2012 Carlton Football Club season

The 2012 AFL season was the 116th season of the VFL/AFL competition since its inception in 1897; and, having competed in every season, it was also the 116th season contested by the Carlton Football Club.

As in previous years, the club's primary home ground was Etihad Stadium, with home games expecting to draw larger crowds played at the M.C.G., and with traditional home ground Visy Park serving as the training and administrative base. The club's two joint major sponsors, car manufacturer Hyundai and confectionery company Mars, were unchanged from 2011.^[2] Carlton had a full alignment with the Northern Blues in the Victorian Football League, allowing Carlton-listed players to play with the Northern Blues when not selected in AFL matches; the VFL club, known as the Northern Bullants until 2011, changed its name and colours to match Carlton's this season.^[3]

The club's membership campaign slogan for 2012 was "I am Carlton"; the slogan was launched in Round 24, 2011.^[4] The club set a new membership record of 45,800,^[1] passing the 2011 record of 44,136 in May; the club had expected to reach 50,000 members after the strength of early season sales, but fell short of this target.^[5]

Brett Ratten continued in his role as senior coach of the club, entering his fifth and final season appointed to the job.^{Note 1} Ratten's contract was to have expired after the 2011 season, but after that season he was awarded a two-year extension which was to have seen him coach the club until 2013;^[6] this contract was ultimately terminated early at the end of the 2012 season, because the club failed to meet onfield expectations during the year.^[7]

Ratten's coaching panel for 2012 was joined by Western Bulldogs assistant coach Paul Williams, who had also served as the Bulldogs' caretaker coach for three matches at the end of the 2011 season. Williams was appointed to the new role of assistant coach in charge of midfield stoppages. Ruck assistant coach Matthew Capuano was given additional responsibilities in player development.^[8] Vic Country Under-18s coach Robert Hyde was appointed the Northern Blues senior coach on a part-time basis,^[9] however, he left the club at midseason, and development coach Darren Harris), who had been Northern Bullants coach in 2011, stepped back into the role for the remainder of the season.^[10]

Former club champion Stephen Kernahan continued as club president in the 2012 season, a position he has held since August 2008. General manager of football operations Steven Icke left the club at the end of the 2011, after serving in the role for five seasons. It has been speculated that Icke and Ratten did not enjoy a strong working relationship, and that Ratten's reappointment was in part responsible for Icke's departure.^[11] Icke was replaced by former club captain and premiership player Andrew McKay.^[12]

Chris Judd served as club captain for the fifth season, with Kade Simpson continuing as vice-captain. The leadership group was expanded from seven to eight players, with Jarrad Waite elevated into the group; the rest of the leadership group – Judd, Simpson, Andrew Carrazzo, Jordan Russell, Marc Murphy, Bryce Gibbs and Michael Jamison – was unchanged from 2011.^[13]

Carlton posted an operating loss of around $680,000 in the 2012 season. It was the club's first loss for six seasons. This was attributed to a drop in crowds caused by poorer-than-expected onfield form, and severance payments to Brett Ratten and several of his assistant coaches when they were sacked with time remaining on their contracts following the season.^[14]

Flags represent the state of origin, i.e. the state in which the player played his Under-18s football.

