THE YOUNGEST oldest player.

When Nic Newman said on last week’s Summer Sessions podcast that he thought “at any other club he wouldn’t be the oldest” on the list, he was spot on.

Having just turned 31 last week, Newman can hold onto the fact that across any of the other 17 clubs, he wouldn’t be the elder statesman just yet.

“It says how young we are as a group. I feel young — young at heart!

“It’s weird to think . . . I feel like I haven’t been in the system that long. It’s cool as well, because I never envisaged being at a club and being the oldest, so it means I’ve been around for a little while and made a career out of it.”

Heading into year six as a Carlton player, Newman also mentioned that he felt like he’s “grown up” at IKON Park after initially starting out AFL life at Sydney.

He’s done so alongside a core group of Blues who you’d think would whole-heartedly agree with that sentiment.

“I really feel like I’ve grown up into who I am and who I wanted to be at Carlton.

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“It’s been an awesome experience. When I got here, we came off a two-win season, so to feel like we’ve been building to get to a prelim final, we feel like we’re in a really good position as a footy club and as a playing group to attack the year.

“It’s been awesome. I’d love to play 100 games for the footy club and get my name on the locker: it’s something I’d love to do.”

Newman is joined by Sam Docherty as the only two players who’ll be over 30 years of age when Opening Round rolls around in March. That's the equal-lowest in the competition (alongside North Melbourne).

The most prevalent demographics at the Blues are from 24-26 and 27-29 years of age, with 13 players in each age group.

Carlton’s list by age breakdown (as of Opening Round, 8 March 2024)

30+: Two
Nic Newman, Sam Docherty

29-27: 13
Adam Saad, Zac Williams, Mitch McGovern, Jack Martin, Patrick Cripps, Orazio Fantasia, Blake Acres, George Hewett, Marc Pittonet, Sam Durdin, Caleb Marchbank, Alex Cincotta, Charlie Curnow

26-24: 13
Matt Owies, David Cuningham, Matthew Kennedy, Jacob Weitering, Jack Silvagni, Harry McKay, Jordan Boyd, Lewis Young, Lachie Fogarty, Tom De Koning, Adam Cerra, Alex Mirkov, Matthew Cottrell

23-21: 6
Sam Walsh, Brodie Kemp, Corey Durdin, Elijah Hollands, Dom Akuei, Jack Carroll 

20 and under: 10
Jesse Motlop, Ollie Hollands, Harry Lemmey, Rob Monahan, Jaxon Binns, Lachie Cowan, Hudson O’Keeffe, Ashton Moir, Billy Wilson, Matt Carroll