Match

Carlton vs Port Adelaide

Commentary / 13 Jul 2023

Pre Game

00:00
Port Adelaide have used 37 different players during the 2023 season, the equal-third most of any side, equal with the Suns and behind only North Melbourne and West Coast. Discounting Port Adelaide's record this season, the other three sides have combined for a total of 38 losses in 2023.

Quarter 1

00:00
Q1 is now underway.
02:41
SCORE BEHIND - Blues (Harry McKay)
03:49
SCORE BEHIND - Blues (Mitch McGovern)
06:48
SCORE BEHIND - Blues (Rushed)
07:40
SCORE BEHIND - Blues (Charlie Curnow)
08:52
SCORE GOAL - Blues (Jack Silvagni)
09:15
It took five attempts, but Carlton turn their territory dominance into the first goal of the match. They have spent 68% of the time elapsed so far in their forward half, and all of their scores have been launched from intercept possessions, which they lead 11-6.
11:32
SCORE GOAL - Blues (Jack Silvagni)
13:04
Carlton have found a teammate when kicking the ball into their forward 50 from six out of 10 attempts. By comparison, the Power have hit up a teammate from just one out of six kicks to go inside 50.
13:56
SCORE BEHIND - Power (Sam Powell-Pepper)
14:43
SCORE BEHIND - Power (Kane Farrell)
15:54
SCORE GOAL - Power (Todd Marshall)
16:14
Blues Interchange - Harry McKay off due to an injury.
16:20
Three inside 50's in a row after conceding 10 of the first 15 to Carlton and the Power get on the board with their first goal through Todd Marshall. He ranks second in the AFL for marks inside 50 since the beginning of Round 12 with 22.
18:04
SCORE BEHIND - Blues (Rushed)
19:25
After recording a pressure factor of 137 in the first 10 minutes of the match, since Jack Silvagni's second goal the Power have applied a pressure rating of 260.
20:10
SCORE GOAL - Blues (Jesse Motlop)
24:01
Port Adelaide have won four of the first five centre clearances of today's match, but failed to launch a score from any of them. Carlton (plus eight points per game) and the Power (plus seven points per game) rank first and second respectively in the AFL for scoring margin from centre clearance chains since Round 12.
24:36
Blues Interchange - Harry McKay and is possibly out for the game.
24:39
SCORE GOAL - Power (Zak Butters)
26:36
Harry McKay (knee) has been replaced by medical substitute Paddy Dow.
29:11
SCORE BEHIND - Blues (Lachie Fogarty)
29:33
Both of Port Adelaide's goals were launched from forward 50 possession chains in the first term. The Power have outscored their last five opponents by five points per game from this zone, ranked fifth in the AFL since Round 12.

Quarter 2

00:00
Q2 is now underway.
01:27
SCORE BEHIND - Blues (Jack Martin)
02:12
SCORE GOAL - Blues (Jesse Motlop)
03:37
SCORE GOAL - Blues (Jesse Motlop)
04:02
After being a late inclusion for Matthew Owies, Jesse Motlop has kicked three goals from three shots at goal. Motlop is the second-most accurate shot for goal among the top 10 goalkickers at the Blues (71%), behind only the man he replaced in today's match (81% for Owies).
05:18
SCORE GOAL - Blues (Jack Martin)
06:42
SCORE GOAL - Blues (Jesse Motlop)
06:45
A blistering start for the Blues to the second term. Seven inside 50's to zero to start the term, and their dominance extends to contested possessions (14-5), handball receives (13-1), marks (5-0) and pressure rating (228-173).
07:03
Blues Interchange - Tom De Koning off due to an injury.
08:25
SCORE BEHIND - Power (Ollie Lord)
09:53
SCORE GOAL - Blues (David Cuningham)
14:45
The Power get their first goal in almost 20 minutes of game time and their first of the second term. The Power are yet to record a single mark in this quarter. They have not recorded less than nine marks in any quarter of their matches in 2023.
15:15
Power Interchange - Darcy Byrne-Jones off due to an injury.
16:31
SCORE BEHIND - Blues (Jack Silvagni)
17:53
SCORE BEHIND - Power (Todd Marshall)
22:16
SCORE GOAL - Blues (Matthew Cottrell)
22:42
Matthew Cottrell's first goal of the match is the Blues fourth goal from a shot at goal in general play in this quarter. Since Round 12, the Blues have outscored their opponents by two goals per game from general play, ranked sixth in the AFL from this shot source.
24:17
SCORE BEHIND - Power (Connor Rozee)
25:36
SCORE GOAL - Power (Connor Rozee)
28:39
SCORE BEHIND - Power (Ollie Lord)
30:58
Carlton have scored 5.4 (34) from midfield possession chains in the first half, while conceding just 1.2 (8) from 27 midfield possession chains for the Power. They have done this while losing the inside 50 count 13-22 from possession chains generated in this zone.
33:43
The Power are winning the contested possession count by a small margin (78-76) in the shadows of half time, lead by a game-high tally of 10 for Dan Houston. This has been largely as a result of being first to the ball at ground level, which they lead 54-43.
35:42
SCORE BEHIND - Power (Jeremy Finlayson)
35:47
The positive for Port Adelaide heading into half time will be that they have been here before. After trailing the Blues by 49 points at half time in Round 5, 2022, they got within three points of snatching a win at the full time siren.

