IT’S BEEN a very different initiation to life as a Blue for Jack Newnes.
The former Saint made his way to Ikon Park as a delisted free agent hoping to add depth to Carlton’s midfield group.
Having enjoyed a solid pre-season and earning his spot in the Round 1 team against the Tigers, Newnes now faces a new challenge dissimilar to many of his other teammates.
It’s not the training or maintaining match fitness: it’s continuing to build relationships that is the main focus for the 26-year-old during this period away from the Club .
“We kind of made some targets for what we wanted to get out of the isolation period with a few of our coaches and one of mine was keep building relationships,” Newnes told the media on Tuesday.
“You go through the pre-season with the boys and you get along with them and learn a bit about them, but it’s kind of when the games and the nitty-gritty starts that you’ve really got to earn respect and really build those tight relationships.”
While the team are restricted when it comes to group training sessions, Newnes has been taking every opportunity to reach out to his fellow teammates to meet up for one-on-one sessions.
Supplementing the usual chats on the training track, there have been a number of group calls organised by the Club and also a number of smaller breakaway groups to help the team keep in touch.
“I’ve been jumping around with a few of the boys, I’ve had a few [individual] sessions with guys like Ed Curnow and Darcy Lang,” he said.
“We’re doing a pretty good job of staying connected. We do three or four Zoom calls a week, have a few team meetings, and then we’ve got these break-off groups where there are probably five or six of us that catch up regularly.
“We’ve been doing that flat out which has been really good to be able to talk to other people that are going through the same stuff.”
Newnes would have been looking forward to building on his Round 1 performance, which saw him slot back into his more traditional position playing across the wing and half back. He collected 12 disposals and kicked a classy goal in his Navy Blue debut.
It was the opportunity to regain his spot in the midfield which was of great attraction for Newnes when deciding on a potential new team following the end of his eight seasons at St Kilda.
Now, however, Newnes is simply looking forward for the opportunity to pull on the Navy Blue once more and return to doing what he loves — playing footy.
“I’d be happy to do whatever. I really just want to play,” Newnes said
“I had a good pre-season and what not, but it’s all kind of fizzled out now which is a bit of a bummer because I really wanted to bounce back from a pretty average few years.”
