With the 2015 Premiership season near and the Pre-Season NAB Challenge games fast-approaching, Alex Docherty takes a look at the 5 players who are the most crucial to your club’s immediate or future success.
Today is the Carlton Blues. A side that failed to improve on their 2013 finals appearance, finishing 13th in 2014. Confirming in my mind that the finals appearance, which saw them replace Essendon in the 2013 finals series as part of the ongoing drugs scandal, was a fluke.
They brought in Dale Thomas from Collingwood for the 2014 season in an attempt to feature even further in the 2014 finals series but didn’t work to plan as Thomas continues to battle his injury niggles and is far from what his best has been.
They lost their first four games of 2014 and struggled to get any sort of form going from there til the end of the season. It didn’t help that Josh Bootsma, Jeff Garlett and Mitch Robinson were all in the media for all the wrong reasons, and as a result, they all ended up getting the boot from Carlton.
As 2015 approaches for the Blues, they seem to have gotten rid of all the negative vibes from Carlton and the list is looking in good shape. Dare I say even, that they could make finals football again, but if Malthouse’s chargers are going to play in September this year, these are the guys that are most important to their chances in 2015.
5. Chris Judd
His talent and superstar status is unquestionable, but at 31 now, and coming off a severe hamstring injury in 2014, he still managed 12 games, but his disposal average in 2014 was his lowest since he was in his second year in the AFL, when he was still with West Coast. But the word coming from Carlton is that he has trained strongly in the pre-season, and he still has a bit in the tank. Injuries and all, the two-time Brownlow medallist is still a vital part in Carlton’s midfield structures.
4. Andrew Walker
1AW is one of those players who you can put anywhere on the park, and he seems to do a heck of a good job of doing it. It was only a few seasons ago that he kicked 56 goals for the Blues after being put up as trade bait in the off-season prior to the 2011 season. Since Malthouse has taking control of Carlton, Walker has been played as a defender and has done a superb job running off the backline, averaging 22 disposals in two seasons before a knee injury prematurely ended his 2014 campaign. It’ll be interesting to see where Malthouse puts him in 2015.
3. Michael Jamison
He’s been Carlton’s number one defender for years now, and has done the job brilliantly more often than not. Injuries have held him back in the past, but he’s managed 44 of a possible 46 games in the past two seasons, and it’s good to see that he’s no longer being troubled by injuries and niggles. Although not as flashy like some of the other players at Carlton, he can still do the job effectively and is a highly-valued member of Carlton’s defensive six.
2. Marc Murphy
Another important player in Carlton’s midfield, Murphy has been the captain of the Blues for the past couple of seasons, but has yet been able to produce his 2011 form, which netted him his only best and fairest award and an All-Australian selection. With that said, Murphy has been growing in leadership from the day the captaincy had been handed to him, and I have no doubt that he will continue to be the man to lead the Blues forward and out of the mire in the not-so-distant future.
1. Lachie Henderson
I have made it no secret that I have been a huge critic of Lachie Henderson since he had arrived at Carlton. I had thought that at best he was just an above average key-position player at best. Last year he had a few games where he lit it up and kicked a bag of six goals against preliminary finalist, North Melbourne, a bag of five goals against the Bulldogs and a bag of four against St. Kilda. Performances like these have shown me that this guy is a big deal, an very important player to this squad. I believe Henderson is ready to step it up in big way in 2015.
