Midfielder Dion Prestia is two games into his return from injury and it’s a case of so far, so good for the 23-year-old.

The Calder Cannons product is averaging 26.5 disposals and seven tackles per game and doesn’t appear to have missed a beat, despite missing the last 14 games of 2015 and the entire NAB Challenge series.

More importantly, Prestia’s body is holding up to the rigours of AFL football.

“Obviously my first game was round one so I was pretty sore after that game but surprisingly after the trip from Perth, I’m actually feeling really well,” Prestia told SUNS TV.

“It’s going really well, a lot better than I expected.”

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Prestia stated there is a ‘really good feeling’ around the club at the moment after the win over Fremantle in Perth last weekend.

However, the playing group is strongly focused on this weekend’s opponents, wanting to keep their perfect start to the season in tact.

“We just need to make sure we back up this week against Carlton,” Prestia said.

“We talked about if we lose this weekend then last week means nothing. So the boys just need to focus and make sure they’re doing everything the same as they did last week and get themselves right.

“We’re not really worried about the scoreboard as we play, obviously it makes a difference but we just want to bring that effort and consistency with effort as well and the scoreboard will look after itself.”

This week’s clash against Carlton shapes as another that will be decided in the midfield with the Blues loaded with class in the middle of the ground. 2015 John Nicholls Medal Winner Patrick Cripps is a contested footy beast while captain Marc Murphy and Bryce Gibbs add polish on the outside.

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It presents another big challenge for the SUNS midfield, which is batting far deeper this season following the return of Prestia and Gary Ablett, the continued development of Jesse Lonergan and Alex Sexton and the addition of Matt Rosa.

“Obviously last week going up against Sandilands was pretty tough but we want to rate ourselves as a really dominant midfield so it’s a good challenge,” Prestia said.

“Carlton have some big bodies and some good midfielders who have played consistently over the last couple of years so I think we’ll just play to our normal structures.

“Obviously get Tommy Nicholls up and about to have a dominant ruck performance but we’ll go through our meetings and hopefully dominate the midfield.”