Last week Cam Treloar wrote an empassioned piece about the treatment of a true Aussie rugby warrior Brett Sheehan in his last match for the Western Force.
In that round another Aussie rugby grafter, Tom Carter, also hung up his boots. Like the Shetland, Carter didn’t make it to the field, and saw little fanfare. And just like Sheeno he deserved better.
Right now the haters are going into apoplexy and to be fair even we at G&GR have had the odd shot at Tom, including these two.
But underneath it all was respect for a player who might not be the next Tim Horan, but was a vital cog in the team and never failed to give his all.
A well respected member of the G&GR community – Bruce Ross – regularly found himself having to point this out, which he summarises here –
Tom Carter will be remembered as one of the great warriors of Australian rugby. Over six seasons since his Super debut in 2008 he missed just one game through injury, which is extraordinary given the degree of his physical involvement in games. As an illustration of his durability and commitment he played most of his debut season with serious groin injuries. Immediately after the Super 14 Final he had surgery to both groins.
His percentage of missed tackles each season was consistently below 10 per cent; making him arguably the most effective midfield defender in the SANZAR countries. He can also be regarded as a great organiser of backline defence, and there is statistical evidence to support this. Over the six years of his career with the Waratahs, the team scored on average 2.63 tries per game when Carter was in the starting line up and 2.70 when he was not, which is statistically insignificant. But in terms of tries scored by the opposing team the respective numbers were 1.75 and 2.33; i.e., the team let in 33 per cent more tries when Carter was not in the defensive line.
There is also the fact that throughout his professional playing career he alone basically constituted the Waratahs’ kick chase strategy with his team mates seemingly content to let Tom do it, even though this task has never previously been perceived as the responsibility of the 12.
Oh, and don’t forget that Tom was the only centre to score a double against the Lions. FACT.
Many of those who shoot down TC conveniently forget it was Australian rugby’s messiah Ewen McKenzie who was responsible for bringing him into Super Rugby. As Link has always said, every team needs players you can ‘budget’ on – that is, you can depend upon to give 100 per cent and perform their role week in, week out.
Few, if any, players have been as budgetable as Tom Carter during the period over which he’s played at provincial level and for that reason he deserves a hat tip and slap on the back.
Well played that man.
