Nathan Buckley is believing more and more in Carlton superstar Sam Walsh, putting plenty of faith in him to be the game’s best midfielder for the coming years.
Walsh has overcome a back complaint that kept him out of the first four games of Carlton’s 2024 season to play starring roles in the last three weeks.
The 23-year-old hasn’t missed a beat and instead looks to have elevated to a new level, most recently recording 31 possessions, seven inside 50s and four clearances in a narrow loss to Geelong on Saturday night.
As one of the game’s most promising players, Walsh is already contracted until 2026. But whose signature is worth more when comparing the the Blues midfielder and Port Adelaide captain Connor Rozee?
The two were both taken in the 2018 National Draft at Picks 1 and 5 respectively and have been constantly compared through their careers.
Buckley may have just swung back to Walsh after seeing what he has done since his return from a pre-season back injury.
“I was asked after his first game on Fox Footy if you had to take one player out of Sam Walsh and Connor Rozee for five years, who are you taking?” Buckley began on SEN Breakfast.
“I said Rozee at the time because I wasn’t sure about Walsh’s availability or what was going on with his back and how that was going to transpire.
“But watching his the last three weeks, he’s averaging 33 touches, not the be-all and end-all, but eight tackles, six clearances, 13 contested possessions, but for me, it’s his no-nonsense (approach). He turns up every moment of the game, he’s involved and invested and he makes an impact.
“I get the sense, and we saw this with his performance last year in finals, the bigger the games get the more impactful he will become.
“He’s played really good footy just jumping back in and has not missed a beat. He’s always there. The third bloke at a one-on-one, the fifth bloke at a two-on-two, he outnumbers as hard as any… his ability to be the extra number at a contest, whether it's defensive or to win the ball, I’m really going to enjoy watching this bloke play and I reckon the longer seasons go… I just think he’s going to separate himself.”
Walsh has 63 Brownlow votes through his first five seasons at the top level, while Rozee has 40. The Power star has two All-Australian blazers to Walsh’s one, while both have won a best and fairest each.
Breakfast co-host Kane Cornes says the two stars can’t be split.
“It varies… I think it’s line ball, it depends what you want,” the Port Adelaide great said on who he would rather select.
“If you want a reliable, consistent, hard-working, unbelievable leader, you go with Walsh.
“If you want a bit of brilliance and a bit of star power and a bit of X-Factor and a bit of match-winning ability and craft around the goals, you go Rozee.”
Walsh’s Blues suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of Geelong on Saturday in front over 87,000 fans and play teams in the top 10 across their next seven weeks.