Preliminary Final, 1995

Carlton	4.3	27	11.5	71	11.7	73	18.10	118
North Melbourne	2.1	13	5.4	34	8.6	54	8.8	56

Venue: MCG

Saturday September 23, 1995 (N)

Result: Win by 62 points

Umpires: A.Coates, D.Goldspink & B.Sheehan.

Crowd: 72,552

Goalkickers: B.Pearce 4.2, S.Kernahan 3.5, E.Spalding 3.0, G.Williams 2.0, A.Christou 1.0, M.Hanna 1.0, M.Clape 1.0, A.Koutoufides 1.1, G.Manton 1.0, D.Rice 1.0, J.Madden 0.1, rushed 0.1

Best: S.Kernahan, J.Madden, A.McKay, S.Silvagni, B.Ratten, M.Hanna, C.Bradley, A.Koutoufides.

Reports: Nil

Injuries: F.Brown (ankle), M.Hogg (cut head), G.Williams (concussion) & P.Dean (concussion).

Game Review

The Blues would make their second Preliminary Final in three years, and were not going to let this chance of Premiership glory slip. Such was the interest in this game it was televised live on TV into Melbourne, which is a rarity even to this day.

The week preceding the game had brought heavy rain & the centre square was nothing short of a quagmire. This suited Carlton because North Melbourne's ruckman Corey McKernan couldn't use his athleticism at stoppages because he literally couldn't jump out of the mud! Furthermore, the umpires were forced to throw the ball up instead of bouncing it which suited the wily veteran Justin Madden just fine and because of this he generally gave our on-ballers first use of the football.

After a strong third quarter by the ‘Roos (who kept us goal-less), they were expected to run all over Carlton as they had the best final quarter record of any team that year, but despite this the Blues pumped North with a 7 goal final quarter to blaze our way into the Grand Final.

The twin forward line of Brad Pearce and Stephen Kernahan had nights out with 7 goals 7 between them, and could have had more but more some shonky kicking, especially for Kernahan. Earl Spalding was prominent early when the game was there to be won, especially in the second quarter, as was Anthony Koutoufides. Brett Ratten would earn 29 stats, and was backed up by our rebounding, high-possession half back line of Michael Sexton, Ang Christou and Andrew McKay.

The biggest defensive spot belonged to Stephen Silvagni, who was assigned to North legend Wayne Carey, and beat him hands-down. Carey kicked a goal, but SOS earned more stats (and did more than he was asked) out at the more unusual position (for SOS) of centre half-back. Carey's was the only goal scored against SOS during the entire 1995 final series, in which Silvagni stood star players like Brisbane's Darryl White and Geelong's God (Gary Ablett).

The Blues had thrashed North by 10 goals, and now found themselves in the 1995 Grand Final.

Injuries were Carlton's worry leading into the Grand Final, with Scott Camporeale missing this match through injury, Fraser Brown doing an ankle early in the first quarter and Williams and Dean concussed.

All injured players returned to the field except for Fraser Brown and Greg Williams. Williams quickly recovered and ran fitness tests around the boundary to tremendous applause.

Footnote

Goals From Free Kicks: 1 Hit The Post: 1 Scoring Shots That Went Out Of Bounds On The Full: 3 ( M.Clape, E. Spalding, S.Kernahan )

Team

B:	33 Matthew Hogg	14 Michael Sexton	35 Peter Dean
HB:	5 Andrew McKay	1 Stephen Silvagni	39 Ang Christou
C:	13 Mil Hanna	2 Greg Williams	43 Anthony Koutoufides
HF:	6 Matt Clape	11 Earl Spalding	21 Craig Bradley (vc)
F:	19 Brad Pearce	4 Stephen Kernahan (c)	23 Dean Rice
Ruck:	44 Justin Madden	7 Brett Ratten	20 Fraser Brown
Interchange:	22 Glenn Manton	32 Adrian Whitehead	8 Troy Bond
Coach:	David Parkin