Senior List[15]
No.	State	Player	Age	AFL Debut	Recruited from	Career (to end 2011)		2012 Player Statistics
						Gms	Gls	Gms	Gls	B	D	K	HB	M	T	HO
1		Andrew Walker	25	2004	Bendigo (U18)	127	93	15	16	11	275	169	106	56	36	–
2		Jordan Russell (lg)[13]	25	2005	West Adelaide	109	18	7	–	1	85	39	46	32	26	–
3		Marc Murphy (lg)[13]	24	2006	Oakleigh (U18)	126	104	16	11	10	420	236	184	69	63	–
4		Bryce Gibbs (lg)[13]	22	2007	Glenelg	112	61	22	8	9	481	317	164	114	91	5
5		Chris Judd (c)	28	2002	Sandringham (U18), West Coast	222	193	17	13	9	426	206	217	55	62	–
6		Kade Simpson (vc)[16]	27	2003	Eastern (U18)	157	96	19	15	13	426	267	159	106	62	3
7		Dylan Buckley	18	—	Northern (U18)	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
8		Matthew Kreuzer	22	2008	Northern (U18)	68	38	20	10	8	243	146	97	60	66	450
9		Kane Lucas	20	2010	East Fremantle	10	0	8	5	5	77	46	31	23	22	–
10		Matthew Watson	19	2011	Calder (U18)	3	0	8	–	–	95	73	22	34	9	3
11		Robert Warnock	24	2007	Sandringham (U18), Fremantle	53	12	5	–	1	35	19	16	8	12	158
12		Mitch Robinson	22	2009	Tasmania (U18/VFL)	49	29	18	12	10	379	213	166	94	93	17
13		Chris Yarran	21	2009	Swan Districts	45	31	18	9	8	264	197	67	73	31	–
14		Brock McLean	25	2004	Calder (U18), Melbourne	104	42	15	10	8	388	179	209	78	78	2
15		Jeremy Laidler	22	2009	Geelong (U18, AFL)	21	2	4	–	–	47	27	20	16	5	–
16		Andrew Collins	23	2009	Bendigo (U18), Richmond	27	23	9	6	6	145	88	57	30	30	–
17		Sam Rowe	24	—	Murray (U18), Sydney, Norwood	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
18		Paul Bower	23	2006	Peel	60	3	10	2	–	146	104	42	60	22	–
19		Eddie Betts	25	2005	Calder (U18)	144	215	22	48	30	285	182	103	72	62	–
21		Josh Bootsma	18	2012	South Fremantle	–	–	5	–	1	49	30	19	12	13	–
22		Shaun Hampson	23	2007	Mount Gravatt	44	14	13	15	4	120	61	59	51	24	240
23		Lachlan Henderson	22	2007	Geelong (U18), Brisbane	49	31	11	3	4	133	97	36	59	19	1
24		Pat McCarthy	19	2012	Glenelg	–	–	1	–	–	10	6	4	5	–	–
25		Luke Mitchell	19	2012	Calder (U18)	–	–	1	1	2	8	7	1	3	–	2
26		Andrew McInnes	19	2012	Dandenong (U18)	–	–	8	–	–	86	62	24	36	19	–
27		Dennis Armfield	25	2008	Swan Districts	60	9	21	16	6	299	186	113	73	58	–
29		Heath Scotland	31	1999	Western (U18), Collingwood	223	72	21	2	6	553	283	270	116	72	–
30		Jarrad Waite (lg)[13]	28	2003	Murray (U18)	143	169	11	27	14	165	116	49	84	30	–
31		Marcus Davies	20	2010	North Hobart	13	1	2	–	–	11	10	1	3	2	–
32		Bret Thornton	28	2002	Oakleigh (U18)	181	21	7	9	6	85	56	29	42	8	10
34		Nick Duigan	27	2011	Norwood	22	1	16	5	1	198	105	93	49	47	–
36		Rohan Kerr	20	–	Dandenong (U18)	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
38		Jeff Garlett	22	2009	Swan Districts	54	99	22	29	27	264	195	69	78	72	–
40		Michael Jamison (lg)[13]	25	2007	North Ballarat (U18, VFL)	71	1	16	–	2	202	131	71	75	28	–
43		Simon White	23	2010	Subiaco	12	2	5	–	–	53	31	22	24	9	–
44		Andrew Carrazzo (lg)[13]	28	2004	Oakleigh (U18), Geelong	140	41	14	5	1	345	155	190	53	66	–
45		Aaron Joseph	22	2009	Tasmania (U18)	56	9	13	1	–	157	95	62	43	29	–
46		David Ellard	22	2008	Swan Districts	27	18	10	4	8	186	114	72	34	56	1
Rookie List[17]
No.	State	Player	Age	AFL Debut	Recruited from	Career (to end 2011)		2012 Player Statistics
						Gms	Gls	Gms	Gls	B	D	K	HB	M	T	HO
20		Rhys O'Keeffe	21	2011	North Adelaide	1	0	2	–	–	21	8	13	6	4	–
28		Tom Bell	20	2012	Morningside	–	–	7	4	1	104	67	37	19	30	1
35		Ed Curnow	22	2011	Geelong (U18), Adelaide, Box Hill	12	3	18	–	2	318	128	190	58	89	–
37		Nicholas Heyne	21	2010	Gippsland (U18), St Kilda	3	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
39		Frazer Dale	18	2012	Calder (U18)	–	–	2	1	–	7	5	2	2	3	1
41		Levi Casboult	21	2012	Dandenong (U18)	–	–	6	7	12	54	37	17	31	12	43
42		Zach Tuohy	22	2011	Laois GAA	11	3	19	5	1	208	129	79	39	60	–
47		Mitchell Carter	20	–	South Fremantle	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
48		Blake Bray	19	–	Western Suburbs	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
49		Matthew Lodge	18	–	Riverview	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Senior coaching panel[18]
	Born	Coach	Coaching position				Carlton Coaching debut		Former clubs as coach
		Brett Ratten	Senior Coach				2007		Melbourne (a), Norwood (EFL) (s)
		Alan Richardson	Senior Assistant Coach				2011		East Burwood (s), Coburg (s), Western Bulldogs (a), Collingwood (a), Essendon (a)
		John Barker	Assistant coach (Forward)				2011		St Kilda (a), Hawthorn (a)
		Gavin Brown	Assistant coach (Defense)				2011		Collingwood (a), Collingwood (VFL) (s)
		Matthew Capuano	Assistant coach (Ruck) and Development Coach				2009
		Mark Riley	Assistant coach (Midfield)				2008		Claremont (s), Fremantle (d, a), Melbourne (a, cs)
		Paul Williams	Assistant coach (Midfield Stoppages)				2012		Melbourne (a), Western Bulldogs (a, cs)
		Darren Harris	Development coach, Northern Blues senior coach (from 28 June)				2009		Wodonga Raiders (O&MFL) (s), NSW/ACT Rams (d), West Perth (s), West Coast (a), Northern Bullants (s)
		Luke Webster	Development coach				2011
Source:[19]

