First-round draftee Liam Stocker signs with Carlton until end of 2022
Liam Stocker has conceded he battled with the attention which came from the trade which landed him at Carlton as he prepares for his second year as a Blue.
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Carlton has secured Liam Stocker for three more seasons as coach David Teague predicts a breakout summer for the much-scrutinised inside midfielder.
The Blues spent all of 2019 sweating about their high-profile trade for Stocker, as their own fortunes meant they looked likely to hand over pick one or two to Adelaide.
Eventually they were vindicated for that trade as Stocker showed signs of his potential and the Blues handed over pick four to Adelaide in exchange for selection nine.
Now Stocker has signed a two-year contract extension that locks him away until 2022 after five senior games and strong VFL form in the back-end of the year.
He admitted after his first season he had spent time battling with attention in his first year but is thrilled to sign with the Blues.
They believe he will eventually turn into an elite-kicking inside midfielder to compliment Patrick Cripps.
“It’s great that the Club believes in me, I am loving my time in the Navy Blue and am really excited to be part of what we are building here,” Stocker said.
“When you walk into this Club you realise how special it is to wear the guernsey, I can’t put it into words the moment I first wore it against North.”
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Teague said this week he was hopeful Stocker would be able to build his tank across the summer after spending much of his first pre-season in rehab.
“The second pre-season is often a really good one. He struggled last year, he missed a fair bit with injury and didn’t get continuity. I just hope he gets some really good continuity which allows him to feel part of the pre-season and by the time Round 1 comes around he has done the work and is ready to go.
“His application has been first-class and if he continues like that he will give himself every chance.”
Stocker admitted he had taken time to learn how to deal with the attention that came with such a high-profile trade.
“I don’t think I dealt with the attention particularly well at the beginning. I was reading a lot into what people were saying about me, I read far too many newspaper articles about what I was doing right and what I was doing wrong. A lot of them didn’t involve me as a person but rather me as a name,” he said.
“On the season itself, I don’t know if I got everything that I wanted to achieve done: getting injured halfway through the year didn’t help that. But to experience my first five AFL games, they were really important.”
Originally published as First-round draftee Liam Stocker signs with Carlton until end of 2022