Carlton’s Dylan Buckley says he is thoroughly enjoying his new role in defence.

The 21-year-old made his debut for Carlton last year, but suffered a number of injury setbacks and didn’t return to the senior side until this season.

After making the switch to a defensive role over the pre-season, Buckley now has six AFL games under his belt.

Speaking on radio station RSN this morning, Buckley said he hasn’t looked back since coach Mick Malthouse asked him to make the move to the backline.

“I think it’s given me something to concentrate on,” Buckley said.

“You can’t really ball watch at all because playing on such good small forwards in the competition, one minute you’re right near them and you’re watching something, the next minute they’re 20-metres behind you running back to goal.

“You’ve always got to be concentrating and I’ve learned that a few times this year, so I’ve got to make sure that I’m continually developing in that area.

“It’s the first time I’ve played defence and I’ve still got a lot to learn, but at the moment I’ve loving it.”

Buckley has credited new high performance manager David Buttifant with helping him add body weight and increase fitness – revealing he has gained 10 kilograms since joining Carlton through a father/son selection in the 2011 draft.

Meanwhile of Carlton’s outlook for the season ahead, Buckley remains optimistic.

“We’re taking each week as it comes at the moment,” he said.

“We haven’t finished off as many games as we’d like, but we still feel that on our day we’re a very competitive team and we can match it with the best.

“For us it’s just putting four quarters of consistent effort together and I feel that when we do that, we can beat anyone.”