The alarming numbers outlining Carlton's multi-year injury crisis

Carlton’s injury crisis has the chance to derail what could be their best shot to win a premiership in over 20 years.

The Blues named 14 players on their injury list for Round 10, with two selected to play since then and Jack Martin added – so let’s go with 13.

Of a possible 33 weeks since the start of the 2023 season, Carlton has been in the double digits injury wise 19 times. They've spent four weeks below that mark since July of 2023.

16 different players have been unavailable for 10 weeks or more in that time, with Matt Cottrell set to tip over that marker in the next fortnight.

The numbers are alarming, though the Blues have consistently said they don’t believe it is the fault of any one person.

CEO Brian Cook told SEN earlier this month that there was “no clear reasoning” behind the injury woes.

“We’ve had a really good look, we’ve looked at our program and training, our players – some are more resilient than others – is it a resilience issue with players, is it our football program, or a combination of both? No doubt it’s a combination of both and we’re just trying to identify how best we can get through this now,” Cook said in early May.

Cook lays it out.

Is it that Carlton currently has too many injury-prone players on their list or is their strength and conditioning program, led by Director of High Performance Andrew Russell, missing the mark?

Michael Voss refused to point the finger in his press conference this week, calling it a “complex” problem.

From the outside, we couldn’t possibly know. You would hope Cook, Voss and the club would have a better idea privately than they have conveyed publicly.

Carlton total injuries since Round 1, 2023

Injuries are a hard issue to paint with a wide brush. Collisions happen in a contact sport and the high intensity running comes with consequences.

As Voss mentions, high performance is even more complicated. You can't just change programs at the drop of a hat.

The Blues, however, would be concerned given a number of players seem to suffer from recurring injuries.

Sam Docherty suffered his third ACL this season, Adam Cerra and Mitch McGovern seemingly can’t consistently get through their hamstring issues and young forward Jesse Motlop has dealt with a spate of recurring problems this season.

Whether they’ve meant it or not, they’ve seemingly built their list around high upside players with a tendency to miss game time.

As mentioned, the Blues have had 16 players miss double digit games since the start of 2023, including the likes of Zac Williams, Caleb Marchbank, Jack Martin, David Cuningham, Jack Silvagni, Sam Docherty, Sam Walsh, Mitch McGovern, Adam Cerra and more.

Are these players simply prone to injuries and there isn’t much Russell and the Blues can do? Or are they products of their strength and conditioning environment – which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Orazio Fantasia, a player with significant injury concerns during his time at Essendon and Port Adelaide, has come to Carlton this year and played without issues to date. Does the strength and conditioning team get a tick for that?

Then there's Charlie Curnow, who Russell's team essentially rebuilt from scratch after three years plagued by knee issues. He hasn't missed a game in two seasons.

Regardless of who is to blame, the frustrations of Carlton fans are fair. They’ve had to sit through nearly 20 years of rebuilds and wooden spoons and now that the team has come good, they can’t get their best team on the park.

Russell has been at the club since the end of 2018. Do the Blues need a fresh voice internally? Only they would really know.

As Matthew Lloyd pointed out on the Sunday Footy Show, these injuries could hold the Blues back from a genuine premiership tilt.

Carlton has to make some tough calls at the end of the season either way. Do they attempt to go in a different direction with their strength and conditioning team? Do they move on players with recurring injury issues? It’s a lot to think about halfway through a season.

Carlton players by games missed through injury since Round 1, 2023

Zac Williams - 28
Sam Philp - 22
Caleb Marchbank - 21
Jack Martin - 20^
David Cuningham - 16^
Jack Silvagni - 16^
Sam Walsh - 15
Sam Docherty - 14^
Corey Durdin - 13
Sam Durdin - 13^
Alex Mirkov - 12
Jesse Motlop - 11^
Mitch McGovern - 10
Adam Cerra - 10
Adam Saad - 10^
Matt Carroll - 10^
Matt Kennedy - 9
Matt Cottrell - 8^
Marc Pittonet - 8
Matt Owies - 7
Jordan Boyd - 6
Ollie Hollands - 6
Tom De Koning - 5
Harry McKay - 5
Lachie Fogarty - 5^
George Hewett - 4
Jack Carroll - 4
Nic Newman - 3
Zac Fisher - 3
Jacob Weitering - 3
Dom Akuei - 3
Patrick Cripps - 2
Paddy Dow - 2
Billy Wilson - 2
Blake Acres - 1
Lachie Cowan - 1
Elijah Hollands - 1
Orazio Fantasia - 1
Hudson O'Keeffe - 1^

^Still injured