AFL Premiers 1969 Carlton

A record crowd packed into the MCG to see two of the game's heavy hitters do battle for the flag of '68. Carlton went in a firm favourite having disposed of Essendon easily in the second Semi-Final, but such is the nature of any Grand Final the Bombers had plenty of backers after their win over Geelong in the Preliminary. The conditons were tough on match day with a strong cross wind making good football difficult, and Essendon's task made even more difficult when skipper Ken Fraser was declared unfit. But the match was saved by the closeness of the scores, which rareley saw the sides separated by more than one kick. Bomber youngster Geoff Blethyn, playing only his second game, was a thron in Carlton's side early, but by the time both sides had settled down it became apparent that this was to be a game of defences. Carlton's was one of the tightest in recent history - Colluins, Lofts, Gill, Goold and Hall(before being concussed) worked well together and made life tough for the Bomber forwards. Having struggled for an ascendancy, the Blues stretched their lead to 14 points midway through the final term and, in a low scoring match, it looked like being enough. But the Dons hit back with goals to reserve Bruce Lake and Blethyn(his fourth) to have the capacity crowd to its feet. But the Blues had the answers throughout and in a frantic final stanza which saw Blethyn involved again, Carlton, despite not kicking a goal for the quarter, managed to rush the ball forward the ball forward as the siren sounded ending what had been a tough and tight contest.

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