19. EDDIE BETTS

THE curtain has been drawn on an unprecedented 2020 season for the Navy Blues.

 

Trading Ikon Park for 10 different hotel hubs across Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, it’s been a year we won’t soon forget.

 

With the final siren having rung on the final game, it’s time to look at those who featured in five or more games for Carlton or made their AFL debuts in 2020.

Here’s the year that was for Carlton’s Eddie Betts.

 
GAMES

2020: 15
Career: 331

GOALS

2020: 13
Career: 613

KEY AFL STATISTICS (averages in brackets):

Disposals: 133 (8.9) Marks: 24 (1.6) Contested possessions: 69 (4.6) Tackles: 41 (2.7) Score involvements: 57 (3.8)

OVERVIEW

 

Eddie Betts' return to the Navy Blue was a highlight of 2020 for the Carlton faithful, coming back to the Club where he played 184 games prior to 2014.

 

Betts slotted into the Carlton forward line right where he left off, with his class and experience being invaluable for Carlton’s young forward group.

 

Betts’ ability to set up goals saw him ranked in the top 10 for total goal assists in the league, and he also managed to kick his 300th goal in the Navy Blue.

 

 

In Round 6, Betts showed his class with a four-goal haul against the Bulldogs.

 

With 14 disposals and 10 score involvements to his name, Betts was a menace for the Dogs’ back-line in the 51-point win.

 

In what were slippery conditions on the Gold Coast, Betts did what he’s done better than anyone over the last 15 years, ultimately sealing the game with a goal on the siren to crack the ton.

 

 

Carlton needed a hero to stand up in Round 3 against Geelong, and the returning champion did exactly that.

 

The Blues looked to be home for a memorable win at Kardinia Park against the Cats, before a late flurry saw the home side turn a 42-point deficit into just two points behind on the scoreboard.

 

Having already kicked three goals for the game, Betts sent the ball forward, smothered Harry Taylor and put on the game-winning tackle against Jack Henry.

 

Thirty seconds later, the ball was in Betts’ hands as the siren rang for his first win back as a Blue.

THEY SAID IT

Ahead of a Sir Doug Nicholls Round like no other, Betts paid tribute to the Indigenous greats of the game with a stirring video package on AFL 360.

 

“This game, it makes me smile. It always has,” Betts narrated.“I used to roll up my socks and checkside boomerangs around the house at - no jokes - 12 Boomerang Crescent in Kalgoorlie.

 

Now, I get to kick them all around the country.”