Carlton’s final credentials will be put to the test on Saturday afternoon when he hosts a Fremantle team in form that wants to secure its fourth straight win.
The Blues (9-4, 112.3%) have to win to keep in touch with the top four, otherwise they would run the risk of relegating to a competitive group looking for places in the bottom half of the eight.
The intense Dockers (10-3, 128.5%), who have defeated Melbourne, Brisbane and Hawthorn in their last three games, only have to beat the Blues to finish round 15 in second place after the big defeat of the Lions this Thursday. night.
Watch all the AFL matches this weekend live and in free ad play in Kayo. Are we Kayo? Try 14 days free now>
Although there were initially no late changes for either side, Matt Owies was seen talking to doctors during the warm-up and it was a late withdrawal due to a calf concern.
As a result, Jesse Motlop entered the 22 headlines, with Will Setterfield as a medical substitute along with Mitch Crowden for Fremantle.
It was a kind of goal-scoring stalemate to start the match, without either team being able to bother the scorers until the final six minutes.
This deadlock was broken by Matt Taberner, who scored close to the goal and actually scored the first goal of the afternoon.
A costly Carlton loss near midfield opened the door to Fremantle’s counterattack, which ended with a goal from Travis Colyer, who scored two of five goals in 50 for the Dockers.
Carlton began to have more opportunities from the age of 50, but most were from difficult angles and resulted in the last three.
By contrast, Fremantle’s 50 inside innings were more efficient and resulted in a higher percentage of looks on goal, with Rory Lobb scoring 30 yards at a marginal angle and throwing Fremantle’s third goal of the fourth.
Carlton finally scored his first goal through Harry McKay before the quarterback siren followed shortly after, with Fremantle with a nine-point lead.
For the second quarter in a row, in the first minutes there was a stalemate, with the first goal coming with just under 13 minutes to go, that to Matt Cottrell to turn it into a three-point game.
Charlie Curnow was brought down inside the area, an easy decision for the referee there.
After dominating so many of the key performance indicators for much of the game, Carlton finally began to turn chances, with Lochie O’Brien next to adding to the stack at the end of the second period, putting the side to 15 points.
Fremantle got a much needed response through Matt Taberner, who took a controversial mark at the boundary line and really broke it.
Frenetic passages of play unfolded in the final minutes, with both sides running across the field and attacking, before finally sounding the half-time siren with Carlton with a 15-point lead.
She was christened “magnificent madness” by Gerard Whateley in AFL Nation.
Carlton threw the first goal of the third quarter through Cottrell, but Fremantle appeared to have improved significantly during the game and was willing to continue the game down the aisle more often.
This increase in pressure and attack saw the Dockers score the next two goals, through Lachie Schultz and Bailey Banfield.
They had chances in majors, including one where Nat Fyfe seemed to confuse a referee with a teammate, but Carlton’s desperate defense helped minimize the damage.
Jack Silvagni threw a goal to balance things for the Blues for the three quarters.
Some pushes and pushes between Fyfe and Carlton’s players included a moment when Fyfe put his hand to the referee’s chest.
The match started at 13:45 EST from Marvel Stadium.
Watch it live on Fox Footy (channel 504) and Kayo from 1pm EST.
Follow Carlton v Fremantle on our live blog below!
If you can’t see the blog, tap here.