Star Carlton recruit Adam Saad has had a “flawless” pre-season and looms a key piece in his new team’s finals puzzle

A “flawless” pre-season from Carlton recruit Adam Saad has his fellow Blues defenders exited they may have found the last piece in their plans to get back to the finals.

Newly minted club best and fairest Jacob Weitering is the backline marshall and declared the “chemistry” in defence helped him have a career year in 2020, despite having to endured “adversity” in a Queensland hub.

He said the addition of speedster Saad from Essendon could also help tick one box which is key to any team having the ultimate success.

“I don’t think we scored a goal from the backline last year. Maybe Saady could be the one,” Weitering said on Monday.

“His pre-season has been flawless. It’s very exciting having a guy like that – he certainly moves quicker than me so I’ll just be handpassing it off to him.

“He’s been a great addition to the team on the field, but off the field he’s told his story, what his culture is and how his family operates and it’s been a real freshen-up for the boys.

“He’s really well-liked by the group.”

– The honour of being crowned the 2020 John Nicholls Medallist ?
– His goals for 2021 ?
– What we can expect from Thursday's practice match ?

Watch and read what Jacob Weitering had to say in his press conference earlier today.

Weitering was aware expectations were growing for the Blues on the back of another influx of high profile recruits including Saad and Zac Williams from GWS.

The 23-year-old former number one draft pick said he and his teammates weren’t shying away from meeting those expectations, and snapping a seven-year finals drought had to be their aim.

“I don’t think it’s any surprise that we’re looking towards September and that’s what we want to aim towards,” Weitering said.

“We’re looking to continue what we built on last year and that’s building a really strong, competitive brand of football.

“We had some really good games and had a lot of tight contests and swings in games that probably didn’t go our way.

“We’ve focused a little bit on that and we’ve got a lot of guys that are really motivated to play some good football this year and it’s going to be really exciting.”

Weitering said he would line up in a “pretty strong” Carlton side for is Thursday’s practice match against Essendon, where Saad will come face-to-face with his old teammates.

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