Carlton forward coach Cam Bruce is excited by what the additions of Adam Saad, Zac Williams and Lachie Fogarty will do for the side in 2021.
Saad and Williams in particular give the Blues an element of speed between the arcs that they lacked somewhat in 2020.
Bruce believes their speed and penetration will allow Carlton to better capitalise on their three marking key forwards in Harry McKay, Levi Casboult and Mitch McGovern.
“We want to be able to move the ball quite quickly,” Bruce told Carlton Media.
“We feel like those new rules and where the AFL is heading are going to aid us and our intent on the way we play.
“That was probably an area of the game where we felt was pretty solid in the first half of the year, we were moving the ball quite quickly and that obviously helped our attacking entries.
“As we slowed our ball movement, it just gives teams an opportunity to get the numbers back into defence and slow the play down and that’s probably what happened later in the year.
“There’s some great learnings that we had throughout that and we’ll be looking to train that over this pre-season and put ourselves in position more often to be able to get around it.
“I sent a message to the boys as soon as they (Saad and Williams) came saying ‘you beauty we’ll get some speed on the ball and we’ll get some deep entries to our big boys’ which we’re really excited about.
“Those guys are 80 or 90 metre players. Their ability to run with the ball, get overlap and kick the ball long, and that’s an area of our game that we’ll continue to work on and get better at because we know the sooner you get it down to the key forwards the less time the opposition have to get numbers back to support and that’s playing to our strengths.
“They’ll come in and add an element to our game that we need.”
Bruce expects Williams to be a key contributor to Carlton’s midfield and will likely rotate forward rather than into defence, where he made a name for himself with GWS.
“Zac Williams who we got from GWS, everyone probably sees him as a half back, don’t be surprised by how much time he spends in the midfield and maybe even swapping forward with a player like Jack Martin,” he said.
“To have that quality come in, that finishing ability, is something that we’re certainly excited about and he’ll get an opportunity to train it and build with our group.”
On Fogarty, who Carlton traded for from Geelong late in the period, Bruce believes the 21-year-old will have an impact in 2021 as a small forward and through the midfield.
“His pressure is outstanding, he’s a tackling machine so we love that with our small forwards and he’s got a really good contested ball game so he’ll get some time in the midfield,” Bruce said.
“He’ll come in and train with the midfielders initially and split his time between mid and forward and we’re really excited about not only getting an individual that’s got unbelievable talents, but he’s come from a great system as well so he’ll share his knowledge and craft he’s learned off champions of the game.”