Carlton coach Brendon Bolton defends Dale Thomas and insists the club does not buy into criticism

CARLTON coach Brendon Bolton has thrown his support behind embattled Blue Dale Thomas and hailed his leadership skills after he came in for plenty of criticism post Round 1.

Thursday, March 23 Carlton vs. Richmond (MCG) (N) Dale Thomas Picture: Wayne Ludbey

CARLTON coach Brendon Bolton has thrown his support behind embattled Blue Dale Thomas, saying the leadership and direction he is providing to the young group is making just as big an impact as his own output on the field.

Thomas came in for plenty of criticism following the Blues’ Round 1 loss to Richmond, but Bolton said it had no impact inside the club, saying the veteran was playing an important role in developing young talent.

“He is really resilient, he has been in the game a long time and as a club we support everybody both on and off the field — always,” Bolton said when asked about Thomas’ reaction to the media attention focused on him.

Brendon Bolton has thrown his support behind embattled Blue Dale Thomas

“With all due respect, we don’t buy into the criticism, we just worry about the way we need to go about it.”

Bolton said he had spoken to Thomas this week, as he had with all of the Blues who played last week, and he was confident the 29-year-old would respond as required in Sunday’s clash against Melbourne.

“I talk to every player about their form weekly,” he said. “One thing I know about Dale is that he is working incredibly hard, running incredibly hard, and he is investing in our youngsters.

“Dale, like all of our team, is working on (his) consistency from quarter to quarter.”

Bolton said Thomas was playing an important role in working with the club’s young players to make sure their development occurs at a more rapid rate.

“We have turned this list over and in the last few years we have gone to the draft heavily ... (but) it is always a balance of making sire we have got experience around those players,” he said.

“He, like ‘Murph’, Gibbs and Simpson, even Docherty and Cripps, who are younger, are really helping our youngsters.

“Daisy contributes in meetings, he is a 200-plus game player, he is a premiership player. Those words of wisdom and contributions in meetings and things like that are gold for us as a footy club.”

Bolton said the Blues named an unchanged team for the clash with the Demons as he wanted to put faith in the young group he selected last week, but conceded exciting young forward Harry McKay was knocking on the door for selection after kicking four goals in a VFL practice game last week.