ALEX Neal-Bullen says belief from coach Simon Goodwin over the summer gave him the confidence to start the season strongly against St Kilda at Etihad Stadium last Saturday.

Neal-Bullen had a personal-best 23 disposals and kicked 1.3, including a fantastic running goal in the final term. He impressed with his work in attack and said it was due to the backing of Goodwin in the pre-season.

“I’ve really got to thank Simon Goodwin for that. He’s really driven me with a lot of confidence. At the start of the pre-season, he sat me down and said ‘all I want you to do is just have a real, red-hot crack at it’,” he told Melbourne TV.

“That gave me a lot of confidence knowing that he had confidence in me. I did the majority of the pre-season and had a little hiccup with the knee, but other than that, it was all pretty straight forward.

“Giving me a shot in the JLT [Community Series] games gave me confidence that I can keep going forward in the AFL this year, playing a high half-forward role. In each three games, I learned something new about the high half-forward role.

“I felt on the weekend that I really understood the role for four quarters, so I felt that if I didn’t play those JLT games, I would’ve been on the backfoot. But again, to Simon Goodwin, he’s really backed me in this year and I’ve got to repay the faith to him.”

Neal-Bullen, who played his 16^th AFL match last weekend, also praised the impact of offensive coordinator Troy Chaplin.

“I’ve been working with Troy Chaplin, our new forwards coach, and he’s been really strong on me getting back to the footy and focusing on my intensity around the contest – my tackling and pressure,” he said.

“That enables me to get into the game, so that’s probably what made me get a few extra touches on the weekend and I was also lucky enough to hit the scoreboard in the last quarter.”

The 21-year-old said the mood around the club had been “upbeat” since its season-opening win, but added that the team was conscious of Carlton hitting back hard after its 43-point loss over Richmond last Thursday night.  

“It’s going to be a great test. The Blues have had the wood on us over the last couple of years, since I’ve been here. We’re really determined to change that and we’re looking forward to getting on the ‘G,” he said.

“We came in on Monday and the boys were pretty happy speaking about the game and got into the review and it was all pretty positive, which was great. It’s always much better after a good result, like we did on the weekend.

“We addressed the first quarter and what enabled us to get back into the game after quarter-time. It was our contest work and the boys in the middle went to work – Clayton Oliver and Jack Viney – and that allowed us … to play our part and really hit the scoreboard and attack from defensive 50. It made us play better footy in the last three quarters.”