MOVING forward, literally.

Starting the pre-season report cards over the month of February, assistant coach Jordan Russell looks at how some of the Blues' forwards are fairing so far this summer.

It's time for some intel on the forwards: stay tuned for the other lines to come over the course of the month!

6. Zac Williams

“Zaccy came back really fit and firing: you can see it transfer in his training with his ability to cover the ground. He’s running around with a smile on his face as well, which is even more important for him. He’s one of our biggest communicators in the forward line, he’s a bit of a glue with the boys in terms of growing leadership and the youth.

“He’s a pretty bloody good user of the ball and got an incredible footy brain - he loves watching vision and discussing things with the coaches. He’s got some really good forward craft, but the best thing about doing a pre-season is now he’s working with and educating our younger boys, growing chemistry with them. He’s a pretty bloody good user of the ball.”

10. Harry McKay

“He’s a pro, an absolute pro. Big Harry came back again in incredible nick. Without having Charlie out there in the early stages, his leadership has been really important in educating off the field and helping them on the field. His ability to be durable and be at every session is a credit to all of the work he does off the field. He’s driving the standards and been in really good shape and training really well. I think he kicked nine in a match sim a few weeks ago - but he’s working on being an even bigger presence and threat as one of our key forwards.

“You can see the hours of time that Harry Lemmey has spent with Big H, both out on the track and in front of the computer - we’re starting to see that transfer out on the ground for Lemmey, in terms of his leading patterns and his aerial stuff.”

14. Orazio Fantasia

‘Razzle’ has been outstanding. In the off-season I reckon he was at the Club about four or five times a week, doing extra weights to get fitter and stronger and doing a power of work with a few of the other boys.

“He’s returned to full training and all the hard work is coming out at the minute in match sim: his ability to get up and down the ground, to repeat effort and pressure at the fall of the ball, he’s creating good chances in front of goal. He’s one of many forwards leading the way with unselfish behaviours and trying to get his teammates in better positions and get everyone involved.”

17. Brodie Kemp

“‘Kempy’ was a forward a couple of years ago before going back. At the end of last year he played on the McGoverns and Wilkies of the world, but what he’s been able to do this pre-season is get more of an understanding in how we want to move in our offensive system.

“The ability to spend three months with the forwards connecting and engaging off the field plus the craft he’s learned as a defender, he’s been able to transfer that into the match sim. His ability to negate in the air but also follow up at ground level, he’s found himself in some really good positions to pressure on the ground and set us up through decisions by hand and foot.”

19. Corey Durdin

“‘Durds’ had an interrupted start after shoulder surgery at the end of last season, but he’s been in that position before and is super diligent with his rehab. We got him back ahead of schedule and he’s starting to really put his best foot forward.

“His tackling pressure and his intensity in the defensive side of the game has been noticeable. He hasn’t really missed a beat since coming back in and he’s certainly one of those players among quite a few who will make life difficult at match committee.”

20. Elijah Hollands

“Elijah is going well. His ability to get up and down the ground almost as an extra midfielder, which we saw him do so well last year, he was so important for our team.

“Elijah is really creative for us and he will continue to do that, he’s got the ‘footy chip’: he knows where the ball is going, he gets himself into good positions and he’s obviously got a good tank. He’s a really important player for us, and he’s also got a bit of the ‘Carnies’ spunk about him as well.”

43. Ashton Moir

“I wouldn’t say I’m a trend-setter because only about three boys are using the name, but ‘Carlos’ is going well. He’s put on a few kilos which you can see in his frame, coming into his first full pre-season, plus he’s running really well: it’s always nice when players can put on muscle but continue to improve their aerobic capacity.

“He’s showing signs of improvement as a potential hybrid tall option, continuing to work on his aerial game and bringing the ball to ground which is where his strengths are. He’s got some really good attributes: he’s full of energy, he’s powerful, reads the game well and can obviously kick with both feet.”

What exactly are the ‘Carnies’?

“I can’t take too much credit or talk too much about how it originated, because I wasn’t in the building at that point - it was a brain child of Ash Hansen and the forward group in 2022. Forwards are always wired a little bit differently to other lines, forward line meetings are noticeably different to the backs, and we’ve got so many different characters in our group.

“You’ve got different ways that people learn, different ways they have fun and it’s embracing all of that. It’s understanding that Charlie can’t sit still in a meeting and he’ll get up and tell gags, then there’ll be Harry who’ll be right at the front at over 200 centimetres and nobody will be able to see the screen because he’s in the front row. It’s awesome they embrace each others’ different strengths.

“If you look at a carnival, you’ve got the jugglers and the aerialists and the ringmaster - everyone has different roles to play, but they’ve got an act to perform and everyone is on the same page. That’s how it all started, and the boys have gravitated to it and embraced it. We treat our forward 50 like a carnival with the bright lights and the tricks, and then also the hard-working stuff behind the scenes where everyone is pulling in the same direction. I actually think it’s one of my favourite themes that I’ve seen in my time in footy.”

On the small forward conundrum:

“There’s certainly a huge push for spots, which is such a good problem to have: the one line where we had consistent injuries across last year was the forwards group. We didn’t

have Lachie Fogarty, Matthew Cottrell, Jesse Motlop and Corey Durdin for big chunks of the year.

“In terms of those hybrid talls, Ashton Moir has stepped up in his first full pre-season, Brodie Kemp is spending a full pre-season as a forward. It’s the debate on how many talls and how many smalls, because everyone is putting their hands up - and I think that’s the best thing about having so many guys on the track at the minute. The beauty of pre-season is we’re getting some good looks at everyone in our match sim blocks.”

On Zac Williams and Jesse Motlop’s inclusion for the Indigenous All Stars:

“When the news got told to the group, you could see the smiles on their faces. Zaccy is a bit of an older head and ‘Mots’ is coming through in his fourth year, but to see the smiles and how proud they are to represent their mobs, it’s infectious.

“I know that both of them are going to represent themselves, their Club and their people really well. It’s so exciting for them to be part of the whole week: it’s a special occasion, and when their faces lit up in front of the group, it said it all.”