Damning statistic exposes Carlton after latest 'extraordinary' AFL loss

Carlton coach Michael Voss says the Blues' loss to Essendon on Sunday night was 'unacceptable', but has defended his side after they were booed off the ground following the 34-point loss. Inaccuracy in front of goal once again hampered Carlton's hopes, but it was the tackle count that proved most revealing.

The Blues won plenty of the ball and dominated play for a decent amount of time, but their lack of scoreboard pressure was matched by their lack of physical pressure on the Bombers. Time and again, Essendon were able to cleanly move from defence to attack, with the returning Peter Wright the main beneficiary with five goals.

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Laying just 33 tackles for an entire game is a damning statistic, and one not lost on Voss when he fronted the post-game press conference. Carlton laid just seven tackles for the entire third quarter, during which the Bombers extended their lead from two to 33 points.

“Having seven tackles in a quarter, that’s just unacceptable,” Voss said.“We’ve got to be better than being just a team that wins the ball, we need to be a team that can go back and pressure when it’s our turn as well. Certainly in the third quarter we didn’t do that.”

Making matter worse was their poor accuracy in front of goal once again. Carlton's final tally of 6.16 represented one more scoring shot compared to Essendon's 13.8.

An eighth defeat from nine matches leaves the Blues' season in freefall and raises more questions over Voss' future despite the Carlton hierarchy publicly guaranteeing his position. They have now lost six straight games for the first time since the horror run that led to Brendon Bolton's dismissal as coach four years ago.

Carlton had far more forward entries (56-41) but were inefficient throughout and particularly wasteful when kicking 3.10 in the first half. Their scoring woes continued as key forwards Charlie Curnow (2.4) and Harry McKay (1.0) were short of their best again. The Blues failed to reach 60 points for a fifth consecutive week.

"It wasn't a lack of getting it there but the reality is that we haven't been able to create scoreboard pressure," a frustrated Voss said. "You can win contest and you can be great on defence and get the ball going there, but if you're not able to finish your work it just puts pressure on your system."

Essendon outclass Carlton as Blues' horror season continues

Sam Walsh (34 disposals), Adam Cerra (31) and Sam Docherty (27) racked up touches for Carlton but were outclassed by the Bombers' slick on-ball division.

Wright, last year's best-and-fairest winner and leading goal-kicker, showed no signs of rust in his comeback after missing the first three months of the 2023 season after shoulder surgery. The 203cm target took a strong mark above his head to kick the Bombers' first goal of the night and booted three of their seven majors - against Carlton's two - during the crucial third term.

Wright finished off strong work from young midfielders Nic Martin (30 disposals, seven clearances), Ben Hobbs (24, two) and Jye Caldwell (25, four), while Archie Perkins helped quell the influence of Carlton superstar Patrick Cripps. Bombers captain Zach Merrett (18 touches, one goal) shifted forward to shake Ed Curnow's tag and played an important role as Jake Stringer (18 disposals, six clearances) added his trademark explosiveness.

"We had to be fierce in the contest to make sure that if it did break open it was on our terms," Essendon coach Brad Scott said. "Carlton had it on their terms in the second quarter, they dominated quite a few parts of the game, so we kept it pretty simple in terms of the system that we want to play. We got to work at the contest and got some reward."

With AAP

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