Carlton coach Michael Voss has confirmed big-money Blues Mitch McGovern and Jack Martin have shrugged off injury concerns and will face Richmond in Thursday night’s AFL season-opener.
McGovern (back) and Martin (calf) will play despite interrupted pre-seasons, while small forward Corey Durdin will miss with his hamstring injury.
The pair’s clearance to play comes amid an opening-round sideline distraction, with Voss joking that a smash and grab job at the Blues’ headquarters, which were broken into with player jerseys stolen on the eve of the AFL season, could have been a “Richmond person”.
McGovern had been in doubt after he missed the Blues’ official practice match against Sydney due to the birth of his child. He took part in a VFL trial last week along with Martin.
McGovern and Martin were lucrative signings in successive seasons in 2019 and 2020, but both have struggled with continuity at the Blues.
McGovern has played just 12 senior games in the past two seasons, while Martin managed 12 in 2022.
“(McGovern will) play; he’s been able to complete a fair bit of work, particularly over the last month and he’s got a couple of games under his belt so he’s ready to go,” Voss said.
“Same with Jack Martin; he continues to get the work under his belt as well, so they will be available and able to play.”
Vice-captain Sam Walsh is back into skills training and is set to reach full fitness in the coming weeks as he pushes for a return after round four.
Voss said Walsh is a good place mentally after some early frustration with his back injury, but he still has milestones to tick off before he will join skipper Patrick Cripps at the coalface.
“I think earlier he was frustrated but now he has now got a pretty clear path on where he’s at and how he’s feeling,” Voss said.
“Even just chatting to him yesterday he is in a great place and he knows he is going to have a good impact on the season..”
Voss remained tight-lipped on whether the Blues would name Tom De Koning and Marc Pittonet to take on Tigers ruckman Toby Nankervis and indicated the club’s ruck selection calls could change by the week depending on their opposition.
He said the Blues would look to focus on their strengths amid the looming threat of Dustin Martin, but that levers could be pulled to quell his influence if he gets on top.
“We’ve made a call (on the rucks), but we won’t say anything,” Voss said.
“It’s not just the simplicity of ‘are you playing two rucks’, there’s a lot of thought that does go into it.
“We’ve been pretty clear that we want to get it right; if that means being able to have a bit more attention on Dusty to get that job done, then we’ll do that, but if it needs to go somewhere else, then we’re prepared to do that as well.”
The Blues coach said he is unsure how his team would use the new medical substitute rules, which allows clubs to activate their 23rd player at any change of the game regardless of an injury, saying it would depend on the game situation.
He suggested poor form and whether they wish to sub off a “ruck or a runner” within a game would also be factored into their call.
“It throws up a few options for us, that’s for sure. But being able to now do it when you want to do it obviously changes it potentially, but you’ve also got to be pretty careful that you’re not too cute with it as well,” he said.
“All things going well you can plan for that but worst case we have to consider whether that’s a ruck or a runner; we’ve got to be able to plan that out and obviously you put a few what ifs around certain players.
“But at the end of the day, if players aren’t playing well, that obviously changes our thinking as well.”
Voss said it became clear over the practice matches that Ollie Hollands and Lachie Cowan would debut in round 1 after their “standout” pre-season form, with Hollands tipped to play on a wing and Cowan off halfback against the Tigers.
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