It’s been a tough start to the season for Carlton, with the club looking to move on from the loss of important forwards Jarrad Waite and Jeff Garlett. However, their comprehensive 110-74 victory over St Kilda showed there is attacking talent in this squad and reason for optimism. While Carlton aren’t expected to be in with a chance of achieving a top-half finish this season, their fans are hoping to see promising signs that there are players at the club who are capable of stepping up and building something for the future. Key to any success Carlton may sample will rely on them finding players capable of scoring the 30-plus goals-a-season Waite and Garlett regularly scored during their time with the Blues.
Waite, who finished last season as Carlton’s top scorer, made the move to North Melbourne at the end of last season and ended an 11-year stay at the club which saw the forward rack up 252 goals. Garlett, meanwhile, departed Carlton for Melbourne after a prolific six years with the club. But it isn’t all doom and gloom for Blues fans and, on the evidence of the St Kilda victory, scoring goals might not be as big a problem as some felt it would have been this season. But which two forwards are going to lead the line for Carlton this year in place of Waite and Garlett?
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Lachie Henderson: The 25-year-old spent the early part of his career in the shadow of Waite but the youngster now finds himself as the Blues’ most valuable forward and tasked with scoring the goals the veteran did before his move to North Melbourne. With a modest average of 1.6 goals a game and a 62.2 per cent goal accuracy last season, Carlton fans could be forgiven for feeling a little apprehensive about Henderson’s reliability this year and even more so after a slow start to the campaign. But a five-goal showing against St Kilda will have done wonders for Henderson’s confidence, not to mention prove to Carlton fans that he has all the attributes needed to be a real star for the club this year and show that odds of 150/1 with bet365 when this article was produced to finish inside the top four might not be such a wild bet.
Chris Yarran: One of the more consistent forwards in the Carlton squad, Yarran has established himself as an important part of this team. He boasts the third highest goals tally of any Blues player. With a canny knack of finding the ball inside the 50 area, the 2012 Goal of the Year winner scored a very solid 21 goals from 21 appearances last season. Forced to drop back into midfield for the opening couple of games this season, Yarran is yet to open his account for the year, although it’s widely expected the 24-year-old will return to his preferred position before too long and the forward will be looking to cement his spot in attack when he does. And the best way to achieve that will be by scoring goals, something he has done on a regular basis during his time with Carlton.
