“I’VE struggled to put it into words.”

As the Blues run out for their last game of 2020, there will be something extra to play for as a Navy Blue legend takes his final bow.

Carlton Senior Coach David Teague gave an insight into what the retirement means to the playing group when speaking to media on Friday morning.

“Every player draws their motivation from different areas: we’d like to think that most of the motivation comes from putting on our jumper. We feel it’s a very special honour to get to wear that jumper,” Teague said.

“But to play in 'Simmo’s' final game for what he’s done for this football club, I've struggled to put it into words to be honest.

“He’s done so much, he’s been through so much and he just keeps rocking up, turning up and his last couple of weeks he’s probably been as good as any other of our players.”

In his final game of a 342-game career that has spanned 18 seasons in the Navy Blue, Simpson will face his final opponent in Brisbane.

Crediting his meticulous preparation with the longevity of Simpson’s career, Teague believes the veteran has been a role model to many a young Blue.

“He understands how to get himself up every single week to play well and he understands the opportunity and the privilege it is to wear our jumper and the effort that’s required,” Teague said.

“Hopefully our players have learnt a lot from him over the journey and even in the last little bit.”

With the Blues running out for their last game of a shortened season, the focus area remains of improvement when taking on the second-placed Lions.

“You’re always looking at your last game to improve and that’s what we want to do this weekend, we want to get better and we’ve got a lot of areas to do that,” Teague said.

“In terms of being in every game, we’re happy with that but where we feel we want to go to and where we need to go to is we need to be playing after the last round of the home-and-away and that’s our aim going forward.”