Carlton forward Liam Jones says he’s excited about the club’s forward stocks after spearheading the Northern Blues’ crushing 158-point victory over Frankston at Eithad Stadium on Sunday.
 
Jones booted six goals for the Blues in a dominant display that saw him clunk 13 marks – eight of them contested, including two hangers – as Northern registered their highest VFA/VFL score against the hapless Dolphins.
 
Alongside Jones, Matthew Watson (three goals), plus young forwards Blaine Johnson (six) and Jayden Foster (three) combined for 18 of the Blues’ 29 goals.
 
Following on from the previous weeks’ confidence-boosting win over top-four side Werribee, Jones said the forward line – and in particular Foster – had been building towards Sunday’s performance.
 
“It’s fantastic to see them come along, Jayden Foster’s had such a great pre-season so I knew he was going to pop up somewhere along the way,” Jones said.


“Today was his breakout game. He’s only played a few VFL games, but he reckon he’s going to be really strong for us leading out in the second half of the year.


“’Watto’ was really good today and ‘Johnno’ bobbed up for a few, but I think on any given day, any forward up there can be really dangerous.


“Going forward, it’s a real pleasure to play with these guys.”
 
Jones’ haul was his best performance since leading his former side in Footscray to its breakthrough VFL premiership last year.
 
Playing both forward and as a second ruckman, and after a tough start at his new club at AFL level, Jones says he believes he is starting to find form with eight goals from four matches in 2015.
 
“I’m starting to get used to the tempo (of VFL) again, as well as the new teammates,” he said.

“It’s really exciting. We had a really good game against Werribee last week and then followed it up with a really complete, four-quarter performance against Frankston.
 
“It was good to finish up with some goals today.

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“I didn’t plan to come out and kick six, particularly spending half the time up forward and half the time in the ruck, but it was good to get some reward for effort.
 
“The guys were hitting me up. I think it was good to get that chemistry back between the midfielders kicking me the ball, I really enjoyed it out there.”
 
The 24-year-old now fronts up against his old side this Saturday.
 
The Bulldogs sit just two spots above the Blues in eighth spot, Jones said a lot can be taken away from two strong performances in the last fortnight.
 
“Obviously they (Footscray) are the reigning premiers, so there’s no doubt we will have to be our best,” Jones said.
 
“But if we play like we did (on Sunday), we’ll be more than competitive. The result is the perfect stepping stone for the standard we have to hold next week.”
 
The Northern Blues travel to VU Whitten Oval to play Footscray. The commences at 2pm.