“WE'RE going to do it our way."

Senior Coach David Teague has spoken about his excitement for the upcoming season at the 2019 John Nicholls Medal. 

Taking over as the Senior Coach halfway through the season, Teague led a reinvigorated team to finish off strongly with six wins from eleven games.

Teague was particularly thankful to the loyal and welcoming Bluebaggers, who he believed had welcomed him with open arms to the new role and carried the team to their on-field success in the back half of the year. 

"I thank you so much," Teague said

“From day one you wrapped your arms around me, and that’s something that I’ll never forget.”

“The way you wrapped your arms around me from day one is something I will never forget,”  Teague said.

"It’s the noise, it’s the energy you create that helps our team. The players feel it, the coaches can feel it, and I think you guys towards the end of the year I think you felt it.

“I think it’s a pretty good feeling. It is a feeling we deserve to have more often.

“It’s going to motivate us from day one of pre-season, and it’s something that we need to remember every time we step over that line that we are representing the Carlton Football Club."

While the end of the year was a massive positive for Teague, he is well aware that there is still a lot of work to be done by the Blues in 2020. 

The coach spoke with great conviction about the year ahead, putting the challenge out to the team to come back ready with a hunger to prove themselves to the wider AFL community. 

“We need to continue with what we started. We need to deliver more. We know that we can compete, but now we need to start winning," Teague said

“Like Mark said, the waiting is over. We are good enough, we have have that belief.

“It’s not going to just happen. We’re going to have to come back in really good nick. We’re going to have to train hard. We’re going to have to earn the trust of respect of our teammates, and the AFL industry.

”We need to make it happen. It’s not just going to happen.

“The time is now. We own that, it’s in our hands”