Carlton 2021: All the latest Blues updates, news ahead of Round 14
Within five games of the exclusive 300-game club, dropped Blues veteran Marc Murphy has been made clear of what he needs to do to reach the illustrious milestone.
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Carlton coach David Teague has declared axed veteran Marc Murphy will not be gifted games in the back half of the season just so he can reach the exclusive 300-game mark.
Murphy, who has been dropped to the VFL this week, is five games short of becoming just the sixth player in the Blues’ illustrious history to reach the milestone.
Only Craig Bradley, Bruce Doull, Kade Simpson, John Nicholls and Stephen Silvagni have done so at Carlton.
The former No.1 draft pick is strongly tipped to retire at the season’s end.
When asked on Friday if Murphy had played his final game, Teague replied:
“I hope not.
“I hope he goes back to the VFL this week and plays really strong footy.
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“We had a good conversation and he’s really clear on what’s going to work on.
“We’re probably a better side with him in it, we just need him playing at his best and that’s his challenge.”
Teague backed the 33-year-old to fight his way back into the side in his new role on the half-forward line.
“Marc has been a great player for a long time,” Teague said.
“It would be great to get him to 300 but we’re not just going to give games away.
“We’re going to do what’s in the best interests of this football club going forward, and I think one of the great things Marc’s done is put this football club first.
“He made a great point to me the other day that he’s had a good career whether it goes on or not.
“But he’s not finished yet, we’ve got half a season to go and hopefully he can force his way back in.”
It comes as Blues president Luke Sayers this week ordered an external review into the 14th-placed Carlton’s struggles to become a contender.
“I think it’s great,” Teague said.
“Good organisations review what they’re doing and you want to continue to learn, so I’m hoping we get some great feedback from this review.
Sometimes inside you look for what you’re measuring and your eyes get drawn to that, so getting some external eyes might draw us to some other areas we’re not focusing on.
I’ve got no doubt we’ve got some areas we can improve on, so I’m looking forward to seeing what those are.
“We want to be a high performing club with sustained success…the Carlton Football Club will be back where it should be and I think it will be in the near future.”
Blues celebrate as rising star signs new deal
Harry McKay has signed a new two-year deal at Carlton that will take him through to free agency.
McKay’s contract talks only ramped up over the mid-season bye, with the Blues securing him on a deal that is likely to be well over $800,000 a season.
The key forward’s breakout year has seen him kick 38 goals in just 12 games despite being subbed out of one of those contests early.
“I was always staying a Blue,” McKay said.
“This playing group have been through a lot together since I came to the club. A lot of us have been part of what we are building from day one, I’m committed to being here and helping us achieve our ultimate goal of winning our 17th premiership.
“To the members and supporters who are sticking by us right now, it is an honour to play for you, to wear our club’s guernsey and we will be doing everything we can in the next few years to make you proud to be Carlton.
“I can’t wait for the second half of the year to get started and for us to perform to the level we know this group is capable of.”
The Blues will hope they will finally see the Harry McKay-Charlie Curnow dream team combination in the back half of the season, with Curnow only weeks from a VFL return.
Carlton must still secure Sam Petrevski-Seton and Jack Silvagni on new deals, with Silvagni playing excellent football but Petrevski-Seton out of favour.
If a rival offered him a new contract with a promise to play significant midfield time there is every chance he might move clubs.
McKay’s brother Ben has just signed on again with North Melbourne on a similar two-year deal.
Clubs are anxiously awaiting the new collective bargaining agreement details in the next year as they survey the financial impact of Covid this year on the league’s bottom line.
Players have committed to only this year’s pay cut but clubs continue to strip millions of dollars off their bottom lines through games played in front of no crowds.
Worrying factors that saw Barker walk out on Blues
John Barker, one of the AFL’s respected and experienced assistant coaches, made a life decision months ago to step away from the game that has played such a huge part of his life.
He had come to a realisation that he no longer aspired to be a senior AFL coach.
