Carlton
Coach: Michael Voss
2022 –
Points For – 8th
Points Against – 6th
Top 5 Best and Fairest
1 – Patrick Cripps
2 – Sam Docherty
3 – Sam Walsh
4 – Charlie Curnow
5 – George Hewett
2022 Rising Star Noms
Corey Durdin (Round 9)
Ins – Blake Acres, Oliver Hollands, Lachlan Cowan, Jaxon Binns, Harry Lemmey
Outs – Jack Newnes, Liam Stocker, Will Setterfield, Tom Williamson, Will Hayes, Luke Parks, Oscar McDonald
My Prediction
In a season where nothing much went right for Bomber’s fans, the tantrums of Carlton supporters as their team again promised much and delivered nothing gave us at least a little joy. There weren’t many surprises from Carlton last year, they got a good run from their good players and still weren’t really good enough.
The backline performed well last year. Weitering runs a very good backline, supported this year by Marchbank and probably McGovern (unless he has some sort of KFC related injury). They looked good last year, Saad played disappointingly well although question marks still exist around his decision making. Docherty was very good off half back, he is very important to them.
The midfield adds Acres which feels like a shrewd addition even if a little boring. I guess Hewett worked last year so why not add another workmanlike vanilla midfielder to the mix. It doesn’t really matter what else happens as long as Cripps and Walsh stay fit, they will be competitive. I thought Cerra was good in patches last year but they will be wanting more from him this year. He hasn’t come cheap.
The forward line underperformed last year. They lack pressure. Curnow and McKay are as good a one-two punch as anyone in the AFL. De Koning will play forward/ruck and looked good last year. They will he hoping for more from him in his final year at Carlton. Fisher, Motlop and maybe Silvagni or Martin round out the forward line. They need more pressure this year.
I don’t care what anyone says, Pittonet is a spud, they performed better with him in the team, he forms a reasonable combination with De Koning but he just bores me. Speaking of boring, their coach is not one for finesse or tricky game plans. He does however seem to have the team playing in the right direction.
Carlton is a difficult list to read. A good run with injuries and they can get pretty deep in the eight. A poor run with injuries and they could miss the eight by a reasonable distance. They have good top end talent but their middle tier is thin. I think on the law of probabilities, they scrape into the eight this year. 7th or 8th for mine.
