IN three years of serious player turnover – 42 list changes to be precise - Matthew Wright has perhaps remained the genuine Carlton constant. What a servant he has been in the 55 senior matches since his delisting after 94 solid appearances for Adelaide.
Speaking to Brad Hardie, Tony Leonard and Tony Shaw on Macquarie Sports Radio, the 28 year-old small forward dealt with a series of topical issues, beginning with the team’s most recent outing to the SCG and the 30-point loss to the Swans.
In reflecting on the outcome, Wright conveyed genuine disappointment. As he said: “We walk away from the game pretty disappointed to be honest”.
“We think we’re better than a team that can accept the honourable losses and the score got away from us a little bit late,” Wright said.
“When you’re trying to chase the game I suppose you can go safe and go down by two or three goals or you can throw everything at them and sometimes you come unstuck.
“We missed some shots in the third quarter, myself included, and bad kicking is bad footy, then they went down the other end and kicked three or four – and that’s pretty much the game there.”
Wright negotiated the interview with the same genuine no-nonsense approach that marked his time at Adelaide and continues to mark his time up front at Carlton.
These then are the thoughts of Chairman Matt;
On life as a small forward
The game does evolve pretty quickly (and) the small forward role and even the key forward role to a degree has gone . . . you’re part of a whole team defence which involves you getting up the ground and you find yourself beyond 50 looking up and thinking ‘Gee, I’m a long way from goal, I’m not sure I’m going to be able to kick it from 80 out’.
But that’s part of the team role and about finding the balance of being able to defend and then being able to get forward and impacting the scoreboard.
On the team finding more goals
Midfielders who kick goals are just gold for any team and if we can get a couple of them squeezing forward at times . . .
Big ‘Crippa’ (Patrick Cripps) has been able to do that but has also been very valuable for us in the midfield, so we don’t want to take him out of there too often, but yes, scoring for us has been a bit of an issue, we haven’t quite been able to string it together, but we are still developing . . .
On maintaining optimism
The team morale’s really high and to be honest it’s surprised me how high it is considering the win/loss column.
We’re really understanding of where we’re at and that the only way of getting out of it is by sticking together and playing some games of footy together, keep fronting up and wanting to get better . . . and as one of the older players I’ve got to keep setting the example with my workrate during the week on the training track and really help guide these young fellows coming through because they’ve got a lot of natural energy and a lot of natural talent . . . and we’re just trying to fast track them as quick as we can.
On Jack Silvagni
He’s a really level-headed kid, really mature for his age. We got to the footy club at the same time and obviously play on the forward line so we’ve spent a bit of time together Jack and I.
It was really pleasing for him to go back down to reserve level, play some really consistent footy then get another opportunity (against Sydney) . . . and I thought he had a real impact on the game . . .
The challenge for him now is to week in week out back up those performances and regardless of what his old man did as a footballer, which has been well-documented, Jack’s on his own path and we’re here to help him out as much as we can.
Jack Silvagni and Matthew Wright celebrate a goal against Sydney on Friday night. (Photo: AFL Media)
On Jacob Weitering
His is probably a similar story. He probably didn’t start the year as well as he would have liked, he went back to the reserves and worked hard . . . he had some really honest conversations with the coaches about where he was at and what he needed to not only come back and be in the side but to help us win games of footy, and the way he has responded is a real credit to himself.
He’s a pretty mature lad . . . he handles himself pretty well and he’s a real team player.
On Marc Murphy
With the way the game is now it generally comes down to that player’s decision, but he’s the captain of the footy club, I’ve loved playing with him and I really do hope he does stay.
He’s been fantastic for me and for this footy club for which he has been an awesome servant.
I’m sure this is something he’ll work through with his manager and the footy club and hopefully the footy club gets it done and he remains a Bluebagger.
