"BY HIS own admission, he has wanted to be more consistent and play more consistent football."

Will Setterfield brought his offensive and defensive game for the Carlton Reserves on the weekend, flourishing with greater time as an inside midfielder. 

After playing three of the first four games in the AFL side, Setterfield has featured in the VFL team over the last fortnight, with his performance against Brisbane combining his clearance work with his tackle pressure.

Head of Development Luke Power noted that the defensive side of Setterfield's game was a clear focus in the VFL, and he has brought exactly that across his two games.

Across the opening two weeks, Setterfield has laid 20 tackles in two rounds: the second-most tackles of anyone in the VFL competition.

“In the seniors, Will was playing more as an outside midfielder: we’ve let him go back inside and be able to play to his strengths, hunt the ball and put pressure on the opposition,” Power said. 

“Will has been really strong and his starting points at stoppages has been an area that has helped him lay a large amount of tackles.

“You can have an impact when you're not finding the footy. Will has certainly done that over the last couple of weeks for us."

While he has had 10 tackles in each of his last two games, the key area of Setterfield's improvement of the weekend was his work with the ball. 

With four direct goal assists to go with 14 contested possessions and six clearances, Power said there was a clear reason for Setterfield's increased output on the weekend.

"I thought his stoppage starting points were a really important part of his game and it allowed him to either win the ball or be able to tackle the opposition," he said.

"The difference between this week and last week was that he was high in contested possessions this week, because he was really clean around the contest. Last week, he had opportunities but probably didn't make the most of them.

"He's worked really hard on that on the track during the week and he'll continue to do that going forward. To add a high amount of contested ball to his tackling means he had a pretty good all-round game."

Gathering 14 contested possessions and six clearances, Power was happy with Setterfield’s clean hands and ability to hit targets going forward. 

“Setters was really clean around the contest, whereas last week he had opportunities but probably didn’t make the most of them,” he said. 

“His kicks to advantage made it really easy for the forwards to be able to move into the ball.”