Despite the 33-point margin at half time, the Maroons (they were not officially the Lions until 1957) were not to be out-shone, and in the third they mounted a mighty comeback. Trotter, Walker, Brosnan, Millis and Sheehan all scored majors, broken only by ‘Silver’ Caine’s first and second goal for the game, to reduce the margin to 14 points. Said the ‘Argus’: ‘The sense of growing disappointment when Carlton took so strong a lead had changed again to keenest anticipation. Those whose sympathy was with Carlton only because the old Club had been so long out of premierships were asking each other ‘Will the Fitzroy – Collingwood charm never be broken?” Fitzroy fans may still have been disappointed at this stage, as their 6.8.44 involved more scoring shots than Carlton’s 9.4.58, yet they were still behind. It seems the old adage of ‘Bad Kicking is Bad Football’ was never truer than in the first decade of the 1900’s.

With the resurgent Fitzroy at their throats, the pressure was on. Carlton’s dominant forward line of Topping, Caine and Grace were key players, having kicked 6 of our 9 majors to that point. Worrall, perhaps with the 1906 equivalent of a whiteboard at his disposal, ordered the boys to look out for our forwards. For the Maroons, said the ‘Argus’: “Fitzroy’s plan was to take all risks … They had nothing to gain by the safe game, so they gradually thinned out their defence lines and threw extra men forward to the attack, until the sturdy Moriarty was alone on the goal front, with Walker, playing splendidly, the only other effective barrier between the goal and the centre line. It was the policy of desperation – all or nothing. Once Carlton had reached the halfback line, they were almost certain to score. The end soon came. The goals went up to Carlton with convincing succession”.

Caine’s third goal started the scoring in the last quarter to re-establish the 20-point margin. Fred ‘Pompey’ Elliott, later to play 197 games for the Blues (209 overall) and become both a Captain and Coach of Carlton, scored the next goal as the Blues threatened to run away with the game. Grace scored his third to continue the theme, managing to become the first player in VFL / AFL history to kick 50 goals in a season. A Fitzroy behind broke the trend, but three magnificent Carlton goals to end the last quarter saw the Blues run away by a massive 49 points. The three goals were scored by Topping (in some scribes of the day this goal is often attributed to Elliott), Les Beck and Ike Little, in his 8th and last game for Carlton. Like many Blues on the day, Beck also has an interesting little niche in Carlton’s history – he would play 60 games for Carlton and have the highest winning ratio of any Blue who played more than 50 games at 88.3% (53 wins). What some of today’s Blues would give to even split the difference!

Amazingly, Carlton’s last 11 scoring shots were goals, as the Blues not only reacted to the challenge offered by Fitzroy but moved up a gear to smash them. Said the ‘Age’: ‘Except in the third quarter, when Fitzroy made a magnificent recovery of 19 points after starting that quarter with a leeway of 33 points to make up, Carlton showed superiority all round, but the feature of the match was their remarkable accuracy in kicking, their19 scoring shots producing 15 goals, the last 11 of which were kicked without a behind – a record which I cannot remember being equalled.” The Australasian added: “…and their total of 15 goals and only four behinds was worthy of detachment of King’s prize winners on the range at Williamstown.”

At the end of the day, the Blues had earned their first VFL Premiership, the First of Many. Congratulations were offered from all quarters. Said the ‘Age’: ‘”Jack” Worrall was the special recipient of congratulations, and deservedly so, as the success achieved may fairly be attributed to his Coaching. In his playing Worrall was one of the finest footballers in Victoria, and his aptitude for imparting knowledge of the game to others has been attended by phenomenal success.”

On our glorious success, the ‘Australasian’ summarised it as follows: “All doubts that may have existed as to which was the better league team for the year, Carlton or Fitzroy, were set completely at rest on Saturday last, when Carlton unequivocally established their supremacy in every department of play.” Further, the author, Markwell, advised “There was no player in the team but rendered valuable and consistent aid. Payne, Clarke, Beck and Gillespie did splendid service as fixed members of the garrison; Bruce, McGregor and Kennedy again demonstrated their fitness for the title of best centre-line of the year; Grace, Caine, Topping, Marchbank and Little provide very successful forwards; and the remaining half-dozen, Jinks, Johnson, Elliott, Hammond, Flynn and Lang, were remarkably brilliant.”

History will record that the Blues went on to win the 1907 and 1908 VFL Premierships, largely on the back of key players in this team. Some would go on to Coach, some would go on to be a feature of our 1914-1915 Premiership Teams as well, others would find new homes at other Clubs in the VFL. Carlton had broken through with their first VFL Premiership, and now, almost 100 years ago to the day, we should all be thankful for the team that set us on our very merry way.

One final thought from the scribes of the time to remind you as Carlton fans of the joy that success of the time brought; “At the end they were drinking blue beer... It tasted blue anyhow.”