Essendon ruck coach John Barnes says young ruckman Tristan Cartledge is under no illusions about the size of the task that confronts him tonight when the Bombers take on Carlton. But Barnes says Cartledge has improved significantly in the past few months and being thrown in the deep end won’t do him any harm at all.

""You have got to find out about these players eventually and sometimes circumstances dictate that,"" Barnes said. ""It happened to me at Geelong when Damian Bourke and Stephen Hooper got injured at Geelong and they threw me in. I went OK and didn’t look back.""

""Tristan has got his chance in the absence of Matthew Allan, David Hille and Jason Laycock and who knows it just might be the break he needs. What I do know is that he has worked his backside off the past six weeks and he is improving all the time. It will be interesting to see how he handles himself tonight.""

Barnes and Cartledge are similar in many ways – Cartledge is slightly taller and slightly heavier than Barnes was during his playing days but both have fairly light frames.

""He is playing in a demanding position and there is nowhere to hide if you aren’t getting your hands on it. If he can hold his own tonight he will have done a good job for us. He just has to go out there, do the basics well and learn the game, Barnes said.

""He has improved technically and that is because he has become a better listener. I think it is one of the most important and most under-rated skills in football. It was also something he would admit he didn’t do very well early on in his time at Essendon.""