LOCHIE O’Brien is ready to make an impact in his third year at Carlton.

O’Brien is coming to the end of what has been a gruelling pre-season for the playing group, with just one Marsh Series hit out remaining ahead of Round 1. 

“We’ve had the majority of the boys out on the track and as soon as you get more of that happening, you start to do a lot more drills,” O’Brien said.

“You start to do a lot more drills, you start to cover a lot more ground, things like that.

“The boys are probably the fittest we’ve been for a number of years.” 

A key focus of pre-season to date has been contested ball work, with O’Brien taking time outside of training with the core group to work on that aspect.

“We’ve been really working hard in that area, we want to be strong in the contest,” he said. 

“I’ve been trying to get a lot stronger in the gym, hopefully that’s paid off.” 

In terms of personal development, O’Brien has been leaning on Assistant Coach Brett Stanton, who played over 200 games for Essendon. 

“I really appreciated the way that he’s taken me under his wing in some ways and making sure I’m always on my toes,” he said. 

“It’s been handy being able to talk to him and get advice on different things that I can bring into my game.”

While the pre-season has been tougher than most, O’Brien believes his body is in the right form to start 2020 off strong. 

“I’m starting to get a fair grasp of [training] and the body’s coping really well,” he said. 

“As your body prepares, it knows what to expect so you definitely get used to it.”