The moment Teague knew he had the Carlton players

David Teague has explained the feeling he experienced when addressing the Carlton players for the first time.

Teague took over as caretaker coach this week following the sacking of Brendon Bolton and will lead the Blues into action against Brisbane at Marvel Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Asked on SEN Breakfast if he was feeling nervous ahead of his first game in the hot seat, Teague said: “I will be.

“Right now I’m excited. I was nervous before I addressed the players the first time. I really wanted to be clear and strong.

“Not what I wanted to say, I knew what I wanted to say, but how I delivered it. My head went around a few times of how I’m going to deliver it.

“But halfway through I looked at the room, I just had their eyes and I thought, ‘Yep, I’ve got these boys’, and that got me so excited.

“The way they trained yesterday and right now, I just can’t wait. I wish the game was here right now and ready to go.

“I think we are going to play well and it’s going to take a very good team to stop us tomorrow.”

2004 Carlton Best & Fairest winner Teague also explained why he wants the Blues to go about their business with a sense of freedom.

“I just think in AFL environment when you are a young kid you just go out there and play and you play on your strengths and you are actually thinking about all the good things,” he added.

“In this environment, because you are ultra-professional, you want to get better. You can be seduced always looking at growth areas where I want them to invest as much time on their strengths because that’s what has got them here.

“I want them to play because generally when you’re young you’re not conscious of reviews, you play your best footy.

“This week is about what you can do and we are going to review it accordingly. We are going to look at players bringing their strengths.

“I want the kickers to kick, I want the tough guys to be tough and I’m looking forward to seeing how they go doing that.”

Carlton sit on the bottom of the ladder with a record of 1-10 while the 7-4 Lions find themselves fifth.

The last time these two teams met at Marvel in 2016, the Blues saluted by 38 points.

Listen to the chat with Teague on SEN Breakfast below: