...(oo-er!)
There's an article in today's Age newspaper about Brad Hodge being unlucky not to have played more games for Australia.....and it got me thinking about footballers who were unlucky not to have been given more games with Carlton.
Sometimes a player is at the wrong club at the wrong time, or for whatever reason seems to miss out on selection while other players get chance after chance....
Here's a few players that come to mind that I always felt were a bit "Hodged" by the Carlton MC:
Ryan Jackson - showed enough potential at AFL level to get more games than he did IMO (especially given we were a weak side at the time). I remember him doing a good tagging job on Robert Harvey in 2007 but he fell out of favour shortly after that. I recall him being not overly quick or skilful by AFL standards, but he was a nice size for a midfielder, could find the footy and had good endurance. I remember him being on the receiving end of a few choice 'sprays' from David Teague at VFL huddles in 2008, so perhaps a failure to follow the coaches instructions was his downfall. According to the Blueseum, he never played in a winning Carlton side - http://www.blueseum.org/tiki-index.php? ... an+Jackson
Darren Pfeiffer - kicked a lovely goal at the death to get us over the line against Freo at the Dome in 2008, but was dropped the next week and only played one more game for us (against a rampaging Dawks in Rd 22 of that year). Injuries didn't help him, but he was a player that I thought could have been picked more often in his time with us. Tough, hard-at-it midfielder/forward who had been a first round draft pick for Adelaide before he came to us. There was some speculation about his attitude/off-field conduct, which perhaps might have been a contributing factor to him not playing more senior games... http://www.blueseum.org/tiki-index.php? ... n+Pfeiffer
Peter Kenny – a player that I had a soft spot for in the mid-80s. He was a medium size forward with excellent goal sense who came to us from Canberra as a mature age recruit. It was a tough gig to score a spot in our forward line at the time. Nevertheless, I thought there were times he should have been picked and wasn’t. http://www.blueseum.org/tiki-index.php?page=Peter+Kenny
Chris Bond – 17 years before Shaun Grigg, a young feisty midfielder/defender left Carlton to seek more opportunities at Richmond... Chris Bond went on to have a good career and be an AFL captain. I was always disappointed that we didn’t manage to keep Bond by finding a role for him in the senior side. It was tough at the time because we had Diesel, Ratten & Brown and players didn’t rotate anywhere near as much in those days, but he would have been very handy to have in the 90s (who wouldn’t have preferred to have him in the ’93 GF side ahead of, say, Mark Athorn or a 32 year old Tom Alvin?), particularly with his leadership qualities. http://www.blueseum.org/tiki-index.php?page=Chris+Bond
Ben Robertson – small midfielder/forward who did OK in the 3 AFL games he was given (off the bench) in ’92. Showed plenty of promise in the reserves over ’92-’94 seasons but couldn’t crack it for a spot. Brent Heaver’s emergence during this period probably kept him out of the team, but I always thought Ben (Ian’s nephew) was a bit stiff not to get more opportunities. http://www.blueseum.org/tiki-index.php? ... +Robertson
Paul McCormick – tough midfielder/defender from the old VFA who put in some impressive performances for Carlton in the early ‘90s. His aggressive style made him popular with supporters, and he had a decent leap on him from memory too, but he never seemed able to hold down a regular spot. He ironed out a few opponents along the way (got reported in his 1st game at Carrara under lights against the Brisbane Bears). He went on to have a good career in the SANFL. http://www.blueseum.org/tiki-index.php? ... +McCormack
I'm not suggesting these blokes would have been champions, but I think they weren't exactly spoilt for chances by the MC.
Are there any other players that YOU think were unlucky not to be given more opportunities...?
