BigFooty.com Annual 2011 Carlton Blues A comprehensive review of players from the 2011 Premiership Season Created by the fans, for the fans. BigFooty.com – Carlton Blues Season 2011 Player Review Page | 2 Please distribute this freely in its original, unaltered form. The BigFooty Annual is provided free of charge by BigFooty.com and its contributing members from the BigFooty Carlton Forum. Reproduction of content within this Annual or distribution in any other form is by permission only: http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/sendmessage.php Updates Keep up with the latest on each player in the BigFooty Blues & Bullants Player Watch board. Photography Mister Carlton supplied our player photographs. You can find his Flickr stream here: http://www.flickr.com/acphotography18 BigFooty.com – Carlton Blues Season 2011 Player Review Page | 3 Table of Contents Andrew Walker - #1 ..................................................................................................... 5 Jordan Russell - #2 ....................................................................................................... 7 Marc Murphy - #3 ........................................................................................................ 8 Bryce Gibbs - #4 ......................................................................................................... 10 Chris Judd - #5............................................................................................................ 13 Kade Simpson - #6 ..................................................................................................... 16 Matthew Kreuzer - #8 ................................................................................................ 17 Kane Lucas - #9 .......................................................................................................... 19 Matthew Watson - #10 .............................................................................................. 21 Robert Warnock - #11 ................................................................................................ 23 Mitch Robinson - #12 ................................................................................................. 25 Chris Yarran - #13 ....................................................................................................... 27 Brock McLean - #14 ................................................................................................... 29 Jeremy Laidler - #15 ................................................................................................... 31 Andrew Collins - #16 .................................................................................................. 33 Setanta O'hAilpin - #17 .............................................................................................. 34 Paul Bower - #18 ........................................................................................................ 37 Eddie Betts - #19 ........................................................................................................ 39 Rhys O’Keeffe - #20 .................................................................................................... 42 Mark Austin - #21 ...................................................................................................... 44 Shaun Hampson - #22 ................................................................................................ 46 Lachie Henderson - #23 ............................................................................................. 48 Patrick McCarthy - #24 ............................................................................................... 51 Luke Mitchell - #25 .................................................................................................... 52 Andrew McInnes - #26 ............................................................................................... 54 Dennis Armfield - #27 ................................................................................................ 55 Jaryd Cachia - #28 ...................................................................................................... 57 BigFooty.com – Carlton Blues Season 2011 Player Review Page | 4 Heath Scotland - #29 .................................................................................................. 58 Jarrad Waite - #30 ...................................................................................................... 61 Marcus Davies - #31 ................................................................................................... 64 Bret Thornton - #32 ................................................................................................... 66 Ryan ‘Hoops’ Houlihan (Retired) - #33 ....................................................................... 68 Nick Duigan - #34 ....................................................................................................... 70 Ed Curnow - #35......................................................................................................... 72 Rohan Kerr - #36 ........................................................................................................ 75 Joe Dare - #37 ............................................................................................................ 77 Jefferey Garlett - #38 ................................................................................................. 79 Wayde Twomey - #39 ................................................................................................ 82 Michael Jamison - #40 ............................................................................................... 84 Levi Casboult - #41 ..................................................................................................... 86 Zach Tuohy - #42 ........................................................................................................ 87 Simon White - #43 ..................................................................................................... 89 Andrew Carrazzo - #44 ............................................................................................... 91 Aaron Joseph - #45 .................................................................................................... 93 David Ellard - #46 ....................................................................................................... 95 Mitch Carter - #47 ...................................................................................................... 98 Blake Bray - #48 ......................................................................................................... 99 The Back Page .......................................................................................................... 100 BigFooty.com – Carlton Blues Season 2011 Player Review Page | 5 Andrew Walker - #1 By Kramer1 Where the **** did that come from? After struggling to overcome serious shoulder injuries for a number of years, and giving Carlton fans but flashes of his undoubted potential in that time it came as no surprise that Andrew Walker decided to ‘test the waters’ throughout the 2010 trade period. And of course by test the waters I mean shop himself around like an Amsterdam red light special. Two strong suitors emerged in the Western Bulldogs and Adelaide...the wisdom of hindsight suggests they may have erred in opting for Sherman and Tambling respectively over our Andy. Fortuitously for us seeing relative fringe dwellers given the nod ahead of him may well have been the smack with the reality stick the Walker needed to re-consider his position. As has been reported a frank conversation would take place between player and coach. Walker expressed his frustration at being played out of his preferred position, and pushed hard for a move into the forward 50. Players making such demands are generally informed in no uncertain terms who calls the shots, but a three goal cameo in the elimination final against Sydney in 2010 may well have been the catalyst for Ratten to yield to the request. Still Walker would enter season 2011 with more question marks than ever. Would the events of the trade period deflate his confidence further, or spur him on to greater things? Rising 25 how would he adjust to yet another role change? Would the spectre of injury derail yet another season? With the list batting deeper than it had for more than a decade could he absorb the pressure and fend off challengers for his spot. A low key two goal haul in the opening round against Richmond didn’t necessarily confirm the move as a masterstroke, though nor did it harm his chances. A handful a week later against the Gold Coast was perhaps to be expected against an overwhelmed opponent, but his laser like efficiency in kicking five straight raised a few eyebrows...this was never part of the arsenal before. This would prove to be one of a number of pleasing developments in AW’s game across the season. Let’s start with the numbers...with a previous season best of ten goals it’s fair to say none of us saw a 50+ goal season coming. 56 goals 27 behinds to be exact, good enough for equal fifth across the competition. Perhaps the most significant number was 24. The number of games played, and the just the second time Walker has logged a full complement of games. BigFooty.com – Carlton Blues Season 2011 Player Review Page | 6 The aforementioned accuracy is worth re-visiting. Kicking efficiency had never been a strong point and caused a few (including your correspondent) to