Pigs didn’t fly and hell didn’t freeze over but Gold Coast defeated Carlton on Saturday night at Metricon Stadium in a stunning AFL upset that might cost Blues’ coach Brett Ratten his job.
In what must be the boilover of the season, the second-last Suns all but killed off Carlton’s finals hopes with the 15.8 (98) to 11.20 (86) victory.
But Ratten might be the big casualty.
Ratten was already an anxious man when he arrived on the tourist strip this weekend with speculation tying Mick Malthouse to the Carlton job next year not going away.
And it will only get louder after a team that started the season talking up their top-four credentials all but crashed out of the finals race in front of 15,251 mostly-delirious Suns’ fans.
If Fremantle beat North Melbourne on Sunday, the Blues would have no hope of qualifying for the top eight.
It was just the second-last placed Suns’ third win of the year – matching the victory tally from their debut season in 2011.
But it was easily their most famous after limping into the round with a 20-strong injury list and banishing out-of-knick star utility Jared Brennan to the reserves this weekend.
Remarkably, they completed a 131-point turnaround since the last time they played against Carlton – a 119-point loss in their debut match in round two 2011.
Needing to win their final two games just to keep their top-eight chances afloat, the Blues were expected to clinch a percentage-boosting victory on the tourist strip before concentrating on St Kilda next weekend.
But someone forgot to tell the Suns.
Gold Coast ambushed the Blues to lead 6.1 (37) to 2.3 (15) at the first break.
Indeed, Ratten had to wait until the 26th minute before Carlton finally kicked their first major thanks to skipper Chris Judd.
Incredibly, the Gold Coast led by 40 points in the second term as the Blues lived up to their name with turnover after turnover.
Slowly but surely, the error-riddled Blues kept chipping away before livewire Eddie Betts ensured the law of averages kicked in, ensuring Carlton cut the Suns’ lead to 12.7 (79) to 9.13 (67) by the final break.
And after Jarrad Waite (2.4) kicked his second major early in the fourth term, Carlton cut the deficit to just four points.
But goals to Josh Caddy and Tom Lynch steadied the Suns as they went on to seal one of the great AFL upsets.
Devastated Carlton players collapsed on the turf after the final siren but the biggest look of disbelief was on Ratten’s face – broadcast on the big screen.
The omens weren’t good for Ratten when Andrew McInnes went down with what appeared to be a knee injury as he landed awkwardly in the opening 20 seconds of the match.
