“I THINK that I still have a lot to give to this footy club.”

The big shorts are back at Ikon Park, and the big smile is back on the face of Eddie Betts.

It’s been just shy of four months since Betts made his emotional return to Carlton: a return which, at the time, he described as “a fairytale and a homecoming”.

Speaking to The Age, Betts couldn’t hide his joy about being back at the Club he made his name.

It would be no surprise to Carlton supporters that Betts sees it as his duty to be the official giver of joy in the football world.

“One of the things I really go out of my way to do now is make someone else smile,” Betts told The Age’s Peter Ryan.

“It was like going back to school… I didn’t really go to school, but it was like going back in a sense!”

Described by his coach (and former teammate) David Teague as “a beautiful person”, there’s no denying what Betts brings both on and off the field.

While admitting he was doubting himself in 2019, he knows he can offer a lot to the Old Dark Navy Blue.

“People can bag me as much as they want, but as long as I am playing the footy the team wants me to play and I am smiling… every time you see me playing my best footy I have got a big grin on my face,” he said.

“That is because I love the game so much and I enjoy playing it. I play my best footy when I am happy.

“I will play as long as I can, until my body and form tells me I can’t play anymore or my son tells me ‘it’s done, Dad, you have got to give up.”

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