Carlton manage to keep their heads in Sleepy Hollow

More than a third of Carlton’s squad was not born when the club last scored a victory over the Cats in Geelong.

Blues players celebrate their upset victory over Geelong at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday night. Picture: Getty Images

Kardinia Park has worked through a significant chunk of the corporate world in spinning through multiple name changes since Carlton last won there in 1996.

Shell, Baytec, Skilled, Simonds and now GMHBA Stadium also answers to Sleepy Hollow and it was this name that best applied on Saturday night.

Strange and spooky things happen at Sleepy Hollow. Carlton beating Geelong was weird but how it happened was weirder. Esava Ratugolea had a Dane Rampe goalpost moment when he double-fisted a ball back into play to rob Tom Hawkins of a goal.

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Like Sleepy Hollow’s resident horseman, Ratugolea’s head momentarily separated from his shoulders in a variation of a kicking the wrong way blunder.

His brainfade was inexplicable but Gary Ablett missing a sitter was perhaps a bigger mystery.

Carlton’s win was hard to explain, but so was the Blues surrendering a 42-point lead to prevail by two. Still, more than a third of the Blues side wasn’t born when Carlton last won in Geelong, so they can be excused of delayed stage fright.

That’s enough about the weird. There was an equal measure of the wonderful.

During the week Adelaide board member Mark Ricciuto said ex-Crow Mitch McGovern was yet to deliver at Carlton.

He’s delivered. McGovern was prominent as Carlton dominated the skies to clunk 13 contested marks to four.

Adelaide’s pain was exacerbated by the man who booted the first goal of the match and whose tenacity won it at the end. Yes, Eddie Betts was the most important player on the ground after a hard week off it. Coach David Teague said the Blues had been galvanised by their stand against Betts being racially vilified on social media.

“He’s a phenomenal individual when it comes to dealing with adversity,” Teague said. “What I’m super proud of … I love the way his teammates and the club get behind him. We believe strongly in that cause as a club … I think it galvanised our players.”