Carlton forward Lachie Fogarty says a collapse in the Blues’ team defensive system is responsible for the pair of defeats which have jeopardised their chances of a top four finish.
Fogarty said Blues players and coaches had trawled through “pretty confronting” footage of their losses to GWS and the Western Bulldogs in a bid to correct their course.
Carlton will slide out of the top four if it fails to overcome North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium on Sunday, with Mitch McGovern (hip flexor) racing the clock to be fit and Zac Williams (hamstring) unlikely to play after he was subbed out of the Bulldogs loss.
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But Fogarty said crucial talls Charlie Curnow and Tom De Koning both pulled up well following the defeat after managing niggling injuries over the last fortnight.
“They’ve actually pulled up OK – they’ll do what they need to do,” Fogarty said.
“They’re ultimate pros, both Charlie and Tom, so I imagine they’ll be right this week.
“We went through our review (on Tuesday), we looked at a few things that probably haven’t been working the last couple of weeks.”
Fogarty, who was sidelined with a broken wrist during the Blues’ four losses in six games earlier in the season, said the consensus inside the club was they were facing similar on-field issues to that period.
“It’s been defensively – we’ve given up 100 points the last two games, and if you look at prior to that, we had five games in a row where we’ve only given up 70-odd points,” he said.
“As an 18-man system, we’re not connected, so we had a look at some vision, forwards, backs and midfielders, and just got on the same page there to make sure we’re connected.
“We haven’t been at our best, from stoppages as well we’ve been giving up a fair few points.”
He said parts of the review were uncomfortable but teammates and coaches avoided pinning any blame on individuals.
“It’s important to look at the vision. It can be pretty confronting at times, and it’s hard to look at yourself knowing you probably haven’t done the right thing in that instance, but we’ll just keep looking at it and trying to grow,” he said.
“We try and take the (player’s) head out of it and actually not look at who it is, but you probably know individually if it’s you or not.
“It’s a team-focused thing … it’s an 18-man system, and if it’s just one breakdown, we don’t focus on one particular player.”