Carlton ruckman Marc Pittonet has put pen to paper and signed on for another four year at Princes Park.
Pittonet hasn't had the most smooth-sailing career, battling injuries over his nine-year tenure in the league so far, where last week he reached the 50-game milestone.
The 26-year-old spent five seasons with Hawthorn before being traded to Carlton at the end of 2019, debuting for the Blues in Round 2 the following year against the Melbourne Demons
Despite Carlton's recent performances, Pittonet has been ranked among the most efficient ruckman this year.
Carlton list manager, Nick Austin expressed his delight with Pittonet electing to stay a Blue.
โSince arriving at Carlton, Marc has developed into an integral player for our side and continues to relish every opportunity given to him,โ Austin said.ย ย
โThe new deal is well-deserved recognition of the incredible amount of hard work Marc has put in to grow his game, and a testament to his dedication, to not only his ruck craft but also to the Club.ย ย
โMarc not only plays a crucial role on-field, but his leadership and contribution off the field is really evident and appreciated by those around him. ย ย
โWe cannot wait to see what the future holds for Marc and we are really pleased he will remain at the Carlton Football Club until 2027.โ
Pittonet is on track to have a career-best season, currently having 259 hit-outs - attempting to beat his best season tally of 379 in 2021.
His signing comes as the club hopes to retain young tall Tom De Koning, who has been placed out of Michael Voss' side in recent weeks and is said to be gaining rival interest as uncertainty surrounding his future rises.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Voss said Pittonet's decision won't have a direct impact on the club's plans to lock away De Koning.
"As far as we're concerned, I think what naturally people do is they look at one and that equals the other. It doesn't, it doesn't impact it at all," Voss said.
"What we're obviously really pleased with is that we were able to get obviously Pitto done and the position's been pretty clear for us from the very start around where Tom wanted to wait until the end of the year.
"So we're happy to support that and we're gonna get the best out of him as best as we possibly can and hopefully that means that he's staying with the Carlton Football Club, because we want him to stay. He's an important person to us.
"But the ongoing chat around 'is he here or isn't he' - I think there's a lot of assumptions that get made about our list management strategy and they are assumptions and that's it."
The Blues, who could welcome De Koning back from the VFL, will face Sydney at the SCG on Friday night.
