It’s A Big Year For…. #6 Zac Williams

Written by Ari Stamatakos

Throughout the 2022 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 some players on the Carlton list and preview their 2022 season.

Why Is It A Big Year?

Oh, Zac. It was the addition that we all thought would turn the Carlton Football Club into one of the forces of the competition. Instead, it further added to the fact that we can't seem to get anything right. And that anything we touch turns bad quickly. 

Granted, it was poor recruiting from the start. We got Zac Williams into the football club, on the thought that he would be an elite level midfielder. However, having only played one quality game in the midfield in his entire AFL career, this was a project that was doomed to fail from the very start. 

He started well, but then the rigours of playing full-time in the midfield hindered him. Injuries and poor fitness saw him shunted back to where he belongs, across the half-back line. By no means does this poor season mean that he is a flop, or that he has failed to deliver. It just means that we, as a collective, have to re-calibrate our expectations of him.

He is not going to be our midfield savour. He is more likely to be a very competent half-back flanker that can have spurts in the midfield and up-forward for very limited minutes per quarter. And he has to embrace the role he is given. He has to give 100% effort in whatever position he is playing and do what's best for the team. 

If he can get himself to a level where he breaks into the midfield again full-time, even better. Because under Michael Voss, there will be no hand-outs, you will need to earn your position in the side. If he does that, then that's the best-case scenario for him and the club.

Regardless of if he plays in the guts or across defence, the one thing that he needs to show week in week out, is desire and heart. Due to the relatively poor season that he had last year, he needs to endear himself back to the Carlton fans. 

We all know the ability and the pack-bursting power that he possesses, as well as that blistering speed. However, last year, those assets couldn't quite click together, he couldn't quite get the best out of himself. 

Michael Voss has a massive job on his hands. Being able to get the best out of Zac Williams the player, and the best for the team, at the same time. Williams has this undeniable ability to win a game off his own boot, yet we haven't seen anything close to that in a Carlton shirt.

It's a big year for him because of the poor year he had last season. This is a hard reset that he needs to take into his stride and become the player that we all thought he could be. 

The Best-Case Scenario 

Well, it would be that he gets to that level that we are thought he going to get to last year. He needs to be in All-Australian contention by the end of the season at the absolute least. He has the talent, and he needs to show it. He is being paid alot of money and he needs to start re-paying it. With the recent additions potentially limiting his midfield time, they could also allow him to play his natural game and flourish in his proper role. It’s a big 2022 for Zac Williams, he needs to show how good he is and silence the doubters.