How the Blues kept Tom De Koning as 2023 season restarted
It seemed almost a formality that young Blues ruck Tom De Koning would walk after 2023, tempted by huge offers from rivals, then it all changed, but how did it change so quickly?
Carlton was waiting for the phone call to confirm the inevitable.
As another wasted season drifted on and the offers for Tom De Koning grew crazier by the week, it seemed only a matter of time.
The headline would have gone like this: De Koning talks on hold ahead of season-ending departure.
How could it end any differently given Sydney, St Kilda and Geelong all had significant levels of interest that would force him to give up millions in guaranteed cash to stay?
And yet one spark of hope kept flickering as Carlton’s season gradually gained equilibrium.
The kid loves the joint.
He valued the time invested in him from captain Patrick Cripps on their midweek surf trips and the bond he had developed across six years with teammates including close mate Brodie Kemp.
As one Carlton source said on Thursday: “At one stage we were resigned to losing him. The offers were just too good. But the underlying thing was he always wanted to stay”.
Carlton’s self-destructive season didn’t help matters, as De Koning was dropped, then concussed in the VFL as the newly re-signed Marc Pittonet took over in the ruck.
And yet if one quarter against Gold Coast saved Michael Voss’s career, there was De Koning also shaping his own destiny with a career-altering hot streak.
His two-goal, 10-contested possession, 17 hit-outs that day against the Suns was followed by seven clearances against Port Adelaide then 19 touches and nine clearances against West Coast.
Within the space of 72 hours after that round 19 win over West Coast he had gone from wavering to newly re-signed on a two-year deal estimated to be just over $600,000 a season.
The deal happened in a flash — brokered quickly between agent Robbie D’Orazio and Carlton list boss Nick Austin — but with the Blues desperate to keep him and De Koning keen to stay the contract complexities quickly melted away.
It gives him two years to either establish his career as a one-club Carlton loyalist or make obscene amounts as one of the few genuine ruck-forwards on the open market.
On Friday night with Harry McKay and Jack Martin out of that Carlton forward line, a player who still remains a conundrum can convert that potential into reality.
He must compete in the ruck against Max Gawn, he must bring the ball to ground when stationed forward against the game’s best intercepting pair in Steven May and Jake Lever.
For all the potential, De Koning still has only seven goals in 17 games this year.
He has taken only seven marks inside 50 all year playing a 69-31 per cent ruck-forward split.
Of the top 100 players for inside 50 targets he is 85th for retention.
And yet he averages 3.8 clearances per game as a follow-up ruckman who has enjoyed a 9-2 win-loss record when playing with Pittonet this year.
What Carlton has found is that instead of rucking rivals De Koning and Pittonet are a dream pairing.
Pittonet wrestles and crashes and bashes against an elite ruckman like Gawn to soften them up before spring-heeled De Koning over them with his athletic gifts.
Carlton’s triple premiership centre half forward Robert Walls has watched from close — as well as afar — in recent years and believes De Koning is ready to break out as a star.
“I was there (as an adviser) in 2019 when Matty Kreuzer was rucking and I remember their ruck coach Hamish McIntosh was saying, “This kid is going to be something special”,” he said on Thursday.
“His development has been a little slow and his brother’s premiership (Sam at Geelong) might have lit a fire in him, but I am just so pleased Carlton have been able to re-sign him. I don’t know why he wasn’t getting a game early in the year but when other clubs were looking at him, there were just so many signs he was going to become a really good player. He has a lot of strings to his bow. He is brave, which is important in the ruck. He is athletic, he has a good leap and he competes well as a ruckman. If they keep playing him forward he will eventually become a good player there, and I just think he’s got a real driving ambition.”
De Koning has the chance to be the player opponent Melbourne was so desperately looking for when Luke Jackson departed — a bona fide ruck-forward presence.
North Melbourne premiership player Corey McKernan was one of the few to master that combination and he believes De Koning can put that talent on show against Melbourne.
“I don’t buy this whole argument about people maturing. It is too easy to give people an out. I subscribe to the theory that if you are picked in a side, you are there to perform. None of this: “We will give you time”. The time is now. Who knows what will happen next year,” McKernan said.
“Carlton is riding a wave and it is a massive moment for him. Imagine if he dominates a final. Sends the club into a preliminary final in front of a massive crowd. You could use that moment forever.”
As a close observer of De Koning, McKernan says the 24-year-old should be unleashed against Max Gawn early.
“I would start him in the centre bounce,” he said.
“Let him rip, let him really have a crack at Max Gawn. Get aggressive and hunt the footy and then throw him forward. If my follow-up work was good, it was nearly always the cornerstone to me playing well. Get into the game, get a few touches and then fly for his marks and take his opportunities.”
McKernan says De Koning has the chance to become every bit as valuable and destructive as Fremantle’s $900,000-a-year tall Jackson if he can realise his massive potential.
He says De Koning only needs to compete in the air to allow Charlie Curnow the one-on-one chances that he will surely capitalise on.
“I am a huge fan of Charlie Curnow. Not to be dramatic, but I have never seen such a blend of Buddy Franklin and Wayne Carey rolled into one. He gets on his bike like Buddy up the ground and then he can stay at home like ‘Duck’ and mark it,” McKernan said.
Another triple premiership Carlton hero in Mark Maclure agrees De Koning only needs to play a selfless role to allow Curnow to shine.
“Seriously, he has got to help Charlie. They will double team him all the time. Let me tell you, if he gets a chance Charlie will chew up Steven May. He is a star. He’s like Jezza (Alex Jesaulenko), he’s freaky,” Maclure said.
“He is a really good kid and he played against Gawn last time and did really well. He has a crack and he’s young and he’s brave. So he needs to play forward with Curnow and just compete and that’s all he needs to do.”
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