Why Stephen Silvagni’s tenure as Carlton list manager will be remembered as a success
The jury is still out on his GWS recruiting experiment, but Stephen Silvagni’s tenure as Carlton list manager will be remembered as a success. Jon Ralph explains why.
Carlton
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Few list managers have had their fingerprints over a more comprehensive overhaul of a non-expansion list than Steven Silvagni.
As he approaches the November 27-28 national and pre-season draft period many believe will be his last at Carlton, the change in five seasons is nothing short of extraordinary.
Of the 44 players on the Carlton list — including two of his sons — only seven of them were at Carlton before he arrived in 2015.
Those players are Liam Jones, Sam Docherty, Ed Curnow, Patrick Cripps, Matthew Kreuzer, Levi Casboult and Kade Simpson.
There are plenty of misses in his list of trades and the question of whether this side will become a premiership contender depends on turning potential into reality.
Can Charlie Curnow become great or just merely good, can No. 3 pick Paddy Dow blossom, can Jacob Weitering elevate into an All Australian defender after this year’s sixth in the John Nicholls Medal?
But if this is Silvagni’s curtain call after exactly five seasons at Ikon Park, only the churlish would begrudge the job he has done.
A million five-year plans at clubs like Melbourne, Richmond and St Kilda have turned into the punchline for a sick joke, as clubs bottom out only to realise they are no closer to the promised land than when they started.
The Carlton team that will run out for David Teague next year is stacked with A-grade talent, has depth to burn in every position bar small forward and should legitimately believe finals are a realistic starting point.
He could scarcely have done more to maximise what should be a five-to-seven year window of opportunity.
Silvagni’s demise has been predicted for months, with CEO Cain Liddle failing to guarantee his job as far back as June.
If he does leave Carlton as predicted, it will be because he and the club have simply worn on each other.
Silvagni and sacked coach Brendon Bolton butted heads over the game plan and selection integrity.
His son Jack Silvagni was out of Bolton’s team for the first month before putting together his best season.
List management decisions on Brandon Ellis and Eddie Betts came with plenty of internal argy bargy.
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And with Mick Agresta the official list manager but Silvagni his boss with a fancier title but still effectively the list boss, tension bubbled to the surface.
But the sum of the parts of Silvagni’s overhaul has to be a massive tick.
Few clubs have stockpiled such an array of 24-and-under talent as Carlton’s enviable list: Patrick Cripps, Caleb Marchbank, Curnow, Weitering, Harry McKay, Sam Walsh, Sam Petrevski-Seton, Zac Fisher, Paddy Dow, Liam Stocker, Lochie O’Brien.
The failures have stood out: Carlton traded Zach Tuohy to Geelong where he has played 66 exceptional games (and is still only 29), with Billie Smedts quickly long gone.
In truth many of the GWS arrivals got to Carlton before Silvagni arrived, but on the whole the Blues haven’t struck paydirt.
Marchbank could yet be a star, Lochie Plowman finished third in this year’s b-and-f, while Matt Kennedy and Will Setterfield have promise.
But none of Jarrod Pickett, Liam Sumner, Jed Lamb, Rhys Palmer or proved anything close to game-changers for the Blues.
So if Silvagni walks away having secured another young star with pick nine and Jack Martin as a pre-season pick, he will feel vindicated in the decisions he has made.