BLUES NEED TO BELIEVE TO SUCCEED, SAYS BETTS

RETIRING Carlton greats Eddie Betts and Marc Murphy have urged the Blues’ playing group to channel the professionalism of Sam Walsh and the fighting qualities of Sam Docherty in an effort to drive higher standards into the future.

The Blues haven’t played finals since 2013, but Betts and Murphy believe new coach Michael Voss can lead the club back to September success as soon as next year.

Betts pinpointed the work ethic and desire displayed by 21-year-old Walsh — who won his first John Nicholls Medal on Thursday night — as something that should drive the club’s younger players next year.

“The football club has the talent, we have just got to believe in the game plan,” Betts said.

“All the boys, just look at what Sam Walsh does week in and week out … the stuff he does with [assistant coach] Lukey Power, doing weights, the extra touch and the extra craft to get himself right, and it showed the way he played this year.”

Betts, who retired after his 350th game in the final round of the homeand-away season, said his simple message to the players centred on making sure every moment counts.

“You can’t take things for granted,” he said. “Make sure you do everything in your power to make yourself better, to make your teammates better, to play the best footy you can, because with the click of a finger, it can all be gone. It was 17 years [his career], but it felt like two and now it is all over.”

Murphy, who bowed out in Round 22 after his 300th game, said the players’ commitment to shave their heads in support of co-skipper Sam Docherty — who is battling a recurrence of testicular cancer — showed how close they were as a group.

“You only have to … see the support they have for their skipper who is going through a really tough time at the moment,’’ Murphy said.

“Everyone in the footy club, not just the players, have shaved their heads in support of the skipper.”

He called on the players to take every opportunity to get better, not just think it is going to happen in the future.

“It is almost a message [to] … live in the present,” Murphy said when addressing the players in a virtual interview at the John Nicholls Medal.

“[It should be] ‘Why can’t we do it now’, rather than thinking ‘We will be better next year’. We had a few years there in ’09, ’10 and ’11 when we thought we were probably going to be a premiership side after that and unfortunately it didn’t go the way we would have loved.”

Walsh said winning the club’s best and fairest was “a huge honour”.

“John Nicholls was a legend of this club, so thanks to him and all the people who have helped me get to where I am today,” Walsh said.

“It is a massive privilege.”

He said the elevation to the club’s leadership group so early in his career had “fast-tracked” his learning.