“WE’LL CONSOLIDATE the list and we’ve brought some new faces in from an experience point of view, so now we want to have a good look at this list with a new coaching group and new environment.”

After a trade and free agency period which saw the Blues welcome three and six depart, Head of List Management Nick Austin said the off-season business was a chance for Carlton to ‘see what they’ve got’.

With the focuses of building its midfield running power and adding to its defensive depth, Carlton officially welcomed George Hewett (Sydney), Adam Cerra (Fremantle) and Lewis Young (Western Bulldogs) in the last two weeks.

The Blues announced a finalisation of their rookie list yesterday, with the trade period officially closing on Wednesday night.

09:24

Speaking to Carlton Media, Austin said the upcoming draft - at the end of November - was a chance to finalise and consolidate the playing list. 

“We’ve had a couple of years where we’re adding players through the trade period, especially in that 22-26 year age gap where we felt there was a real need,” Austin said.

“We also felt there were specific roles and traits that we’ve brought in. Now it’s time to consolidate the list. 

“We’ve had six players come off the list and we really want to give the opportunity to the guys who haven’t had a good look. We’ve had a good group come through via the draft that due to hubs, scratch matches, Covid and injuries haven’t had a good look at it yet.

03:42

“We’ll give that group every opportunity with a new coaching group to move forward and give them 12 months.”

Currently, the Blues have pick No.25 heading into the draft: however, they have been no strangers in previous seasons to trading up or down the order in the build-up to the event.

Comfortable with where their draft hand sat, Austin said discussions would ramp up about the profile of player taken on the night, with the Blues already having a fair indication.

06:24

“We’ll definitely use our first pick in the draft and work through some upgrades potentially at the back-end,” he said.

“We’re really comfortable picking at No.25. We feel like with this draft and the lack of exposure, there’s going to be a blanket thrown over a group of player probably from pick No.7 onwards. We’ve done a lot of work in that 10-40 range and we feel like we’re sitting in a good spot.

“We’ve had a few offers for it at the moment, but unless it’s something really appealing to us that we can improve next year’s hand with a slight shift back this year, we’re pretty comfortable.

“We think that it’s a really good draft for midfield depth and around-the-square types… we want to look at that mid-forward group and improve that running capacity and ball use.”