Hidden Gems | Round 20
Written by Zac Assouni
I think it’s safe to say that nobody saw that coming. Off the back of what can only be described as a coach killer performance for the blues. It was truly a horrible display against North and while that definitely isn’t forgotten by blues fans at least we saw the best of Carlton this week and it was certainly helpful to pick three players who aren’t necessarily in everyone’s votes but deserve a special mention.
MATTHEW KENNEDY
Over the last month or so it’s safe to say that we’ve seen a totally different side of Matthew Kennedy. He’s fit perfectly in to the midfield already populated by Patrick Cripps , Sam Walsh and also blossoming youngster Paddy Dow. Kennedy collected 23 disposals at 70% efficiency along with a goal , 6 score involvements and best of all 10 tackles which is a fantastic effort given that tackles has been hard to come by this season from the team as a whole. All throughout the season we’ve been looking for other midfielders to help share the workload of Patrick Cripps and especially Sam Walsh. In the last month or two it’s no secret that we’ve seen Matthew Kennedy have play his best patch of footy for the blues since he arrived from the giants in 2018. Throughout the game we’ve seen handball receives and Kennedy running on the outside of a contest to kick inside 50 and it’s paying off especially with some of our talls back to help the structure.
JOSH HONEY
Throughout season 2021 blues fans have been vocal about the possible inclusion of the exciting 2019 first round prospect in Josh Honey. He’s had a decent season in the heavily interrupted VFL so far and Carlton fans have been waiting to see his inclusion into the senior side. The three rookie had 13 disposals at only 54% efficiency but that was clouded over by 2 goals , 7 score involvements, 2 tackles and 3 goal assists in a high scoring night for the blues. Honey’s debut came against the Dockers in round 12 of last season and has been working on his craft in the VFL for most of his time at the club since then. With Harry McKay and now Charlie Curnow now back fit and firing as talls in the Carlton forward line it’s been interesting to see which of our small forwards core can step up and chip in with 1-2 goal performance to really help our forward line to be a very good one indeed
PATRICK CRIPPS
It has certainly been a major talking point so far this season , is Patrick Cripps fully fit and has Patrick Cripps fallen off after being arguably better be of the AFL’s best players. While he certainly hasn’t been at peak Patty Cripps performance so far during the season it’s really good to see the leadership that he has especially with the other co-captain , Sam Doherty , out due to injury. Crippa collected 26 disposals at 81% efficiency which was very helpful in moving the footy into our forward line and giving forwards like McKay a clear run at the football meaning more goals for the team. He also had 1 goal, 7 score involvements, 6 tackles , 5 clearances and 252 metres gained in a match where he was certainly asked to step up by the fans and he certainly did. It looks like we can finally turn a new leaf for Crippa with criticism coming left , right and centre about a leadership strange and that Crippa isn’t fit to lead this team we can now have some hope for the rest of the season and into the future
