CEO Cain Liddle said Carlton was both welcoming and understanding of its fixture in 2019.

Liddle said the Club was “reasonably happy” with the fixture, with the ability to play in family friendly time slots and against traditional rivals at blockbuster times being two positives.

Speaking on 1116 SEN with Brett Phillips, Liddle believed the fixture handed to the Blues was an expected result.

“We accept the fact that winning two games last year would mean we wouldn’t get the premium broadcast time slots,” Liddle said.

“With five Saturday afternoon and five Sunday afternoon games, that’s a positive — it gives our families an opportunity to get to games.

“We hold onto one of the biggest home-and-away games, Round 1 against Richmond. We’ve got a blockbuster against Collingwood early in the year on a Saturday afternoon at the MCG.”

With those games against two of the Club’s traditional rivals in the opening two months, the Blues will also take on Essendon in early June.

Liddle shed some light on the Blues’ request with the Bombers, and was hopeful of a positive result in the future.

“We worked with Essendon a lot this year in trying to get a game on Good Friday eve up and off the ground, which is the only thing we didn’t get,” Liddle said.

“The message was to go away and keep developing our young list and keep getting better — that could be a big time slot down the track as well."

The Blues will open the season for the 11th straight year when they take on the Tigers: Liddle responded to criticism about Carlton’s involvement in the traditional season opener.

“I’m very privileged that I’ve got a unique perspective on this game, having spent eight years at Richmond. The first three or four of those, Richmond copped the exact same criticism,” Liddle said.

“We accept that we need to improve, but we accept that the game is cyclical and we have a developing list and we’ll improve.

“You’ve only got to look at the broadcast numbers and crowds to show that it is a massive game on the calendar.”

All things considered, Liddle said the Blues were most looking forward to the 2019 season kicking off on the back of a big summer.

“We’re not into making any excuses,” Liddle said.

“Our view is that we’ll play any team at any time and if that means our interstate games are early, then so be it,” Liddle said.

“We’re not fussed with where we play or who we play, we just want the season to start again.”