I'M DELIGHTED to announce that I have signed a new three-year contract with Carlton and it feels great to be locked into the club for a good, long period.

There's a really good group of guys like Chris Judd, Brendan Fevola, Jarrad Waite and Bryce Gibbs who have committed their futures to the club, so we're all in for the long haul and hopefully we can play in some finals in the coming years.

The contract was always going to get done, but there were just a few minor things that needed to be tidied up along the way that dragged it out a bit. It was probably done about a month ago, but I've just been away and the club's been busy with trade week and all that sort of stuff. We thought we'd just wait until the end of all that and get it done before the International Rules Series.

I always wanted to stay at Carlton and they were happy to give me the three years which was great. It's good because it gives me a bit of security and allows me to stay at the same club which was always my goal. I'm looking forward to playing with the boys for three more years and hopefully another seven or eight after that.

Most of the guys in the core group have got two or three years to go on their contracts now which is good. We'll all be at the club for a few years to come and hopefully we can form the nucleus of a really successful Carlton team.