1981 Night Series

Carlton would be Runners-Up in the 1981 Night Series Competition.

1981 ‘Night’ Series Third Round

Carlton	2.1	13	5.2	32	9.6	60	10.7	67
Footscray	1.5	11	4.6	30	5.9	39	8.12	60

Venue: VFL Park, Waverley (Night)

Date: Tuesday May 19, 1981

Result: Won by 7 points

Umpires: R.Sawers & K.Smith

Crowd: 6,934

Goalkickers: Bosustow 4, Johnston 2, McConville 2, Harmes 1, & Kerr 1.

Best: Hunter, English, Maclure, Bosustow, Johnston & Harmes

Game Review

Team 1981 'Night' Series Third Round

B:	27 Des English	36 Mark Maclure	6 Mario Bortolotto
HB:	22 Robbert Klomp	9 Ken Hunter	24 Brendan Hartney
C:	29 Greg Sharp	12 Barry Armstrong	32 David Glascott
HF:	4 Peter Bosustow	38 Mark Kerr	7 Wayne Johnston
F:	5 Ken Sheldon	33 Peter McConville	16 Jim Buckley
Ruck:	48 Geoff Hocking	37 Wayne Harmes	35 Denis Lenaghan
Interchange:	45 Darren Linkins	49 Spiro Kourkoumelis
Coach:	David Parkin

1981 ‘Night’ Series Quarter Final

Carlton	2.2	14	6.3	39	8.7	55	10.10	70
Richmond	1.3	9	4.6	30	6.8	44	8.13	61

Venue: VFL Park, Waverley (Night)

Date: Tuesday June 9, 1981

Result: Won by 9 points

Umpires: M.Dye & K.Smith

Crowd: 6,394

Goalkickers: Bosustow 3, Marcou 3, McKay 3 & Kourkoumelis 1.

Best: Marcou, Glascott, Maclure, Bosustow, Keogh, Hocking & Harmes

Game Review

Former Reservoir-Lakeside player, Rohan Burke, played his first senior game with Carlton in the Escort night championships against Richmond. Rohan, who is the son of former Carlton player Gerald Burke, was far from disgraced in his first senior appearance. The youngster was recruited from Reservoir-Lakeside and was residentally tied to Collingwood. But he went to the Blues under the VFL father and son rule. - Inside Football.

Team 1981 'Night' Series Quarter Final

B:	24 Brendan Hartney	6 Mario Bortolotto	19 Rohan Burke
HB:	9 Ken Hunter	48 Geoff Hocking	49 Spiro Kourkoumelis
C:	29 Greg Sharp	1 Greg Wells	47 Peter Francis
HF:	4 Peter Bosustow	36 Mark Maclure	34 Alex Marcou
F:	32 David Glascott	43 David McKay	35 Denis Lenaghan
Ruck:	40 Scott Howell	8 Trevor Keogh	5 Ken Sheldon
Interchange:	45 Darren Linkins	37 Wayne Harmes
Coach:	David Parkin

1981 ‘Night’ Series Semi Final

Carlton	2.2	14	4.5	29	6.9	45	9.18	72
North Melbourne	2.4	16	3.4	22	3.5	23	4.6	30

Venue: VFL Park, Waverley (Night)

Date: Tuesday June 30, 1981

Result: Won by 42 points

Umpires: K.Dargravel & I.Robinson

Crowd: 6,661

Goalkickers: Bosustow 3, McConville 2, Buckley 1, Keogh 1, Lenaghan 1 & Sheldon 1.

Best: Sheldon, Howell, Maylin, Bosustow, Waddell, Keogh & Harmes

Game Review

Team 1981 'Night' Series Semi Final

B:	27 Des English	6 Mario Bortolotto	29 Greg Sharp
HB:	1 Greg Wells	48 Geoff Hocking	9 Ken Hunter
C:	13 Phil Maylin	37 Wayne Harmes	30 Graeme Whitnall
HF:	16 Jim Buckley	40 Scott Howell	4 Peter Bosustow
F:	35 Denis Lenaghan	33 Peter McConville	5 Ken Sheldon
Ruck:	3 Mike Fitzpatrick	8 Trevor Keogh	10 Rod Waddell
Interchange:	34 Alex Marcou	18 Kevin Heath
Coach:	David Parkin

1981 ‘Night’ Series Grand Final

Carlton	2.0	12	4.0	24	5.3	33	6.5	41
Essendon	0.1	1	1.2	8	4.10	34	9.11	65

Venue: VFL Park, Waverley (Night)

Date: Tuesday July 14, 1981

Result: Lose by 24 points

Umpires: P.Cameron & I.Robinson

Crowd: 42,269

Goalkickers: McConville 2, Bosustow 1, Johnston 1, Marcou 1 & Wells 1.

Best: Sheldon, Howell, Hunter, English, Doull, McConville, Wells & Harmes

Game Review

Essendon staged a stunning fightback to charge from behind to defeat Carlton by 24 points. The final score of Essendon 65 to Carlton 41 does not truly reflect the standard of the battle. At half-time you wouldn't have backed Essendon with bad money. They trailed by 16 points against a Carlton side which had control in most positions around the ground. The Blues led 4.0 to 1.2 at half-time. Wrong-footed by the fierceness of Carlton's tackling, particularily on the backline, the Dons failed to goal in the first quarter and didn't score their first goal until 16 minutes into the second quarter. Carlton dominated the game so much in these two quarters that they should have been further ahead. Coach David Parkin would have been extremely happy with his defence. Bruce Doull, Mark Maclure, Wayne Harmes, Des English and Ken Hunter stuck to the Essendon forwards like their shadows. In front of goal the picture was nowhere near as bright. Even so, Carlton had every reason to be confident at this stage that they could go on and win.

But they hadn't reckoned on the coolness of coach Kevin Sheedy in the crisis, or on the 1981-style fighting spirit he instilled into his team. Sheedy swapped players around all over the ground until he could come up with team balance to provide drive. It would be true to say the Dons then stunned the Blues by slamming on 8.9 to 2.5 in a second half onslaught that had the crowd roaring.

This is also the match where Timmy Watson leapt over Bruce Doull's outstretched hands, and Wayne Harmes' desperate lunge, to form some footy folklore for our esteemed opponents.

Team 1981 'Night' Series Grand Final

B:	11 Bruce Doull	9 Ken Hunter	27 Des English
HB:	37 Wayne Harmes	36 Mark Maclure	33 Peter McConville
C:	32 David Glascott	1 Greg Wells	5 Ken Sheldon
HF:	7 Wayne Johnston	3 Mike Fitzpatrick	35 Denis Lenaghan
F:	10 Rod Waddell	48 Geoff Hocking	4 Peter Bosustow
Ruck:	40 Scott Howell	8 Trevor Keogh	34 Alex Marcou
Interchange:	29 Greg Sharp	30 Graeme Whitnall
Coach:	David Parkin