Tears shed on ‘emotional day’ as Carlton surges past Collingwood

Jack Silvagni paid tribute to his late grandfather during Carlton’s win over Collingwood before beautiful scenes unfolded following the game.

Jack Silvagni cut an emotional figure after Carlton's win. Image: Getty/Fox Footy.

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 with a win over traditional rivals Collingwood.

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.

SILVAGNI 🔥

✏️BLOG: https://t.co/gtEgDPEFl6
📱MATCH CENTRE: https://t.co/Wup9JajZTp
📺WATCH #AFLPiesBlues: https://t.co/fR6NiieGd3pic.twitter.com/bcP4IPEa9T

— Fox Footy (@FOXFOOTY) July 18, 2021

The emotion of the occasion overcame the 23-year-old at the end of the game, who was consoled by teammates as he broke down in tears.

“It’s an emotional day for Jack Silvagni,” said commentator James Brayshaw.

“Such a massive part of the family lost during the week.”

Silvagni's teammates rallied around him after the game.

We love you, @jacksilvagni. 💙#AFLPiesBlues

— Carlton FC (@CarltonFC) July 18, 2021

Great to see the Blues get up and win today and honour the legend that is Serge! @CarltonFC#AFLPiesBlues

— Cathy Freeman (@CathyFreeman) July 18, 2021

Great win by @CarltonFC at the MCG. No crowd, no worries. A lot of happy lounge rooms around the nation. They did it for Serge. #AFLPiesBlues

— Dave Hughes (@DHughesy) July 18, 2021

Carlton coach David Teague praised Silvagni’s resilience following the game.

“To see him get the result today for Jack but also for his family, I think that’s a really nice touch,” Teague said.

“Jack’s handled it really well, and his teammates, and Jacob Weitering got him to lead the team off (after the game).

“I actually felt for Jack, he got his hand to a few balls early and they didn’t stick – as the game went on he continued to bring the effort and have a greater impact.

“Serge had a great career, then Stephen and Jack’s forging his.”

Teague said Sunday’s win over the Pies was one of the club’s “better performances” as the Blues overcame a slow start to storm home with six goals in the final term.

He said emerging superstar Sam Walsh was one of the hardest workers “as any player (he’d) been involved with” as he led the Blues midfield in skipper Patrick Cripps’ absence.

“He just wills his way and it’s his turn to own this Carlton Football Club with his team,” Teague said.

“I thought the way they came together, we didn’t play great footy early, our ball use we rushed it, we got caught into handball chains, we turned the ball over and we allowed them to move the ball from one end to the other.

“Once we connected as a group and used the ball together as a team and defended as a team, I thought that was one of our better performances, and Sam led that.”

Teague said Cripps should be right for next week after withdrawing from the match against the Pies due to soreness.

And despite the VFL being called off over the weekend due to Victoria’s Covid outbreak, injury-plagued forward Charlie Curnow was still able to get a solid run during an intra-squad match simulation.

“From a performance point of view he was a little bit rusty, he actually looked really good on ground level, and his ground ball takes were really clean,” Teague said.

“He looked pretty happy at the end of the day so that was the bit we all loved.”

Teague said it would be up to his form as to whether Curnow works his way back into the team by the end of the season.

Carlton sat just four points out of the top eight at the end of the game on Sunday but Teague said his focus was on individual and team improvement and the ladder position would take care of itself.

Silvagni paid tribute to his late grandfather during the win. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

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 it 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.

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

The Blues 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.

After going down to their traditional rivals in round 2, the Blues scored their gutsiest win of the year on Sunday. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

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.

Collingwood dominated the contest early before the tide began to turn in the third quarter. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Pies’ silver lining

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.

“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 the Magpies’ 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.

MAGPIES 3.2 6.4 9.5 9.8 62

BLUES 1.3 4.6 7.9 13.13 91

PAYNTER’S BEST MAGPIES: Grundy, De Goey, Mayne, Henry, Noble

BLUES: Walsh, Kennedy, Martin, Fisher, Stocker, Silvagni, McKay

GOALS MAGPIES: Henry 3, Elliott, Hoskin-Elliott, Mihocek, Sidebottom, Cameron, Bianco

BLUES: McKay 4, Betts 2, Martin, Stocker, Silvagni, Kennedy, Williams, De Koning, Walsh

INJURIES MAGPIES: Thomas (concussion)

BLUES: Nil

UMPIRES: Rosebury, Meredith, Rebeschini

MCG

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

JACK PAYNTER’S VOTES

3 Walsh (CARL)

2 De Goey (COLL)

1 McKay (CARL)