Carlton chief Cain Liddle says Blues desperate to retain Marc Murphy as club eyes more talent
WITH Patrick Cripps and Charlie Curnow all but signed, Carlton will now try to re-sign skipper Marc Murphy as well as eye the trade and free agency market in its bid to bolster its list.
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CARLTON chief executive Cain Liddle says the willingness of the club’s young stars to re-sign shows the Blues are building a base for success.
Liddle said the Blues had made clear to free agent and captain Marc Murphy how desperate they were to keep him.
After drafting a long list of kids with high draft picks they will now move into an aggressive trade and free agency position.
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Young stars Patrick Cripps and Charlie Curnow will soon follow the lead of re-signed juniors Paddy Dow, Lochie O’Brien, Zac Fisher, Jacob Weitering and Tom Williamson.
The Blues will take on Fremantle on Saturday believing their injury curse will soon ease, with Jarrod Pickett returning through the VFL.
Caleb Marchbank is only a week from returning after ankle issues, while Levi Casboult (ribs) and Matthew Kennedy (ankle) could play at AFL or VFL level this weekend.
The Blues must support Cripps in the midfield and work to address the mid-20s list hole but have the salary cap and inclination to do it.
Liddle said the Blues had all options available to general manager of list and strategy Steve Silvagni and his team.
“When you think of Dow and O’Brien and Fisher and Weitering, for that core group of talented young players to all extend really willingly says to me we are on the right track and doing the right things,’’ Liddle said.
“We wanted to go to three drafts and it would appear we have done a really good job of that and now we need to move to a more balanced approach.
“We will continue to go to the draft but we will look to fill that age profile issue of players between 24-26.
“How SOS chooses to do that and what players he goes for is completely up to him.
“We could finish anywhere from 6-8 different ladder positions so that will really crystallise our strategy.”
Asked if supporting Cripps was a key priority, Liddle said Silvagni and list manager Mick Agresta had carte blanche on the list.
“I have complete faith in the really good people in that area to make sure we build the best list possible,” he said.
Agresta has been brought in from Sydney as list manager, with ex-GWS recruiter Paul Brodie responsible for the club’s drafting of young players.
Carlton handed over its 2018 second-round pick in the Bryce Gibbs deal but has Adelaide’s second round pick as well as the Dogs second-round pick.
On current ladder position it has picks one, 23 and 27, giving it a solid hand if it wants to draft, trade or acquire free agents given plentiful salary cap room.
The Blues are determined to retain Marc Murphy but given they want to be free agency players are aware he also has the right to leave under that mechanism.
Ideally the Blues would be in good enough shape by the end of next year to secure a huge star along of the calibre of Dylan Shiel to fast-track their finals aspirations.
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