Kangaroos overrun hapless Blues

Kangaroos 18.13 (121) def. Carlton 15.12 (102)

The Kangaroos have defeated Carlton by 19 points in a seesawing encounter at Telstra Dome tonight, courtesy of a barnstorming final term.

The Kangaroos slotted six goals in the final quarter after trailing by as much as 19 points, with Carlton managing to dominate the third term.

Daniel Wells came off in the final term with a suspected hamstring injury for the victors, while Heath Scotland came off the ground in the final term with a suspected ankle injury.

Shannon Grant (14 disposals, nine marks, five goals) and Nathan Thompson (17 disposals, 11 marks, four goals) both proved to be lively up forward for the Kangaroos, while Brent Harvey garnered 22 possessions.

Despite coming off the ground before half-time with a suspected calf injury, Friday night specialist Brendan Fevola (11 disposals, five goals) was on fire for the Blues, while Marc Murphy gathered 25 disposals and booted a goal.

The Kangaroos kick-started the latter part of the split round in the best possible fashion, with Grant splitting the middle early for the boys from Arden street.

Carlton replied in emphatic style, piling on the next three goals of the quarter in what included a spectacular climb from Fevola to pluck the sherrin out of the atmosphere, which resulted in his first major of the night.

The Kangaroos not to be out-done slotted three of the last four majors of the term through Nathan Thompson, Leigh Brown and Drew Petrie, to trail by two points at the break.

Carlton began the second stanza in superb fashion, with Fevola pulling down another screamer to goal early in the term to bring the Blues lead out to seven points.

In response to Fevola’s goal, Brown slotted his second for the night for the Kangaroos, before Grant slammed on three majors of his own within four minutes for the Kangas to regain the lead, and stretch it out to 17 points.

Luke Blackwell booted his first major in AFL football to cut the deficit for the Blues at the long break back to 12 points, only moments after livewire Carlton forward Fevola came off the ground in the latter stages of the quarter with a knee injury.

The premiership term got underway with another Kangaroo major, as Grant produced his fourth six-pointer of the evening to stretch the Kangaroos lead out to 18 points.

Not willing to lie down, the Blues turned it on, piling on the next six goals of the quarter through Fevola (2), Adrian Deluca (2), Murphy and Barnaby French to wrestle out to a 17-point lead.

Thompson and David Hale managed to snaffle two goals back for the Kangaroos in the shadows of three-quarter time, although all their hard work was undone, as Andrew Carrazzo and Deluca immediately replied to stretch their lead out to 18 points.

Corey Jones then launched a bomb from 50 with only seconds remaining in the third term to cut the deficit back to only 12 points going into the final quarter.

Carlton began the final term well through Kade Simpson, who slotted a six-pointer early in the term to stretch the margin out to 19 points.

The Kangaroos then began to gain the ascendancy in the middle of the ground, and slammed on the final six consecutive majors of the match to run out 19-point winners.

Next week sees the Kangaroos clash with Essendon on Friday night at the Telstra Dome, while Carlton will go head to head with Brisbane at the Gabba on Saturday night.

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