Players to Watch in 2022
3 PLAYERS TO WATCH OUT FOR IN 2022
When you look at the Carlton list one word comes to mind. Potential. The potential of a new midfield core to look forward to, the potential of Harry Mckay and Charlie Curnow in the same forward 50 and most importantly the potential of a new head coach as well as a new vision for our historic football club. Here are three players who seem to be primed to turn potential into action and results in season 2022.
#44 MATTHEW OWIES: (SMALL FORWARD)
The retirement of club legend, Eddie Betts, after season 2021 prompted the blues to look at possible small forward replacements. Little did we know, we had one right under our nose this whole time who some would say even had an underrated 2021 season. As a category B rookie initially coming from a basketball background, Matthew Owies who despite only playing 15 games so far has been a ray of light for the Carlton football club. His ability to score goals as well as his ability to apply tackling pressure is something that blues fans certainly love to see. Owies averages just over a goal a game with his biggest haul coming against the bombers in a round 7 victory where he kicked 3 goals. The interesting thing with Matt Owies despite his goal kicking prowess is his forward tackling pressure. He averages 2.9 tackles a game which coming from a small forward is impressive and certainly pairs well when the ball hits the deck after an inside fifty entry targeted at either Harry Mckay or Charlie Curnow. Owies averages 3.3 marks a game and clocks in at 180 centimetres tall which means that he can take a good mark up forward considering most AFL teams will most likely send a shorter defensive man to play on him. The main place where Owies will contribute is in tandem with fellow small forward Corey Durdin forming what looks like an exciting forward line duo giving blues fans hope that there will be a multitude of young stars lining up to score goals instead of Harry Mckay doing all the heavy lifting. If Matt Owies continues his positive output, solidifying a spot in this Carlton team could soon become very difficult with guys like Josh Honey and new draftee Jesse Motlop contending for the same position in the match-day squad.
#29 COREY DURDIN: (SMALL FORWARD)
When you are drafted as pick 37 in the 2020 draft it’s safe to say that the decision-makers at Carlton expected Corey Durdin to bring his signature speed and footy smarts to the blues forward line and have a positive impact on the game. Durdin only played the two games to end the 2021 season but we could all see that this kid had heart and had a will to keep fighting until the final siren. Alongside Matthew Owies looks to be where Durdin will most heavily feature, creating what looks to be a promising and dynamic duo that blues fans will certainly love to see. He only featured in the two games last season but he managed to grab a goal against Port Adelaide in round 22 in what was his best performance ironically enough in a 100 point plus loss. Durdin much like his partner in crime Owies loves to apply the forward pressure that has been much sought after for so long at Carlton. Durdin averages two tackles a game which is a fantastic contribution, especially considering his height and build don’t exactly suit that of a tackling machine. Yet, nobody’s asking Durdin to accumulate a monster number of tackles, the focus should be not just Durdin, but every single player playing their role to the best of their ability and not trying to do too much but certainly always hurting and giving chase like Durdin looks to be doing in his limited playing time thus far. One area of improvement for Durdin could be to possess the footy more often. If he can turn a five disposal game into a 10 or even 15 disposal game then he can unquestionably have a bigger impact seeing that when he does possess the footy there is certainly an impact that he has with his speed and crafty skills that can be put on display for all to see in season 2022.
#7 MATTHEW KENNEDY: (MIDFIELDER)
After the disappointment that was season 2021, it's safe to say that an area of serious concern for the blues was the lack of genuine midfield depth. This problem was swiftly addressed by the acquisitions of both Geroge Hewitt and Adam Cerra. However, there's one man who’s not a part of the big names just yet who might just be the player that the blues have been crying out for since the days of Patrick Cripps in 2019, having to pull the midfield load pretty much by himself. Matthew Kennedy who was picked up at pick 15 in the 2015 draft and was initially on the blues rookie list finally got his chance to show his skills as a proper inside mid and there were certainly signs of drastic improvement in season 2021 that not many people picked up on. Another problem that was evident after the end of last season was the lack of overall team pressure but more specifically midfield pressure. It seemed like teams would just walk it straight out of the middle to set up dangerous forward 50 entries. This meant tackles needed to be upped massively. Kennedy despite these problems continued to show glimpses of a player trying to fix these issues with an average last season of 4.2 tackles a game with his most being 10 tackles against St Kilda in round 20 which was the most on the day out of any player on the field. Kennedy averages 4.6 marks a game with the ability to take a good mark in the middle and then feed of a handball to someone faster as we saw in the pre-season outing against Melbourne. Kennedy has a knack for performing well when the team as a whole has a disappointing day on the field. Let’s hope that he continues this in season 2022 and he truly solidifies himself as part of the Carlton midfield.
