The emerging Blues making waves in 2026

Who does Carlton have to look forward to in 2026?

After a disappointing 2025 campaign, the Blues will be desperate for fresh talent to burst through the ranks, with spots in the senior side up for grabs following some major off-season departures.

With young gun Jagga Smith set to debut off the back of his rookie year ACL, another season into the development of future stars in Lachie Cowan and Cooper Lord, and rookies Harry Dean, Jack Ison and Talor Byrne hoping to push selection, Carlton aren't short of youngsters hoping to take the next step.

And according to small forward Lachie Fogarty, three Blue talents have made waves across Carlton's pre-season thus far, standing above the rest ahead of what poses as a potential breakout season.

“There’s been a couple,” Fogarty told SEN Mornings.

“Hudson O’Keeffe - who played late in the season last year - we did a bit of match sim yesterday and he really stood out.

“He’s a very strong boy, he’s very competitive as well which is what you want from your big boys. His ability to go forward or ruck (is great).

“Second year boys, the Camporeale boys, they’ve really stood out as well. They’re looking fit and strong.

“Benny in particular has been doing a fair bit of work with the inside mids. His ability to drive through the contest and release a player on the outside has been very impressive.

“Lucas is more your outside running type, always helping the backline and getting back hard. Whereas Benny is your inside mid, very strong.

“Although, they are both in the gym, they are both very strong, very impressive in there.”

Heavily reliant on their contest work, the Blues weren’t able to adapt to the modern requirements of run and carry across the 2025 season.

With a new look squad entering 2026, Fogarty has revealed that the club has done ample work to balance out their approach both with and without the ball.

“First and foremost, we still do our strengths, and our contest work is our biggest strength. You look at the inside mids that we have in Crippa, Walshy, George Hewett and Adam Cerra – that’s going to be our one wood and the thing we can rely on.

“Moving forward, we just want a balanced game plan. All three phases of the game – contest, offence and defence.

“We’ve had Josh Fraser (assistant coach) come in from Collingwood – obviously a successful club there, and he’s looking after our ball movement. Then we have Ash Hansen taking over our backline and working on our defence.

“We just want a really balanced game plan.”

Having lost Charlie Curnow to the Swans over the trade period, Carlton's new-look front half remains one of the biggest talking points for the upcoming season.

Landing Will Hayward and Ben Ainsworth will contribute to mending the side’s lack of ball use entering the forward 50, however without securing a direct key forward replacement for Curnow, the Blues will have to lean on versatility to cover roles within the arc.

And according to Fogarty, that very factor is one that will work in the side's favour.

“The beauty of our forward line group is that we’ve got a lot of versatile players,” Fogarty said.

“Will Hayward, Ashton Moir, Brodie Kemp is coming back this season which is very exciting – we have a lot of guys that can play different positions in the forward line, tall or small.

“I think that’s going to be a strength of ours – the versatility we will have.

“It’s something we have spoken about as a forward line group, and Josh Fraser has been big on - the different guys that we can throw in different positions.

“There are a lot of guys who can play higher up the ground but then are also comfortable playing deep in the goal square.

“One thing we do a lot of work on in the pre-season is our one-on-one work, whether that’s marking or front and centre.

“I think it’s a really big strength of ours.”

The Blues open the season against Curnow and the Swans on Thursday, March 5.

Listen to Fogarty's full chat below: