The Blues have become one of the competition’s most potent teams in scoring from clearances. (losing badly to Gold Coast on that score when beaten in round 4). They can be opened up on the rebound or picked through - as Hawthorn and Port Adelaide showed - but those muscular midfielders,in concert with Charlie Curnow and his key forward partner Harry McKay,have given the Blues traits that set them apart from the vast mid-pack of teams chasing Melbourne. As yet,they do not have the defensive mechanisms without the ball - noticeable when the opposition gets a run on - of the very best sides.
Lloyd observed that Cerra and Hewett bring “a level of calm” to their new team and also the requisite professionalism,adding,“they allow Cripps and Kennedy to play both inside and outside (the contest).”
“Credit to the list management and recruiting team for identifying two quality players and securing them to the football club during a challenging time for the club,” said Lloyd. The challenging time had seen the Blues undergo a major review that saw the club jettison their senior coach (David Teague) and chief executive and a revamping of their board.
Critically,Cerra and Hewett were not as costly as prior imports Zac Williams,Mitch McGovern and Jack Martin in terms of bang for buck - none of that injury-prone trio having performed at the level of their contracts to date. Hewett,a free agent who had not received a contract offer from the Swans late in the season,signed on a relatively modest four-year deal,while Cerra came on discount rates - sources suggest clearly below $700,000 a season for four years - when he would have commanded a heftier and longer deal at Fremantle.
It did not hurt Carlton list manager Nick Austin that Cerra and Hewett had the same management group,Connors Sports,and were largely shepherded to Carlton by agent Robbie D’Orazio,who also manages Carlton’s third and potentially consequential “recruit” in the younger Curnow.
Charlie Curnow’s output has exceeded what might be reasonably expected from a high leaping,super athletic key forward who had been afflicted with a succession of knee injuries from 2019 - when he was on the cusp of superstardom - until last year.
Lloyd confirmed that the Blues had “held him (Curnow) back a little bit” last year in preparing him to return after an absence of two years. But the view is that Curnow,who is said to have harboured doubts about whether he’d regain his football powers,gained confidence from playing four senior games at the end of 2021 when Carlton had next to no hope of making finals.
“It’s a great credit to our high performance team,I’m proud of them getting some reward for the work they’ve put into him” Lloyd said of Curnow’s comeback - clearly a response to the criticism that surrounded Carlton’s handling of Curnow’s knee issues in 2020-21.
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To have two key forwards with complementary,contrasting tool kits - a leaping,running 194 cm aerobic athlete and a 200 cm deep target who can mark on the lead and pluck the high ball - has given the Blues a dimension they’ve not had before,since Curnow and Harry McKay have rarely played together,despite being drafted together in 2015.
“Vossy has said we’re going to be better at the end of the year than at the start,” said Lloyd.
For the Blues,the remaining challenge will be to reshape their much improved talent into a cohesive unit that can add a stronger defensive style - and grit - to their formidable assets,old,new and reborn.
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