IT'S BEGINNING to feel a lot like Christmas (in March).
Round 1 of the AFL season begins tomorrow for Carlton, and Senior Coach David Teague is pleased with how his side has prepared.
With the Blues coming up against the Tigers for their annual season opener, Teague noted he feels like a ‘kid on Christmas’ waiting for the game to roll around.
"I'm not going to lie: my little fella wakes up at Christmas time around 5am or even earlier. I woke up early this morning, I'm very excited," Teague said.
“I’m looking forward to the season and to have crowds back and to have our fans back in there. It might be a bit of a challenge to get a lot of Carlton fans in there for a Richmond home game, but we look forward to playing in front of them again and feeling their energy.
“Every game is important, right now our focus is Richmond, to play well and to play our way.”
Go get 'em, gents.
— Carlton FC (@CarltonFC) March 16, 2021
David Teague has confirmed Lachie Fogarty and Adam Saad will make their Carlton debuts tomorrow night.
As is the case prior to every season opener, there has been plenty of talk outside the four walls of IKON Park in preparation for tomorrow night.
Teague said it was very much a case of the Blues controlling what they can control.
“I’m not too concerned about the commentary. I understand our players have worked really hard and last year we were in a lot of games and we didn’t get the results and we probably got a bit frustrated,” he said.
“The expectation comes from within and we’re going to push it, we’re going to drive it, we set the standard high and the way they’ve trained, the way they’re prepared, they’ve set the standard high.
“They’ve done it, they’ve executed that, now we need to go out and do it in games and I think the close games we were in last year will hold us in good stead.”
Teague said that Carlton's finals ambition would be dictated in the group's belief and ability to improve each week.
“We want to play finals, that’s what this football club is here to do,” he said.
“We won plenty of quarters but we had lapses and that’s what we need to get better at in those moments and I think we will.
“I have a lot of belief in this playing group, I know the coaches have a lot of belief and I think the players do. It’s once they really feel it and execute it out there, I can see this group really growing but until we really do that, it’s going to be a challenge.”
