- Moderator
- #2,126
For all the talk of kids, Carlton’s opposition on Sunday will be younger and less experienced
It's an example of how stats can lie.
Our senior players (aged 28+) are Levi Casboult, Matt Lobbe, Dale Tomas, Ed Curnow, Marc Murphy, Kade Simpson, Matthew Kruezer and Liam Jones.
All of whom barring Jones (the youngest and the only 28 year old) will be gone in 2 years. That's around 1200 games lost. We'll actually get younger over the next few years, and more inexperienced.
Not exactly an impressive list of vets is it? It's basically a skeleton crew of players propping up the kids. Your senior players will all have premiership medals at home.
To highlight our problems, in the next bracket (23-27 year olds) we have: Fasolo, Newman, Docherty, Plowman, Phillips, McGovern, Cripps, McGovern and Lang.
Again, barring Cripps and Docherty (and he's been missing for a while with his second knee) and on a level below them McGovern and Plowman, not exactly a standout group of mid aged players is it?
It's in the 18-22 year old bracket where the bulk of our talent sits: Walsh, Dow, SPS, Weitering, Marchbank, Curnow, Kennedy, Cuningham, McKay, Setterfield, MacReadie, Fisher, Williamson, Obrien, Stocker.
You're not going to win too many games when your senior (23+ year old players) are lacking in quality like that list is, and you're dependent on over a dozen kids each week (supported by some mediocre vets) to get you over the line.
It's a list reflective of a side that has focused extensively on the draft for a few years, and it shows.
We need a few more years development into that 18-22 age bracket, while also attracting a few quality Free agents and trades in that 23-27 year old age bracket over the next year or two.