AFL 2024: Adam Cerra opens up on friendship with Sam Walsh and Blues belief
It is no longer Cripps or bust in Carlton’s midfield. GLENN MCFARLANE spoke to Adam Cerra about his combination with Sam Walsh to take the Blues forward - and closer to a flag.
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It’s the competitive footy friendship that is driving two young Carlton midfield stars onto what they hope will be long-awaited success and in the process partly alleviating the long-time reliance the Blues have had on their grand warrior Patrick Cripps.
Adam Cerra and Sam Walsh might have been drafted a year apart, and initially to different sides of the country, but they have come together at IKON Park as almost inseparable midfield mates who are pushing themselves - and their teammates - to the limit.
It’s an emerging connection entering its third season - since Cerra found a new home at the Blues following four impressive years at Fremantle - and it is already starting to pay sizeable dividends.
Off the field, they live around the corner from each other.
They share rides to training, regularly catch up for coffee, and holidayed late last year in Japan with teammate Brodie Kemp and new Saint Paddy Dow.
On the ground, they have formed a strong bond in an evolving Blues’ midfield that is no longer ‘Cripps or bust’, with numerous on-ballers putting hands up to assist in the engine-room slots.
“We are very close,” Cerra, 24, said of his friendship with Walsh.
“We have grown closer over the last couple of years. It definitely helps … the more we train together and the more we spend time together, the closer you get.
“It gives you more trust and a greater predictability on game day, which has to help.”
Cerra was leading the Carlton best-and-fairest at the back end of last season, having excelled when the Blues were struggling at stages of 2023, before an untimely hamstring injury against Collingwood in round 20 left him sidelined leading into the finals series.
“It happened in the Collingwood game just after half-time,” he recalled.
“Obviously, it was my second or third hamstring in two years, so it was quite frustrating.
“But we have a really strong medical team and really supportive staff. (When it happened), you just want to flip the page and get started in rehab to get back as soon as possible.”
Walsh was battling injury at the same time and the good mates spent time in the rehabilitation group as the club was trying to lock away a first September berth in a decade.
“We were both rehabbing pretty much the same injury and doing the same thing every day,” Cerra said.
“Walshy is the ultimate professional and is 100 per cent dedicated and driven to be the best he can be.
“He dragged me along a bit in rehab. I saw how hard he worked … I wasn’t surprised he performed so well in the finals.”
Walsh was the star of the Blues’ finals campaign, winning the Gary Ayres Medal as the AFL’s best player in September.
Cerra, too, seamlessly came back from his injury to play a role in Carlton’s rollicking finals wins over Sydney and Melbourne before a preliminary final near-miss against Brisbane.
“As professional athletes, I think you are hardwired to be competitive, not only with others, but with yourself,” Cerra said.
“I have seen it (with Walshy) whether it is playing FIFA or table tennis … he just hates losing and I am the same.
“I don’t like losing in anything and I guess that has helped both of us get to where we are.”
DEALING WITH EXPECTATIONS
Cerra knew it would be big, but until it actually happened, he couldn’t have appreciated the magnitude of just how loud the Carlton crowd would be in the finals cauldron.
Even now, five months on, it still brings a smile to his face and a steely resolve to experience again what he did during last September … but for at least one more week.
“It surprised me a bit,” he said of the roar of the Navy Blue army.
“I knew it was a big club, but each week it seemed to go to another level. It is addictive. You cannot wait until game day. We love it. We definitely don’t take it for granted.
“You know who you represent when you pull on the jumper. It is a large Carlton community and we know they will show up in numbers and we feed off their energy.”
He said the roar of the Carlton fans in the dying moments of the semi-final win over Melbourne last year was almost intoxicating, and says it helped the Blues get over the line.
“Those are the games you want to play in,” he said.
“Those are the ‘pinch yourself’ moments, playing in front of all those Carlton fans.
“Those last two minutes (against Melbourne) were incredible.
“I was grateful to be back out there playing big games in front of big crowds and to nearly go all the way (to a grand final) has made us a very hungry and humble group. We are keen to go again.”
