Why Carlton must start looking after Sam Walsh

It’s time that Carlton begin looking after Sam Walsh as injury issues once again mount.

That is according to Kane Cornes who feels that the Blues must protect the midfielder so he has longevity in the game.

Walsh, 24, is set to be sidelined for the next month with a hamstring injury sustained at training on Monday, the latest off-season blow following a back injury this time last year and previous back, ankle and hamstring problems.

The Blues endured a frustrating 2024 season with many stars injured at crucial moments throughout the campaign which saw an early finals exit and resulted in the decision to replace high performance guru Andrew Russell with Rob Innes.

With all of that in mind, Cornes is imploring the Blues to take a more careful approach with the 2021 John Nicholls Medallist.

“We don’t want to overreact to a hamstring injury because this will happen at most clubs, particularly in the summer when you start to ramp up your loads,” Cornes said on SEN Breakfast.

“But Walsh is an interesting test case and the way that they have worn him into the ground. When you look at his size and stature I don’t think that the way he plays is designed to go to 85 per cent of centre bounces. It’s just not.

“Jagga Smith comes in, the Camporeale twins (Lucas and Ben) come in, they would hope the Hollands boys (Elijah and Ollie) spend some more time inside, but it’s been (Patrick) Cripps and Walsh that have carried this midfield on their shoulders for far too long.

“They need to start looking after Sam Walsh because he’s six years in. This guy should have another 10 (years) with the way that he plays.

“He should be more of an outside player than he is inside. Right now you look at his breakdown, he does so much heavy lifting inside and he is a small midfielder when you look at the way midfielders are built these days.

“They need to look after this guy. He had 30 Brownlow Medal votes in his third year and he looked like he was going to take this competition by storm, (potentially) next captain of the footy club.

“Since then it’s been hard going (from a health perspective, not form).”

Walsh has played 119 games across six seasons with the Blues, playing 17 matches or more in each of those campaigns.

In that sense he could be described as durable but Cornes feels he could be of more benefit to Carlton if more care is taken and if he is used as less of an inside and combative player.

“He hasn’t missed a lot of footy, to be fair, because he comes back in and without a pre-season his performances have been excellent, but at some point that’s going to take a toll,” he continued.

“When you get one hammy, you start to get another and the biggest indication of soft tissue injuries is age and if you’ve done them before. Now they’re starting to build up with the back issues that have been really serious for him.

“This footy club has got to look after Sam Walsh. He’s 24 years of age. We know how good he is.

“You have to protect him from himself because he’s really courageous. His contested ball-winning ability is excellent. They’ve got to make him more of a damaging centre-forward player.

“He kicked five goals last year (for a career tally of just 42). Can he be more of an influential player centre-forward? That’s only going to happen if Carlton looks after him.

“They need to start looking after their absolute star players and that has to happen this year.”

Walsh has joined a number of important Blues in the rehab room including Charlie Curnow (ankle), Blake Acres (back), Jack Silvagni (knee) and Matt Cottrell (shoulder) with all of those expected to integrate back into training in January.