Carlton have detailed the reasoning behind the decision to not select emerging tall Tom De Koning for this weekend’s action.
De Koning was listed as managed for the Blues’ Round 6 contest against St Kilda, with senior coach Michael Voss handing Marc Pittonet the sole ruck duties despite an eye injury from the week prior.
The club’s decision to leave De Koning out of both of their AFL and VFL fixtures for this weekend raised eyebrows, with the ruck-forward seen as a key piece in the club’s future and in the middle of an off-contract campaign.
De Koning started the season as Voss’ first-string ruckman in the absence of Pittonet and was tasked with a majority of the ruck workload at Gather Round after Pittonet was subbed out of the match early.
The workload has left the Blues to give De Koning the “week off”, with assistant coach Aaron Hamill revealing prior to the bounce at Marvel Stadium that they weren’t looking to “throw him to the wolves” after battling illness and soreness this week.
He’s had to ruck a fair bit of the responsibility in two full games. He’s a little bit banged up.
“We prefer to not keep throwing him to the wolves, so we’ve given him the week off. Certainly nothing untoward about anything apart from some of the commentary.
Vossy sat down at match committee (and said) this is where he’s at, these are the numbers and this is his output. It’s best he had the week off.
Yet to confirm his future beyond this season, De Koning looms as Carlton’s top retention target as clubs like St Kilda, Sydney and Geelong reportedly show interest.
The Blues’ key position depth has taken a hit this week, with reserve ruckman Alex Mirkov also unable to play in Carlton’s VFL clash with Sandringham on Sunday, while rookie forward Harry Lemmey and tall defender Sam Durdin also missed the match.
Voss is already without a host of top names for the weeks ahead, with Sam Docherty sidelined for close to a month while Adam Saad will be hopeful of returning from a hamstring injury as early as next week.
