CONSISTENCY in messaging, consistency in performance.

For David Cuningham and the Blues, not much has changed by way of the second half of last year.

With the 2024 season getting ever closer - Carlton’s first match simulation against Geelong is just three weeks away - Cuningham joined RSN to discuss what the focus has been throughout the summer at IKON Park.

The speedster said things were very much in line with what’s been said over the last two years under Michael Voss’ leadership.

“For us, our expectations are very different to what the public has. As ‘Vossy’ spoke about all of last year, we’re not an outcome-based team: we’ll stick to process, we’re chasing our best version,” Cuningham said.

“That’s been the dialogue for us this pre-season.

“It was a pretty good run in the second half of the year, but early in the season we were very inconsistent. Doing that from the start of the season will put us in a better position going forward.”

It’s been a bit of a different pre-season for those at the Blues, coming off the back off the team’s first AFL finals appearance in a decade.

As Cuningham put it, he and his teammates are normally used to the training block started much earlier than it did this time around.

But that’s not to say the intensity of training has let up.

“We haven’t played finals for a while, so normally we’re back a month earlier than we were this year and games are coming around very quickly,” he said.

“It isn’t a big lead-in time, but the experience you get from playing finals is a lot more valuable than you would get in a pre-season.

“We’ve still got a big block of work to do with three weeks before the first practice game, so we’re fine-tuning things and getting a good block of intense work in.

“We did well to get to the point we got to last year, but obviously we’re not satisfied with that. You get no satisfaction from finishing second or third.”

Cuningham is looking to build on his 12 games from last season, after ending a two-year wait for senior football when he returned in Round 14 last year.

So how's his personal form and fitness?

“Everything’s going well in pre-season. I know every team in the AFL is training the house down at this time of year, but everything’s tracking really well.”