CARLTON has a big challenge coming up this Sunday when it faces top-of-the-table Port Adelaide at the Gabba.  

Both sides will be playing on unfamiliar turf, although it will be Port’s fourth game out of five on neutral ground.

Meanwhile, the Blues got off to the perfect start to Queensland life, producing their best performance of the season in the win over the Western Bulldogs. 

Senior Coach David Teague is reassured that the team is excited about being challenged by the in-form Port side, looking to put their effort and learnings to the test.  

“It’s around the effort and I think our boys’ effort has been pretty good most weeks,” Teague said.  

“We want to play the teams on the top of the ladder: that’s our opportunity this week and I think our players are excited.” 

While the Blues have played some inconsistent football this season, Teague is proud of the way the team has learnt from every game, win or loss.

He said consistency would come on the back of living their values each week.  

“Our football hasn’t been entirely consistent throughout this year but their ability to learn from each of the games so far has been great,” he said. 

“We want to grow, we have our values that we want to live [by].” 

Port Adelaide have been one of the highest scoring teams in the competition this season, but Teague was positive that Carlton’s mindset was set on hitting the scoreboard. 

He believed that presented the opportunity for another pleasing game on the eye. 

“I think we want to play a high-scoring game too so hopefully it will be an exciting game for our fans,” he said.

“We’ve got to control what we can control and make sure our pressure is strong.”  

With the whole squad training in the hub, the potential for team depth is stronger every week. 

Teague admitted while the team may go in unchanged this week, it is getting harder every week to select a team of 22 on the back of so many players training well. 

“We’ve got guys that are pushing selection and what we have said to our playing group is that training form is really important,” he said.

“We’ve got probably 10 guys that aren’t playing in our side that we would be happy to come in and play a role.

“We believe we’re going in the right direction, we believe in the playing list that we have.”