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Blues rule out Round 22 switch

Blues rule out Round 22 switch

20/08/2008 2:55 PM

Carlton has ruled out a possible switch of its round 22 home game against Hawthorn from Telstra Dome to the MCG, even if the club's respective spearheads Brendan Fevola and Lance 'Buddy' Franklin are both aiming to bring up their century of goals in that match.

In the 100 plus year history of the competition no two players have ever bought up the 'ton' in the same match and indeed it is 12 years since two players even achieved the feat in the same season when Sydney's Tony Lockett and Hawthorn's Jason Dunstall both managed it in 1996.

But with Franklin on 94 goals and Fevola on 90 goals with two rounds remaining, the pair could go into the round 22 showdown within reach of bringing up their first century of goals each in a season as well as being locked in a head-to-head battle to win the Coleman Medal.

Such a scenario would mean a potentially enormous crowd if the match was played at the 100,000 capacity MCG - instead of the much-smaller Telstra Dome where Carlton and Hawthorn attracted a ground record home and away crowd of 53,459, only last season.

The MCG is available on the Saturday night of round 22 - when the Blues-Hawks match is scheduled at Telstra Dome - but will host a match between North Melbourne and Port Adelaide earlier that day.

However given the respective supporters bases of those two clubs in Melbourne - they drew just over 25,000 to a final in 2005 - that match could easily be accommodated at Telstra Dome.

But Carlton chief executive Greg Swann told Sportal on Wednesday that it would be difficult for the games to be switched at such late notice and said the club had not even considered an approach to the AFL.

The AFL has shown a reluctance to switch games in recent years - due to its contractual arrangements with its respective venues and television broadcasters (the Roos-Port game is scheduled to be shown on Fox Sports while the Blues-Hawks game is slated for Channel Ten) so even if the Blues had considered such an approach, it would probably fall on deaf ears anyway.

Carlton coach Brett Ratten said on Wednesday that it would be up to the AFL to decide whether the round 22 match should be at the MCG - should Franklin and Fevola not kick the ton this week - but said such an occasion was worthy of being played at 'the home of footy' - the MCG.

However Ratten said while he would love to see both Franklin and Fevola bring up their century of goals, he would not allow Fevola's bid to distract the team over the last two rounds.

"We still need to get improvement through the other players and if Brendan is good enough to kick 100 that is fantastic and hopefully he can achieve it because it would be a fantastic individual achievement but at the end of the day I'd rather win the game than maybe him kick ten goals because that is what we are about."

 
Comments
Posted by Chad at
20/08/2008 03:50 PM
Port Adelaide request more games at the MCG each year instead of the Telstra Dome. The AFL gave them a massive total of 1 game at the MCG all year (and grand total of 1 friday night game). It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if the AFL do take the 1 game Port get at the MCG this year. Just another day.
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