• For players: (c) denotes captain, (vc) denotes vice-captain, (lg) denotes leadership group.
• For coaches: (s) denotes senior coach, (cs) denotes caretaker senior coach, (a) denotes assistant coach, (d) denotes development coach.

The following summarises all player changes between the conclusion of the 2010 season and the conclusion of the 2011 season.

During trade week, both Setanta Ó hAilpín and Paul Bower requested to be traded, seeking more playing time than they had been receiving at Carlton, but ultimately Carlton did not engage in any trades.^[20] Bower was retained on the list, while Ó hAilpín was delisted; Carlton had not wanted to delist Ó hAilpín, but was forced to delist somebody due to AFL rules specifying that each club must make a minimum of three list changes after each season.^[21]

Player	Previous club	League	via
Dylan Buckley	Northern Knights	TAC Cup	Selected under the Father–son rule without contest, using Carlton's last pick in the AFL National Draft[20] (a third round pick, No. 62 overall)[22]
Josh Bootsma	South Fremantle	WAFL	AFL National Draft, first round (pick No. 22)[22]
Sam Rowe	Norwood	SANFL	AFL National Draft, second round (pick No. 44)[22]
Tom Bell	Morningside	NEAFL	AFL Rookie Draft, first round (pick No. 14)[23]
Nicholas Heyne	St Kilda	AFL	AFL Rookie Draft, second round (pick No. 32)[23]
Frazer Dale	Calder Cannons	TAC Cup	AFL Rookie Draft, third round (pick No. 50)[23]
Matthew Lodge	Riverview	AFL Sydney	Elevated from NSW/ACT Scholarship during AFL Rookie Draft, fourth round (pick No. 67)[23]

