“IT WAS brutal but it was worth it.”

For second-year Blue Brooke Vernon, finding confidence in her ability came after a gruelling eight months of solo conditioning.

The young defender made the most of what was an extended off-season after debuting in Round 3 last year before lockdown ended Carlton’s 2020 campaign.

Reflecting on her growth in this week’s episode of the Behind the Game Changers podcast, Vernon spoke on using the break to identify and target her weaknesses as a footballer.

“I guess when COVID hit, as bad as it was, it just made me look at my weaknesses and think, ‘Okay, well I’ve got eight months to work on just the things I’m bad at,’” Vernon said.

“I just became best friends with running and the gym and literally spent all my time in there and then came back so much more confident in myself and everyone else had confidence in me.

“You don’t get many chances to get eight months of pre pre-season so I just attacked it. It was brutal but it was worth it.”

With a season in the bank and a debut out of the way, Vernon felt a greater sense of belonging heading into her second season in Navy Blue.

“It’s so much better having a season under your belt: coming in I knew no one, I had comfort with no one. Obviously now I do and as the season went on I started to make more friends,” she said.

“Coming in to such an elite environment where their fitness is crazy good and Carlton was arguably the most elite team in the competition, I was just way in over my head.

“I started to find comfort in players and started to feel more comfortable in myself, then attacking the program in lockdown just gave me so much more confidence coming into the season.”

With three new draftees joining the ranks at the end of 2020, Vernon’s experience has given her greater perspective to pass on to her new teammates.

“Remember that good things take time and it doesn’t matter how long it takes, if you feel comfortable with where you’re at and how hard you’re working then it doesn’t really matter how long it takes.”