THE CARLTON Reserves kicked off their preparations for the 2026 season with a one-goal win over Coburg at IKON Park.
In a game which saw plenty of rotations and limited game time for a few, the Blues led at every change and held on late in the 7.14 (56) to 7.8 (50) win.
There was plenty of good news for Carlton supporters, with Nic Newman playing the first half and emerging unscathed in what was his first game of any kind for 529 days.
The veteran defender was also joined by Francis Evans, who played a combination of midfield and forward and sported his protective eyewear after an incident in training last month.
There were individual goalkickers across the board for the Blues, including a classy left-footed snap from draftee Jack Ison in the second term, while former AFL-listed recruits Darcy Tucker and Alwyn Davey Junior also hit the scoreboard early in the game.
See VFL Senior Coach Damian Truslove’s thoughts on the game below.
On how the first hitout panned out:
“It was the first time our VFL-listed boys have played in a game, having only had training, as well as gelling with the seven AFL-listed boys. The first three quarters saw us pretty dominant in field position, our contest work was really strong and some of our ball movement - which we’ve been working on over the summer - was impressive.
“The last quarter, we took a few players off and the boys got a bit fatigued with limited rotations: to Coburg’s credit, they fought back, but we managed to hang on by a goal in the dying minutes.”
On Nic Newman playing the first half:
“He went really well. The plan was for him to get through and get back playing football again. He was instrumental in setting the backline up, his leadership was outstanding and he used the ball really well by foot as he always has done.
“It was good to see him moving well. When I went to him at half time, he had a massive smile on his face: he got through and felt good, he’ll keep building his minutes from here.”
On Francis Evans’ performance:
“Frankie played well, he played a bit of a different role. He played two quarters in the midfield, plus one quarter in his typical place up forward. He moved really well and his intensity and patterns around the ground were excellent.
“He’ll be knocking on the door: he got into some good contested situations which he needed to tick, which he did really well.”
On draftee Jack Ison’s showing:
“Jack played multiple roles, he was close to goal and also higher up the ground. He’s learning his craft, he’s getting better all the time: he’s very diligent with his education and his craft work.
“He’ll continue to improve, he’s very powerful and exciting around goals, which we saw with a nice finish in the second quarter.”
On the remaining AFL-listed talent:
“Lucas Camporeale played a bit of a different role, spending half his time on the wing and half his time as an inside mid, which is a new role for him. He found plenty of the ball.
“Rob Monahan and Harry Charleson gave us drive off half-back and Matt Duffy had to play on a bigger opponent and was outsized, but he competed really hard and halved a lot of aerial contests.”
On the VFL-listed players who impressed:
“We had about 10 new players to the club who ran out there, which was great. Some were really impressive: Tom Evans from Bendigo was solid, Darcy Tucker only played the first half but was probably best on ground in the first half, Jack Sammartino who we picked up from Box Hill was solid down back and Tom Stapleton - from Seymour Footy Club - played in the ruck and was really impressive.
“A few of those guys will be putting their hand up for Round 1, there’s probably 20 of them fighting for 8-10 spots which is a great position for us.”
On preparations ramping up for the VFL season proper:
“We’ll probably have a few more AFL-listed boys in our VFL team on Wednesday against Geelong. What we’re looking for is those guys to play at AFL standard and put pressure on the AFL boys for their spots. We’ll rotate our VFL boys through our next two practice games, they’re all fighting for spots so they’ll be keen to impress.”
CARLTON 2.5 5.9 6.10 7.14 (56)
COBURG 2.1 2.3 5.5 7.8 (50)
GOALS
Carlton: Davey Junior, Gresham, Harvey, Hogg, Ison, Paea, Tucker
