Carlton’s brutal and uncompromising review after horror loss to Richmond unpacked

Carlton’s season couldn’t have started worse after a shock loss to the Tigers, but the Blues hope a brutal review of last Thursday night will be the catalyst for a response against Hawthorn.

It was the brutal, uncompromising Sunday morning game review that Carlton believes could prove the catalyst for an MCG takedown of the unbeaten Hawks this Thursday night.

Just three days after the Blues’ almost unthinkable loss to last year’s wooden spooners Richmond, coach Michael Voss and the players ushered into the IKON Park meeting room to break down what went wrong against the Tigers, and the need to immediately fix those issues.

The core of the group hadn’t been together since leaving the MCG change rooms last Thursday following the shock 13-point loss to the Tigers.

The players had had a few days off, but understood the review of the game was always going to be confronting and pointed, but also with a clear picture of what was expected of them.

They knew exactly what was coming.

Carlton’s season couldn’t have started worse. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Their co-vice captain Jacob Weitering had made that crystal clear as he brought the group together on the field immediately after the round 1 loss, as they spoke about the costly mistakes and lack of on-field cohesion in a game that had been flipped on its head almost in a heartbeat.

The Herald Sun understands Sunday’s review had a definite edge to it, but was mostly measured and constructive.

Voss and the coaches drove most of the agenda, but the players – mostly the senior ones but even a few of the younger core making themselves heard – had considerable input during the review.

And it was centred on achieving a collective response against Hawthorn on Thursday.

Voss would have preferred to let Carlton’s footy do the talking this week, but stressed in a 16-minute press conference on Wednesday that only actions – not words – will count on Thursday night.

Speaking about the review, Voss said: “I think we had a few days to be able to sit in the disappointment of it all.”

“We obviously had a couple of days away being the timing of when we played. It probably gives you a little bit of time to be able to reflect on it … but also to focus on what is real and separate what is not real.”

Voss says the Blues’ footy will do the talking this week. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

“There was a fair bit of honesty in it (the review). When you sort of address it, then we move onto accepting it and (saying) ‘How do we enact some of the things that have been important for us over the pre-season that we weren’t able to execute consistently over the night’.”

The review discussion centred on a few key elements, including the unconditional driving of standards (which slipped badly at stages of last week), the lack of on-field connectivity (particularly in the second half), and the importance of not throwing out a pre-season of growth just because of one loss – no matter how damning that one loss might be.

On the first point, the players conceded the standards had not been met last Thursday, from what was worked upon across the summer months to what was dished up in the second half of the Tigers game.

Too often basic turnovers and fumbles under pressure (and occasionally under no pressure) put the entire team on notice.

As a result, the Blues simply got no bang for their buck.

They ran at 66.5% disposal efficiency – and 38.5% in attack – which resulted in the team being unable to take advantage of the +25 inside 50s, scoring only nine goals.

Carlton had a shot at goal accuracy differential of minus 40.5% last week – its second-worst across the past 10 years.

“The big thing for us was clearly the errors played a significant part in the game for us,” Voss said.

“The weight of those (errors) got a hold of us a bit. We have spoken about this a fair bit.

“The narrative hasn’t changed for us, or the focus. We need to be able to defend better as a group (and) if things aren’t necessarily working in the moment, how do you stick onto that and make it hard for the opposition? We gave a window to the opposition and they took it.”

The lack of on-field cohesion was a major discussion point, which Voss maintains can be fixed ahead of Thursday night’s prime-time assignment against the Hawks.

“We lost our connection with one another, and to Richmond’s credit, they managed it really well,” Voss said. “They rose above that – that’s the opportunity we get (against Hawthorn).”

Carlton faces a hot Hawthorn on Thursday night. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

One of the key takeaways, he said, was that the group was not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater, insisting the things they had trained for across summer should not be discarded after one bad loss.

“We don’t separate, we don’t blame, that’s not what it (the review) was about. We are really confident in the body of work we were able to do across the pre-season,” he said.

“I couldn’t be more impressed with our prep … we are trying to find that version that we are consistent no matter the circumstance. Clearly the info we got back (last week) was that we are not that yet.

“(But) we are closing the gap.

“You can’t sort of go ‘OK, that didn’t work … let’s go in a different direction’. I don’t think that is strong leadership … I think you are (just) holding to that (outside) noise.”

That includes Patrick Cripps still being used as a ruck back-up at times (as he was during his Brownlow Medal winning season last year), but it could be less time this week from last as Charlie Curnow’s return frees up Harry McKay to assist Tom De Koning.

He said Curnow would not be the panacea that would turn the club’s fortunes around, but insisted the dual Coleman Medallist is raring to go after missing last week.

Asked if he could have played last week, Voss said: “Possibly (he) could have done that last week, but I think it definitely would have been pulling the trigger too early.

“We are not in this conversation that one person is going to make a difference here. We have spoken a lot about squad mentality. (If we look) to the best version of ourselves it has to include everyone.”

“We will let the really good players bring their talent, and our role players need to be able to get their job done. Ultimately, they all have to buy into the same thing.”

The coach knows the only way to answer that is on game day!