Much of the blame probably lies on Barnaby French who had a disappointing game and was soundly beaten by Dean Brogan and Brendan Lade.  The anticipation of Matthew Allan's return
proved to be a let down as he played like a man that hasn't touched a football in battle in an awful long time.  The same can be said for Mick Martyn who while looking good physically was completely out of touch and spent much of the match on the bench as Pagan realised that there was no obvious match up for him amongst the small Port forward setup. 

With Luke Livingston getting caned deep in defence  by a never ending supply of Burgoyne's (must be more than two), Carlton desperately required assistance down back from the midfield players.  This however left the likes of Wanganeen and Stevens to wander through the vacant centre as if in training and deliver the ball to the forwards as they liked.  The sight of old timer Andrew McKay straining every muscle fibre while his opponent effortlessly put ground between them was not pleasant to see.  No reflection on Macca though as this isn't a role he should be playing at this stage of his career.  I sincerely hope that somebody was at Stawell throwing a ball at the winner to see if he could kick.

If this is as quick as this team gets, perhaps we should be praying for rain from now on?
 

«
REVIEW

CARLTON
v
Port Adelaide

Round 4

20 April 2003

SEASON 2002