WHERE will the improvement come from?

It’s the question asked of every club each pre-season, and it’s certainly applicable for Carlton.

On the back of an impressive end to 2019, assistant coach Dale Amos was clear and concise when dictating how the Blues would take the next step.

As has been the case all summer, Amos said the AFL side was looking to its younger brigade to own the future of the football club.

Speaking to Sportsday WA, he said it was crucial that the team couldn’t rely on too few to do too big of a job.

“The Murphys, Simpsons and Kreuzers are going to turn up and play well most weeks — they’ve done it over a long period of time,” Amos said.

“That’s where our growth is: some guys who have played some good footy but haven’t played a lot of footy. Now we need them to be consistently good week in, week out.

“They’ll determine a fair bit of our season in terms of how successful we are. The other guys will get it done, it’s a matter of how much the other guys can improve.

“Certainly over pre-season, the signs have been really positive.”

While not putting a number on what kind of improvement Carlton was hoping for in terms of wins, Amos said it was clear the Blues would be striving for “consistency and improvement” across the board.

Mentioning the need of the younger group to propel the team forward, he said that started this weekend against Fremantle.

With all teams to play just two Marsh Community Series games, Amos said to expect Carlton to take a strong squad to the West.

“We only have the two hoists so you kind of have to play a pretty decent side… we’ll have a pretty decent unit to front up against Freo,” he said.

“We’re in a position where we have to play as well as we can as early as we can. Having a group that can play together and play as much footy as they can together early is really important for us.

“We’ve got a few guys who are probably on the verge of being back in full match play. A couple of those guys won’t make the trip in terms of the longer term.”