“WE WANT to have a good crack.” 

Nic Newman is looking forward to another strong season as the Blues prepare for the 2024 season. 

Coming back early to begin pre-season, Newman was impressed at the condition in which is teammates arrived in, noting the hunger and the determination that is apparent within the group.

“The energy has been really high – all the boys were keen to get back and get stuck into it,” Newman said. 

“Everyone is really keen, everyone has come back in good shape and really excited. I’m looking to have another good year and have a crack at it.”

Newman doubled down on the messages from coaches and staff, noting that not too much has changed in terms of mindset and goals.

Finding and solidifying their identity as a team - and as a Club - in 2023 through adversity, Newman hopes that they can continue to fine-tune their values and translate them into consistent on-field performance. 

“The message was pretty simple from ‘Vossy’. It was stay hungry and stay humble: this game waits for no one and you only have to be off by a little bit to get hit between the eyes,” he said. 

“We’re under no illusions on how hard it is to make prelim finals and you need a few things to go your way. It’s just been about getting back to work which all the boys have done.”

In terms of the specific goals of the pre-season, continuing to work to their strengths - the contest and pressure - is high on the agenda. 

Newman did admit there are a few other things on the radar for this side of the year, but that maintaining their strengths was a main focus for the group.

“Last year was a valuable lesson in terms of our identity and who we want to be as a Club, our contest and pressure is our one wood and we don’t want to stray too far from that,” he said. 

“We probably got scored off turnovers a little bit too much, we probably would like to score more off turnovers, it’s a bit of a trend in the AFL at the moment. 

“I think we do a good job of turning the ball over and intercepting with some of our big boys down back, so we’d probably like to get more speed and power and be able to hurt teams off that.”