The 2009 Carlton Football Club season was the Carlton Football Club's 146th season, and 113th as a member of the Australian Football League.
Carlton finished 7th out of 16 teams in the 2009 AFL season. It was the first time that Carlton had played finals since 2001, ending what at that time was a club record drought of seven consecutive VFL/AFL seasons without a finals appearance. Full forward Brendan Fevola won the Coleman Medal as the league's leading goalkicker.
Club summary The 2009 AFL season was the 113th season of the VFL/AFL competition since its inception in 1897; and, having competed in every season, it was also the 113th season contested by the Carlton Football Club.
Former club champion Stephen Kernahan continued as club president in the 2009 season, a position he had held since August 2008. Brett Ratten and Chris Judd continued in their respective roles as senior coach and captain of the club, each entering his second season appointed to the job. The club's joint major sponsors were car manufacturer Hyundai, unchanged from 2008, and national tourism promoter Tourism Malaysia, newly signed for the 2009 season. As in previous years, the club's primary home ground was Etihad Stadium – which was known until 1 March 2009 as Telstra Dome – with home games expecting to draw larger crowds played at the M.C.G.; the traditional home ground Princes Park was renamed from MC Labour Park to Visy Park in the offseason, and it continued to serve as the training and administrative base. As had been the case every year since 2003, Carlton had a full alignment with the Northern Bullants in the Victorian Football League, allowing Carlton-listed players to play with the Bullants when not selected in AFL matches.
Membership campaign: "They Know We're Coming" The club marketed its 2009 membership campaign on what became one of the most well-remembered slogans in league history: "They Know We're Coming". CEO Greg Swann described the slogan as an irreverent way to rebuild the "Carlton arrogance" which the club was known for during its successful period, but which had been missing since the club's first wooden spoon in 2002 and in the aftermath of the salary cap breach that followed. The provocative slogan was immediately successful in generating discussion and interest, drawing scorn from many opposition fans, and notably drawing a response from traditional rivals , who published a "They Know We're Waiting" poster on its website. Carlton went on to sell 42,408 memberships for the 2009 season, a new record membership for the club, breaking the record of 40,764 set the previous season.
Squad and player statistics for 2009 Flags represent the state of origin, i.e. the state in which the player played his Under-18s football. Senior List No. State Player Age AFL Debut Recruited from Career (to end 2008) 2009 Player Statistics Gms Gls Gms Gls B D K HB M T HO 1 Andrew Walker 22 2004 Bendigo (U18) 81306231126349337 – 2 Jordan Russell 22 2005 West Adelaide 509206433416017410177 – 3 Marc Murphy 21 2006 Oakleigh (U18) 573223311758828630210789 – 4 Bryce Gibbs 19 2007 Glenelg 431923158615321294141922 5 Chris Judd (c) 25 2002 Sandringham (U18), West Coast 15515323121960931929054102 – 6 Kade Simpson 24 2003 Eastern (U18) 874723151248928720212982– 7 Adam Bentick 22 2004 Calder (U18) 6813– – – – – – – – – 8 Matthew Kreuzer 19 2008 Northern (U18) 20132313113201231977371394 9 Chris Johnson 22 2005 East Fremantle, 312101114597484026 – 10 Richard Hadley 25 2001 East Fremantle, 47121132207791284545– 11 Robert Warnock 21 2007 Sandringham (U18), Fremantle 214––––––––– 12 Mitch Robinson 19 2009 Tasmania (U18/VFL) ––1055125715441282 13 Chris Yarran 18 2009 Swan Districts ––6445737201817– 14 Brad Fisher 24 2003 Eastern Ranges 9111878 2 9151 40 4611 – 15 Steven Browne 19 2008 West Perth 13471–11351623419 – 16 Shaun Grigg 20 2007 North Ballarat (U18) 25410351969410232293 17 Setanta Ó hAilpín 25 2005 Cork GAA 461812128129567339137 18 Paul Bower 20 2006 Peel 24221– – 40918322612239 – 19 Eddie Betts 22 2005 Calder (U18) 75852238212651561095578 – 20 Rhys O'Keeffe 18 – North Adelaide – –– – – – – – – – – 21 Mark Austin 19 2007 Glenelg 5–9 1 1 86 34 52 24 20 1 22 Shaun Hampson 20 2007 Mount Gravatt 122153412435893431278 23 Adam Hartlett 22 2007 West Adelaide 823 – – 30 18 12 7 7 4 24 Nick Stevens 28 1998 Northern (U18), 21412717 12 6 387 215 172 73 53 – 25 Brendan Fevola 27 1999 Dandenong (U18) 16448623 89 57 297 251 46 148 50 6 26 Joe Anderson 20 2007 Darwin 9 –3 – – 40122857 – 27 Dennis Armfield 22 2008 Swan Districts 92 17– 1230911394246 – 28 Cameron Cloke 24 2004 Eastern (U18), 472810 8 6 123 78 45 66 20 64 29 Heath Scotland (lg) 28 1999 Western (U18), Collingwood 1595217514081852238350– 30 Jarrad Waite 25 2003 Murray (U18) 1061079102178132466610– 31 Jordan Bannister 26 2001 Calder (U18), 65152 2 – 19 14 5 6 4 – 32 Bret Thornton 25 2002 Oakleigh (U18) 1282212 – 406244162167251 33 Ryan Houlihan 26 2000 Murray (U18) 