AFL: Carlton coach Michael Voss not giving anything away ahead of blockbuster clash with Geelong

Jeremy Cameron and Tom Hawkins will be stumbling blocks to a potential Carlton victory and Blues coach Michael Voss is keeping his plans for them quiet.

Jacob Weitering will be a major part of how Carlton curbs Geelong forwards Jeremy Cameron and Tom Hawkins. Picture: Getty Images

Carlton coach Michael Voss is keeping Jacob Weitering’s Geelong opponent on Saturday night a fiercely kept secret ahead of the club’s blockbuster clash at the MCG.

Weitering and the much-improved Lewis Young will have the task of dulling the influence of the Cats’ champion key forward pairing of Jeremy Cameron and Tom Hawkins.

They have already kicked 89 goals between them to help lead Geelong to the top of the ladder.

The Blues’ reigning Coleman medallist Harry McKay already said this week the Cameron-Hawkins combination was peerless in the competition.

But Voss was unwilling to share which of them Weitering will go to at the first bounce as the mind games begin for a match that could see Carlton climb inside the top four.

“I won’t be declaring any of that,” Voss said.

Lewis Young (right) has impressed Carlton coach Michael Voss. Picture: Michael Klein

“We might save that as a surprise for the first couple of minutes of the game ... but clearly they’ll take their turns. The development of ‘Youngy’ has been significant for us.

“The fact he’s been able to step up and take those big forwards, or key forwards, has been really impressive, and he’s also shown some flexibility that he can play on different types.”

But Voss’ focus is on stopping more than just Cameron and Hawkins, given the Cats’ rich vein of form, which includes them comfortably beating reigning premier Melbourne last week.

“The challenge is really clear for us. Whenever you play against sides that sort of sit in that top echelon, they put stress on every part of your system,” he said.

“We’ve gone to work really hard on what that looks like for us. I feel like we’re far more reliable.

Mitch McGovern, pictured left with Sam Docherty, could yet be part of the Blues’ finals assault. Picture: Getty Images

“We come in with a good two or three weeks under our belt in some good form, both through our system and also our players, so we’ve put ourselves in a great position to be able to try and challenge that.”

Liam Stocker is back in the side and the Blues are backing mid-season draftee Will Hayes to fill a wing role, dropping Lochie O’Brien to the VFL as they prepare to finetune their squad in the final six rounds.

Mitch McGovern and Marc Pittonet will return from extended injury absences at second-tier level, while Jack Martin and Matt Owies are yet to resume training but could be back playing next week.

“They’ve missed a lot of football, so we have to respect that,” Voss said of McGovern and Pittonet.

“It’s not about one game. We want to build a number of games on the back end, so we feel this is the best way to go about it, to give them a chance to be able to do that.

“We’ll see how they get through ... then we’ll work out whether the next step is AFL or not.”