Carlton have finally snapped their Sydney hoodoo, coming from behind to beat the Swans by 16-points at a rain-soaked SCG.

The Blues' last AFL win in the harbour city came way back in 1993, but they overturned a 14-point halftime deficit in appalling conditions to prevail 12.15 (87) to 10.11 (71) on Friday night.

Carlton skipper Chris Judd was his typically outstanding self, finishing with a remarkable 15 clearances to be clearly best on ground, while Eddie Betts helped turn the tide with three of his four goals coming in the third term.

Ben McGlynn kicked four goals for the Swans and Josh Kennedy, Ted Richards and Adam Goodes toiled hard, but Carlton kicked nine goals to five after halftime to steal the four points and stay comfortably in the top four.

Sydney now have two wins, two losses and a draw from their five games to date.

In an incredibly tight contest most of the way, a controversial and possibly incorrect interchange penalty against Sydney in the third term that led directly to a Carlton goal also looms as a major talking point.

In the first Friday night regular season game in Sydney in eight years, the conditions wouldn't allow either side to produce their best, with smart, wet-weather football the order of the night.

It appeared to benefit the Swans, whose modus operandi is tight, contested footy, but they were made to pay for failing to take advantage of their first-half dominance.

Sydney kicked three of the last four goals to end the first term, with McGlynn's second goal after the siren giving the Swans a handy 13-point buffer at the first change.

Neither side kicked a goal in the second term, with Sydney only managing six behinds to Carlton's five, and it would come back to bite the Swans.

Betts kicked three goals in the space of five minutes midway through the quarter to give the Blues their first lead since early in the opening term.

Their advantage then stretched to seven points when Setanta O'hAilpin kicked a goal after the controversial interchange penalty, apparently for Sydney having too many players on the ground, and the Blues had all the momentum.

Judd then left his stamp on the final term as Carlton grabbed an impressive victory.

Both coaches paid tribute to Judd after the game, who also added 33 possessions and eight tackles.

"There's no doubt about it, his work-rate the whole game was just fantastic," Carlton's Brett Ratten said.

"Just the way he can get the ball out under that sort of pressure is just phenomenal.

"That's why he's a champion of the game."

Sydney counterpart John Longmire was left to rue his side's inability to put more goals on the board in the first half, when they held sway.

"It would've been nice and we had some opportunities in that second quarter and some really easy ones," he said.

"We didn't make the most of those chances and it's always good to be a couple of extra goals in front."

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