Round 10 – Carlton v Western Bulldogs: Carlton snap losing streak to hand Dogs a case of the blues

 

Round 10

Carlton v Western Bulldogs

7.35pm, Saturday 16th May 2026

Marvel Stadium

 

 

The Carlton Football Club have ended a tumultuous week with their first win since round one over the Western Bulldogs on Saturday night, as the inspired Blues found a gear they haven’t had all season to run over the Dogs, winning, 10.14 (74) to 9.8 (62).

 

 

Leading his club for the first time, Josh Fraser inspired his troops to a gritty four quarter performance that their fan base have been crying out for.

 

 

The contest was much of an arm wrestle for the entirety of the evening, the Blues leaning on their one wood being center bounce work, where their midfielders were dominant against the pups, who lacked a lot of bite on the evening.

 

 

Skipper Patrick Cripps found his best form, finishing with 29 disposals and two goals, whilst collecting 13 of those disposals in the last quarter to simply will his team over the line when the game was there to be won. He was joined by recruit Oliver Florent, who produced an eye-catching display at half back (28 disposals, eight intercepts) to provide much needed composure by foot for the Blues.

 

 

Both sides struggled to enter their forward line with much effect, particularly the Blues, who were seemingly wasteful in front of the goal. Matt Carroll was an unexpected avenue to home for Fraser’s men, kicking three majors from the wing in one of his best performances for the club, while on the other hand, Aaron Naughton continued his strong season, finishing with three goals for the night, unfortunately for the Dogs, the only forward with significant impact in the loss.

 

 

As the Dogs looked to finally have got their game going in the second quarter, Bailey Williams was struck down with a significant hamstring injury, adding insult to the already wounded Bulldog injury list.

 

 

From then, the Blues controlled all major facets of the game, having 17 more inside 50s, putting the inexperienced Dogs defence into panic mode until the dam wall eventually burst in the last quarter. The Blues also led clearance by nine for the evening, many times strolling out of the middle untouched, providing their forwards with golden looks. Fraser’s men were also prolific in turning defence into attack through pressure, applying 14 tackles inside 50, which left the Dogs struggling to work their way out of their back half through ball use.

 

 

Debutant Jack Ison was a highlight for Blues fans, kicking a goal late, however showed his ability to be clean when he had his chance, and was buzzing around with a refreshing intensity for his sides forward line.

 

 

The Dogs had no answers in the last term, as superstars Marcus Bontempelli and Ed Richards looked visibly sore, as others weren’t able to step up and fill the void on an off night, highlighting the Dogs struggles for a fit and firing team at the current minute.

 

 

A Dogs Observation:

If you’re a passionate Dogs fan like me, Saturday night was a movie we’ve all seen too often. Again, struggling to contain a sides momentum has been an issue since the 2021 Grand Final, and seemingly we weren’t able to contain it, once more. You could see the run of the goals from the Blues coming, It was just a matter of when.

 

 

Again, the ruck situation unraveled before our very eyes. Coming off a month-long absence, Rory Lobb was thrown to ruck for the evening, albeit doing a terrific job on return. I think we all agree he would structure our backline up a bit more if he played there. However, it simply shun the light on our inability to have a strong second ruck option for the season, a tactic that the best teams in the competition are exploiting. Lachie Smith and Louis Emmett are still developing, to which both have showed they can compete at the level, however as we all know, ruckmen don’t become superstars overnight, and whilst we deal with the absence of Tim English, it is hard to see how our battered, star-studded midfield can be dominant if they can’t get first use of the footy, let alone halving the contest at the source.

 

 

We look forward, as the footy world does, to this week, with hopefully a few troops to steady up our current backline, and more importantly, the fitness of Tim English will capture our attention for the week as we stare down the barrel of a Max Gawn led Demons.

 

 

 

CARLTON                          2.5    3.6    5.11   10.14 (74)

WESTERN BULLDOGS       4.1    5.4    7.7   9.8 (62)

 

GOALS

Carlton: Carroll 3, Cripps 2, McKay 2, Kemp, Ainsworth, Ison

Western Bulldogs: Naughton 3, West 2, Sanders, Bontempelli, Baker, Hynes

 

BEST

Carlton: Carroll, Florent, Hollands, Cripps, Newman

Western Bulldogs: Naughton, West, Dale, Bontempelli

 

INJURIES

Carlton: Nil

Western Bulldogs: Williams (left hamstring)

 

Crowd: 39,217 at Marvel Stadium

 

Malarkey Votes:

3 VOTES – Patrick Cripps

2 VOTES – Oliver Florent

1 VOTE – Matt Carroll

 

 

 

Read more from Kristian Cavallo HERE

 

To read other Round 10 match reports click HERE.

 

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