The man speaks...

Dear Donstuie,
I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself to our members as I wrap up my first week at the Carlton Football Club.
I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to join this club as Chief Executive and from the outset, I have been impressed by the commitment and enthusiasm of our staff, and football department, led by senior coach Brendon Bolton.
With the full playing list returning to the Club this week, we begin our pre-season campaign for season 2018 before quickly turning our attention to the AFL National Draft in Sydney next week. Having two top 10 picks (3 and 10), we’ll be active early in the Draft as we continue our strategy to recruit elite young talent, under the guidance of list manager Stephen Silvagni.
Our members would also now be aware of Sam Docherty’s knee injury. Sam is a resilient individual and we know he will approach his rehabilitation process with the same determination that we have witnessed him display on the field in his time at Carlton. Much the same as Chris Judd’s injury provided an opportunity for Patrick Cripps to step into the midfield and Sam Rowe’s injury provided Liam Jones with his opportunity down back, we look forward to other young players emerging through the opportunity they will receive.
Next week, the pre-season campaign for our AFLW program commences as our players turn their sights to the second year of the AFL Women’s competition. Led by senior coach Damien Keeping, we will welcome a number of new players to our group who are set to wear the navy blue for the first time when we face Collingwood in Round 1 at Ikon Park on Friday 2 February.
Off the field, we are working hard to renew all our current members and we are preparing our member acquisition campaigns for early 2018. We are blessed to have one of the AFL’s biggest supporter bases and we have every intention of harnessing this competitive advantage and converting our supporter base into one of the game’s biggest membership bases over the next few years.
We are also very excited about the re-development of Ikon Park and discussions with key stakeholders are progressing well. I look forward to keeping Carlton members abreast of these discussions.
I’m excited to be sharing this next chapter with you and look forward to meeting some of our loyal members at the upcoming Member Forum on Wednesday 29 November. For more information about the Member Forum, please
click here.
Go Blues!
Cain Liddle
Chief Executive
Member ID: 21499500