Carlton trio Mitch McGovern, Jack Martin and Marc Pittonet have all put their hands up to be selected in the season opener against Richmond on Thursday night at the MCG.
All three players got through a VFL practice match against Port Melbourne without a fuss under the lights at IKON Park last night.
McGovern was the pick of the three as he swept his way across defensive fifty for the Blues taking a handful of intercepts and loading up on rebound 50s whenever he got the chance.
The injury-plagued Blue was put on ice at three-quarter-time after reaching his allotted minutes, while Martin and Pittonet saw through the entire game.
Both Martin and Pittonet built into the contest and got stronger as the game went on with the final term being their most influential quarters.
Pittonet laid bump after bump at the contest, ripped down a strong tackle eventuating in a holding-the-ball free kick and elevated his aerial game late in the piece.
For Martin, he would kick a goal in the final term and proved a headache for the Borough defence.
Interestingly, Martin started the game in the midfield and found a bit of the ball early on.
Port Melbourne would ultimately go on to win the game against a very weakened Carlton squad, but the Blues’ high-performance crew is sure to be buoyed by what it saw McGovern, Pittonet and Martin throughout the contest.
It will now leave Michael Voss & co with a selection headache coming into Round 1. Does McGovern automatically come into the squad for say Lachie Plowman? Does Pittonet start alongside Tom De Koning as a ruck duo? Does Martin slot straight into the half-forward line and, if so, who for?
Over to you Carlton selection committee.