IT MAY not be against his former team, but the excitement is still there for Blake Acres when it comes to playing on Optus Stadium again.

A West Australian native, Acres played for Fremantle for three years because crossing to the Blues in last year’s trade period, missing just one game so far this season through suspension.

Back for a clash with a team which he regarded as the arch rival just 12 months ago, Acres said the opportunity to play in front of family and friends once again - alongside fellow Sandgropers in Patrick Cripps and Mitch McGovern - was one he’d been looking forward to.

“It is more exciting — I love getting back home in front of friends and family,” Acres told SEN WA.

“Mum and Dad are flying down from up north, so I’ll get to see them for brekky tomorrow morning, and they’ll be in the rooms tomorrow after the game — hopefully following a win.

“I love playing back here and I love the stadium.”

Of course, the last time Acres played against the Blues in Perth saw him produce a stunning Goal of the Year nomination, albeit wearing purple.

Now in the Navy Blue, Acres didn’t want to be drawn into discussions around his decision to leave his home state for IKON Park, instead insisting on talking about what his focuses were now he’s months into his Carlton career.

“One club I really wanted to speak to was Carlton. With where they were at and what I thought I could bring to this club, I pretty quickly switched to that mindset of ‘how can I get to Carlton?’, build this club up and play finals football, which is what we all want,” he said.

“I’m glad I made the decision with where I’m at now."

Acres’ first game was a draw before he played in consecutive wins (he missed the win over North Melbourne), but the last fortnight has seen Carlton be on the receiving end of back-to-back losses. 

The wingman said it wasn’t as simple as the Blues underperforming in recent weeks, given there were areas of the game they wanted to improve in the opening month, while the team’s contest method was improved against the Saints.

He said the only way to return to winning form was consistency and application to the coaching staff’s message.

“We’ve got some themes to work on and ‘Vossy’ has been very clear on that . . . even when we were winning, we had areas to improve,” he said.

“We’ve got a clear focus this week and, if we get this part right - I think we’re a coachable group - then it’ll hold us in good stead. Hopefully we can build some confidence throughout the group again and get us back on the right track.

“We want to get more bang for buck and move the ball quicker when we can, having a better balance with our ball use to give our forwards the best chance.”

One player that Acres is loving playing alongside - again - is Adam Cerra, who produced the best performance of his career in game No.100 last weekend.

“I always rated ‘Cez’ highly from when I played with him at Freo. I was shattered to see him leave at the time . . . but I’m stoked now!

“He has been pretty versatile for us this year, playing a bit of half-back and giving us some bounce, then he goes inside at times and does his job in there. He’s having a good year.”