Lowther on the Focus Against Carlton

They are a strong contested team.

I went and watched them in their first practice match this year and from the start they were strong around the footy, great at ground balls and their tackle pressure through the midfield was good.

They have a really good combination around the midfield that have a strong output, so we need to be on our game in that battle.

Obviously with their tall players too, they are pretty formidable down forward. Watching the vision over the past couple of weeks they are adaptable and strong, so we have to be on our game this week. 

Lowther on the Takeaways from the Opening Two Weeks

After the game last week I kept it pretty positive with the group, that is two weeks in a row against two strong opponents that we have held our own, and had patches of the game where we controlled the tempo.

It was pretty trying conditions, the ball was in our front half for a good majority of the game. We had more inside 50's, our contest work was pretty good and we matched them in clearances.

We did pretty well, we just didn't get the four points but to walk away with two was great.

I think that is the mindset after the game, we are still stepping our progression against historically good teams. For us to be able to compete for four quarters was a big step in the right direction. 

Lowther on the Long Break Since the Last Meeting with the Blues

I was assistant coach the first time we played against Carlton, didn't get the result we were after and it has been a couple of years since we last played them.

Going back and looking at their vision over the last two rounds, we are trying to get our heads around a few things they are throwing at different opponents.

It is exciting for us to play against a team that we haven't played against for a couple of years, we are looking forward to it. 

Lowther on his own Coaching Development

I went over to Ireland again in the offseason to work on our recruiting and our goodwill over there. I got to visit some Gaelic teams and some Women's soccer league teams like Arsenal and Liverpool.

Around the coaching for myself it was different environments, different structures and perception on games and awareness. That has been a real positive experience for me.

I look at last season in depth in regards to where i think the game is going in the next two years, it is already making significant gains in regards to the game being faster and more efficient.

Some of those trends and analytics we look through with our team, I spend a lot of time prepping for what might happen in the next 18 months.