AN EQUAL career-best seven goals to Harry McKay coupled with a superb return from injury for Sam Walsh has propelled Carlton an emphatic win at Marvel Stadium, accounting for an under-siege Port Adelaide by 54 points on Saturday afternoon.

After falling on the wrong side of the ledger in last weekend’s thrilling finish to Gold Coast, the Blues picked up immediately where they left off to ram home seven opening-quarter majors and tear away to a 18.10 (118) to 9.10 (64) victory under the roof.

Carlton caught fire early with a scintillating six-goal passage from six individual goalkickers in the space of 20 minutes to set the tone, banking another 11 majors for the game in opposition to Port Adelaide’s nine.

McKay was again prominent up forward with his best figures of the year to catapult Carlton towards its best opening half (13.5) of the season, while the reunited midfield trio of Patrick Cripps (22 disposals, two goals), George Hewett (35 disposals) and the returning Sam Walsh (28 disposals) dominated the midfield battle despite resistance from Travis Boak (23 disposals) and Zak Butters (28), who broke clear of a Cooper Lord tag after the Blue was subbed out with concussion.

Fast, sleek by hand and working in unison — aided by Walsh’ seamless inclusion to the midfield brigade — the Blues looked a far different outfit to the one that had lost seven of its past eight games. 

McKay was doing near-cartwheels after being upended in an early contest up forward, and the Blues fans in the stands weren’t far from doing some of their own as the theatrics of Ashton Moir, Francis Evans and McKay sent a buzz around Marvel Stadium.

On the flipside, it went from bad to worse for the Power in the opening minutes, with the in-form Aliir Aliir was assessed for an ankle injury. Fears for Aliir were allayed after 10 minutes off the ground, but although bravely battling through the entirety of the match was clearly hindered and unable to reach his athletic best.

The flow-on for the defence was compounded when Josh Sinn was subbed out prior to half-time with a corked calf, and while moving Lachie Jones onto McKay in place of the hampered Aliir, Port Adelaide were unable to stem the bleeding or score themselves up the other end.

It took all 386 games of experience from Travis Boak to stop Carlton's six-goal run at the 20-minute mark of the first quarter, and while boosted by Jack Whitlock’s maiden major moments later, Ken Hinkley’s side couldn’t get the engine room ticking over well enough (clearances 41-31) to truly challenge the Blues for extended periods.

Meanwhile, the old firm of Cripps and McKay only continued to gather steam as the game wore on, producing multiple majors in the second term to stymie Port Adelaide’s probes into attack. But the longer the game wore on, the more holes the Blues were able to poke in the Power’s depleted defence and ultimately pile on more scoreboard pain as a result.

After having the kicking boots on in the opening half, the same couldn't be said after the main break right up until the game’s final minutes. It took 11 minutes for Whitlock — the Power's sole multiple goalkicker — to snap the deadlock and register the first of a combined 10-goal second half, three of which were consolation efforts kicked in the last five minutes. 

But the Blues remained sharp through the middle and resolute in defence despite their scoring steadily drying up, finishing the game not so much with a bang, but perhaps some growing optimism heading into season 2026.

One last run for two Power greats
The penultimate Power outing for senior coach Ken Hinkley and veteran Travis Boak certainly didn’t go to script, but both will be eager to end their tenure on a positive note in front of a home crowd against Gold Coast next week. Port Adelaide’s past month almost yielded one of the club’s most memorable wins last week against Fremantle which fell just agonisingly short.

CARLTON                     7.2     13.5     15.9     18.10 (118)
PORT ADELAIDE          3.2      4.4       5.8       9.10 (64)

GOALS
Carlton: McKay 7, F. Young 2, Williams 2, Evans 2, Cripps 2, O'Keeffe, Moir, De Koning
Port Adelaide: Whitlock 3, Richards, Moraes, Lord, Georgiades, Byrne-Jones, Boak

BEST
Carlton: McKay, Hewett, Walsh, Cripps, Weitering, Cowan
Port Adelaide: Boak, Butters, Rozee, Drew, Farrell

INJURIES
Carlton: Lord (concussion)
Port Adelaide: Sinn (corked calf), Aliir (rolled ankle)

SUBSTITUTES
Carlton: Corey Durdin (replaced Cooper Lord in the third quarter)
Port Adelaide: Christian Moraes (replaced Josh Sinn in the second quarter)

Crowd: 25,020 at Marvel Stadium