31/08/2008 12:40 PM
Carlton coach Brett Ratten could barely contain his displeasure on Saturday night at the defensive tactics employed by Hawthorn counterpart Alastair Clarkson which helped deny spearhead Brendan Fevola from reaching his ton.
After Lance Franklin kicked his 100th goal in the first quarter, Fevola fell agonisingly close to joining him in three figures after kicking seven goals to finish on 99 for the season.
Had Fevola, who kicked all seven of his goals after half-time, booted an eighth it would have been the first time two players reached triple figures in the same game, a fact not lost on Ratten at his post-match press conference.
Asked whether he was disappointed with Hawthorn's tactic of pushing extra numbers in defence to clog up space for Fevola to lead into, Ratten said: "They were only 70 points up."
Asked if would have done the same if the roles were reversed, Ratten chose to bite his lip.
"I won't answer that," he said.
Clarkson said in his press conference Fevola - who also kicked three behinds, including one which hit the post - 'had his chances over the course of the game'.
"It's a tough, brutal game and he was unable to get there at the end."
Ratten said he was a romantic of the game who would have loved to see history created on Saturday night.
"If he would have kicked it, this game would have been replayed regardless of the score between the two teams," said Ratten, whose team lost by 78 points.
"I don't think you'll ever see two full-forwards kick 100 goals on the same day in the same round. It would have just been fantastic fairytale, romance."
"You would have looked in 100 years time and said 'they have done it and they did do it in the same round'."
"For the AFL to get the two teams to play off, in the last round and kick the 100 goals, the stars are aligned. It nearly happened, it's just a shame it didn't."
Franklin said it would have been great for Fevola to kick 100 goal as well.
"With the two of us, it would have made history," he said.
"To land on 99 and not kick 100, you'd be a little bit disappointed I think."
Despite being at times frustrated with Fevola this season and his team's unhealthy reliance on him to kick goals, Ratten had no qualms in instructing his players to do everything they could to get their spearhead over the line in the final term.
"I think there's a bit of romance. He's played a lot of footy for Carlton and he's won games off his own back," Ratten said.
"If we could go out of our way to maybe see if we could get him there, for one quarter, I think that's fair enough. And we were that close."
Ratten said he had no doubt Fevola would reflect on all the shots he had missed during the season.
"How many times did he hit the post during the season? Even in today's game he hit the post and you just think he needs one to just float with the breeze or sneak in," said Ratten.
"He'll reflect, I hope he doesn't, but he'll reflect and say that one that bounced and jagged right or did this, he might analyse his year right down to that last goal."
"I hope he doesn't because he's had a tremendous year and to be this close he should be very proud of his effort."
Ratten also said he had no problems with fans continuing the tradition of marking 100 goals by running onto the ground, praising the AFL for its 'fantastic job with security'.
"To see the people run on and that's an aspect of the game we don't have now, even the kick after the game and things like that," he said.
"It's a real win for the game I think."
A Telstra Dome official said on Saturday night that nobody had been handed the mandatory $6,000 fine for the pitch invasion.