AS ALWAYS, Jacob Weitering engaged in an engrossing chat with Gerard Whateley on Thursday morning.

And it wasn't the only thing that was engaging on the agenda (get it?).

When Carlton's co-vice captain returned for his monthly slot on the program, this is what he had to say.

On how he managed to cover the most distance of Blue on Friday night (15.6km):

“I was asking the same question of the coaches and Andrew Russell. I’m not too sure how that occurred! We were set up pretty well behind the ball for the majority of the night, we defended really well as a team. You’d think that would usually bring the numbers down, but that wasn’t the case. 

“I played on ‘Tomahawk’ for the majority of the night, and in the last quarter and a bit, I don’t know what I was doing there with under a disposal per kilometre. That’s what defenders do: we’re happy to see ball, punch ball and get the win. I won’t complain with a win like that! 

“I reckon it’s [normally] around 13.5 or 14 kilometres. I guess it’s not too much of a difference.”

On the reaction to the win over Geelong:

“I won’t say it was a statement win, but it was certainly a game where we stamped our authority and our identity quite quickly and quite consistently throughout the game. I thought our pressure was great, we’ve been looking for the 75-plus tackle mark a game and we ended up with 80. 

“’Vossy’ was pretty consistent with his messaging throughout the week, clearly they got us done earlier in the year. For us, we looked at all parts of our game. We certainly wanted to start fast and play really good team defence, and I thought we did that really well, along with some roles that were completed that has been noted throughout the media and by ‘Vossy’. 

“’Cinc’ did a great job on Tom Stewart, ‘Gov’ on Jeremy Cameron and I thought Tom De Koning was amazing in the ruck. We’ve got guys all over the ground doing a really good role for us and playing consistent football.”

On how he approached the bye from a personal perspective:

“I probably put myself under a bit more stress than most, I dropped the knee and proposed to my partner Isabel. I got the yes there, which was a good start to the bye week. 

“I’ve been very fortunate, she’s been with me since high school and been one of my biggest supporters. I’m very fortunate to have her alongside me and going forward for the long run. From there, it was more seeing friends and family and a little celebration from that side of things.”

On how he approached the bye from a football perspective:

“From football, it was nice to get away from it and refresh, especially after what’s been a bit of an inconsistent ride for us — albeit we are second on the ladder. I’m really looking forward to the backend of the year, we tend to play well so hopefully we can do that. We’ll take it week by week: we’ve got the Tiges, and it’ll be a bloody good match I’m sure.”

On how the team will approach the second half of the year:

“Last year was clearly different, the year before that also. We didn’t give ourselves the best opportunity last year because we really only played half a season, in terms of the way we wanted to play, our identity, our contest, our pressure. We left ourselves a bit short going into finals, not with the second opportunity in the top four and having to go beat some quality sides in close matches. 

“For us, we want to play consistent. It’s a cliche and a message we’ve been trying to run with, but it truly is what we’re trying to achieve as a team. It’s something that Carlton as a football club and team haven’t been able to do for a long period of time, so if we can take it week by week — 10 wins is great, but 15 or 16 gets you in the four. 

“We’re not silly, we look at those numbers and they’re our goals for now. There’s certainly that ambition, the drive and the motivation to win games and finals and ultimately a premiership.”

On the areas the team went after following the break:

“For us, there are some really good numbers. I think we’re the number one pressure team, our tackle numbers are pretty good, our team defence and the way we’ve been able to change our identity slightly . . . last year we were very good at defending stoppages and not transition, I think we’ve gotten a lot better at that. 

“Scoring and being efficient when we go forward is something we’re still looking at, and that comes off our pressure and contest and winning the ball back. We want to be a front-half team and play us much in our front half as we can, especially when you’ve got the likes of Charlie and Harry and the small forwards going to work. 

“Essendon certainly gave us a run for our money, we struggled to keep it in our front half. They had 38 forward-half turnovers, which we defended 35 of them and got the win. That’s not our identity, that’s not how we want to play and we went to work on that a little bit.”

On Adam Cerra’s availability:

“He’s a test this week. He’s done a mountain of work to get back into a position to perform. For those who don’t know, he’s one of the more meticulous preparers that I’ve seen with the way he recovers, prepares his body, what he eats and his mentality. I’ll be looking forward to having him back when he gets out there.”

On State of Origin in the AFL:

“I think it’d be pretty cool. Playing in the Big V would be an unbelievable moment for many Victorian players, certainly me. It’s a timing aspect for sure, there are a lot of stakeholders in this: the AFL, the clubs, players and their health and safety plus what the ultimate goal is for all those people. 

“I’d love to see it back, it’d be a fair bit of planning and time to go into that. I personally missed that generation of State of Origin, I was a little bit too young to witness the great games. 

“There was the game at the MCG with the Big V and the All Stars team [in 2008]. They’re the spectacles I think everyone wants to see, when you’ve got the best players out there it’d be great to go to and great to watch from home. I’m all for it.”