EMERGING swingman Lachie Henderson has re-signed withCarlton to the end of 2015, saying he is confident finals success is not faraway for the Blues.
Henderson told AFL.com.au on Thursday he was very happy tofinalise his contract negotiations with Carlton and positive about what thefuture holds for the Blues.
"It's really exciting because I think we've shown thisyear that we're not far away from challenging the best teams in the competition,"Henderson said.
"We've really matched it with most teams this year;it's just been lapses here and there that have cost us.
"If we can find that consistency in our play we canreally start to turn things around quickly."
Henderson was due to come out of contract at the end of 2013and would have been hotly pursued by the host of clubs looking for akey-position defender or forward.
The 23-year-old has enjoyed an excellent 2013 season,starring at both ends of the ground to the extent he is now being compared withelite swingmen such as Geelong's Harry Taylor, Essendon's Jake Carlisle andCollingwood's Ben Reid.
Carlton football manager Andrew McKay told AFL.com.au theBlues valued Henderson "enormously", knowing how hard versatile tallsare to come by.
McKay said Henderson was already extremely important to Carlton'son-field structure but had scope to improve as a player and leader.
"Lachie is improving year on year. It will be a goodtest for him to see just how good he can become," McKay said.
"It's a bit like a golf handicap: the better you getthe harder it is to improve.
"But players tend to improve up until 27-28, they don'timprove a lot after that, so at 23 Lachie still has scope to continuedeveloping.
"He's also part of our emerging leaders group so wewill be looking for him to step up in that area as well."
Like Taylor, Carlisle and Reid, Henderson has playedprimarily in defence this season alongside fellow tall Michael Jamison.
He has been thrown forward at times mid-match this season,most effectively when he kicked three final-quarter goals to almost spark acomeback win over St Kilda in round seven.
But in the absence of injured spearhead Jarrad Waite,Henderson started in attack against the Saints last Saturday night and producedone of the best performances of his 75-game career.
Henderson kicked a career-high four goals in the Blues'36-point win over the Saints and took 12 marks, seven of which were contested –the equal highest tally in the AFL this year alongside Waite's effort againstthe Brisbane Lions in round nine.
Not surprisingly, Henderson enjoyed his time in attackagainst the Saints, but says he is not bothered where he plays.
"It's the old cliché, I'm happy to play wherever theteam needs me," Henderson says.
"I played as a forward most of my junior career, butI'm comfortable at either end of the ground."
Henderson joined the Blues from the Brisbane Lions at theend of 2009 as part of the Brendan Fevola trade, which also sent pick No.12(Kane Lucas) to Carlton and pick No.27 to the Lions (Callum Bartlett).
Henderson played 15 games and kicked three goals for theLions after being selected as the No. 8 pick in the 2007 NAB AFL Draft.
In four seasons with the Blues, he has played 60 games andkicked 42 goals.
Nick Bowen is a reporter with AFL Media. Follow him onTwitter @AFL_Nick
