While Carlton have largely been playing a nice brand of football and winning matches in 2024, there is a part of their game that is on watch.
And it was evident during last weekend’s 18-point loss to Geelong.
According to Champion Data, the Blues are lacking from a turnover viewpoint and also in defence. Over the last six weeks they have dropped to the fifth worst defensive side in the competition due to the fact that they’ve conceded scores of 100 (to Adelaide), 98 (to GWS) and 118 (to the Cats) over the last three weeks.
While their clearance expertise and general contested work around the ball is seen as “brutal” and their attacking nous described as “potent”, there is an area of concern for Michael Voss.
Champion Data’s Daniel Hoyne explained the positives but also highlighted the negatives engulfing the Blues who own a 5-2 record and sit sixth on the ladder ahead of this weekend’s clash with Collingwood.
“I think everyone's getting really excited around what's happening from a clearance and contest perspective,” Hoyne said on SEN’s Sportsday.
“That's been pretty obvious over the last three weeks, they’ve been brutal in that phase of the game, which is fine.
“But the issue and the watch for me was going to be the big picture side of the equation and what was actually going to happen in the turnover game.
“We do need a little bit more of a sample size here first, but it is on watch given what's happening in the next three weeks against Collingwood, Melbourne and Sydney.
“Their turnover game has gone backwards the last three weeks and gone backwards quite significantly. The fact that Geelong were able to score nine goals from turnover and Carlton were only able to score five was the reason why Geelong won.
“You could see Michael Voss post-game and he did look like he had a bit of disappointment, a bit of frustration in terms of what was actually happening.
“The ‘core four’ profile that myself and David King have been living by over the last couple of years. What you do without the footy is first and foremost the priority.
“Get that in order and the rest of your game can sort of come off the back of that. Over the last six weeks, their core four profile in terms of what they're doing without the footy is 13th in the comp.
“We need a bit more of a sample size, but the six-week period is what we work off. If that continues, that's going to be hard to buck the trend.
“We have not seen a premier with that sort of profile in terms of what they do without the footy. What they're doing with the footy is potent. What they're doing from a clearance perspective and a contest perspective is potent.
“But they're giving you a look defensively and you can clearly understand why Michael Voss was frustrated post-game.
“To give up 118 points against Geelong, to give up 100 against Adelaide to give up 90-odd against GWS - that's not going to get it done and they know that's not going to get it done.
“In this six-week period, they are the fifth easiest defensive 50 to score against at the moment.
“The interesting part with their clearance game and everyone's getting unbelievably excited in terms of what's happening with that phase of the game, and they are number one at scoring from clearance over the last few weeks.
“But what might actually surprise people is that they are the second easiest team to score against from clearance in that time as well.
“So they win clearance, they score majority of their score coming from clearance, but they still give up eight goals going back the other way to Geelong from their clearance work.
“They're great to watch at the moment, Carlton.
“They clearly have assets in the midfield, they clearly have assets ahead of the ball, Jacob Weitering is in unbelievable form as well.
“They've got a lot going for them, but this just needs to tidy up and the turnover game and the clearance game at the moment, the balance has flipped to what we didn't actually see at the start of the year.”
The Blues meet the Magpies at the MCG in a mammoth Friday night fixture as they look to bounce back from last weekend’s loss to the Cats.