One of the real positives to emerge from Friday night’s intra-club hit-out at Ikon Park was Jason Tutt’s showing as a high midfielder/forward for the blue team.
Secured with Carlton’s first selection in the pre-season draft, the fleet-of-foot 23 year-old former Western Bulldogs footballer is quite literally finding his feet, having found himself down the pecking order to small forwards Dahlhaus, Hunter and Giansiracusa even if he discovered a chemistry with this club’s other former son of the west, Liam Jones.
As he said immediately after the hit-out: “I’m just trying to get to know my teammates a bit better, work to instructions and get to more contests and get a bit of the footy”.
Between heavy breaths, Tutt observed that the game temp was a tad greater than what he’d previously experienced through 26 games in four seasons at the kennel.
“It’s a little bit quicker, the ball was bouncing around a very bit and the skills appeared to be cleaner, which suits me as a forward trying to find a bit of space,” he said.
Jason Tutt hasn't missed a beat since crossing from the Bulldogs. (Photo: Amy Paton)
“It’s always nice to get fitter and stronger in the pre-season, we’re all here to play good footy, and I did think there was some good footy on show in this match.”
Though the squad is yet to be finalised, Tutt fully expects to board the Mandurah-bound flight from Melbourne, in the lead-up to Carlton’s NAB Challenge match with West Coast.
For him it’s all about opportunity.
“I just want to get a chance to play in Mandurah to put my best foot forward,” Tutt said.
An accomplished field kick in his own right, Tutt was more than qualified to offer his thoughts as to why the players tended to go low and short with their field kicking throughout the intra-club.
He believed that it wasn’t by design that players were using the ball in such a manner.
“It hasn’t been an emphasis, but there have been a lot of skill drills conducted under fatigue, which has really helped, because guys who have been getting a bit tired have still been able to hit targets, rather than blaze away,” Tutt said.
“We’ve been working on that in our drills so that when it comes to games it just becomes natural.”
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