High profile Carlton recruit Jack Martin has received high praise from the club.
The Blues signed Martin in the Pre-Season Draft on a big contract, after talks between them and the Suns fell apart during the trade period.
Carlton Director of High Performance Andrew Russell said the 24-year-old has helped lift the club’s standard of training.
“You would think that Jack Martin has been here for two or three years, he’s slotted in that well,” Russell told Carlton Media.
“He has slotted in seamlessly and he’s got some great relationships with the boys already which is great from a personal point of view, it just means there’s connections out there on the footy field that we hope show out early as well with Patrick Cripps, Mitch McGovern, Sam Petrevski-Seton, he’s been impressive.
“Physically, he hasn’t missed a session. He has done everything that has been asked of him.
“I think the thing that has stood out is his physicality. He’s tough, he’s hard and he’s helped our training go to another level in terms of his tackle ferocity.”
Martin played 97 games for the Suns, including 19 last year.
Eyes will be on third-year Carlton midfielder Paddy Dow, who had a bit of the second year blues in 2019.
Russell said the former top five pick has had an excellent pre-season so far.
“We’ve got some guys that have been in the system for two, three, four years that are really exciting and lighting the track up and Paddy Dow is one of those guys,” he said.
“His aerobic ability needed to improve and it has a lot and now we see a lot more of his dynamic stuff and he’s one of the best movers in the game and we’re seeing more of that in his training.”
Will Setterfield played 18 games for the Blues in 2019, despite coming off an ACL tear and Russell expects the 21-year-old to go to another level this season.
“Will Setterfield came back from an ACL last year had a modified program and came back and did a good job for us,” he said.
“We think we have a really good player on our hands and he has done some special stuff on the training stuff so we’re really happy with Setterfield.”