ASSISTANT coach Dale Amos is next up with the pre-season report cards, casting his eye over a number of Carlton's defenders looking to elevate their game this pre-season.

If you missed John Barker's report on a selection of Carlton's inside midfielders, click here. 

If you missed Brent Stanton's report on Carlton's midfield speed, click here. 

5. Sam Petrevski-Seton

He’s going well. He’s really growing into the role and with ‘Saady’ and ‘Doc’, they’re building some chemistry as our running half backs. He looks really fit and really strong and that’s come about from good continuity.

With his balance in his game to defend as well as his ability to counter attack, he’s someone who the man-on-the-mark rule should really suit. We’re seeing that starting to come out in training and hopefully that continues. He’s building really nicely and I really like where he’s at.

20. Lachie Plowman

‘Plow’ is someone who since Christmas has been pretty flawless with his preparation. He’s doing all the sessions and he’s a player that makes us better when he’s in the team: he helps his teammates around him as well as getting his job done against his opponent.

He’s had a nice preparation: last year was the first time he had a full pre-season and he’s backing that up with another one this year. The continuity has been really good for ‘Plow’ and what has stood out is his leadership - particularly in helping others around him - has really grown. That’s really important for us as a playing group.

24. Nic Newman

Nic has really built nicely. He had a slightly delayed start to pre-season but he’s been really impressive in his last few sessions with the main group. He’s really starting to find his feet and providing some real rebound: we missed his ball use last year and his ability to kick the ball as well as he does.

He has worked really hard on the contest side of the game and we’ve had him playing as a taller match-up at some stages and he’s done a really good job, he’s improved that side of his game. His pre-season has built really nicely, his last few weeks have been really impressive.

26. Luke Parks

He’s fit in really well. He’s slightly older than some of the draftees so from a physical sense, he has coped really well and probably been able to do a little bit more than the other draftees. We knew how strong he was in the air and that’s been evident with the way that he’s trained: that’s come out and it’s been great that he’s been able to bring that straight away and show how competitive he can be.

The thing that has probably stood out is that he’s a competitor and he wants to compete at a high level every time he trains. He’s got a real appetite to learn and he’s going well, he’s settled in really quickly as a first-year player.

31. Tom Williamson

He’s doing both in terms of training across half back as well as on the wing. When it comes to positional opportunities, we’re trying to build a bit more depth in our wing position and Tom is one of those guys across half back who can push up and play up there: he did it in the Brisbane game in the final game last year and he acquitted himself really well. We’re trying to build some flexibility into his game and being able to play both of those positions will help us as a team. He’ll still spend a fair bit of time across half back but that ability to learn to play on the wing will help him and us.

42. Adam Saad

He’s been impressive. He signalled his intent pretty quickly when he came and trained before Christmas when he didn’t have to. He hasn’t missed a beat post-Christmas and he has really helped our ball movement in our back half: he’s playing with real speed and I think he’s starting to build some chemistry with Sam Docherty and Sam Petrevski-Seton. He has slotted in really nicely and he’s had a pretty flawless pre-season so far.

He doesn’t really need the extra advantage with the man-on-the-mark rule because he’s able to get passed players as it is, but I think those players who play with real speed have the power to take a lot of ground and make the man on the mark redundant. The guys with wheels and the guys who can use the ball are going to really benefit from it and fortunately for us, he can do both. We’re seeing the players who have the ability to do those two things are having a big impact in training.