Levi Casboult continues transformation from whipping boy to poster boy with three goals in Carlton’s win over Adelaide

Levi Casboult has been one of the Carlton players who has enjoyed a form revival under David Teague, going from a Blues whipping boy to one of the club’s poster boys.

Levi Casboult climbs above Tyson Stengle to mark. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

Levi Casboult is the poster boy for Carlton in many ways.

Some would say he’s been the whipping boy also but Casboult’s career rollercoaster reflects his team’s journey with both finding themselves in a happy place for the first time in a long while.

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“Early days when I was in and out of the side a little bit we played some decent footy,” Casboult said.

“But not since I have been a regular member have we played this consistently this well and felt this good after a game.”

He has every reason to have a big smile on his face given he again played an important role with three goals in caretaker coach David Teague’s fifth win from seven games.

At the end of last year Casboult was out of the side which forced him to think about his career.

Levi Casboult celebrates one of his three goals against Adelaide. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos.

“I got dropped at the end of last year so I had to have a big think about what I wanted to get out of footy,” he said.

“At the end of the day we are all guys who play footy because we love it. So I just tried to get back to loving footy and just having some fun wherever it was.

“Obviously the year didn’t start out how I wanted it but I knew there were 22 games in the year so if I just stuck at it, just kept putting my head down and working hard, we’d see what happens and here we are.”

Casboult started this year knowing he was coming out of contract and when he wasn’t picked in the opening two rounds the wheels could have easily fallen off.

“I was 28 at the end of last year, I finished the year out of the side and we have got some young talented talls that were pushing for a spot so I knew I just had to keep working hard,” he said.

“As long as I was having fun and I kept putting my hand up, I knew I couldn’t control anything else.”

Levi Casboult soaks up the win with a couple of young fans post-match. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

An injury to Liam Jones early in the season saw Casboult shifted into defence which sparked his resurrection.

“I thought early in the year I was playing OK footy, my one-wood is my marking and I just wasn’t quite marking it like I used to,” he said.

“Going behind the ball sort of freed it up a bit, you don’t have a defender trying to put you off and you sort of see everything a bit better.

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“I got a bit of confidence from that and it carries on from there.”

That has certainly been the case with his goalkicking, so often an issue for the 120-game veteran, on song yesterday with two perfect set shots in as many minutes turning the game in the second quarter.

He then produced one of the highlights of the day with a running goal from 50m in the third quarter.

Levi Casboult climbs above Tyson Stengle to mark. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

“It’s something I always have to work on. Going back might have been good for that too as I just didn’t have that many shots on goal,” Casboult explained.

“I was kicking a lot of footies around the ground because that’s what defenders do but I just didn’t have the shots on goal and maybe sometimes less is more.”

He doesn’t have an answer to two of the bigger questions in his world — What is the reason for the turnaround under Teague? And when is a new contract coming his way?

“I don’t know what has changed, obviously some game plan tweaks which maybe was just the change we needed,” he said.

“Nothing against Bolts, he had a lot of good ideas and got us going in the right direction but maybe we needed something else to go the next step.”

And the contract?

“I just want to play good footy and the rest will look after itself. There are still four games left so I want to focus on finishing off the year well. I’ve been around a while so I know the rest takes care of itself.”