Everyone is, rightly, talking about the debut performance of Sam Walsh at yesterday’s practice game between Carlton and Hawthorn, but another lesser-known Blues first-round pick shone as well.
Walsh took everyone’s attention, growing in stature as the game went on. At one point in the second term, he recovered a ball, got around two Hawthorn players and gave the ball off at half forward – the play resulted in a Harry McKay goal.
However, in the exact same quarter, David Cuningham slotted two himself.
Cuningham was taken at the end of round one in the 2015 National Draft and has been stuck in the shadow of Carlton’s three other first-round picks from the same year: Jacob Weitering, McKay and Charlie Curnow.
The 21-year-old has only played the 16 games, struggling with injuries and hasn’t quite worked out his best position at AFL level.
The Blues rotated Cuningham between stoppages and deep forward all day at Ikon Park.
Teams are now required to start a player in the goal square at centre bounces under the 6-6-6 rule and Cuningham spent most of the second quarter in that role for Carlton – and it worked.
He was then moved into a more midfield role in the second half and showed great burst from stoppages, winning a few clearances alongside Walsh and the equally impressive Sam Petrevski-Seton.
Petrevski-Seton was one of only a small number of Blues who played every game last year, but his season was steady, not spectacular.
However, he showed great poise against the Hawks, hitting up targets on both his left and right foot.
Walsh will be the talk of the town and should have Carlton supporters excited, but Cuningham seems likely to line-up alongside him in Round 1.