Player	New Club	League	via
Ryan Houlihan[24]	Sydney Hills[25]	NEAFL	Retired from the AFL
Jaryd Cachia[20]	Norwood[26]	SANFL	Delisted from the rookie list
Joe Dare[20]	Cobden[27]	Hampden FNL	Delisted from the rookie list
Wayde Twomey[20]	Swan Districts[28]	WAFL	Delisted from the rookie list
Mark Austin[21]	Western Bulldogs[29]	AFL	Delisted
Setanta Ó hAilpín[21]	GWS[30]	AFL	Delisted

Player	Change
Nicholas Heyne[31]	Received permission to join Carlton's 2012 pre-season training in November (before ultimately being drafted in December's rookie draft)
Ed Curnow[32]	Prior to Round 1, elevated from the rookie list to the senior list as a nominated rookie
Zach Tuohy[32]	Prior to Round 1, elevated from the rookie list to the senior list as a nominated rookie
Sam Rowe[33] Frazer Dale	Prior to Round 11, Rowe was moved to the long term injury list (testicular cancer), and Dale was elevated from the rookie list in his place
Jeremy Laidler[34] Tom Bell	Prior to Round 17, Laidler was moved to the long term injury list (knee), and Bell was elevated from the rookie list in his place
Shaun Hampson[34] Levi Casboult	Prior to Round 17, Hampson was moved to the long term injury list (knee), and Casboult was elevated from the rookie list in his place

The club ran a two-week preseason training camp for much of its playing list in Doha, Qatar, and a further week in Abu Dhabi, UAE, during October and November 2011. The camp was designed for high performance training: high ambient temperatures in the Middle East, and artificial high-altitude training facilities in Doha, were key reasons for the camp's location.^[35]

Carlton finished in outright last place out of eighteen teams in the 2012 NAB Cup, as the only team to lose all four roster matches; the club also lost the consolation practice match on NAB Cup Grand Final weekend to go through the entire pre-season winless. The result was made worse by the fact that none of Carlton's opponents were finalists from the 2011 Premiership Season; although, it was also partially redeemed by the fact that, with the exception of the second half against Brisbane Lions, in which Brisbane added nine goals to no score,^[36] all five matches were closely fought.

2012 NAB Cup

After finishing 5th in 2011, the club entered the season with expectations of reaching the top four in 2012; the club, and coach Brett Ratten, made the bold move of stating this expectation publicly throughout the offseason.^[37] Even after the winless preseason, Carlton entered the season as the fourth favourite for the premiership with punters, behind Collingwood, Hawthorn and Geelong.^[38] With wins in the first three rounds, including a ten-goal win against Collingwood in Round 3, Carlton became equal premiership favourites, and after six rounds sat second on the ladder with a record of 5–1.^[39]

However, the club then lost six of its next seven games to fall to tenth on the ladder with a record of 6–7 after Round 14, which brought intense speculation in the media about the future of Ratten's tenure as coach.^[40] Carlton won five of its next seven games to stay in contention for eighth place, but was eliminated in Round 22 after losing and seeing other results fail to fall favourably. The club confirmed in the week following Round 22 that Ratten's contract would be terminated one year early; Ratten remained to coach the final match before departing.^[7] The club finished with an even record of 11–11. Recently retired Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse, who was rumoured throughout the season to be the most likely replacement for Ratten should he have been sacked,^[40] was appointed as Ratten's replacement shortly after the season.^[41]

Across the season, Carlton finished with records of:

• 3–6 in nine games against the eight finalists, with two wins against Collingwood and one against Fremantle; but, after Round 8 the record was only 1–6.
• 5–3 in eight games against the four similarly placed teams (those who finished between 9th and 13th, all of whom won between ten and twelve games).
• 3–2 in five games against the bottom five teams. None of the bottom five managed more than five wins for the season, but Carlton suffered upset losses against two of them: Port Adelaide and Gold Coast.

