Written by Terry Dehghani

Every so often, a contract extension feels more than an announcement.

Today, Tuesday the 24th February, 2026, is one of those moments.

For our beloved Carlton Football Club, we have held our collective breath hoping that what unfolded in 2025 was not the total collapse of the club, but a step towards actual alignment.

As we sat through the Tom De Koning free agency decision, you couldn’t blame a supporter for thinking “Are we about to do the same thing with Sam Walsh?”

Also, as the game evolves, so does player empowerment.

Sam Walsh, together with any free agent, was well within his rights to wait until the end of the season before recommitting to Carlton.

There would have been monster offers coming. No doubt about it.

So for Walsh to recommit now, before a single ball has been thrown up (RIP bounce), it can only be viewed as a statement of intent, a line in the sand if you will.

This is where he wants to be, but more importantly, this is where he wants to win.

Since the moment Carlton called his name with Pick No.1 in the 2018 AFL Draft, Sam Walsh has been the embodiment of where this club wanted to go, and now, more importantly, where it is going.

Before we continue, let’s recap where we are in the story of Sam Walsh

Draft Night | Hope in Human Form (2018)

Carlton was rebuilding (again).

After another installment of the “5 year plan” by an administration that was more focussed on winning off-field than on it, the club needed direction.

It needed credibility.

It needed people who could live with the expectation without being consumed by it.

When Sam Walsh walked across the stage as the No.1 pick in the 2018 AFL Draft, he didn’t arrive with bravado.

He arrived with composure.

From day one, there was something different about him. Not loud. Not flashy. Just relentless.

I will never forget the first open training session that I attended that off-season.

This teenager was driving standards. It was crystal clear.

Round 1, 2019 | The Arrival

Round 1. Richmond. MCG. 80,000+ people.

24 disposals. 4 clearances.

The composure with ball in hand to set up that Marc Murphy goal.

Carlton fans didn’t just see a promising debutant. We saw a player who looked like he belonged immediately.

He would go on to win the 2019 Rising Star, but the award almost felt secondary.

What mattered more was this: he raised the standard from the moment he stepped inside the club.

2021 | The Leap Into Elite

Good young players become very good players.

Very good players become elite.

In 2021, Sam Walsh stepped into elite.

He won his first John Nicholls Medal, earned his first All-Australian blazer and polled 30 Brownlow votes, finishing fourth overall.

But here’s what I really remember:

He ran

And ran.

(Also the dagger to beat Collingwood at the MCG with the infamous “Fuck Yeah” goal.)

He became the two-way engine of the football club. The connective tissue between defence and attack. The player who would sprint defensively in the fourth quarter when others were spent.

It wasn’t just talent.

It was professional obsession.

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2023: The Adversity Year That Defined Him

Back surgery. Micro-discectomy. Pre-season wiped out.

For many players, that’s a career-altering moment.

For Sam Walsh, it became a character-defining one.

He returned, suffered another setback, then returned again.

And when Carlton finally played finals football for the first time in a decade, who was the most influential player across the series?

Sam Walsh.

He won the Gary Ayres Award as the best player of the 2023 finals.

Not just best Blue.

Best in the entire competition.

Leadership | The Alignment Moment

When Walsh was elevated into the leadership group and named co–vice captain, it felt inevitable.

It wasn’t like the token leadership group addition for a player who was just ultra talented.

To be a leader, you need to have something inside you that wants to be the best you can be.

You need to want the strong feedback.

How you carry yourself permeates throughout the rest of the team.

When things get tough, you need to be seen as part of the solution, not the problem.

And if you can’t be that, then respectfully, fuck right off.

It’s about what the club stands for now under Michael Voss, Patrick Cripps, and the emerging core.

Sam Walsh represents:

Preparation
Accountability
Consistency
Work rate
Humility

Those are the foundations of alignment.

For years, Carlton has chased culture. Talked about culture. Tried to manufacture culture.

Culture is about what you value.

Ultimately what you reward is what you value.

Perhaps this is the defining moment where the right people are being rewarded.

The Bigger Picture | This Is Not Just About Sam Walsh

This is about what his career arc represents.

Drafted into instability.

Developed through coaching changes.

Survived rebuild fatigue.

Emerges as finals best player.

Chooses to be part of the solution and turn down his Free Agency rights.

Becomes a true leader.

That is growth.

That is maturity.

It’s a signal.

Elite players don’t stay at clubs that feel fractured.

They stay where they believe in the direction.

They stay where alignment exists.

The Emotional Truth

We Carlton fans have lived through false dawns.

We’ve been told “this is the year” more times than we can count.

As we head into Season 2026, there is an undoubted shift that has been felt.

The injection of fresh energy together with the absolute redemption that many will want to achieve after last season could be the perfect storm for a quick turnaround.

And Sam Walsh is at the centre of that shift.

He is the embodiment of what I believe modern Carlton must be: disciplined, aligned & relentless.

What Comes Next?

Walsh is still in his prime years.

There are more accolades to come.

More Brownlow watch-alongs.

More finals moments.

Possibly some silverware?

But regardless of what trophies follow, his legacy is already forming.

He arrived as hope.

He became elite.

Now he stands as the standard.

And if Carlton is to genuinely improve, it will be on the back of players like Sam Walsh who refuse to compromise on what the club stands for.

A “No Bullshit Mentality”

Fuck yeah, Walshy.

Go Blues.

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Sam Walsh Re-Signs | The Standard Behind Carlton’s Alignment