Lachie Plowman | 2021 Season Review

Written by Ari Stamatakos

SEASON SYNOPSIS

The Whipping Boy. Lachie Plowman always gets stick from the Carlton faithful, sometimes very fairly, other times very unfairly. He played all but one game in 2020 and performed to his very reliable and consistent best. Never outstanding, but always respectable. His season started pretty well, starting well and kicking a beautiful goal in round 1 against the Tigers. His next game went under the spotlight big time. Poor coaching left him exposed with one of the game’s best one-on-one players, Jordan De Goey, and he tore him to shreds. While his post-match ‘indiscretion’ went perhaps, unfairly, under the microscope from the Carlton public, this wasn’t a night to remember for Plow. he responded brilliantly, having a very good next two weeks before plateauing to his reliable game. 

In round 10 against the Hawks, he got unfairly rubbed out because of a courageous spoil against Jager O’Meara, which the MRO and other members of the AFL media deemed a 'non-footballing act'. Due to this suspension and injury, he didn't return until round 15, wherein the meantime, his absence was felt big time. In the 3 games, he didn’t play, Tom Papley and Isaac Heeney combined for 6 goals, Liam Ryan kicked 4 and Toby Greene kicked 4. A damming indictment of how important Plow is. He played for out the rest of the year, playing good football which rarely gets mentioned. For a detailed rundown of just how good Plowman is, check out Blue Abroad’s piece - Lachie Plowman - Disrespected for too long. https://www.blueabroad.com.au/the-latest/lachie-plowman-disrespected-for-too-long 

BEST PERFORMANCE

Other defenders like Jacob Weitering and Liam Jones have games where they could poll Brownlow Votes, Lachie Plowman isn’t that type. As mentioned, he is very unassuming, and does the basics very well and plays a very handy role for the team. He had too standout performances, against the Dockers in round 3, and the Crows in round 15. Due to the plethora of performances mentioned from the former game, let’s look at his game against the Crows. After 5 weeks out of the side due to injury/suspension, he returned to the side and his impact was immediately felt. 

He had 17 possessions, 14 kicks (all were effective kicks), 7 marks, 7 intercept possessions, 6 one-percenters, 5 spoils and 3 rebound 50’s. He kept the likes of Ned McHenry, Lachie Sholl, James Rowe and Shane McAdam all to a combined 2 goals. His disciplined and effective defensive work allowed the likes of Adam Saad and Zac Williams to go berserk and be very valuable attacking assets. 

His typical mind blanks and defensive errors weren’t on show as, throughout the afternoon, he played a constant and effective brand of football that doesn’t get spoken about too often by the public, due to its subdued nature. While the critics were still there, his best performance of the season was, while not one to remember, one which was very important shows how valuable he is to the side. 

OFF-SEASON & 2021 OUTLOOK

Just keep on keeping on, that should be the rhetoric for Plowman in the off/pre-season. While the critics will still be there, and perhaps will never go away, he plays a very important role in this Carlton defence, which in 2021, got bombarded more than any other. While those inevitable brain-fades and poor decisions need to be stamped out, if he can get those done, then we will see how good he really can be. With another injury setback for Caleb Marchbank, Plowman's spot is almost cemented, depending on if the new coach takes a liking to him (vacant coaching position at the time of writing). He has one of the hardest jobs in football, taking on the likes of Robbie Gray, Charlie Cameron, Kysaiah Pickett, Gary Rohan and other gun small forwards of the comp week in and week out. While he does get beaten on occasion, as to be expected, he always rebounds and shows how valuable he is to this Carlton side. 

2021 REPORT CARD RATING

C

STATUS HEADING INTO 2022 

Consistent 22