1968 VFL Grand Final: Carlton v Essendon

This is the match report for the match played on 28 September 1968 between Carlton and Essendon in the grand final of the 1968 VFL season. Carlton hosted Essendon at MCG. John Nicholls captained the hosts. In the absence of Ken Fraser, vice-captain Don McKenzie captained the visitors. The hosts were coached by Ron Barassi and the visitors were coached by Jack Clarke.

Carlton
J. Nicholls (capt.), B. Bennett, N. Chandler, I. Collins, G. Crane, B. Crosswell, A. Gallagher, B. Gill, J. Goold, K. Hall, A. Jesaulenko, P. Jones, B. Kekovich, W. Lofts, P. McLean, D. Munari, B. Quirk, I. Robertson, S. Silvagni, R. Walls

Essendon
D. McKenzie (capt.), G. Blethyn, R. Blew, R. Close, B. Davis, J. Ellis, A. Epis, N. Evans, K. Fletcher, T. Fordham, D. Gerlach, G. Gosper, D. Gross, B. Lake, A. Noonan, C. Payne, G. Pryor, D. Shaw, P. Sproule, J. Williams

Carlton (7.14.56) defeated Essendon (8.5.53).

Goalkickers
Carlton: B. Kekovich (4), G. Crane, B. Crosswell, B. Quirk
Essendon: G. Blethyn (4), R. Close, B. Lake, A. Noonan, P. Sproule

As a result of this match, Carlton were the premiers and Essendon were the runners-up.

Match Details

Season: 1968 VFL Season
Round: Grand Final
Teams: Carlton v Essendon
Date: Saturday 28 September 1968
Time: 2:30 PM
Venue: MCG
Attendance: 116,828

Match Results

Outcome: Carlton def. Essendon
Score: 7.14.56 - 8.5.53

Quarter Breakdown

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Carlton 2 . 2 6 . 8 7 . 9 7 . 14 7 . 14 (56)
Essendon 2 . 1 5 . 1 6 . 4 8 . 5 8 . 5 (53)
Margin CARL by 1 CARL by 13 CARL by 11 CARL by 3 CARL by 3
Duration

Honour Roll

Coaches: Ron Barassi (Carlton), Jack Clarke (Essendon)
Captains: John Nicholls (Carlton), Don McKenzie (Essendon)

Match Umpires

Field Umpire: J. Crouch
Goal Umpire: D. Parsons, R. Sankey
Boundary Umpire: C. Green, R. Tanner

Player Statistics

Carlton

# Player Pos. ToG% GL BH DI KI HB MK HO FF FA
12 Bennett, Bill ? ? 0 0 4 4 0 1 0 0 2
47 Chandler, Neil ? ? 0 0 4 4 0 3 0 0 1
19 Collins, Ian ? ? 0 0 13 13 0 4 0 1 1
6 Crane, Gary ? ? 1 1 22 20 2 5 0 3 1
17 Crosswell, Brent ? ? 1 2 20 16 4 2 0 2 1
10 Gallagher, Adrian ? ? 0 1 21 20 1 2 0 1 5
21 Gill, Barry ? ? 0 0 13 10 3 0 0 2 1
11 Goold, John ? ? 0 0 13 12 1 3 0 1 1
3 Hall, Kevin ? ? 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 2
25 Jesaulenko, Alex ? ? 0 2 17 14 3 2 0 3 1
28 Jones, Peter ? ? 0 1 11 8 3 4 19 3 2
16 Kekovich, Brian ? ? 4 4 15 14 1 5 0 5 1
20 Lofts, Wes ? ? 0 0 13 10 3 3 0 3 0
36 McLean, Peter ? ? 0 0 3 2 1 0 0 0 0
8 Munari, Dennis ? ? 0 1 15 14 1 1 0 2 1
2 Nicholls, John (c) ? ? 0 1 12 8 4 1 31 2 7
32 Quirk, Bryan ? ? 1 1 13 11 2 2 0 3 2
34 Robertson, Ian ? ? 0 0 16 15 1 4 0 1 3
1 Silvagni, Serge ? ? 0 0 23 19 4 8 0 3 0
42 Walls, Robert ? ? 0 0 15 12 3 3 0 1 0
Rushed 0
Total (20 players) 7 14 265 228 37 53 50 36 32

Essendon

# Player Pos. ToG% GL BH DI KI HB MK HO FF FA
11 Blethyn, Geoff ? ? 4 0 6 6 0 4 0 0 2
14 Blew, Russell ? ? 0 0 12 11 1 4 0 0 2
19 Close, Robin ? ? 1 2 14 14 0 4 0 4 0
32 Davis, Barry ? ? 0 0 20 15 5 2 0 3 1
30 Ellis, John ? ? 0 0 15 10 5 1 0 1 3
28 Epis, Alec ? ? 0 0 23 19 4 2 0 3 2
36 Evans, Neil ? ? 0 0 5 5 0 1 4 0 3
21 Fletcher, Ken ? ? 0 0 17 14 3 5 0 2 2
20 Fordham, Ted ? ? 0 0 8 6 2 2 0 2 4
17 Gerlach, Darryl ? ? 0 0 18 16 2 5 0 1 1
6 Gosper, Geoff ? ? 0 0 18 17 1 2 0 0 0
15 Gross, Don ? ? 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
16 Lake, Bruce ? ? 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0
24 McKenzie, Don (ac) ? ? 0 0 10 10 0 2 21 7 7
10 Noonan, Alan ? ? 1 0 12 9 3 2 0 1 1
7 Payne, Charlie ? ? 0 1 12 9 3 4 0 3 0
35 Pryor, Geoff ? ? 0 0 17 17 0 7 0 3 4
5 Shaw, David ? ? 0 0 12 10 2 0 0 1 1
26 Sproule, Paul ? ? 1 1 10 8 2 2 0 1 1
22 Williams, John ? ? 0 0 12 10 2 3 0 0 2
Rushed 1
Total (20 players) 8 5 243 208 35 53 25 32 36

Legend

ToG%: Time-on-Ground Percentage, GL: Goals, BH: Behinds, DI: Disposals, KI: Kicks, HB: Handballs, MK: Marks, HO: Hitouts, TA: Tackles, CL: Clearances, CR: Clangers, FF: Free Kicks For, FA: Free Kicks Against, RF: Rebounds Inside 50, IF: Inside 50s