WITH the Blues equipped with 11 new players, Ed Curnow says the playing group has been focused on competing strongly and bringing high levels of energy to training.

The 29-year-old returned for his ninth pre-season, with the running machine eyeing his 150th game in Carlton colours early next season.

He said despite having over three months to go before season 2019 kicks off, the players were treating every training session with intensity.

“Clearly we’re a young group and we’ve brought in a whole heap of young talent again and what we want is to compete. We want to train hard and complete hard against each other,” Curnow said.

“That’s what the coaches are looking for out on the track, and to enjoy the hard work.

"There’s plenty of time until games still, but we’re enjoying training in the present and competing and bringing energy.”

The new additions to Carlton’s list included a pair of first-round selections – Sam Walsh (pick No.1) and Liam Stocker (pick No.19). The Blues also secured Finbar O’Dwyer (pick No.66) and Ben Silvagni (pick No.70) on the second day of the draft. Matthew Owies also arrived as a Category B rookie.

The new, young talent was complemented by two rookie selections in Hugh Goddard (pick No.1) and Tomas Bugg (pick No.18) and a trade period that saw Mitch McGovern, Alex Fasolo, Will Setterfield and Nic Newman make their way to Carlton.

Curnow said the new Blues had well and truly met the high expectations set by the playing group.

“It’s great to be back at training. I suppose it’s been two weeks now and we’ve got 11 new guys and a new High Performance Manager in Andrew ‘Jack’ Russell so it’s good," Curnow said.

“Sam (Walsh) is a gun. I love the way he’s gone about training and his attitude and intensity. Liam’s strong and he’s showed that at stoppages.

"Big Ben (Silvagni) is a character and good fun – he’s a couple of lockers down from me in the changeroom - and Finbar has settled in well.

“They’re all good draftees who were brought in. It’s exciting.” 

Curnow credits the Blues’ new Director of High Performance Andrew Russell as a factor in the group mindset over the pre-season. He said Russell had been giving each player tailored recommendations heading into 2019.

"There’s been a few changes to the program which is refreshing for myself as I’ve been at the Club for a few years," Curnow said.

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“Andrew’s been great. He’s caught up with most players individually now. I had a short conversation with him around looking at different ways to help my football individually, extend my career hopefully – I’m starting to get on the back end of it.

"He's given little hints and tips and ideas that he’s picked up with working with similar types in the game that I’m looking to implement this pre-season going into 2019.

“He has brought in a mindset around becoming a bit more agile and giving myself a bit more energy later in games. I suppose I’ve still got my running ability but we’re looking at ways to prevent myself becoming tired later in the game with the way I jump off the deck.

“He’s providing a lot of detail to different players based on their own make-up which is really good.”

Aside from the new batch of players and the addition of Russell, a change in captaincy has been another difference at the Blues during this pre-season campaign.

Curnow said the new joint captains had played an important role in helping the new and old players gel. 

“It’s been awesome to have Sam and Cripps take over the captaincy. They work really well together. They’re at a great age where they’re across all the demographics of the group and the coaches,” he said.

“They speak and communicate really well and they train really hard. They’ve already had a big impact on the group. They’ve been having a couple of dinners which is great for building relationships early days so I’m really excited to have them lead the Club next year."