FOUR years ago, Patrick Cripps and Sam Docherty presented an 18-year-old Sam Walsh with his very first Navy Blue guernsey.
Last week, the trio again stood together – this time on the podium for the 2022 John Nicholls Medal.
For third-placed Walsh, standing alongside two teammates he can call both role models and best mates was simply surreal.
“If you had have told me four years later I'd be standing next to them, I’d be pretty pumped,” Walsh said.
“It puts it all into perspective. They’re the guys to look up to, complete professionals but they’re such good blokes as well and there's no mistake as to why they get to the level that they are.
"They work hard and I feel they have the Club's best interests at heart and at the end of the day, that's all you can ask.”
The feeling was mutual for second-place getter Sam Docherty, who had no shortage of praise for Walsh.
“I'm incredibly proud of him,” Docherty said of Walsh.
“Being a running player, I have a great respect for other runners and there's probably none better in a two-way capacity in the league than ‘Walshy’.
“Bloody proud of his career so far and we just laughed before, 'Crippa's' got four but when he goes down, I think 'Walshy' will start to peg them back a bit.”
On an individual note, Docherty exceeded his own expectations just by playing out the duration of the season.
“It's been a massive year, to say the least,” Docherty said.
“I didn't think I'd be playing the whole year in the end. I'm incredibly proud of the year that I've been able to produce and losing to a Brownlow Medallist, you can probably cop that on the chin.”
While celebrating and acknowledging individual achievements was important, the success of the team remains central – and from Walsh’s perspective, the best is still to come.
“From the start I just loved my time at Carlton and obviously this year there were a few challenges involved, but probably the most successful from a team point of view and that's why you play footy,” Walsh said.
“I think the strength of this group is that we’re still trying to find the mix of it all and we've got a full pre-season to work at that.”
It was a sentiment that was echoed by Docherty.
“It's been an amazing year, an amazing winner in 'Crippa', but hopefully we can play in the finals next year and it will be much better,” he said.
“It’s exciting times at the footy club. It's early days in 'Walshy's' career and in probably the infancy of our group. I'm running the top end, so hopefully we can grab a flag before I'm finished.”
In a year where the Carlton faithful broke yet another membership record, Docherty said he felt the support like never before.
“I love our fans and I love our community in the AFL and I got to experience the best of it last year, which has been something that I'm incredibly grateful for.”
To have everyone gathered in the one room for the first time since 2019 was the icing on the cake.
“We haven't had one of these nights in a long time. It's been very interesting, everyone's been very excited to have everyone back here, which has been awesome,” Docherty said.
“Hopefully we can have many more in the years to come.”
