Injured Blue Cameron Giles will be taking some time away from his rehab over the coming weeks to report on Carlton’s pre-season training sessions.

Monday, December 8

The start of a new week begins for the playing group, with conditions being fairly wet underfoot. The new draftees and rookies were welcomed into the main training group on Monday morning, with all looking to impress in their first real session for their new club. 

The key focus of Monday's session was directional voice and physicality, which was driven by the new look leadership group of 2015. The warm up was again based around explosive power and agility, where the likes of Dale Thomas and Dylan Buckley are excelling. Some really positive signs are already being shown so early in the pre-season, with young leaders Patrick Cripps, Nick Graham and Troy Menzel not being afraid to voice their thoughts and direct the playing group. 

Strategic game-style drills were again in the spotlight, as the main group moved the ball from each end of the ground, attempting to finish in front of goals. Training then moved through to in-close speed drills, having a major focus of physicality incorporated in the short time frame. 

Finally, the team was broken up into separate lines of forwards, midfielders and defenders to allow individual players to work more closely with their coaches and identify the areas they need to develop. 

After the training session, Dylan Buckley spoke to me about how he was feeling. 

“The session was pretty tough and fairly long. The ball was moving really well, especially off my own boot – one would say I set the standard today,” he smiled. 

"It's really good to see Liam Jones moving well – he's looking really powerful and setting a high standard.”

The next open training session will be held on Wednesday, December 10 at 11:15am. We hope to see you there!