Carlton co-captain Patrick Cripps expects Jack Martin to finally fulfil his potential this AFL season after the livewire recruit turned heads in his first pre-season hit-out for his new club.
Cripps nominated Zac Fisher and Will Setterfield as two players to watch on the back of impressive summer training programs and tipped Blues fans would see some surprise packets from a large group of developing players in their early 20s.
But silky-skilled former Gold Coast midfielder Martin looms as one player with genuine star potential after joining the Blues via the pre-season draft.
The 25-year-old shone in Carlton's loss to Fremantle last week and will get another chance to impress when the Blues take on Brisbane at Ikon Park on Sunday in their final practice match.
"He's been super with his intensity on the track and his tackle pressure," Cripps told SEN on Tuesday.
"You could see he came down with a real mindset to impress straight away.
"He played a half (a game) on the weekend against the Dockers and I thought he was our standout with the way he attacked the ball."
Cripps was an underage state representative football teammate of Martin in Western Australia and revealed he had played a role last year in convincing the Claremont product to join Carlton after 97 games across six seasons with the Suns.
"I played a bit of junior footy with him back home in WA and I was trying to get him down all year, so I was pretty pumped once he made the move," Cripps said.
"I think none of us have seen the best of Jack Martin yet."
Martin could line up in attack alongside Harry McKay and Mitch McGovern against Richmond in round one, with Cripps hopeful the tall targets will be given the green light after injury setbacks.
However, gun forward Charlie Curnow could still be sidelined for the first half of the season with a knee injury.
"He's got some really good news from the surgeon and there's no real time frame," Cripps said of Curnow.
"He's got to build the muscle back up in his leg now and start to recondition his leg.
"He's in a really good spot, he's training hard and he'll start running in the next couple of weeks."
from WWOS http://wwos.nine.com.au/afl/cripps-excited-by-blues-afl-recruit-martin/54447854-1e85-400f-a3cd-bc24e4f3b614
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