Well here we are - only 2 days away from our thrilling finals shoot-out with the old enemy, the Bombers. It will be an awesome day, both from a club rivalry and pure football point of view. Let's hope our boys can get the win, and keep the momentum going further into September!

This week has seen the retirement of one of Carlton's favourite sons, Ryan 'Hoops' Houlihan. 200+ games at AFL level is an amazing achievement, and I'm sure all Blues supporters will be sorry to see team sheets without the name 'R. Houlihan' appearing on them from now on. Well done to a wonderful, skilful and much loved Blue.

Two other items of note this past week, were the inclusions of Carlton players in both the AFL MVP nominations, as well as the initial All-Australian squad.

Follow these links for further details:

MVP:
http://www.carltonfc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/4311/newsid/122894/default.aspx

All-Australian:
http://www.carltonfc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/4311/newsid/122872/default.aspx

Finally, this weekend's game sees Mr Consistent, Kade Simpson, achieve a unbelievable milestone; 143 consecutive games for the club. This creates a new club record for consecutive games by any Carlton player. What a fantastic effort!

Carlton's team for Sunday's game:

Backs: Michael Jamison  Lachie Henderson  Jeremy Laidler
HBacks: Aaron Joseph    Nick Duigan   Chris Yarran
Centres:  Bryce Gibbs  Chris Judd   Dennis Armfield
HForwards: Jeff Garlett  Bret Thornton  Kade Simpson
Forwards: Eddie Betts  Setanta O’hAilpin  Andrew Walker
Followers:  Rob Warnock  Heath Scotland Marc Murphy

Interchange: Andrew Carrazzo Marcus Davies David Ellard Mitch Robinson

Emergencies: Paul Bower, Kane Lucas, Zach Tuohy 

In: Carrazzo, Ellard, Jamison, Thornton
Out: Kreuzer (foot), Lucas, Russell, Tuohy (all omitted)