| Venue: Princes Park | Date: Saturday September 4, 1948 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Result: Win by 5 points | Umpire: | Crowd: 24,000 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Goalkickers: K.Baxter 3, T.Simmons 2, F.Davies 1, J.Howell 1, B.Kelsey 1, A.Streeter 1. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Reports: | Injuries: | |||||||||||||||||||
Game Review
Consecutive losses to eventual Grand Finalists Essendon and Melbourne meant Carlton entered the last round unable to make the finals. Opponents Richmond held fourth position by 2 points over Footscray who were expected to account for North Melbourne.The Blues must have enjoyed coming from behind to deny the Tigers a place in the finals as the Bulldogs duly accounted for the Northerners. In other matches Melbourne seized second spot from Collingwood by defeating the Magpies at the MCG.
Essendon entered the GF against Melbourne having registered 11 straight wins and proceeded to kick the premiership away by scoring 7-27 to tie with the Demons 10-9. Melbourne then stunned the football world by claiming the replay by 39 points.
After a shocking first half of the season the Blues had saved face by winning 8 of the last 11 to finish 6th. Three players had stand-out seasons; Jack Howell in the ruck and up forward (Best & Fairest), Ollie Grieve at fullback (Runner-up in Brownlow) and Bert Deacon at centre halfback. Several others performed well at times but without the consistency of the three stars including Ern Henfrey, Jim Clark, Vin Brown, Fred Stafford and Ray Garby.
Team
| B: | 35 Jack Conley | 27 Ollie Grieve | 5 Ken Aitken |
| HB: | 33 Ritchie Green | 23 Bert Deacon (vc) | 26 Jim Clark |
| C: | 24 Arthur Hodgson | 6 Ern Henfry (c) | 12 Doug Williams |
| HF: | 2 Tom Simmons | 21 Ken Baxter | 20 Ray Garby |
| F: | 22 Allan Streeter | 28 Fred Davies | 7 Herb Turner |
| Ruck: | 13 Jack Howell | 25 Jim Baird | 16 Jim Mooring |
| Res: | 9 Bob Kelsey | 3 Frank Cahill | |
| Coach: | Percy Bentley | ||
Milestones
Debut: Ken AitkenLast game: Bob Kelsey
Round 18 | 1949