IT'S RARE for an AFL coach – especially one as polite as Brendon Bolton – to interrupt a media interview with one of his players. 

As AFL.com.au spoke to Carlton small forward Matthew Wright in the winners' rooms after he'd bagged a game-high four goals in an upset victory over Sydney at the MCG, Bolton felt compelled to sneak between us and deliver some feedback.

"You were super," Bolton said, eyeballing Wright and firmly patting him on the chest.

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Wright's reply suggested a closeness between the rookie coach and the 27-year-old former Crow, both of whom became Blues at the end of 2015. 

"Cheers, brother," Wright said, before the coach left us to resume our interview. 

Twenty minutes later in his post-match press conference, Bolton would reinforce his gratitude towards Wright. 

"I'm just so happy that we were fortunate enough to get Matty Wright," Bolton gushed.

"He keeps kicking goals, he keeps tackling, (he has) a no-fuss attitude around our footy club and he organises really well.

"He's been a good player for us."

Five talking points: Carlton v Sydney 

Wright is in his second season with the Blues after joining them as a delisted free agent, and is making the most of his second chance.

He was Carlton's leading goalkicker last year and, given his new club won just seven games, his modest tally of 22 goals was probably worth double that figure in a top-eight team. 

Wright started this season strongly too with consecutive hauls of 3.0 in losses to Richmond and Melbourne, before going goalless for three weeks.

He got back in the groove against the Swans with an equal personal-best of four (which he'd previously achieved twice, in the space of just three weeks as a Crow in 2013).

And it proved a match-defining burst – his goals coming between the 12-minute mark of the second quarter and the 18-minute mark of the third. 

This included a five-minute period when play was held up as a heavily concussed Gary Rohan was stretchered from the ground. 

Wright goaled immediately before and after this sickening incident – the latter, his fourth goal, being an absolute gem in which he bounced a snap through from 45 metres, near the boundary and on the 'wrong' side for a right-footer, if you don't mind.

He also handballed to youngster Charlie Curnow for the goal that iced the game.

After giving us the old cliché that he's happy just to play his role, Wright opened up a little.

"It's nice to kick a goal – everyone loves to do that – but if one of the young fellas kicked four goals, what would that do for his confidence? He'd know that he belongs at this level," Wright said.

"I honestly don't care who kicks them – I just want to help us get them."

As an experienced player – he's in his ninth season and has 122 games to his name – Wright isn't simply expected to play his role. He also has a duty to mentor his young teammates. 

"We do a lot of coaching during the week, and I enjoy that challenge and responsibility," he said.

"A lot of our young boys are up forward, so (forward coach) Shane Watson is doing a fantastic job. 

"We're in constant communication and trying to work with things. We want to set ourselves up structurally and then just let them play, because they've got a lot of tricks, they compete really hard and they're proud young men. 

"Before today we weren't able to do it as well as we'd liked as a forward group, so the challenge for us is to do that week in, week out." 

He is excited about facing arch enemy Collingwood in the Magpies' 125th anniversary game next week.

"One of the great things about coming to Carlton is that it's a big, proud footy club and you have the privilege of playing in games like that," he said.

"Internally, we love beating Collingwood, and externally for the Bluebaggers fans it's big for them as well. So hopefully we can execute the plan again next week."