FRESH off a classy three-goal performance, it’s no surprise that David Cuningham is gaining confidence by the week.

The speedster impressed in Carlton’s nine-point victory over Essendon last night, making the most of his opportunities to hit the scoreboard in a new forward role.

It was the second straight week in which Cuningham kicked multiple goals, after managing two against Hawthorn in the opening practice match of 2019.

By and large, he put it down to something which he hadn’t been able to achieve in his opening three years at Ikon Park: a full pre-season.

“I’ve finally completed 100 percent of pre-season, the body is feeling great,” Cuningham said post-match.

“I’m feeling fresher than ever and stronger and faster. I’m just looking forward to playing another practice match and getting ready for the real thing.”

The 21-year-old has battled injury since arriving at Carlton in the 2015 NAB AFL Draft: however, his cameo last night showed exactly what he’s capable of with an extended run.

Both individually and collectively, Cuningham believed the Blues could launch on the back of the positives shown in the JLT Community Series opener.

“We get a lot of confidence out of that performance,” he said.

“The team getting that synergy and going onto kick 100 points was really nice — we haven’t done it for a while — and to get the win against an arch-rival, even if it’s a practice match.

“We’re building confidence into Round 1, we’ve still got one more practice match to go.”

Last night showed some of Carlton’s youngsters taking ownership of the contest, with Cuningham (15 disposals) not alone in exciting the Blues faithful.

With Jacob Weitering, Sam Petrevski-Seton and Zac Fisher all displaying what they’re capable of, Cuningham reiterated what has been said by his teammates all summer.

“The growth in this team has to come from the younger blokes that are entering their third and fourth years at the Club. That’s me,” he said.

“I really have to step it up and help out guys like Patty Cripps, ‘Murph’ and ‘Simmo’ who have been here for a while.”