NO MATTER the results, 2024 was a dream come true for newest Blues Lila Keck and Meg Robertson.

Debuting in Carlton's season opener against Hawthorn, Keck admitted debuting in Week 1 in front of nearly 3,000 spectators was a surreal experience.

“I sort of came into the season thinking like, ‘maybe I’ll get a go, maybe I won’t’, so to get picked to play Week 1 was like, crazy,” Keck said.

“Playing in front of that many people was so much fun.”

2024 was a learning opportunity for the former pick No.7, with Keck managing six games this year. While the 19-year-old faced some selection disappointment throughout the season, she was able to use the experience to fuel her improvement.

“I’ve always had this thing where you make sure you feel the disappointment,” she said.

“I suppose I’d from under-18s and state where you don’t get dropped, and you’re on the top end... you’re an A-grade footballer in the under-18s.

“I just used it as motivation, fuel for the fire kind of stuff. Just go after what they tell you to go after and try to break back into the team. [I was] head down, bum up every training session.”

Keck continued to finetune her craft under the influence of recent retiree Jess Dal Pos, learning all she could from the 70-gamer about the small forward role. Admiring her work on and off the field, Keck took in all she could from Dal Pos in her final season.

“She taught me to go off instinct, and if you don’t have the ball make sure you’re making space for other people,” she said.

“Just that unrewarded running sort of stuff, and then just being dangerous around goal...I followed her around like a bad smell.”

Despite watching her former Vic Country teammate make her debut in Week 1, Robertson had to wait until Week 5 for her opportunity.

While her debut game was in Carlton’s 69-point loss against North Melbourne, the 19-year-old’s introduction to AFLW was a sink-or-swim moment.

“Coming straight into [the side to] verse North Melbourne was pretty crazy. I think that was - not a scare - but a reality check sort of thing,” Robertson said.

“I think my third disposal I got crunched and it was holding the ball. So just [learning] little things like that, the pace of the game, learning it off the back.

“When I got the call-up, it was just awesome. I knew I had to come out and make a statement. It was along the same lines of ‘this is what you worked for for so many years.’ For it to finally happen was awesome.”

Since her Week 5 debut, Robertson played every game for the remainder of the season. Having played the majority of her juniors as a midfielder/forward hybrid, the 19-year-old was tasked with learning a new role in the Carlton backline.

“I think it suits the way that I play and my game style: being the first line of offence in a way to take the game forward,” Robertson said.

“It was definitely a lot of adjusting, I’ve never really had a defensive mindset before, so I think that was a big shift and something that I still need to work on.”

While Robertson notes the backline is full of leaders, there was one defender she watched closely in 2024.

“I kept a close eye on Mimi because I aspire to play that same role that she does, the high half-back,” she said.

“They’re all leaders in their own way, which I think I just had to be a sponge and absorb all they had to say, especially because I was so new to the position.”