As Carlton’s pre-season hits full swing, young defender Sam Docherty says his team is “loving” coach Brendon Bolton’s fresh approach.

With 15 new teammates, not to mention all the new assistant coaches, pre-season isn’t just an opportunity to build on the team’s football knowledge, it’s also about creating strong relationships between players, coaches and staff.

“The change around the joint this year has been pretty drastic. It’s a whole new environment, all the boys are loving it and loving what the boss is doing – we’re really enjoying pre-season so far,” Docherty told Crocmedia on Wednesday.

“There’s no preconceived idea about any player, so everyone is on the same level playing field – we’re all starting fresh.”

With a young playing list eager to learn, the coaching staff have stripped back the drawing board and started from scratch.

“We’ve had a full overhaul in terms of the way we’ve been going about our footy,” Docherty said.

“We’re learning from the bottom up…the new assistants are doing a great job teaching us.”

The 22-year-old, who played 19 games last season, had a solid year in the navy blue jumper, but knows that doesn’t count for anything heading into 2016.

“There’s that saying in football ‘if you don’t keep moving forward you’ll get dropped out’, so if you don’t keep improving you’ll find your way out of the system pretty quickly.

“I’ve got to work on my game just as much as a first year player who’s arrived at the footy club.

“There’s parts of my game that need a lot of work and there’s parts that probably don’t need as much work, but that’s where you sit down with the coaches and nut out a plan and work your way through pre-season.”

Meanwhile, Docherty says Carlton’s first-year players, including No.1 draft pick Jacob Weitering, have all settled in and are tackling pre-season head on.

“He’s (Jacob) an impressive guy. I watched the draft and I was very impressed by the way he went about it, but in saying that all our draftees have come in and been great.

“They all bring a bit of energy and enthusiasm.”

Carlton players head to the Gold Coast for pre-season training camp later this month.