MATTHEW Watson says his four goals in Carlton's draw against Essendon on Saturday has given him the belief he belongs at AFL level
The 22-year-old was recalled to the Blues' side for the first time since his disastrous night out against Hawthorn in round 13 this season.
In that game, he was subbed out after gifting the Hawks two early goals and being plagued by the yips for the rest of his time in the game.
Unsurprisingly, he was dropped the following week.
However, the omission triggered his rebirth as a forward, where he has been playing in the VFL since.
After kicking six goals over the past two weeks for the Northern Blues, Carlton coach Mick Malthouse thought it was time to see if he could do the same at AFL level.
And, he did.
"I've been fortunate enough to get a game before the end of the year so hopefully I can carry that into next year," Watson told AFL.com.au after the thrilling 90-point draw.
"It will do a lot. I know I can play at this level. It was good to play a full game and fight it out to the end.
"The last [senior] game I played didn't pan out as I wanted it to and that kind of dropped my confidence a bit.
"I think playing in the VFL grew my confidence playing forward and I was able to bring what I've done into the AFL.
"I know I've still got improvement to come so hopefully I can work on that in the pre-season and play more next year in the forward line."
Malthouse was thrilled with Watson's performance on Saturday, after he had previously booted just two goals at AFL level in his 19-game career.
However, while he said his game was "fantastic", he admitted there was a level of frustration as to why the first round draft selection from 2010 hadn't played like that previously.
"I think Watto needs to look at that game over and over and say why hasn't this happened before because there is no one more self doubting that him," Malthouse said.
"It's taken a long time for us to have the confidence to say, now step up."
With a year to run on his current contract, Watson has the time to prove whether he can become an important cog in the Blues' attacking structure, which features a number of swingmen.
He says playing in the backline for the past three and a half years has already helped him become attune to being a forward.
And he – and Malthouse – are looking forward to seeing if he can add further flexibility to the Blues' forward line that will benefit from the return of Lachie Henderson and Matthew Kreuzer from injury, but may be without Jarrad Waite if he exercises his rights as a free agent.
"Now what he's done is thrown the spanner in the works in regard to our forward line structure, which is outstanding," Malthouse said.
"Henderson will be available early next year, Kreuzer will. Five don't go into three, which is terrific for us."