The squeeze on the AFL soft caps within football departments, the increased hours and pressures on the ever-diminishing number of coaches and the growing demands of his young family convinced Barker it was time to move into a different direction.
He fears more long-time industry figures will follow suit unless something is done to ease the pressures, a similar message expressed by senior coaches John Longmire, Luke Beveridge and Alastair Clarkson.
“In any aspirational job, there has to be certain factors,” Barker told the Sunday Herald Sun.
“Those factors are remuneration and the ability to still have a balanced life.
“Those two factors have been squeezed dramatically over the last couple of years.
“Your enjoyment and passion for your vocation is still there, particularly when you are dealing with the development of young footballers.
“But I feel like if things stay the same, they are going to squeeze more good people out of the game.”
Barker, 46, has been involved in AFL football for almost 30 years – as a player with Fitzroy, the Brisbane Lions and Hawthorn, then as an assistant coach at St Kilda, Hawthorn and Carlton.
He has been with the Blues since 2011 in a variety of roles, even as a caretaker coach in 2015 after Mick Malthouse was sacked.
Blues co-skipper Patrick Cripps said Barker had been “a role model for me and for a lot of people, especially the way he connects with people. He is great at building relationships and making people feel valued.
“The care he shows is one of his greatest strengths, it doesn’t matter whether you are a player, a corporate, a coach, or whoever.
“As a coach, he has always had an ability to really be optimistic about your strengths.”
Ed Curnow said Barker had shown the importance of spending time with family during last year’s hub.
“He has always been big on building relationships,” Curnow said. “He got the chance to be our senior coach for half a season and he did a great job then. He’s been a great contributor to the club and will be missed.”
Barker told senior coach David Teague and football boss Brad Lloyd of his decision last Monday. A mutual agreement saw him leave the club during the club’s bye.
He is looking at getting back into the business world, having worked in corporate finance with HSBC and at KPMG in a business advisory group during his playing days. He has a commerce (finance honours) degree.
“I had an ambition to be a senior coach, but I guess once I had a close look at the sheer weight of what the job is now, it just stopped being an ambition of mine,” Barker said.
“It’s all encompassing. I have seen how the role has impacted on people. Where I’m at in my life now, I didn’t think remaining an assistant coach was a good decision family-wise.”
This weekend was the first time in a long while he has a clear mind, free of footy, spending time with his family — wife, Sarah, daughters Charlie (14) and Brodie (12) and son Mac (9).
“I’ve always been upbeat, positive and optimistic and I want to remain that way,” he said. “I think about the number of basketball and footy games I’ve missed over the years and I think my family needs a bit more time.”
A handful of clubs and countless past and present players reached out to him this week.
“I’ve been humbled by the messages I’ve received,” he said.
“One of the things I’ve loved is the strong relationships I made,” he said. “It is why I coached in the first place.”
WHY BARKER IS BACKING TEAGUE TO SUCCEED
David Teague is “a bloody good coach” who is growing in the role and Carlton’s under-fire playing list is ready to start flourishing, according to outgoing Blues’ assistant coach John Barker.
Barker is convinced the Blues are on the right track and can change the narrative of their slow start to 2021 with a strong second half of the season.
Carlton has undertaken a football department review, but Barker is confident the team has a bright future.
“I think Teaguey is a bloody good coach,” Barker said.
“He sees the games really well.
“Covid hasn’t made it easy, but I hope he gets the opportunity in the second half of the year to show his wares and hopefully the boys can respond in kind.”
Barker, who informed the club last Monday that he was looking for a career change, said Blues fans should have faith in the players going forward.
“I do think they are going places, and I will watch them with interest,” he said.
“I enjoyed my time at the club, and that was off the back of some of the young kids they brought in.
“Guys like Patrick Cripps … he is an enormous footballer but also a huge person in terms of the character he has shown for the club.
“Some of those guys have been great for the club. I really don’t think they are far off.”
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Originally published as Carlton 2021: All the latest Blues updates, news ahead of Round 14
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