HE MAY have been announced on the Club’s social media channels as ‘Zac-Man’ on Friday, but the smile on Zac Williams’ face showed he’s - deep down - very much a Carlton man.

The free agent sealed his move to his boyhood club on Friday night after eight seasons and 113 games for Greater Western Sydney.

While his childhood support for Carlton clearly wasn’t the determining factor in his decision, his official arrival at the Blues left him “speechless”.

Currently in Albury and waiting for Covid-19 border restrictions to ease, Williams can’t wait to get stuck in: it’s clear he’s already a big fan of the Navy Blue he’ll be wearing.

“It’s still a surreal feeling that I’ll be playing for the Carlton Football Club,” Williams said.

“Even wearing the polo now, I feel like a fan — like I’ve gone down to Rebel Sport and bought the polo to watch the boys play on the weekend.

“My favourite player at the Blues growing up was Anthony Koutoufides. I’m not as big as him, but if I can play half the football that he did for the football club, I’ll be stoked.”

Another key influence for Williams was Eddie Betts, who he said he had been in contact with in recent weeks regarding the move to Melbourne.

The opportunity to play alongside Betts is a long time coming for Williams: an article in The Age last year told the tale of a how a teenage Williams would imagine winning the Grand Final for Carlton alongside one of his idols.

The 26-year-old said Betts had been on his case in recent weeks, with both players counting down the days for when they can meet up and train alongside one another.

“For the last few weeks, I’ve been on the texts with him and he’s been itching a little bit for the decision to come out and for me to get down there, so we can go out for dinner and muck around with the kids,” he said.

“[The messages] were more around his decision when he went to Adelaide and came back, the little moving parts of trying to make the transition as smooth as possible.

“Eddie has been really good in terms of keeping in touch, it’ll be good to finally kick the footy with him.”

Whether Williams is delivering the football to Betts as a marauding half back or as a genuine inside midfielder remains to be seen.

Williams was under no illusions that he’d have to earn his stripes in the midfield, admitting that a midfield trio of himself, Patrick Cripps and Sam Walsh was something he’d thought about ("It sounds pretty dangerous if you ask me!").

However, he was still expecting to feature in the backline and give Carlton’s coaching staff the option.

“The way I play, it’s pretty flexible. I want to put in the hard work, get the respect of the boys and gain the trust of the coaching staff to be able to play me anywhere” he said.

“If I get the opportunity to run around in the Navy Blue in the midfield, I’ll be absolutely stoked.”

Having put pen to paper on a six-year deal with Carlton, it’s the last 48 hours which will long live in the memory for the boy from Narrandera.

“Once I got the call from the guys saying I was officially with the Blues, I was actually speechless,” he said.

“It’s been absolutely insane. The last 48 hours when it all got announced and everything like that — I’ve been getting messages on Instagram from all of the supporters and they’ve been showing some pretty strong love.

“I can’t wait to get down there and get stuck into pre-season: hopefully I get to see everyone and hear everyone at the games next year.”