Carlton CEO Cain Liddle is optimistic of what lies ahead for the Navy Blues.

After some key movement throughout the off-season, Liddle said there was reason to be excited for 2019 and beyond for Bluebaggers.

Speaking on 1116 SEN on Friday morning, Liddle believed the Club's acquisitions on and off the field were signs of a bright future.

“There has been a lot going on in the off-season — we’re really happy with our trade period,” Liddle said.

“We were able to attract a number of players to the Club who were really important to us.”

With Alex Fasolo, Mitch McGovern, Nic Newman and Will Setterfield arriving at Ikon Park, Liddle envisaged an immediate impact from Carlton’s newest quartet.

As all eyes now turn to the draft, Liddle shed some light on the Blues’ mindset - including on the No.1 pick - after an off-season which welcomed some mature talent.

“We’ve taken that more balanced approach, bringing in three or four players who are ready to come in straight away,” he said.

“It’s important that we have the balance of bringing in ready-made players and going into the draft which Carlton has done a really good job of in the last three years.

“Pick 1 is in our back pocket and is perfectly comfortable back there…The offer would have to be incredible for us to even consider moving it.”

He also mentioned it was worth counting the AFL’s potential “recruit of the year” in that mix, who just happens to be one of Carlton’s newest joint captains.

“You can just about lock in Sam Docherty to be the recruit of the year — we’re really looking forward to having him back,” he said.

With Docherty one of a number of Blues who endured an injury-stricken 2018, Liddle said the addition of Andrew Russell to the Club was a significant one.

“We underwent an extensive review of our high performance team, after some well-advertised injuries. We wanted to make sure we were doing everything possible to develop athletes in the best possible way,” he said.

“The review highlighted a number of good things we were doing: with the medical side of things, we needed to bring in another resource and he was the one for us.”

Following the difficulties of 2018, Liddle said Carlton would emerge stronger and said the way in which all aspects of the Club stuck together was an overwhelming positive.

“The one absolute positive to take out of the year was that the Club is completely united,” he said.

“We stayed consistent with our message, stayed supportive of the people in their roles and great clubs are created out of situations like this.

“Our members and supporters deserve a lot of credit. Off-field, there were a lot of positives to take which will help create the environment and culture you need.”