Defence
This year Carlton was hit bad by injuries and this was highlighted in defence. Losing Jamison for a great deal of the season hurt, especially since he is shaping up as an awesome Full Back and a rock to build our defence around. Another player we missed running our of the back half was Waite. Having him back next season will be invaluable at both ends.
As for the positives, injuries forced the others to step up, in particular Thornton, Bower, and to a lesser extent Armfield whose run and carry is great to watch and Russell looked much better in the latter half of the season.
Having the whole group together next year is an exciting prospect and should be a good year if we have a good run with injuries.
Midfield
This is where the magic happens. Although the boys need to put in a bit of work into the defensive side of their game, when we have the momentum, the group is deadly and totally unstoppable. Murphy and Gibbs stepped up another knotch, in particular Murphy. His disposal skills this year improved out of sight from previous seasons and he has become one the leagues best goal scoring midfielders kicking 31.17. Gibbs on the other hand is looking like an excellent defensive midfielder and I always feel confident with the ball in his hands as he runs out of defence. He is also an excellent set shot for goal, kicking 15.8 in 2009.
With the addition of McLean, this adds further depth to the midfield. He is a hard in and under type, much like Hadley, so this should work well and free Judd up more in 2010 to be on the receiving end of the ball instead of having to go in and get his own ball.
Forward
This is the big question mark area...can we survive without Fevola? I actually think its quite an exciting era with group we have and the potential there. On the surface it looks like we have too many small forwards and no real strong marking options, but when you actually look at the list its not so bad and the hole Fevola leaves allows for the others to step up and create some excitement.
Eddie Betts had an awesome year kicking 38.21, which is a big improvement from previous years and he is just getting better and better. Gartlett burst on the scene and looks like a great pickup kicking 12.9 in 2009, just needs to bulk up and he will be a star. Yarran showed flashes of why he was picked so early and is another star of the future. Others that look good include Robinson and Houlihan who will benefit from more opportunity without Fevola. I also think Walker is better used as a forward, he can do some great things when his body is 100%.
But the biggest three are Setanta O'hAilpin, Matthew Kreuzer and Jarrad Waite. All are tall,, agile athletic players with strong contested marks and good kicks on goal. Waite and Setanta are both talented enough to play at both ends of the ground also, but I feel next year they will be required more up forward, in particular Setanta O'hAilpin. His 4 goals against Freo mid season showed just what he was capable of. Im interested to see how Kreuzer is utilised, I think we will still see him in the ruck, but he will definitely be spending much more time inside the forward 50.
Ruck
We are still yet to see big Warnock, but fully fit I see him sharing ruck duties with Hampson and Jacobs is the backup in case of injury. Hampson needs to take another step with his disposals and marking, but hopefully a solid preseason will see improvements in those areas. His athletic ability is just awesome, one of the only ruckmen who could run down a midfielder in a tackle.
So this finally brings me to my top 22 for 2010
| FB | Bower | Jamison | Joseph |
| HB | Gibbs | Thornton | Armfield |
| C | Simpson | McLean | Carrazzo |
| HF | Henderson | Waite | Houlihan |
| FF | Betts | Kreuzer | O'hAilpin |
| R | Hampson | Judd | Murphy |
| Int | Warnock | Russell | Yarran |
| Walker | |||
This is without looking at preseason form, but I feel that with everyone at 100% we would line up similiar to this. Depending on who Joseph lines up on, he will usually start down back. I like Armfield of the half back line. The midfield is quite dynamic depending on the momentum of the game, but I see Hadley and McLean swapping with each other. Henderson and Setanta will probably share CHF and FF position with big Kreuzer.
The other players that are knocking on the door include:
The other players that are knocking on the door include:
- Hadley - right on the edge of making the team, would easily take Russell's position if he doesn't keep his good form going!
- Austin - very competent in defence and can go forward when needed
- Browne - another hard defensive midfielder, but needs to work on decision making
- Grigg - looked a bit lost in 2009, but was carrying injury. Hopefully he has a big 2010
- Lucas - great wraps from draft, depending on preseason, could make an appearance across half forward
- Robinson - this guy is as tough as they come, just has to harness that energy and he will be great up forward
- Scotland - his form has really gone downhill, but on his day has such beautiful disposal
- Garlett - Will probably rotate with Yarran depending on form. Yarran could also be given a run in the middle
Overall, the side doesnt look that different to 2009. I believe that 2010 will be more a step sideways opposed to a step backwards. The draw starts out quite difficult, but the mid season should provide a good run into the finals.
In terms of the ladder standing at the end of 2010, that will be my next post, but I see Carlton finishing in a similiar position to this year, around 6-7 on the ladder. I think it will be a solid year and will propel us towards our grand final assault in the following years!
No comments:
Post a Comment