FITTER, faster and stronger. That’ll be a key focus for Paddy Dow and his Carlton teammates as they prepare for 2019.
Dow is one of the Blues who will embody the Club’s improvement, with Carlton investing in the development of its youngsters to go with its new recruits.
There was no shortage of faces at Ikon Park yesterday, with Carlton’s first to fourth year players equating for more than half of the playing list.
After an exciting first year which yielded 20 games and a Rising Star nomination, Dow admitted he couldn’t wait to return to the track for his second pre-season.
“It’s good to get back after eight or nine weeks off in the off-season,” Dow said.
“You enjoy the break and see family and friends, but it gets to a point where you’re really keen to get stuck into it and see everyone.”
Three new Blues were among the fold yesterday, with new recruits Mitch McGovern, Matt Owies and Will Setterfield joined their teammates for the first time.
While Owies is in a different situation to the other two, Dow said he was looking forward to getting to work with all the new faces coming through the Ikon Park door this pre-season.
“It’s good to see ‘Setters’ and Mitch McGovern out there doing a running session, as well as Matthew Owies. It’s exciting to see what they can all do next year,” Dow said.
After being in their situation 12 months ago, Dow also said he’d be keeping a keen eye on the 2018 draft class following the big night in just over two weeks.
“It’ll be good to see all those draftees come in and watch them develop,” Dow said.
“They’ll all come in from junior football to senior football and hopefully they’ll develop pretty quickly.”