Quarter 3

00:00
Darcy Byrne-Jones has been substituted out of the game at half-time with an injury complaint, replaced by Ryan Burton.
01:57
SCORE BEHIND - Power (Sam Powell-Pepper)
04:29
SCORE GOAL - Blues (Jack Silvagni)
05:00
As he did to start the match, Jack Silvagni gets the first goal of the second half and the Blues third goal from a forward half clearance chain. The Blues have outscored the Power 18-15 from this source, despite losing the forward half clearance count 7-13.
08:08
SCORE BEHIND - Power (Rushed)
08:55
SCORE GOAL - Blues (Matthew Cottrell)
10:18
SCORE GOAL - Blues (Charlie Curnow)
11:35
The Power are actually leading the inside 50 count 37-33, but Carlton's efficiency in attack has been outstanding. In 2023 Carlton rank fourth-last in the AFL for goals per inside 50 at just over 21%. Tonight their kicking a goal at over 33%, well above the league-leading figure of 27% held by Adelaide.
13:43
SCORE GOAL - Power (Ollie Lord)
17:33
SCORE GOAL - Power (Sam Powell-Pepper)
20:05
After Port Adelaide get their second goal of the match from a free kick through Sam Powell-Pepper, Carlton equal that with their second free kick-sourced goal through Patrick Cripps. In the 2023 season, both the Blues and the Power have scored 12 per cent of their scores from this source, ranked equal fourth in the AFL.
21:38
SCORE BEHIND - Blues (Patrick Cripps)
23:20
SCORE GOAL - Power (Todd Marshall)
24:29
Todd Marshall goals from his game-high third mark inside 50. Both he and Ollie Lord have been targeted inside 50 on six occasions and recorded five marks between them. Charlie Curnow leads the Blues with six inside 50 targets but is yet to record a mark inside 50.
24:33
Blues Interchange - Adam Saad off due to an injury.
25:12
SCORE GOAL - Power (Jed McEntee)
26:54
SCORE BEHIND - Blues (Jordan Boyd)
31:03
After recording a first half kicking efficiency of 60 per cent, the Power have drastically improved in the third term to be kicking at 76% efficiency. Essendon lead the league in this metric in 2023 at 69% kicking efficiency, while the Power rank 11th at 65.7%.
31:35
SCORE GOAL - Blues (Jack Silvagni)
33:33
SCORE GOAL - Power (Todd Marshall)
35:39
All five of Port Adelaide's goals in the third term were scored from set shots, while they only conceded two goals from this shot type to the Blues. The Power average eight goals per game from set shots, ranked fifth in the AFL in 2023.

Quarter 4

00:00
Q4 is now underway.
01:01
SCORE BEHIND - Power (Lachie Jones)
02:01
SCORE GOAL - Blues (Lachie Fogarty)
02:31
Power Interchange - Zak Butters and is possibly out for the game.
06:11
SCORE GOAL - Blues (Charlie Curnow)
06:31
Charlie Curnow wins the race to 50 goals in 2023 with his second goal of the match. In their 13 match win streak, Port Adelaide have not conceded a score of 100 or more once. In both of their losses in Rounds 2-3, they conceded at least 117 points on both occasions.
08:05
SCORE GOAL - Blues (Nic Newman)
10:33
Blues Interchange - Adam Cerra and is possibly out for the game.
13:34
Port Adelaide's struggle to make any inroads into the Blues lead in the final term has been of their own doing, as their kicking efficiency sits at just 46%. Just one of their 10 kicks aimed at a teammate inside 50 has been effective in this regards in the final term.
14:43
SCORE GOAL - Blues (Charlie Curnow)
14:57
Power Interchange - Miles Bergman off due to an injury.
18:59
Dan Houston has reached 40 disposals for the first time in his career in today's match, surpassing his previous career-high of 36 recorded against Brisbane in Round 1, 2022.
19:34
SCORE GOAL - Power (Connor Rozee)
21:01
Patrick Cripps has just recorded his 10th clearance of the match, making this the 40th game in his career with at least 10 clearances. He is the first player in the AFL since clearances were first recorded to achieve this milestone.
21:25
SCORE BEHIND - Blues (Charlie Curnow)
22:33
SCORE BEHIND - Power (Rushed)
23:02
SCORE BEHIND - Power (Sam Powell-Pepper)
23:30
Blues Interchange - Mitch McGovern and is possibly out for the game.
25:27
Port Adelaide's winning streak comes to an end, as does another. Dylan Williams will play in his first loss after winning his first 14 matches, equalling the club record held by legend Shaun Burgoyne.
26:30
SCORE BEHIND - Blues (Patrick Cripps)
27:19
An impressive defensive performance by Carlton to hold Port Adelaide to 10 goals from 62 inside 50's. The Blues have conceded a goal from 20.7% of their opponents inside 50 entries in 2023, to rank fifth defensively in the AFL.
28:03
SCORE BEHIND - Blues (Patrick Cripps)
28:35
A 50 point win to the Blues looks set to revive their season, pending concerns around Harry McKay's injury. Yet in spite of his absence the Blues ability to score from general play, which they outscored the Power 9.5 (59) to 3.6 (24) from, was particularly telling.