Newly appointed Northern Blues coach Josh Fraser says he and Carlton coach Brendon Bolton will work closely together to fast-track the development of Carlton’s youngsters.

Fraser, who is also taking on a development coaching role at Carlton, revealed he and Bolton had already held “initial discussions” about building a stronger platform at VFL level for the youngsters to flourish.

“The mandate from Brendon down is to make sure we (Northern Blues) provide a winning culture. Creating that winning culture and competitive environment is going to help their development naturally,” Fraser told SEN 1116.

“Players are going to get thrown around a little bit. They have to be willing to adapt and that’s going to form part of their long-term development.

“Primarily there will be a real Carlton flavour to the way we want to play and I guess that’s going to be ideal given we’ll have a number of Carlton-listed players playing for us.”

Fraser said he was “quite impressed” by Bolton, pointing to his successful coaching experience at AFL and VFL level as invaluable.

The 36-year-old guided Hawthorn’s VFL affiliate Box Hill to a semi-final and preliminary final in the 2009 and ’10 seasons respectively, prior to his highly decorated stint as an assistant at Hawthorn.

“The exciting thing for me is that he’s come from a really successful program with the Hawthorn and Box Hill alignment,” Fraser said.

“He knows what it should look like and he’s going to be a great resource for me.”

Fraser, the No.1 draft pick in the 1999 National Draft who went on to play 218 AFL games, joins Carlton after a two-year stint as senior coach of the Gold Coast Suns’ reserves in the NEAFL.

He said he was “quite keen” to stay at Gold Coast, but the opportunity to join Carlton in his home state was one he couldn’t knock back.

“The lure for family reasons to get back to Victoria was quite strong. With that came some uncertainty around a job, but when this presented itself, I was hellbent on making sure I was able to get it.
 
“I guess I’m really passionate right now about the development side of coaching and the benefit of this role is to coach your own side on game day.

“I’m thankful for the opportunity and looking forward to the year ahead.”

Fraser will officially commence his role in early November.