AFL: Carlton coach Michael Voss rules out a recruiting bid for Collingwood free agent Jordan De Goey

Carlton’s been an active player in trade period the past few years but coach Michael Voss says there is a new list management approach in place at the club.

Brodie Kemp, pictured going head-to-head with Josh Bruce in the VFL, is the latest Blue tasked with filling a key defensive post. Picture: Getty Images

Carlton won’t join the Jordan De Goey recruiting conga line, with coach Michael Voss restating the Blues’ commitment to the draft after raiding rival clubs’ talent in recent years.

Voss has helped transform underachieving Carlton into a top-four threat this season but made clear he would not chase De Goey, or another big-name signing, to try to get the club across the line for a premiership.

“That won’t be happening for us,” Voss said.

“We’ve been pretty clear on what our long-term draft strategy is, so we’re not going to deviate off that. We are obviously clearly still in a list-build phase despite what we’re actually doing this year.

“We still take a really long-term approach. You asked me the question about De Goey, but I’d prefer to sort of more answer it around what we’re trying to build towards, so it’s not so much about him specifically.”

Carlton coach Michael Voss has distanced the Blues from any interest in Collingwood free agent Jordan De Goey. Picture: Getty Images

Adam Saad, Zac Williams, Adam Cerra, Jack Martin and George Hewett are among the players the Blues have traded for or signed via free agency to fast-track their competitiveness.

Carlton could move into the top four this weekend if it beats Fremantle in one of the most-anticipated clashes of the round, a week after running the Tigers close despite conceding an enormous 76 inside 50s.

The Dockers have the aerial firepower to make the Blues pay if there’s a repeat at Marvel Stadium on Saturday, with Matt Taberner, Rory Lobb, Nat Fyfe and Griffin Logue in attack.

Making matters worse for Voss is the long list of injured defenders, including Jacob Weitering, Caleb Marchbank, Mitch McGovern, Oscar McDonald and mid-season draftee Sam Durdin, on top of vaccine-resistant Liam Jones’ retirement.

Jacob Weitering remains on the sidelines. Picture: Getty Images

Third-year swingman Brodie Kemp is almost the last man standing and replaces Durdin for his fifth senior game, joining Lewis Young and Lachie Plowman in having a big role to play down back.

“I feel like I’m making weekly announcements on our next defender, but ‘Kempy’ will come in and play that role, as we’ve seen him play against GWS,” Voss said.

“He’s been able to do that pretty well, but we’ve had different looks down in that back six or back seven for most of the year. We’d clearly like some continuity in that particular area.

“Every time we get a new person in there, it’s about winning a battle and that’d be no different to what we expect from him to Sam Docherty and coming in and playing his role.”

Sam Walsh, Patrick Cripps and the rest of the Blues’ midfield have a big job against Fremantle. Picture: Getty Images

Voss said a victory over high-flying Fremantle would be “significant” but that he never encouraged his players to treat any game as bigger than another.

“If we look back to the last time we played Fremantle; their contest was just far better than ours,” he said.

“It starts for us there and you’ve heard me talk about that almost weekly here, just how important that is to us and where we’re going to build our method from and where we’re going to build our base from.

“It was always going to be off our pressure around the ball and around our contest method. If we’re able to get some really strong field position off the back of it, then that’s a real bonus, so we’ve gone to work on that.”