Carlton star Adam Cerra has declared the onus is on the players to ensure better ball movement, as Nathan Buckley challenged Michael Voss and his coaching staff to improve tactically.
The Blues, expected by many pundits and club insiders to end a decade-long finals drought this year, have much to think about. They have dropped three of their past four games and slipped to eighth on the ladder.
They are also dealing with contract negotiations for young ruckman Tom De Koning, coming as club chief executive Brian Cook publicly declared the Blues want to retain De Koning but face a salary-cap squeeze because of a “top-heavy” payments system under which several stars have inked fat, long-term deals.
Time for a tactical change: AFL great Nathan Buckley says Michael Voss and the Blues need to rethink the way they are handling opponents.Credit: Russell Freeman
The Blues’ slow ball movement from defence, tough tags on Patrick Cripps, and predictable passing to key forwards Charlie Curnow and Harry McKay have too often been exploited this season. A deeper dive shows they have only eight wins from their past 20 games since round 11 last year, of which five have come against North Melbourne, West Coast and Greater Western Sydney respectively.
They now face the streaking Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night, in what shapes as a pivotal juncture of their season, for a potential horror month then awaits against Collingwood (MCG), Sydney (SCG), Melbourne (MCG) and Essendon (MCG). The Suns (MCG) are their last game before the mid-season bye.
Cerra, one of the Blues’ best with 33 disposals in a 26-point loss against Brisbane on Thursday, deflected attention away from Voss, in his second year at the club, when it came to ball use. The Blues have slipped to 14th for inside-50s, and concede a worrying average of 46 points off turnover.
“That’s on our end, that’s to do with execution, the numbers are showing our effort is there on game day with the amount of ball we are winning. It’s just our execution that is letting us down. That’s something the players own in their craft,” Cerra said.
“Whilst we are winning a lot of contested ball, the numbers are good, we have not been as efficient as we would like.”
Buckley, who guided the Magpies into the 2018 grand final, accused the Blues of not doing enough to curb the strengths of their opponents.
“The picture is that Carlton’s game is taken away from them too easily by the opposition, and Carlton don’t spend enough time taking the opposition’s game away from them,” Buckley said on SEN.
“They think they’re going to win it on talent, they think they’re going to win it on ability, and they’ve got every right to given what they’ve got at their disposal, and they are handling some loss of personnel at the moment, but they don’t work hard enough at taking the opposition’s game away.
“That is more than half the game of footy … all of these little things add up.
“I think tactically Carlton need to drill their game down to contest and pressure, and they need to work out how they’re going to take the opposition’s game off them more readily because that brings your strengths to light rather than just thinking that you’re going to match people and then just trade blows until you see who wins.”
Buckley told The Age on the eve of the season that he did not think the Blues would make the eight.
Many Blues fans vented their anger by booing the players at three quarter-time on Friday night, and left the game early. Cerra said the players understood their frustration.
Will a finals berth be out of reach for the Blues?Credit: AFL Photos
“We feel their frustration, we expect to be playing much better footy at the moment, we believe we will. We are grateful that we have got such a vocal and passionate fan base, and we embrace that. It’s part of our responsibility to put on the jumper and play for them. So, we want to win just as badly as they do, and we want to do it for them,” he said.
Cerra denied the season would be a failure if the Blues failed to make the finals.
“I think every football club feels the pressure to make finals. That’s what the players want to play in, that’s what the fans want to go and watch. I think definitely I would be lying if I said no one feels the pressure, it’s something we embrace,” he said.
Cook last week said it would “not be the end of the world if we don’t make the eight”, but conceded the Blues will cop a “backlash” if they don’t make the eight.
As AFL great Matthew Lloyd wiped the Blues from flag contention, declaring they “fall short badly against the best sides in the competition”, Collingwood legend Tony Shaw, now a 3AW commentator, questioned if the Blues had enough quality depth.
“I haven’t rated their list like I think a lot of other people have. The bottom half, I think, hurts you – they don’t get it done week in, week out,” Shaw said.
In-form defender Nic Newman has been handed a one-match ban for striking, while De Koning, in concussion protocols, will be monitored but could return this weekend.
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