There was plenty to like for Daniel O’Keefe on Friday night, as Carlton Reserves took away a 42-point victory over the Brisbane Lions.

The VFL Senior Coach felt that the contested nature of the match gave an advantage to his side.

“The game was quite scrappy and contested, but we liked it like that,” O’Keefe said.

“We had just shy of 80 tackles, which for a Round 1 game is quite amazing, so we wanted to bring that heat from the start and that’s the way it turned out.”

Fresh after stepping up as the caretaker coach of an impressive midfield group for the club’s AFL side on Thursday night, O’Keefe was also pleased with his Carlton Reserves’ on-ball brigade.

“Both our wingers in [Matthew] Cottrell and [Jack] Newnes were fantastic on the outside,” he said.

“’Dowy’ was exceptional, he took the game by the scruff of the neck and [Alex] Mirkov supported that as well getting the ball down to him.”

O’Keefe was not only impressed with the Blues’ performance, but also the new IKON Park lights on display.

“It was awesome to play under lights, it’s the first time our VFL program have actually seen them in action,” he said.

Onto next week, the Carlton Reserves will face the Box Hill Hawks, who lost their opening round clash with Collingwood by two points.

O’Keefe is eager to see how his side stacks up against the Hawks.

“I’m pumped that we’re playing a really good side in Box Hill, they’ve historically been really strong for a number of years,” he said.

“It’s a really exciting opportunity for us to try and back up and get a second win on the board.”

Tarquin Oakley is a student at La Trobe University, undergoing his Bachelor of Media and Communications (Sports Journalism). He is currently undertaking an internship at the Carlton Football Club as part of its partnership with La Trobe University.