Ryan Houlihan - 2010

2010

In 2010, following Brendan Fevola's departure, Houlihan became Carlton's longest serving player. He had a series of excellent performances playing as a defensive forward in 2010, in which he was given the task of negating the influence of the opposition’s key running defender, while using his skills to kick and set up goals. These included Simon Goodwin, who he kept to a season low 4 kicks and 16 possessions, while kicking 3 goals; Corey Enright, who he kept to 16 possessions, while kicking 2 goals and Sam Fisher, who he restricted to just 6 possessions- a season low. He kicked a career high 4 goals in the Round 11 victory over Melbourne. Unfortunately hamstring and knee injuries restricted him to just 13 games and he did not play any matches after Round 15, eventually requiring season ending surgery to his knee, after an unsuccessful attempt to come back. He kicked 15 goals and just 4 behinds for the year- a little over a goal per game and #1 at the club for accuracy (of those who had kicked 10 goals or more), an indication of his elite finishing skills in front of goal (as described by Champion Data). As well as kicking goals directly, he was also second at the club for goal assists per game. He finished a creditable 12th in the Best and Fairest, despite having missed 10 games. He would have made the top 10 on average votes per game. His excellent early season form prior to the first of his injuries had seen him in third place after seven rounds and in the top 10 when his season ended prematurely. Since finishing fourth in the 2007 Best and Fairest he had two seasons significantly affected by injury and missed the top 10 by one vote in the other.