Blues aim to beef up defence against Roos
Carlton coach Michael Voss has urged his charges to sharpen up defensively, wary of a potential banana-skin game against cellar dwellars North Melbourne.
The Blues have suffered consecutive losses to GWS and the Western Bulldogs, shipping 100 or more points in both.
While going in heavy favourites against the Kangaroos at Marvel Stadium on Sunday, Voss was determined to get his defence back firing.
“Well, I think most people have been talking out there around our defence and I think we’d agree – it’s not been up to scratch and where we would like it the last two weeks,” Voss said.
“The month before that, we aimed that area, and the reality is the last two weeks it’s been really disappointing.
“There’s some really simple things within it though – it’s not like it’s a lot of big things. We still feel like a lot of that part of our game is actually going OK but we’ve got a couple of little things we need to chase and refine.
“But we’ve lowered our guard, and teams have been able to score a little bit too easily, so we’re going to have to address that pretty quickly.”
Tall defender Sam Durdin was unable to prove his fitness to play, while Jordan Boyd joined Zac Williams on the unavailable list through injury.
Fellow backman Brodie Kemp was dropped along with second ruckman Marc Pittonet.
The Blues called up George Hewett to strengthen their midfield ahead of facing a lively Kangaroos on-ball unit.
“We’ve been nothing but impressed with the Roos’ current formline,” Voss said.
“They’ve put a good body of work together.
“Looking through their past games over the last five or six weeks, they certainly look a lot more stable, a bit more consistent in terms of the players they’ve been playing and their performances.
“We’re looking to bring our absolute best of us to this particular contest.”
The Kangaroos have called upon Griffin Logue for his first AFL game since he recovered from an ACL tear, in a handy boost to their defence before facing Charlie Curnow and Harry McKay.
Robert Hansen Jr will play his first game for the season while former Blue Zac Fisher has been recalled.
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