fremantle at Optus Stadium next round and while, as of Sunday night, the Blues were scheduled to fly to Perth on Friday, Teague acknowledged those plans could easily change.

“Obviously it’s a moving beast and we’ll be ready for whatever the AFL and the state governments allow us to do,” he said.

“Over the last 12 months I think most clubs have become pretty agile and flexible and ready to go and we want to be able to play anywhere, anytime.

“Wherever the AFL see fit and wherever we can get the game done, we look forward to the challenge of playing an in-form Fremantle.”

Teague succeeded Brendon Bolton as senior coach of Carlton midway through the 2019 season. Pic: Michael Klein

Adelaide are in a similar boat. They’re due to face Brisbane next round at Adelaide Oval, but South Australia have also tightened their border recently.

“It’s becoming a little bit harder to find venues to play football in and actually travel around country,” said Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks, who wouldn’t rule out his club entering a hub to keep the season going.

“We’ll be flexible as we have been and we’ll play wherever we can and we’ll keep our fingers crossed that we are able to play.

“We want to do what we can to play and entertain. That’s what the industry is about - play games of footy and put on a show.”

Teague was enthused by seeing Carlton play closer to “our way” against the Crows on Sunday, but didn’t feel a lack of fitness allowed Adelaide back into the contest in the second half and that the Blues’ poor goalkicking in the final quarter (0.5) was the main reason.

Veteran Marc Murphy injured his calf early in the game and had to be subbed out, but the club was hopeful it was only minor. However, Teague reiterated that the former captain wouldn’t be gifted four more games this season to crack the 300 milestone.

“If he’s not playing well and he’s not getting his job done then we’ll reward the next guy,” Teague said.

Eddie Betts jarred his hip, but was expected to face the Dockers next week.

Nicks was left to rue costly acts of ill-discipline from Darcy Fogarty and Ned McHenry late in the first quarter and third quarter respectively that gifted Carlton goals at crucial stages of the game.

“They know when things like that aren’t quite fitting in with team values,” Nicks said.

“We’ll probably have a quiet chat early in the week ... you talk about momentum, you talk about crucial moments in games, I think we let ourselves down at times with some of the discipline.”

Nicks said the game was lost in the second quarter when Carlton piled on eight goals to Adelaide’s three, and actually viewed his team’s ability to fight back and get within 10 points at the final siren as “frustrating more than anything”.

The Crows could’ve ended the contest early when they had nine of the first 10 shots on goal, but could only manage 2.6 while keeping Carlton scoreless during that period.

“The game could have been in a different position at half-time,” he said.

BLUES 2.0 10.4 12.6 12.11 (83)

CROWS 2.6 5.6 8.9 10.13 (73)

LERNER’S BEST Blues: Walsh, Jones, Williams, Plowman, Saad, Weitering, Betts. Crows: Keays, Laird, Butts, Seedsman, Walker, O’Brien.

GOALS Blues: Betts 3, McKay 2, Martin 2, Saad, Owies, Dow, Cripps, Williams. Crows: Walker 3, Fogarty 2, Seedsman 2, Rowe, McHenry, Keays.

INJURIES Blues: Murphy (calf). Crows: Sloane (finger)

UMPIRES Fisher, Chamberlain, Heffernan

VENUE Marvel Stadium

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

LERNER’S VOTES

3 S.Walsh (Carl)

2 B.Keays (Adel)

1 L.Jones (Carl)