Carlton’s Struggles Up Forward: Analyzing Matt Owies’ Potential Departure and the Club’s Decade of Offensive Woes
As news surfaces about Matt Owies potentially leaving Carlton during the AFL trade period, it prompts a reflection on the club’s ongoing struggles up forward over the past decade. Carlton, a club with a rich history and a passionate fan base, has faced significant challenges in the forward line, contributing to its lackluster performances and difficulty in reclaiming a place among the AFL’s top teams. Owies’ potential exit highlights a broader pattern of underperformance, mismanagement, and tactical flaws that have plagued Carlton’s offensive structure.
Matt Owies: A Bright Spark in a Dim Offense
Matt Owies has been one of the few bright sparks for Carlton in recent seasons. A former basketballer turned AFL player, Owies showed versatility, athleticism, and a knack for finding the goals when given opportunities. His ability to create scoring chances, coupled with his work rate, made him a valuable asset in an otherwise struggling forward line. Despite his promising contributions, Owies has not fully solidified his place as a long-term solution to Carlton’s forward woes, and his potential departure could be seen as both a reflection of his own fluctuating form and Carlton’s failure to establish a consistent and potent forward line.
Owies’ potential move away from the Blues fits within a broader context of Carlton’s poor performance in recruiting, developing, and retaining talent in the forward line. The club’s inability to establish a dominant or reliable goal-kicking unit has been one of the major reasons behind its struggles in recent seasons.
A Decade of Disappointment Up Forward
The departure of Matt Owies brings into focus Carlton’s broader struggles up forward over the past decade. For a club that has historically boasted some of the game’s great forwards, such as Brendan Fevola and Stephen Kernahan, the last ten years have been a sharp decline in offensive potency.
Since 2013, Carlton has consistently ranked near the bottom of the AFL in terms of scoring. The forward line has often been characterized by inconsistency, an overreliance on a few key players, and a lack of depth. Whether due to injuries, poor form, or questionable tactical decisions, the Blues have struggled to find a cohesive and dangerous forward setup.
The team’s struggles up forward are not just about personnel; they are also about structure and strategy. Despite having talented players at their disposal, Carlton has often failed to find a system that maximizes its forward line’s potential. At times, the forward entries have been disorganized, leading to inefficient scoring opportunities. Too often, the ball movement has been slow and predictable, allowing opposition defenses to intercept or block Carlton’s forward momentum.
Recruiting Woes and Tactical Missteps
Carlton’s inability to fix its forward-line problems can also be traced back to a series of recruitment and tactical missteps. Over the years, the club has invested heavily in recruiting key forwards, midfielders who can push forward, and developing young talent, but these efforts have often fallen short of expectations.
The trade for Mitch McGovern in 2018 was intended to address Carlton’s forward-line problems, but injuries and inconsistent form have prevented McGovern from having the impact the club hoped for. Likewise, the development of young forwards like Harry McKay, while promising, has been hampered by injuries and periods of form fluctuation, preventing Carlton from fielding a reliable goal-kicking tandem.
Carlton has also struggled to find a suitable support cast for its key forwards. The club has often lacked a consistent small forward or crumbing forward who can capitalize on the contests and create scoring opportunities from ground balls. While Matt Owies and other players like Eddie Betts (in his return to the club) provided some excitement in this role, it has not been enough to lift Carlton’s forward line to a competitive level.
The Impact of Coaching and Leadership
The forward-line struggles at Carlton are not just the result of poor recruitment but also point to coaching and leadership issues. Over the past decade, Carlton has experienced several coaching changes, and with each new regime came a new set of strategies and philosophies, leading to instability and a lack of cohesion within the playing group.
Current coach Michael Voss has brought a renewed sense of direction to the club, and under his leadership, Carlton showed signs of improvement in the 2022 and 2023 seasons. However, the forward-line issues have persisted, and Voss’ challenge moving forward will be to build a more dynamic and efficient attacking unit. A potential trade of Matt Owies could signal that Voss is looking to retool the forward line, but whether this will lead to success remains to be seen.
Looking Forward: Can Carlton Fix Its Forward Line?
Carlton’s inability to develop a consistent forward line over the past decade has been a significant factor in the club’s failure to return to AFL finals prominence. The potential departure of Matt Owies reflects the ongoing challenges the Blues face in this area. Carlton’s future success hinges on whether the club can find a forward structure that works, develop its young talent effectively, and recruit players who can address its offensive deficiencies.
There is hope that players like Harry McKay and Charlie Curnow can form a powerful forward duo if they can remain injury-free and regain form. Additionally, Carlton must focus on building a cohesive unit that includes small forwards and midfielders who can contribute to the scoreboard consistently.
The departure of Owies, if it occurs, could pave the way for Carlton to seek new talent in the upcoming trade period, but it also serves as a reminder that the club’s forward-line problems are deep-rooted and will require a strategic overhaul. For Carlton to return to the top of the AFL ladder, fixing the forward line must be a priority, and the upcoming trade period could be a crucial moment in shaping the future of the club’s attack.
Matt Owies’ potential departure from Carlton is just one piece of a larger puzzle that has confounded the club for over a decade. Carlton’s forward-line struggles have been a key reason for its failure to climb out of mediocrity, and while Owies’ exit may open the door for new opportunities, it also highlights the club’s long-standing issues in recruiting, developing, and structuring a competitive forward unit. Carlton’s road back to AFL prominence will require more than just talent acquisition; it will demand a fundamental shift in strategy, player development, and tactical execution up forward. Whether Michael Voss can lead that transformation remains to be seen, but the 2024 season will be pivotal in determining the direction of the club.
