INVESTING IN MIND & BODY
IN MY role as a responsible gambling ambassador I spend time with many sporting clubs. From suburban teams, to semiprofessional, to elite, I get to tell them my story, talk with them about triggers to look for in their own behaviour and ways to not let gambling become an addiction like it is for me. Recently I spoke to the Carlton Football Club, not just the players, but the entire club. I came away thinking that this is a group all on the same page and heading in the right direction. This path has been set up from the top. President Mark LoGiudice is hellbent on making the Blues successful again, but unlike years gone by, it’s more than the physical bodies on the field that will make that happen. Carlton has invested strongly in the areas of player welfare and development. It understands the daily pressures on the players, internally and externally, and they believe the mental health of the team is paramount to performance. This change in nature comes from the changes we see in society and now the football world is more accepting of internal struggles players face and those players feel more comfortable talking about them. With only five wins from 16 games this season, on paper, it doesn’t look like a great return. But there are pillars to measure the improvement in the group such as the performance of the youngsters.
The club has five NAB Rising Star nominees already this year.
Charlie Curnow is the latest to join the list which includes Caleb Marchbank, Sam Petrevski-Seton, David Cuningham and Jack Silvagni. Last year Jacob Weitering finished third in the award and the previous season Patrick Cripps came second behind Jesse Hogan.
There’s some skill coming through, so the five wins is understandable when you look at the inexperience within the group.
What I like about how Carlton is rebuilding is the way they signed coach Brendon Bolton. He’s not on contract, he’s on staff. That stops talk of contract negotiations, terminations and extensions like Nathan Buckley is facing weekly at Collingwood.
A trained teacher, Bolton has brought with him a lot of the successful Hawthorn flavour from his time there, but he’s moulding this team his way and the players are playing with freedom.
All coaching groups assess the skills of all players, but it can take just one idea to overhaul the career of someone.
That’s what this club has done with struggling forward, now classy defender, Liam Jones. The former Bulldog was so down on confidence playing in the forward line, but now as a backman he seems natural.
Leigh Matthews said he’s “Alex Rance like”. I think that’s a bit premature, but it’s great that Carlton hasn’t discarded a struggler, but worked with him and has turned his career around.
Matthew Kreuzer has become such a dominant, agile ruckman too. His tap work to Marc Murphy, Bryce Gibbs and Cripps has been brilliant this year.
They play a tempo football. Their game isn’t played at lightning speed or at a frenetic pace that helped get the Bulldogs the premiership last year.
The Blues control the ball, working it up the ground, sharing it around. At the moment they don’t kick massive scores, but that’ll come when the defensive structure Bolton is developing becomes ingrained.
I have a lot of respect for this rebuilding club. All areas are in good hands.