THE CARLTON Reserves will have a new look in 2025, with co-captains to lead the charge heading into the new season.

With the campaign to kick off this Friday night at IKON Park, the VFL Blues have confirmed that Liam McMahon and Heath Ramshaw will take on leadership duties for this season.

The duo are no strangers to Royal Parade, with both being regular contributors to the Carlton Reserves in recent seasons. Ramshaw has featured on 36 occasions of the Blues since his debut in the middle of 2022, while McMahon’s 33 games in two seasons includes him entering this campaign as the Club’s reigning VFL Best and Fairest.

What’s more, the two have a shared journey, having both played their junior footy together for the Northern Knights back in 2019 - now, they’re leading the charge as young co-captains of the Carlton Reserves.

“We’ve come through Carlton in the last couple of years together and we’re really close, we have a good relationship. It’s quite exciting that both of us are young captains: we can lean on each other,” McMahon said.

“From a personal level, it’s a nice achievement to say you captain a VFL club and something I’m really proud of.”

While they started out in a similar vein at the Knights, their respective journeys have taken them down different roads, as is often the case with VFL footy. Ramshaw was a former student of the Carlton College of Sport on the way to being named the VFL Blues’ Best Young Player in 2023, while McMahon was drafted to Collingwood’s AFL list at the end of 2020 before establishing himself as one of the state league’s premier forwards upon his arrival at the Blues.

In Ramshaw’s eyes, it’s a perfect embodiment of the VFL competition as a whole - and a relationship which he hopes can continue to steer the Blues in the right direction under Luke Power.

“I think it’s a story of taking the most of your opportunities. Everyone has an avenue and everyone has a time in their career: when it’s your time to go, you’ve got to grab it with both hands,” Ramshaw said.

“We’ve both said from the get go that Luke is an awesome person. He gets to know the person first and then the way he sees the game is second-to none. We can absorb how he carries himself and how he does his thing, he’s a super mentor.”

We’ve come through Carlton in the last couple of years together and we’re really close, we have a good relationship. It’s quite exciting that both of us are young captains: we can lean on each other.

- Liam McMahon

In terms of their outlook on the season and how they’ll work together, McMahon said that the two co-captains will complement each other in their leadership style - all with the viewpoint to making the VFL Blues the best possible version of themselves.

“Heath is an action-based leader, I’ll get around the boys with my voice and making sure the guys are set in the right position - plus we’ll both be constantly checking in with the group from a personal standpoint.

“The wins column wasn’t where we wanted it to be last year: we know we’re capable against the best sides, we saw that in 2024. Being able to finish those close games, a lot of players over the pre-season have taken a really big step, and the additions we’ve got from a VFL standpoint are really strong. We lost some players last year, but we feel we’ve replaced them with our signings.”

Ramshaw agrees.

“We’ve learned from a lot of things last year. The body of work has been huge.

“Last year there were several games where we lost by two goals or less, so those situations late in games have been something we’ve really gone to work on. We feel our strengths are going to put us in really good shape: we’re both really stoked and excited to get into it.”