Carlton don’t need to play sexy football, but they need to get dirty in Friday night’s crucial AFL clash with Geelong at Etihad Stadium.
Midfield boss Mark Riley says that’s the key to the depleted and struggling Blues stemming their slide.
With only a win over Melbourne to show from the past four rounds, the Blues are in danger of slipping from second a month ago to out of the eight by the end of the weekend.
While much has been made of opposition tactics and key injuries blunting Carlton’s stellar midfield, Riley says more basic issues need fixing.
“We’ve got to roll our sleeves up and get a bit dirty and a bit grubbier around the hard ball and the defensive pursuits of the game,” the experienced Blues assistant told AAP.
Riley said too much had been made of opposition sides putting extra numbers around midfield stoppages to restrict Carlton’s clearance work.
He said the Blues had regularly countered that tactic well in the past and it was not a factor when their midfield was thrashed by Port Adelaide last round.
“There’s been a number of theories regarding set-ups, structures etc,” Riley said.
“We feel like we’ve addressed that and now it’s a matter of putting your head in the hole and winning a few (contests).
“We were just completely outplayed the other night in slippery conditions, because the opposition were harder for longer over the loose ball around the clearance area.”
While the long-term absences of injured stars Andrew Carrazzo and Marc Murphy have hurt, Riley said more relevant was the lack of an even contribution.
“The pattern in our midfield is no matter who’s in or who’s out, we haven’t met our standards over the past five or six weeks as a collective,” he said.
“The strength of the wolf is the pack.”
While the Cats have also been uncharacteristically poor in winning clearances and contested possessions this season, Riley said Geelong’s overall class helped them get away with it.
The Blues, by contrast, had to gain ascendancy in the “non-sexy” aspects, such as hard running, tackling and throwing themselves into contests.
“Their dangerous forwards and their brilliant experienced backs and their brilliant midfield can allow them to lose that area and still win footy matches,” Riley said.
“But we’ve had a pretty big focus on ourselves, on getting our own backyard in order.”
Both clubs have received a selection boost, with key talls Matthew Kreuzer and Lachie Henderson and backman Nick Duigan named to return for the Blues.
The Cats get a massive dose of experience, with Corey Enright, Joel Corey, David Wojcinski, Tom Hawkins and Steven Motlop all back.
