2022 Player Preview | #2 Paddy Dow
Written by Ari Stamatakos
Throughout the 2021 Pre-season, Blue Abroad will be providing content to cover everything you need to know about the Carlton Football Club. For what should be an exciting and intriguing 2022, let's take an in-depth look at all players on the Carlton list and preview their 2022 season. #2 Paddy Dow.
2022 Preview
It’s make or break for Paddy Dow in 2022. 2021 was the year to prove himself, after a particularly disappointing 2020. He showed glimpses of brilliance, last year. Bursting from packs with his trademark explosiveness, and his use of the footy seemed to improve 10-fold as well. While his consistency still was left to be desired, he showed that he had taken major steps in the right direction. You only need to look at the games against Fremantle, St Kilda and Adelaide that showed how damaging he can be. We all knew he had the attributes to be the player that we all know he can be, yet 2021 was the first time in a long time that we were shown it on a semi-consistent basis.
The attributes that Paddy Dow possess are those of the modern-day midfielder. Explosive from the contest has a lot of power through the hips. Very instinctive in tight areas and has a beautiful side-step that allows him to avoid tackles with pace. Should Voss want to use Dow consistently, he needs to be used in a very specific way. He doesn’t have the elite ball use or the engine to play as a pure outside midfielder, nor does he have the ball finding ability or the grunt on the inside to play as a pure inside mid, he is a hybrid of both. Voss needs to find a system that suits his high-octane explosiveness, whilst also covering for his weaknesses and naiveties.
Assuming that at the start of the season he is the 5th or 6th best pure midfielder at the club, and his inability to really fill in any other role, his chances to impress at the centre bounce will be limited. However, he has shown that he can have patches of electrifying football, being a clearance machine and being able to hit up targets. In those small windows of opportunity that he will get, he needs to impress. As if he can hit the ground running in season 2022, he can prove to be a real difference-maker and potentially even a game-winner.
The Best-Case Scenario
As aforementioned, it is a make-or-break season for Paddy Dow. With Adam Cerra being brought in on big bucks and big expectations, this should light a fire under Dow, as after all, Dow was drafted higher than Cerra 4 years ago. The worst-case scenario does not need to be explained, because we all know what will happen should Dow not perform, even at a medium level in 2022.
The best-case scenario for Dow is that he breaks in the first 22 consistently. This will need to have a ripper pre-season and impress big-time early on. Overall, he needs to have low 20’s possession on average to be as damaging as he can be. He showed in glimpses last year that he has started to hit-up targets much better than he has been. If at the end of the year, his name is with the likes of Cerra and Hewitt in terms of midfield order rank, then that would be a serious plus for Dow in 2022.
Status Heading Into 2022
Fringe 22
