Carlton coach Michael Voss has outlined what he and his club learned from their earlier clash with Fremantle.
The Dockers won by 35 points in Perth, restricting the Blues to 38 inside 50s, halving the clearances and restricting their uncontested marking game.
They will meet again at Marvel Stadium on Saturday and Voss says his players need to bring more energy this time around.
“The main one was they probably tested us in a few phases of the game to be honest and we lacked some energy around the contest and we just lost territory through the game,” the Brisbane great told SEN WA Breakfast.
“If you look at the inside 50s, we only sat at around 35. That’s clearly not going to be enough supply for us.
“If we’re going to be half a chance, we need to make sure we can even that number up a little bit more than what it was.”
Carlton sits fifth on the ladder and could be back in the top four with a win over the Dockers.
It’s a fast rise from the final years under David Teague and Voss said the team’s competitiveness has impressed him most.
“We’ve spoken a lot about playing ‘us’ for longer … and if we just stick to our method and our system and the way we want to play, it’s well and truly good enough,” he said.
“That’s what we’re trying to reinforce in how we play and it really shouldn’t matter where we play, the conditions we’re in or the opposition we play.
“That’s what we’ve been trying to reinforce. What I’ve been particularly pleased with is we’ve fought out every game that we’ve played and that’s been a really huge plus.
“We might have had one game I think where we weren’t able to sustain it across the game, but we’ve been able to fight out every game and I’ve been particularly pleased by that because it’s a huge step forward in our progress as a footy club.”
Carlton has brought in young swingman Brodie Kemp to replace Sam Durdin, who has joined the club’s lengthy defensive injury list.
Small forward Josh Honey will play his first game for the season, replacing the injured Jack Martin.
Fremantle loses Blake Acres, Sam Switkowski and Michael Walters to injury, but regains key forward Matt Taberner, as well as Liam Henry and Michael Frederick.