The Blues’ season ended with a 16-point preliminary final loss to Brisbane at the Gabba, but only after a stunning first term that almost pinched the game.
“It was a really tight contest (against the Lions) and they obviously got the win,” he said.
“We came together as a group (after the match) … we want to be back there. It lit the fire in the belly to go again.”
But Cerra knows that with the success of last season comes the expectation from the fans - and the footy world - to back it up and potentially go further in 2024.
“We know it is coming,” he said of the expectation from outside the club.
“We can’t hide from it. I think it is important for us to set our internal standards and values.
“Outside of the football club, there will be a lot of people putting pressure on us, but they are looking at different things to what we are looking at.
“We know results and ladder positions will look after themselves if we get our standards and our processes right.”
GETTING BETTER
Cerra says he and the Blues have plenty of scope to improve in 2024, and insists they are working as hard as they can to ensure it happens.
His two focuses of the pre-season - at least from an individual sense - have been power and durability.
“They are the things I have gone after,” he said.
“I think you would ask most AFL players and they are not satisfied with themselves.
“I am always looking to push the envelope and find the next thing to do to go to the next level. To me, it is my power inside the contest and my durability (which can fast-track him even further as a player).
“I want to play 22-plus games each year. I am not much help to the team if I am off the park. I have done a few different things this pre-season which I can hopefully see the benefit of.”
Cerra has played 116 games across six seasons, with his 22 from last year the most he has played in a season.
He was particularly important during the season when Carlton was on a losing streak, winning 30-plus disposals in a number of those games.
“We play to win and I play to win,” he said. “I don’t play to have 30 …”
Cerra ended up being fourth in the Blues’ best and fairest after a hugely consistent season, and led the count late in the year before missing three crucial games.
“I have a lot of confidence in my game, but I am never satisfied,” he said. “You want to get better and better each year and every year you find new things to work on.”
COMPETITION FOR SPOTS
Cerra is confident some new faces rolling through the midfield and the return of rebounding defender Zac Williams can also ensure the Blues keep getting better.
“We are a very close group,” he said.
“The impressive part is a lot of us have only been together for a year or two, and we do spend a lot of time together off the track.”
“In the second half of the (2023) year, our ability to roll with different players through the midfield gave the opposition something different to deal with.
“Even now, the likes of Ollie Hollands and Jack Carroll have been training really well in the contest. Sam Docherty is as well.
“The competition for spots (all over the ground) is as hard as it has been. Elijah Hollands has been strong and Orazio Fantasia has played a lot of footy.
“Zac Williams is like a No.1 draft pick coming in. He is back in full training drills and he is one of the top players in the competition as a defender who uses the ball (off half-back).
“The mixture of different boys and the tight-knit feel of the group means everyone feels as if they can come in and play a role.”
That’s why he feels so sad for forward Jack Silvagni who suffered a ruptured ACL last month and will miss the entire 2024 season.
But he said it would open up a new opportunity for another player.
“We have wrapped our arms around him (Silvagni),” he said.
“It is obviously upsetting for Jack. But we know he is still going to contribute. He is such a strong leader.
Having been a passionate Liverpool fan in the English Premier League, Cerra is still digesting the news about manager Jurgen Klopp’s decision to depart the club at season’s end.
“I was a bit upset for the first night, but I guess that era has to end at some point,” Cerra said.
He’s hoping the Blues’ era of success is just getting started and he says his coach Michael Voss - who was under intense pressure at stages of last year - has been the catalyst for what unfolded in the back half of last season.
“The tightness of the group stems from him,” he said of Voss.
“His ability to get a playing group to buy into the process and the game plan has been extraordinary.
“Even if you look at the tough patch we had last year (with six successive losses from rounds eight to 13), and how he was facing a bit of heat … the fact that the playing group stayed so connected and so tight is a credit to him.
“We all love playing for him and are motivated to play for him.
“It is almost like we have been battle-hardened by our experiences.”
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