16299201354022061967451 – 34 Simon Wiggins26 2001 Glenorchy 1033213 4 8 194 80 114 76 41 – 35 Caleb Tiller 17 – Murray (U18) – –– – – – – – – – – 37 Jake Edwards 20 2008 Western (U18) 54– – – – – – – – – 40 Michael Jamison22 2007 North Ballarat (U18, VFL) 21–13 – – 11367464920 – 44 Andrew Carrazzo25 2004 Oakleigh (U18), Geelong 8420151283541801745847 – Rookie List No. State Player Age AFL Debut Recruited from Career (to end 2008) 2009 Player Statistics Gms Gls Gms Gls B D K HB M T HO 36 Darren Pfeiffer 21 2008 Norwood, Adelaide 74–––––––– – 38 Jeff Garlett 19 2009 Swan Districts ––101299472223423 – 39 Sam Jacobs 20 2009 Woodville-West Torrens ––41–3392412458 41 Lachie Hill 19 – Oakleigh (U18) ––– – – – – – – – – 42 Luke Stanton 18 – Northern (U18) ––– – – – – – – – – 45 Aaron Joseph 19 2009 Tasmania (U18) ––23362571171405592 – 46 David Ellard 19 2008 Swan Districts 11–––––––– – 47 Greg Bentley 21 2006 Dandenong (U18), 2165 2 0 57 30 27 15 16 – For players: (c) denotes captain, (vc) denotes vice-captain, (lg) denotes leadership group. Players' ages are given for 31 December 2008. Statistics for AFL matches: Gms – Games played, Gls – Goals, B – Behinds, D – Disposals, K – Kicks, HB – Handballs, M – Marks, T – Tackles, HO – Hitouts. Source for statistics: AFL Tables.AFL Tables, 2010 Stats - Player Lists - Carlton, Retrieved 10 March 2012.
Playing list changes The following summarises all player changes between the conclusion of the 2008 season and the conclusion of the 2009 season.
In Player Previous club League via Robert Warnock AFL AFL Trade Week, with pick No. 69, in exchange for picks No. 24, 56 and 72. Chris Yarran Swan Districts WAFL AFL National Draft, first round (pick No. 6) Mitch Robinson Tasmanian Devils VFL AFL National Draft, third round (pick No. 40) Rhys O'Keeffe North Adelaide SANFL AFL National Draft, fifth round (pick No. 65) Caleb Tiller Murray Bushrangers TAC Cup AFL National Draft, sixth round (pick No. 80) Chris Johnson AFL AFL Pre-season Draft, first round (pick No. 4) Jeff Garlett Swan Districts WAFL AFL Rookie Draft, first round (pick No. 6) Luke Stanton Northern Knights TAC Cup AFL Rookie Draft, second round (pick No. 22) Greg Bentley Port Adelaide AFL AFL Rookie Draft, third round (pick No. 37)
Out Player New Club League via Jason Saddington Northern Bullants VFL Retired from the AFL Cain Ackland North AdelaideThe Advertiser, "SANFL Rd 12 teams", 10 June 2010, Retrieved 18 April 2011. SANFL Delisted Clinton Benjamin North Ballarat VFL Delisted Luke Blackwell Claremont WAFL Delisted Ryan Jackson ClaremontBeacham, Digby; Prospect of dynamic duo excites Watters ; The West Australian; 24 January 2009 WAFL Delisted Aisake Ó hAilpín Cork GAA GAA Delisted
List management Player Change Michael Jamison Promoted from the rookie list to the senior list for the 2009 season. Darren Pfeiffer Delisted, then redrafted as a rookie during the AFL Rookie Draft, fourth round (pick No. 51) Lachie Hill Delisted from the rookie list, then redrafted as a rookie during the AFL Rookie Draft, fifth round (pick No. 65) Sam Jacobs Delisted from the rookie list, then redrafted as a rookie during the AFL Rookie Draft, sixth round (pick No. 76)
Season summary
Pre-season matches
NAB Cup Round Date and local time Opponent Scores (Carlton's scores indicated in bold) Venue Attendance Home Away Result 1 Friday, 20 February () 1.17.12 (123) 0.11.4 (70) Won by 53 points Report Telstra Dome (H) 24,711 2 Sunday, 1 March () 2.13.16 (112) 2.10.10 (88) Won by 24 points Report Etihad Stadium (H) 19,111 3 Saturday, 7 March () 2.9.12 (84) 0.9.13 (67) Lost by 17 points Report Etihad Stadium (A) 15,305
NAB Challenge Week Date and local time Opponent Scores (Carlton's scores indicated in bold) Venue Attendance Home Away Result 4 Saturday, 14 March 20.6 (126) 12.11 (83) Lost by 43 points Report Hands Oval, Bunbury (A) 10,000 (approx.)
Home-and-away season Carlton had a strong season. Although its win–loss record was only 6–6 after twelve rounds, four of its six losses came by less than ten points. After falling to eighth place with a 69-point loss to in Round 13, Carlton won seven of its following eight games to cement a place in the finals for the first time since 2001. In the final round match against , both teams were fighting for 5th place and a home elimination final; the result was Carlton's heaviest loss of the season, 72 points, which saw Carlton finish 7th, and required them to travel to Brisbane for the first week of the finals.
Carlton's full season win–loss record was 13–9, a notable improvement on its record of 10–12 from the 2008 season. The club's form throughout the season unpredictable; Carlton returned a 3–2 record against the top four teams, including an impressive Round 19 upset victory against eventual premiers , but only 2–4 against the next four teams on the ladder; Carlton's record against the bottom eight was 8–3, with all three of those losses coming inside the first seven rounds of the season.