Essendon defender Jake Carlisle has praisedthe guidance of veteran Dustin Fletcher and assistant coach Sean Wellman duringhis breakout 2012 season.

Carlisle credited Wellman and Fletcher with playing key roles in his development since he debuted in 2010.

Watch the interview with Carlisle here on Bomber TV?

“The vision we go through with Welly ispretty constructive and you learn a lot from that,” Carlisle told Bomber TV.

“Just playing with Fletch, learning howkind he is and how he treats everyone, you just take a leaf out of his book andgo from there.”

The 20-year-old will today attend the NABAFL Rising Star award despite being ineligible to win after he was given areprimand in round 16 against Port Adelaide.

Carlisle was nominated for the award followinghis round nine performance against Greater Western Sydney in which he had 13possessions and seven marks.

The young defender said an important partof his improvement this year had been having confidence in his own ability.

“Playing the last seven games of last yeardefinitely helped going into this season,” he said.

“It mentally helped me playing those gamesto get myself physical more ready for the season ahead.”

Carlisle said he was recovering well froman ankle injury he suffered against Carlton in round 20 and was expecting to beready to train from the start of the 2013 pre-season.