All eyes were on a certain glistening dome out there at the MCG, but another noticeable head – this time for being our only blonde out there – also attracted lots of attention from Blues Fans in our unfortunate Round 1 loss to Richmond.  No doubting we had sorely missed Nick Stevens in 2007, and his return may not have got the press of some of our off-season recruiting but it was indeed extremely welcome.  To make the highlights reel for a rollicking 50 metre punt through the big sticks in the second made it even sweeter.  Nick Stevens wins the Round 1 Play of the Week and Mike & Dan were able to catch up with Nick after training during the week.

Nick, you've won this week's Play of the Week for that superb rock-back goal from 50 metres in the second.  How did that goal feel - did you feel like you were back in the big time?

Yeah, was rapt with it at the time, the noise around the ground was awesome - it was just buzzing. It's always nice to snag one from 50 out over in front of our members.

There have been all manner of rumours about your fitness this pre-season. How did you feel on Thursday night?

Well according to the radio I was out! It's amazing how anyone can just ring up and a story just grows legs. I felt really good on Thursday night, I couldn't wait to get out there and there were a few butterflies in the stomach like there is for any big game.

Could you run the game out?  If not, were there any others that jaded in the last, because it looked like we ran out of legs....

I suppose they ran over us, but we weren't getting the ball so it makes it look that way. But you’re right a few guys will be better for the run.

So, what went wrong on Thursday? We had a good second quarter, seemed to drop off, and then SHEBANG....the Tigers ran away with it?

There's no doubt we should have gone in at half time a few goals up, we let ourselves down then. It highlighted a number of areas we still need to improve in. A good thing is that it was round one and we can go out against the Saints and really improve on those areas.

It seemed to me that we missed a number of prime Inside 50 opportunities in the second quarter through some bad disposal.  Is this right? Do we do much practice of these kicking strategies say when Fevola is outnumbered?

Ratts and the Coaches have worked really hard on strategy - we've been back to school so to speak over the pre-season and that has been really beneficial for our young group.

One thing that is a bit hard to get sometimes - if 3 opponents are on Fev, where are the missing Blues?

Hahh, they’re out there!

Edwards provided a few highlights to the fans - 8 marks was a nice effort on debut.  Did it surprise you or has he been training well?

No it didn't surprise me at all, he has been looking the goods over the pre-season, he played the majority of the pre-season and it’s been good to see him blossom over the break.

As a player, what are you looking to do differently under Ratten's game plan than last year?

Win games for a start (laughs)....look I know its been said before but I think its important to work hard on the development of our kids now and build them into the best players they can possibly be; if we can do that we give ourselves every chance for success in the future. That has to be our plan now.

Do you approach the game any differently as vice captain, or was the focus purely on getting yourself through your first game of AFL in quite some time?

No, I will always play the same way, Vice-Captain or Captain or as the 22nd player in the team on any given day. If you're a leader you lead, it’s natural.

Mark Riley is in charge of the midfield this year, isn't he? How different is that to last year? Does he have you set-up in a completely new way, or is there some continuity?

He is and he has been fantastic, the game is consistently changing, so we are always looking at new initiatives week in week out. But many of the concepts are similar, if we've got the ball the opposition haven't!

St Kilda is a big match for us - we haven't beaten them since 2001!  What have the messages been from the Coach? Did you guys have to do any extra training sessions?

No extra sessions or anything, we know what we are planning to do. It was a disappointing to lose last week, but there were a number of positives early, we still have a session and planning meeting to come but I think it is time to knock them off!

Nick, we'd like to offer you a chance for a free plug.  Is NJS Landscaping still going or is there anything else that you'd like to draw attention to.....

Yes going strongly which is good, I think it's important to have something else in your life other than footy. I really enjoy it.

Finally, a history question - how many Carlton players who have worn your guernsey number can you name?

Oh gee, I think there are a few guys that have played over 100, Gotz, Matty Allan and Ron Savage.

Nick knows his history – all wearers of Nick’s Guernsey are highlighted here.

Listening to the radio these days, you can’t help but think Nick is hobbling around the ground on crutches and in a brace, but last week Nick showed he was back.  It’s great to have him out there and look forward to the new Blues midfield gathering some steam together as the season progresses.