PLATFORM set, but now Elijah Hollands wants to springboard.

Settling in seamlessly in his first year as a Blue, Hollands ultimately played 22 consecutive games for his new club last season, emerging as one of the positives from the Blues’ 2024 campaign.

But naturally, the desire for improvement is driving Carlton’s No.20 to want to reach new heights.

It’s easy to forget that Hollands had played just 14 games prior to joining the Blues, and in a number of roles. But having settled into a position - and settled in to life in Melbourne - he’s desperate to raise the standards next year.

As captain Patrick Cripps might put it, he’s intent to level up.

In Hollands’ eyes, the good was good - but he wants to produce that far more than he doesn’t.

“I spoke about it through last year: it was good to play consistently in the AFL side, and playing every game I was able to was a good sign. But while there were good games there, there were some games I would like back,” Hollands told Carlton Media.

“I want to translate this summer into the start and the duration of next season... I didn’t really miss a session last year, I don’t want to miss a session this year — so I can consistently be out on the track and set a standard for myself to train at a high level.”

The conditions for the opening day of pre-season weren’t exactly what you would expect, with persistent rain in Melbourne, but for Hollands it reminded him of his first day training with the Blues this time 12 months ago.

However, what’s clearly much different for the 22-year-old is the connection he has with his teammates the second time around.

“You come in knowing the playing group - barring the new faces - and the majority of the playing group and staff aren’t foreign to me anymore. That’s always good, to come in with relationships already built: now it’s just about ticking along and getting back to business.”

And it wasn’t just the first-to-four-year players who were the ones getting back to business.

Despite not being due back until next week, that didn’t stop a host of Blues getting back out there, including new recruit Nick Haynes and veteran Nic Newman.

“They don’t have to come in this week, but it’s good that so many still do and want to get around the young boys.

“‘Weiters’, ‘Newy’, ‘Saady’ was here as well, a few big boys that can come in and set an example for the young lads.”