![\"Sam](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788527783_49_6c8c1aa4ad1909b3225d6a80371d7a8b88d4a653.png\")
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September 4, 2026 \u2014 8:51pm<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n The fairytale had to end at some stage for the Blues, and it happened at the MCG in front of more than 96,000 fans as the finals-hardened Cats flexed their muscles right when they needed to most.<\/p>\n Sam McClure rates every Carlton player\u2019s performance from their elimination final.<\/p>\n Carlton<\/p>\n (2) Lachlan Cowan: Held his own when the defence was under considerable pressure in the second half. 6\/10<\/p>\n (4) Oliver Hollands: He kicked an important goal but was a bit fumbly under finals pressure. 5\/10<\/p>\n (5) Adam Cerra: Wasn\u2019t able to display the kind of kicking proficiency that he\u2019s shown previously under Josh Fraser. 5\/10<\/p>\n (7) Jagga Smith: He was unbelievable early but well-tagged in the end and his impact was reduced. 5\/10<\/p>\n (9) Patrick Cripps: The skipper tried hard all night and kicked an incredible goal. 6\/10<\/p>\n (10) Harry McKay: He presented really strongly and was probably unlucky not to get rewarded with one or two more frees. 6\/10<\/p>\n (11) Mitch McGovern: He was terrible \u2013 he had the sort of night he\u2019d rather forget. 2\/10<\/p>\n (12) Ben Ainsworth: He looked likely all night but couldn\u2019t finish like he\u2019s been able to do all year previously. 5\/10<\/p>\n (13) Blake Acres: He missed a sitter early but competed really hard all night. 6\/10<\/p>\n (14) Oliver Florent: He has been a real leader in the back 50 in the second half of the year and worked hard all night again against the Blues. 7\/10<\/p>\n (15) Billy Wilson: He has quickly become one of their most important players, finishing with 26 disposals. 7\/10<\/p>\n (17) Brodie Kemp: He\u2019s had a great year and still hit the scoreboard, but he does go missing from time to time. 5\/10<\/p>\n (18) Sam Walsh: The Blues\u2019 best player, he just continued to break lines and run both ways. 8\/10<\/p>\n (23) Jacob Weitering: He stood up under immense pressure, especially when Harry Dean went off for his concussion test. 8\/10<\/p>\n (27) Marc Pittonet: He dominated the ruck for large portions of the game but couldn\u2019t use his aerial presence to great effect. 7\/10<\/p>\n (29) George Hewett: He dug in for the majority of the night and was typically tough. 7\/10<\/p>\n (33) Lewis Young: He had a horror night, including making inadvertent contact with Dean\u2019s head, which forced him off for a HIA. 1\/10<\/p>\n (35) Harry Dean: He copped a loose boot from Young that effectively ruined his night. He still tried hard every minute he was out there. 6\/10<\/p>\n (36) Cooper Lord: Two goals on the wing in a blockbuster MCG final is a great night. 7\/10<\/p>\n (39) Talor Byrne: He just couldn\u2019t find a way to have a genuine impact. 3\/10<\/p>\n (44) Francis Evans: He was the best player on the ground early and finished with two goals. 7\/10<\/p>\n (46) Matthew Cottrell: He plays an important role as a conduit and did some important things again in this one. 6\/10<\/p>\n (47) Wade Derksen: He was excellent early and was far from the Blues\u2019 worst throughout the night. 6\/10<\/p>\n Geelong ratings to come<\/p>\n Get around our AFL finals coverage<\/p>\n Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Bailey](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/d43a6eace1a892455f5ae9d16db39d76bd77d8ac.jpeg\")
Bailey Smith celebrates on the siren after the Cats knocked the Blues out of the finals race.Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"Jagga](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1363d919a83624dcb54d10e35ee4cfea36f0117f.jpeg\")
Jagga Smith was brilliant early until copping the dreaded Oisin Mullin tag.Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"Sam](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/a4187d96601eaa878973c0807e96b8f48b54f59f.jpeg\")
Sam Walsh was once again the Blues\u2019 best player in a final.AFL Photos<\/p>\n![\"Harry](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/f6827ae15cb130b54c79b001466de12b8c7a6f9d.jpeg\")
Harry Dean was left bloodied after copping some friendly fire.AFL Photos<\/p>\n![\"Sam](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788527788_557_6c8c1aa4ad1909b3225d6a80371d7a8b88d4a653.png\")
Sam McClure<\/a> is an award-winning AFL journalist and broadcaster.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"September 4, 2026 \u2014 8:51pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":879739,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-879738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=879738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/879739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=879738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=879738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=879738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}