A VIEW to Round 1.

That was the focus for the Carlton coaching staff heading into the JLT Community Series.

And according to John Barker, there was a lot for the Blues to take heart from and digest following a narrow loss to Collingwood.

Fighting back in the final term, Barker said the game would be a “positive reinforcement” for Carlton’s emerging group.

“There’s some real positives to take out of the game today. There’s no doubt from our point of view — regardless of the final score,” Barker said.

“We were +17 in the last quarter against a quality outfit which just played in a Grand Final. For our group, from where they are from an age perspective, it’s a real positive.”

Carlton’s youngsters were put to the test against a Collingwood side featuring 17 players who played on the final Saturday in September.

Barker said that while there’s still plenty of growth to come, there was cause for positivity from the fight and resilience shown by the Blues.

With an influx of a dozen players over the off-season, he said the last fortnight had been crucial in building synergy across the group.

“There are different parts of our lines with our defenders, midfielders and forwards where there are new players in the mix,” he said.

“The more they can spend together within training and in-game is only going to help us going forward.

“There are parts of our system which are holding up at the moment. There’s still a lot of growth to come in parts of the way we play and the mechanics of what we do.”

Barker shed some light on Patrick Kerr and Liam Stocker remaining on the sidelines, citing the need of giving them game-day experience and wanting to field a team of 22 prior to the season.

He said the coaching staff would have some key decisions to make in the coming days surrounding the make-up of the Round 1 team.

“What we’ll do is review the game, because there were things we were happy with but there’s also areas that need improvement,” he said.

“We’ll make sure our decisions are balanced, which may or may not include changes for Round 1.

“There were a few who put their hands up and we’ll determine on balance which team suits to take on the Tigers.”