Garry Lyon: How Michael Voss can save Carlton’s ‘butcher Blues’

It sounds harsh, but Carlton has some of the biggest butchers of the football in the AFL. It’s an ugly fact but something Michael Voss has time to fix, writes Garry Lyon.

Now is not the right time to be a poor kicking side in the AFL.

On the basis of, albeit, just a couple of games, the teams generating the most buzz and excitement also happen to be the teams that kick with surgical precision. And maybe it was the carnage that Adelaide left behind at the MCG, last Saturday afternoon, that is seared into my consciousness, but they set a scary benchmark for the rest of the competition.

In an era where transitioning the ball from one end of the ground to the other is so important, and scoring and defending turnover is a consistent measurement for the very best teams, not being able to execute by foot is an enormous millstone to carry.

Sam Walsh blazing away against the Hawks

Ollie Hollands also ignores the short option

Who is Adam Cerra kicking to?

Which is why the ‘Butcher Blues of Princes Park’ are such a concern right now:

● They have the worst kicking efficiency of any team in the competition

● From 2024 onwards they are the 16th ranked team for moving the ball from defensive 50 to Inside 50

● They were once the hardest team in the competition to score from turnover (Rounds 0-16, 2024), they have now slipped down to 8th.

Not all of this can be down to the way they kick the ball, but it has an undeniable impact on all aspects of their game.

Comparatively, Adelaide are No. 1 for kicking efficiency and No. 1 for moving the ball from the backline to inside the forward 50. The AFL average for kicking efficiency sits at 67 per cent.

Who of this Crows outfit wouldn’t you want kicking the football? Rory Laird is kicking at 89 per cent, Mitch Hinge at 87 per cent, Wayne Milera 86 per cent, Josh Worrell 85 per cent, Matt Crouch 76 per cent and Ben Keays at 75 per cent.

How much would the Blues love a sure-footed player such as Mitch Hinge?

The Blues were exposed by Hawthorn’s precision ball use from players such as Massimo D’Ambrosio.

When you have distributors like that, ball movement becomes a joy, not a headache. Movement is constant, players present gleefully all over the ground for they know they will be rewarded with a laser like projectile.

Disturbingly for the ‘Butcher Blues’, there is no such reward on offer. Compare their kicking efficiency to that of the Crows and you get a clear understanding of why they sit in the bottom four for moving the footy from one end the ground to the other.

Blake Acres is kicking at 32 per cent, Sam Docherty 39 per cent, Jesse Motlop 42 per cent, Matt Cottrell 48 per cent, Patrick Cripps and George Hewett 50 per cent, Sam Walsh 53 per cent and Lachie Cowan 58 per cent. All of them below AFL average.

At round 16 last year they were in the top four for forcing turnovers into scores. For the last seven rounds they were 15th. Around 60 per cent of scores are generated from turnover, this is a concerning trend. What is more worrying, is that it has continued on into this season, with the Blues 17th for scoring from turnover.

We have admired the Blues ability to apply high pressure to opposition and they thrive in a contested ball environment. Cripps is the best contested ball winner in the game and in Walsh, Hewett, Tom De Koning and Marc Pittonet, they have an on ball mix that rates above average in this area.

In the last three years under Michael Voss they have been either the No. 1 or No. 2 contested possession winning team in the competition.

Blake Acres is going at 32 per cent by foot. Picture: Michael Klein

Jesse Motlop’s use has also been below AFL standard.

Given all of this statistical data, and again, conceding we are only very early into the 2025 season, is there enough evidence to suggest that the game is moving away from the areas that Carlton have been so proficient in? Is it going from contest and clearance, to a ball movement and kicking game that has exposed their shortcomings? And if they determine that being the second slowest team in the competition last year – behind only Richmond – to move the ball out of their defensive 50, is not going to serve them well this year, do they have the personnel with the necessary skill set to rectify the problem?

Take your mind back to the second quarter against Hawthorn, with 15 and half minutes left on the clock. Adam Saad receives a handball at half back from George Hewett. He bursts away from congestion, takes a bounce in the middle of the ground and drives the ball deep into attacking 50, where Zac Williams works Changkuoth Jiath under the football and runs into an open goal to put the Blues within three points. All Carlton fans will have instant recall of that moment, because it’s everything they haven’t been for a long time now. Daring, probing, electric and exciting from the back half, with delivery to a forward that gives him the maximum possible advantage to win a contest and score.

There just has to be more of that from the Blues. Can Saad become an attacking weapon again? Is Ollie Hollands the answer, having been deployed to half back, though he had enough of a challenge trying to tame Dylan Moore. Has the pace of the game gone past Sam Docherty, and is his kicking still up to the standard? Has Zac Williams’ days of being a rebound defender dried up and does Mitch McGovern get enough of it?

Maybe its time for Sam Walsh, while he works his way back to full fitness, to have his role redefined. We have witnessed a plethora of stars at half back become devastatingly effective. Think Bailey Dale, Harry Sheezel, Dan Houston, Dayne Zorko, Josh Daicos and even his brother Nick, on occasion. Walsh is not as devastating by foot as some of these stars but, given every opportunity, his ability to tirelessly run and carry the ball can create all sorts of overlap opportunities.

It’s a great challenge for Voss and his boys. They are in the unique circumstance where putting your head in the hole and winning hard footy, and pressuring the opposition is not a problem. There would be plenty of coaches over time who wouldn’t have been able to say that. No, Voss has to find a way to instil some flair and excitement back into this group, to challenge them to run and take a risk, and to give them the confidence to go for the sorts of kicks that the pacesetters in the competition do as a matter of course, with brilliant efficiency.

We haven’t said that about the Blues for a while. Time to bury the ‘Butcher’.

Originally published as Garry Lyon: How Michael Voss can save Carlton’s ‘butcher Blues’