AS CARLTON returned for another pre-season camp on the Sunshine Coast, there was at least a little room for sentimentality for Matthew Cottrell.

After all, with 2024 entering its final weeks, it’s still five calendar years since Cottrell was told he’d live out his boyhood desire of being on the list of the Carlton Football Club.

“Back where the dream was realised. Staying at the same hotel, the Mantra Mooloolaba - the little patch of grass where we did our first interview. I might have to sit back out there to run it back, ponder in my own time.

“I might call Dad again to see if he gives me anything. Did he give much back then? Did I? I don’t think either of us did.”

It was at 5pm on 8 February 2019 where the Blues officially announced that Cottrell - along with former Blue Michael Gibbons - were joining the Club for the 2019 season. It was also at around 10am on 8 February 2019 where Cottrell was being rushed for scans, after a collision at training saw Will Setterfield fall awkwardly across his leg.

“The Club was really caring - I figured out why later, they wanted to sign me and didn’t know if I’d done any damage to the knee or ankle.

“Fortunately the scans came up clear and here we are - laughing about it in the same place seven years later.”

Those scans were clear that day, but it was in 2024 - where Cottrell had put together his best 18 months of football - where frustration set in.

Cottrell had proven to be a crucial part of Carlton’s forward mix in an often-unrewarded role in modern football, that of the high half-forward. It’s not always Cottrell’s role to get plenty of the ball, or to kick goals all of the time, but rather be in the right spot positionally, work hard on defence and then make the most of whatever opportunities he gets going forward.

In what Cottrell thought was a throwaway line in an interview with the AFL’s Riley Beveridge, he mentioned that it’s not a sexy role - that nobody comes to the football to watch Matthew Cottrell. It’s a line that has followed him ever since.

“I’m doubling down on it, it’s not the sexiest role. The quote went everywhere - but it’s true, isn’t it?”

It may not be the most glamorous of positions, but it’s the kind of role that is so highly regarded internally at IKON Park. Cottrell was feeling that love, until injuries hit.

“It was pretty frustrating,” the often-jovial Cottrell said. “I felt I had a really good body of work behind me, so to break down just before the bye was disappointing. Then to come back, start feeling pretty good and fresh heading into finals before doing a shoulder, to watch the boys and have players dropping, yeah it was frustrating.

“I went six years without having any surgery, then within two weeks I had two. I had a little ankle clean-out but obviously the shoulder was the main one. I’ve got a lot of sympathy for anyone who’s done a shoulder: if you ever see someone with a sore shoulder in public, please give them a hand.

“Even though it was a challenging year, hopefully I can put some smiles on faces.”

Cottrell can’t help but crack a smile even when he’s talking about his own frustrations. It’s just in his make-up.

From the young man who walked into IKON Park that didn’t say a word, he’s now happy to pass the baton over - having finally graduated out of Tom De Koning’s pocket.

“It probably took me a while to come out from under my shell, you wouldn’t see me by myself all that much early days - I was hanging onto TDK. We were inseparable, but we’ve finally broken up - I was keen to get out and live with my partner, but it was actually a bit sad leaving him.

“You know you’re old when you’re asked to have one of the younger fellas move in. Harry Charleson has with me - he has stepped up immediately and taken on the energy-giver role around the boys like a duck to water. I’m happy to step back and watch him go about his business.”

For the initial purposes of the conversation, Cottrell goes with his formal name. But it becomes very clear that Charleson is not to be known as Harry from this point forward.

“Garry Charleson, that’s what he’s saved in my phone as.

“During the highlights of when the new draftees came in, there were already a couple of Harrys. Charleson was the last to come up, and Mitch McGovern just yelled out “Garry”. It stuck.”

After what promised to be such a promising year for Cottrell and the Blues, the pre-Christmas block has provided the perfect chance to set the foundation and set up what wants to be achieved in 2025 and beyond. For now, with the players and wider Club in its Christmas shutdown period, there’s the chance to take a step back and recharge the batteries.

For Cottrell, that involves the five-hour drive to Omeo to visit his dad’s farm. Not that Matthew will be complaining about the trip, given it’s the one his dad makes at least once a month to watch his son play for the Club which grandfather Len represented in the 1950s.

“He still loves it. He makes the trip down once a month to watch the footy - but you can tell he’s itching to get back to the cows every time he’s there. Not Lachie Cowan, his actual cows.

“He’s got a farm with about 35 of them, they’re his kids at the moment. He knows them all, he doesn’t have to check the name tag: he just knows them by face. Some of them are named after a few old Carlton players.”

Could that be what’s in the offing for Cottrell post-career? After all, a teammate who started in the same year as now made him ask questions about his footballing mortality.

“‘Walshy’ said the other day that he’s a veteran, so I guess that means we both are. Even though I’m now a 24-year-old veteran, hopefully it’s a long way away - having my own farm somewhere would be nice.

“‘King’ would be surfing in the dam. Luke Parks is staying away from it, he’d probably burn it down by accident. Garry Charleson, he’s from Ballarat, so might know what he’s doing - he can bring the good vibes.”