With season 2024 approaching its end, it is here that I reflect on the season in terms of Carlton and look to the future. I will dissect and comment on certain players and what I see as the makeup of the team moving forward because this is where each club, including Carlton, must now look.
There have rumours abound about how the club is mismanaging its list and weeks ago, there was even the ludicrous suggestion that Christian Petracca of Melbourne would be a great swap for Harry McKay. These rumours are supposedly based on “facts” and the “information” and “commentary” from so-called experts or those supposedly, “in-the-know.” Let me state that I do not and never will subscribe to what others in the outside world of the club speculate and state with “certainty” what is happening and what will or should, happen. Until the club clarifies and confirms, it is all speculation and should not be taken literally. Yet.
With the talk of Matty Owies not going on an end-of-season trip with others from the team, but meeting with other clubs, which could be true, until the decision has been confirmed by himself or the club, I will wait. But here is my view on this. I will ask the following question: What is it that the club and supporters want? The answer is simple: a Premiership. We want to be that club that, at the end of the season, holds up another Premiership Cup. It is that simple, really. Yet this comes with decisions that may cause supporters to be upset and angry. I ask, why? Again, what is it that we are all seeking?
Let’s take a few steps back into the past seasons.
There are some ex-Carlton players who, due to retirement or even going to other clubs, have been ones that we supporters have been upset about. When Marc Murphy, Ed Curnow and Matty Kreuzer all retired, we were all saddened because, without a doubt, these players deserved and should have been part of a Premiership side, but it was not in their destiny. Then there were Eddie Betts and Bryce Gibbs, who also deserved to win a Premiership at Carlton but decided to leave. This upset many, and understandably, but they left to go to a club that would hopefully garnish them a slight chance of winning a Premiership, because Carlton at that time, was not even a good club or close to being a great one. For them, it just didn’t eventuate.
Right now, Carlton is a good club, but not a great one. If we want to be great, we must understand that players we love may not be a part of this greatness. Jack Martin will not be at the club next year. While a good player, when fit, he is not a great player. He is sporadic in his performance. He is 29 and will be 30 before season 2025 starts. He is not a long-term prospect for the club, yet he could be a short-term one at another whose window is just one step above Carlton. This is the same with Matty Owies.
Matty Owies is a fantastic player to watch when he is in form. He is a good player, not a great one. He is a short-term player for a club and not a long-term one in a team that is right now, again, a good team, not a great one. Could he be a part of Carlton becoming a great club? Absolutely. But what will the cost be to the club’s future and the team’s makeup moving forward? What is it that we desperately need from him that we don’t already have in our younger players? Sure, he is ready to go, but for any club to become great, this takes time and a long-term plan, not a short-term one. We have to look at his type of player and where he could fit in the team. He kicked over 30 goals this year, and is a very handy player to have in our forward line, but not a great player. I will be sad if he does go, but not angry or furious, as some have stated on social media. For a team to cross that line of being a good one, to a great one, we have to look at a long-term plan and put that in place.
Now, I love Owies passion for the club and team, and he has been told that the club wants him, but that he just needs to wait until after the trade and draft period. He has been given the go-ahead to see if he wants to move to another club. If he goes, then so be it. We have to start looking at what holes have been missing that will make us become not a good club but a great one.
We need more depth in our backline than we do in any other position on the field. We need more grunt to assist the senior players in the team, Jacob Weitering, Adam Saad, Sam Docherty, Mitch McGovern, and Nic Newman (I have not included Zac Williams, who has played better as a forward than in the backline); who can guide the younger ones, Alex Cincotta, Brodie Kemp, Lachie Cowan, Jordan Boyd who could be a part of our future and need time to mature and grow into becoming great players.
Then there’s Matthew Kennedy, who is contracted until the end of 2025 and has been told that if he wants to seek more time at another club, then he has Carlton’s blessing. Again, those not in the “know” are furious about this. He is a good player, not a great one. He has his moments but is not consistent enough to be a great player. Both Kennedy and Owies have a great passion for the club and the team without question, and I can see them both being a part of Carlton in its push to become a great club. But I also see that they are really second only to others in the team who are either great players or on the threshold of being great players because of their age and have more room for maturity and growth. So, the club has to make the really tough decision of what to do and how to go about becoming a great club.
Personally, I can’t see either Owies or Kennedy going to other clubs, but I could be wrong. But if they do, then I will be sad, but I won’t be angry or furious that I, a supporter who has no direct knowledge or information from the club as to what their intentions are during the trade and draft periods. No one, no matter what they say or comment on, has this insider knowledge. I don’t take much value in what the media or social media commentators predict or state as being what is going on at the club, and to be honest, I don’t understand why some get so hyped up about what is being said by those supposedly “in-the-know” or past players who believe in their own hype and will say anything to get click bait and make themselves talked about.
Ultimately, we want to be a great club and we are not there yet. We will see players that we love possibly move on to other clubs, but in the end, the players know and understand what it will take to be a great club, and that may not include those who have become cult figures or much-loved players. We should not go down the rabbit hole of being so angry and furious at a decision made by a club that only wants to be successful.
I want to be at the end of a season, going to a game that is the pinnacle of the year—the Grand Final. I want to be part of the celebration that comes with holding up a Premiership Cup. I want to have the last weekend in September be one where I have no voice, am dog-tired with little sleep due to ongoing celebrations, yet euphoric because I was a part of that last game of the season where we added another Premiership Cup and can be genuinely named—a great club! That is what I want. That is my view.
SPORTZ 