Eddie Betts was Carlton's leading goalkicker for the season, with 48 goals.^[42] It was the second time Betts had won Carlton's goalkicking, after first winning it in 2010.^[43]

Game Records

• Round 5 – Carlton's score of 10.5 (65) in its win against Fremantle was its lowest winning score in any game since Round 11, 1996.^[44]
• Round 6 – Greater Western Sydney's score of 6.7 (43) was the lowest score conceded by Carlton since Round 5, 2004.^[44]

Other

• Round 3 – Carlton won the 2012 Richard Pratt Cup with its 60-point win over Collingwood. It was Carlton's first Richard Pratt Cup victory, in the fourth season of the trophy.
• Round 15 – Carlton won the 2012 Peter Mac Cup with its 23-point win over Collingwood.
• Round 15 – Carlton's win ended Collingwood's ten-match winning streak, which ran from Round 4 until Round 14.^[45]

The Carlton Football Club Best and Fairest awards night took place on 28 September. The John Nicholls Medal, for the best and fairest player of the club, as well as several other awards, were presented on the night.^[46]

John Nicholls Medal

The voting system for the John Nicholls Medal remained the same as it had been since 2008. In each match, the five members of the Match Committee awarded votes. Each committee member could award votes to up to eight players, and each player could receive up to ten votes from each judge. The player with the most total votes across all premiership season matches (including home and away matches and finals) wins the award.

The winner of the John Nicholls Medal was Heath Scotland, who polled 362 votes. It was Scotland's first John Nicholls Medal, having previously finished second in 2007. Scotland won narrowly ahead of Eddie Betts (353 votes). The top ten is given below.^[47]

Other awards

The following other awards were presented on John Nicholls Medal night:-^[47]

• Best First-Year Player – Tom Bell
• Best Clubman – Dennis Armfield
• Spirit of Carlton Encouragement Award – Dennis Armfield
• Women of Carlton Player Ambassador – Shaun Hampson
• The Carltonians High Achiever Award – Heath Scotland
• Blues Coterie "Most Determined" Award – Brock McLean
• Inner Blue Ruthness Award – Brock McLean

For each of the AFLPA awards, one or three Carlton players were nominated following internal vote of Carlton players; Chris Judd was also nominated for the Best Captain award by default.^[48] None of Carlton's nominees won or placed in their awards.^[49]

Leigh Matthews Trophy (Most Valuable Player)

• Eddie Betts (nominated)
• Andrew Carrazzo (nominated)
• Chris Judd (nominated)

Robert Rose Award (Most Courageous Player)

• Kade Simpson (nominated)

Best First Year Player

• Tom Bell (nominated)

All-Australian Team

Eddie Betts was Carlton's only nominee in the 40-man squad for the 2012 All-Australian team.^[50] He was not selected in the final All-Australian team of 22.^[51]

Goal of the Year^[52]

Chris Yarran was the winner of the 2012 Goal of the Year, for his Round 1 goal in which he gathered a loose ball on the half-forward flank, evaded three opponents and skirted the boundary line before goaling from 50m.^[53]

The following Carlton players won the Goal of the Week during the 2012 season.

• Goal of the Week:
  • Chris Yarran, Round 1
  • Marc Murphy, Round 2
  • Jeff Garlett, Round 5
  • Paul Bower, Round 6
  • Eddie Betts, Round 11
  • Chris Yarran, Round 15
  • Levi Casboult, Round 21

Mark of the Year^[54]

The following Carlton players won the Mark of the Week during the 2012 season:

• • Eddie Betts, Round 2
  • Andrew Walker, Round 6
  • Andrew Walker, Round 11

Other

• Andrew Carrazzo won the Richard Pratt Medal as best on ground in Carlton's Richard Pratt Cup victory over Collingwood in Round 3.^[55]
• At the post-season AGM, Eddie Betts and Jordan Russell were awarded life membership to the club in recognition of eight years service.^[56]

• Round 2 – Brett Ratten became the third person to both play and coach 100 senior games for the Carlton Football Club, after Ken Hands and Norm Clark.^[57]
• Round 16 – Kade Simpson (broken jaw) was missing from the Carlton team for the first time since Round 14, 2005, bringing to an end his streak of 158 consecutive games played.^[58]
• Round 23 – Luke Mitchell, on his AFL debut, kicked a goal with his first kick.^[59]