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Voss addresses Cripps in the ruck, Curnow’s return and defensive errors ahead of Hawks clash
Paul Sebastiani • March 19th, 2025 3:58 pm
Carlton coach Michael Voss confirmed the sporadic use of Patrick Cripps as a second and third ruckman for patches of games will continue.
It was a lever pulled during Carlton’s shock 13-point loss to Richmond last Thursday night as Tigers veteran Kamdyn McIntosh followed the Blues’ skipper closely in a bid to quell his influence.
“You would have noticed over the last couple of years he’s played in there a fair bit, so it’s not unique, I would imagine he will still play a little bit in there from time to time," Voss said at IKON Park this morning.
“He won a Brownlow medal doing it, so he goes alright.
“He loves it (playing ruck), it’s something that is a bit different and you’ve seen across the competition, it is not unique to us, maybe the fact it is ‘Crippa’ it’s getting a lot of attention.”
With eyes naturally placed on Cripps, some of the limelight will shine away from him on Thursday night with returning key forward Charlie Curnow a confirmed starter.
Curnow has overcome an interrupted pre-season to get himself fully fit for what looms as an early season-defining match against Hawthorn.
Voss highlighted the selection of Curnow as a significant cog in the Carlton make-up but acknowledged it would take more than him returning to rectify what happened against Richmond.
“He’s well and truly ready,” Voss said of his star forward.
“He’s just really clear and excited about being to get back out there. He’s a performer.
“We’re not in the conversation around one person is going to make the difference.
“What makes the difference is when we stay connected as an 18-man team.
“We’ve spoken a lot about the squad mentality, and essentially, that’s what gets the job done.”
While the attack might be bolstered with the addition of Curnow, concerns around Carlton’s lack of defensive discipline and efficiency ahead of the ball is an area that needs rectifying.
On top of the inexplicable defensive errors in the back half, Carlton’s inability to defend higher up the ground saw Richmond manage 55 rebound 50s, which was a round-high for the league.
A lack of efficiency was also partly to blame for the astronomically high rebound percentage rate for the inexperienced Tigers as Carlton’s offence only mustered nine goals from 65 entries.
“Some of that (rebound 50s) is the inefficiency,” Voss said.
“That’s the balance with the good and with the bad.
“We talk about areas, and probably, inefficiency and over the course of the game not being able to take our opportunities.
“We had 34 forward-of-centre turnovers.
“You do not want to be number one in that stat, because it means you are probably too inefficient ahead of the ball and we have been that (inefficient) as recently as a week ago, so this thing does not disappear.
“Last year we were a very efficient team on any midfield turnovers, so, for some reason on this night (against Richmond) it did not work out that way, we’ve gone about trying to simplify it and give some clarity on what that needs to look like.”
Carlton will be looking to bounce back and answer the critics when it faces Hawthorn at the MCG tomorrow night as Blues Radio on SEN makes a big comeback with Andy Maher, Anthony Koutoufides and Ang Christou.
