Blues ready for dour affair as duo returns
Carlton coach Michael Voss says the Blues will be “patient” picking through Melbourne’s competition-best defence as another gritty, low-scoring clash looms on Thursday night.
Voss said he wanted his side to focus on its own strong defensive attitude rather than try to exploit the Demons for a lack of attacking firepower despite being set to regain an important forward weapon in Jack Martin.
Martin was a full participant in Wednesday’s captain’s run at Ikon Park and looks likely to return immediately to the senior side along with Mitch McGovern, who has overcome the hamstring strain he suffered in round 5.
Caleb Marchbank (back) should also return at some level, but fellow defender Zac Williams is set to miss with a glute complaint after he mostly sat out the session.
Voss said he was confident Martin and Marchbank – if passed fit – had the necessary preparation to return via AFL level despite a raft of injuries to the pair over the pre-season and the early rounds.
Blues ready for dour affair as duo returns
“What our high performance team and our training environment provides is that they’re ready to go … we’re able to expose them to very much a game-like environment that gets them ready,” he said.
If picked, Martin could play an important role in occupying Melbourne interceptor Jake Lever, who Voss said was a “critical” part of the Demons’ defensive structure as Steven May and Tom McDonald free him up by taking the key forwards.
Voss said he wanted more consistency from Carlton’s forwards, but it did not rest entirely with Charlie Curnow, who has kicked multiple goals in every game but not yet exerted the influence he did last season.
“I think our strength is in our collective, and I think (Curnow) buys into that extremely well, so the role we ask him to play and the teammate we want him to be, I’ve been nothing but impressed with how he’s approached that,” Voss said.
“He knows as well as anybody that our success is off the back of being able to get our forward line cohesion right and our connection right.
“He’s got a role within that … but we are all searching for that extra level of consistency in what we do, and he’d be no different.”
The coach also refused to single out Sam Walsh for the defensive error that led to Magpies superstar Nick Daicos streaming through a stoppage for the matchwinning goal in the Blues’ second consecutive loss last Friday.
“I think the part of any strong system is that there’s not necessarily one person that we were sitting on him – we feel like we’ve got a system that caters for if there’s a mistake made or a breakdown made, and the team can recover,” Voss said.
“We felt like as a team in that particular moment that we didn’t get a few things right, collectively as a team.”
He said the Blues would embrace the Demons’ bid to turn the game into a low-scoring slog rather than try to blast the game open with aggressive offence.
“That’s the game they provide for you. You have to work your way through … and you have to be patient and also seek your opportunities when you need to – their defensive structures are very strong,” Voss said.
“We need to be able to make sure that we understand that’s the environment we’re walking into, but we’re going to bring a similar approach.”