There is no denying the 2012 season didn’t go to plan for the Northern Blues.
Riddled by injuries at their affiliate in Carlton and struggling to win games, the club was dealt another blow when coach Robert Hyde departed mid-year.
But every cloud has a silver lining and after a busy summer the Blues have a new coach in Luke Webster, managed to keep the bulk of their young VFL list, and welcomed a host of new players via Carlton’s selections at the NAB AFL Draft.
Youngsters Nick Graham, Troy Menzel and Tom Temay are likely to spend large chunks in the VFL side this season, and with Sam Rowe back on the park after battling testicular cancer, the Blues have new found depth.
“We should get good service from the Carlton listed boys who have been around for a few years now and are really developing into our senior players at VFL level,” Webster said.
Dylan Buckley, Luke Mitchell, Tom Bell, Pat McCarthy and Matty Watson will all be vying for senior spots this season but will key contributors if they remain in the VFL.
The Blues’ VFL listed players have also had another year in their development and big things are expected from the likes of ruckman Nick Meese and on-ballers Adam Marcon and Kane Lambert.
“Adam Marcon and Kane Lambert finished one and two in our best and fairest last season and have really stepped up in terms of their leadership over the summer, Webster said.
“Paul DiRago in another guy who will be important. He’s a terrific bloke to have around the club and was one of better players in the practice match last week playing key back.”
A quality list of graduates from the Northern Knights is also likely to give the Blues a boost this year with the likes of Anthony Bonaddio expected to lead the way.
Webster said the Northern Blues would be striving to adopt the game plan of new Carlton coach Mick Malthouse.
“We’ll try and mirror the way Carlton are playing where we can,” Webster said.
“Sometimes you aren’t going to have the personnel to be able to do that and obviously some games, depending on who we are playing we will need to make some adjustments.”
After being an assistant at the Blues for two seasons, Webster said he was looking forward to taking the reins this season.
“It’s been a long pre-season and I’m just looking forward to seeing what works and what doesn’t, and what adjustments we might have to make.”
“There’s been some great signs over the pre-season with two goods wins but we also got toweled up by Box Hill. So we’re just focusing on putting in a good performance against Werribee in Round 1.”
Northern Blues
Coach: Luke Webster
2012 Ladder position: 10th (6 wins, 12 losses,)
2012 Best & Fairest: Adam Marcon
Key recruits: Troy Menzel, Tome Temay, Nick Graham (Carlton draft selections)
Key losses: Daniel Toman (Bendigo Gold)
First match: Werribee Tigers, Avalon Airport Oval, April 7
Last Modified on 03/04/2013 15:39