THE FIRST year in the job doesn’t get much more unique than what transpired in 2020.

That particularly rings true for Head of Development, Luke Power.

In a year where the development side of the game was impacted more than most, Power said he was proud of the way the Carlton playing group adapted and committed itself to their growth as footballers.

However, he said there would be no looking back or resting on laurels.

Speaking to Carlton Media, Power said Carlton’s main improvement would come from players already on the list as opposed to the trio of names brought in via the Trade Period.

“Most players I thought improved and now it’s just a matter of doing that consistently and at a high level. Most of them have shown that they can play at a high level and their best is very good and competitive with the better players and teams in the competition,” Power said.

“It’s just a question and a challenge to be able to maintain that consistency.

“I’m proud of the way our players attacked it and their willingness to learn, but we’re also understanding that we can’t look back: we need to look forward. The competition evolves every year and it gets better every year.

“We need to make sure that we move with it and the players continue to understand the importance of what they put into their development and making themselves better.”

Power said the hub experience was one which the Blues embraced, particularly when it came to understanding what made the players tick on a personal and professional level.

With weeks of preparation having taken place at Ikon Park by the coaches on the eve of players returning for pre-season, Power admitted there was one key area which needed to be addressed.

The triple premiership player said it was Carlton’s in-game consistency which would be a major focus for the summer to come.

“You got to see exactly how hard our players work and exactly what they did to prepare themselves to play well every week,” he said.

“The big thing for our group is that consistency from week-to-week and even quarter-to-quarter. We generally played pretty well in every game at some stage, but it was normally a 10-minute period or a quarter that ended up costing us.

“That’s the next step for us, to be able to maintain our concentration for four quarters and have a really consistent level from quarter-to-quarter, from week-to-week.”

Power spoke to Carlton Media as part of a pre-season preview series ahead of next week’s return to training. For the full interview, watch the video in the player below.