Sam Walsh spoke to Triple M ahead of last Saturday’s Round 22 clash.

Carlton midfielder Sam Walsh spoke to Triple M ahead of Round 22 last Saturday, reflecting on the Blues’ season and providing an update on his injury recovery.

Injury update:

“It’s been a bit of a tough one to swallow for probably the past two months. After the Essendon game, I thought someone stood on my foot and later training that week, I felt a fair bit of pain underneath my foot. I was like ‘there’s probably something not right there’. It’s just been a bit of a hard one for me… I’ve had a few interruptions but back on track now and pushing for next week.”

On dealing with the mental side of injury:

“It’s been the toughest one yet because I’ve dealt with a fair few injuries but up until that point, I only really missed 10 games of footy, so the hardest thing’s been watching and then with the foot injury, you can’t even train.

“For those couple of weeks, I was lucky enough to have a few pretty good lads in rehab as well. We’ve got Jagger Smith who’s in rehab, another young fellow in the midfield that I can’t wait to play with next year, so there’s been elements that have been positive too.”

On keeping the Blues’ morale up:

“As you know, some of those outside distractions drain your energy and it becomes pretty hard. Sometimes as players, upon reflection we might be a bit guilty of trying to worry about too many things that aren’t in our control and you’ve got to learn that as you go.

“The toughest thing this year has probably been having high expectations and when you’re not quite reaching that for a fair few reasons at this stage, I think the frustration has been the biggest part of the back end of the year for a lot of the boys.

“You find out those guys, particularly in these moments. I mentioned Matty Cottrell before, he’s always a big one. A few of the younger boys, but also Charlie Curnow, we have a couch in our players’ room and he put a table tennis table in there. I’ve got an alright backhand, but I’m pretty limited, so the boys have found my weaknesses. Orazio Fantasia is pretty crafty.”

On young players stepping up: 

“Even though it’s been tough watching some of those losses, some of the young boys have really stood up. I live with Lachie Cowan and I reckon he’s taken his game to another level.

“Shame for Harry O’Farrell last week with the ups and downs of footy, first goal and then does his ACL. The best thing that I’ve found about particularly this year’s draft crop, you can tell that they really want it.

“You know from the first year where they’ve got that chip on their shoulder and want to work hard, so I think it’s positive from that front.”

On Michael Voss’ approach:

“He’s one of the best motivators I’ve been around in terms of the way he approaches games and sets up your week.

“It’s probably a bit of maturity and as players, whether it’s game plan or the way you approach certain situations, is actually thinking about the game and what it needs and that’s a bit of ownership that we need to take as players.

“You look at the top four teams, you just see that they make the right plays more often than not, whether that is being more physical or making the right decision in games. A bit of that growth from us will go a long way.”

On George Hewett’s 200th game: 

“Speaking of tough moments, he’s probably one of the toughest players on our list and rocks up to training with the same edge every day. He’s been unreal for us in the middle there.”

On being buoyant in challenging times: 

“You have to be and I am. The motivation’s high and you can go one of two ways. After a year like this, you can look to point fingers and blame, or you can roll up the sleeves a bit and get to work.”