“I THOUGHT he wasn’t a great bloke when I played against him.”

When the trade went through last October which saw Ben Ainsworth become a Blue, Matthew Cottrell’s mind drifted back to 2020 in just his third game of AFL football.

The Blues travelled to Darwin to take on the Suns, just six days after Cottrell celebrated his first goal and first win against Fremantle.

Still finding his way in the AFL environment, Cottrell remembers lining up at a stoppage when the call came from his future teammate - but someone who at the time was very much an antagonising member of the opposition.

“I won’t say exactly what he said, but in my third game, I was playing wing at a stoppage. He was saying ‘If it comes to you, you’ll know about it.’

“He’s a great bloke now! That’s what I expected, he’s a good Gippy boy.”

Ainsworth has endeared himself to everyone at Carlton with his performances to start his career in Navy Blue, hitting the scoreboard and assisting his teammates while playing with plenty of energy.

In his first game for a year on the weekend, Cottrell played with Ainsworth for the first time, as one of eight players the Blues’ No.46 had never played with in an AFL game prior to the trip west.

Cottrell said Ainsworth’s fiery nature on the field was complemented by what he provided to the group off the field during the week.

“‘Banger’, he’s just a good county lad and a fierce competitor.

“They’re the people you want on your team. He’s certainly good on the lip and plays to hurt the opposition, which is the right way to go about it.

“He’s definitely a competitor and you can see that in the way he plays. He’s not out there to make friends with the opposition, he’s there to win.”