IT MAY not have been ‘the’ way in recent seasons, but Jacob Weitering is backing the Blues to continue to cash in on their early-season clearance dominance.

With Carlton’s form in the opening three rounds being dissected by pundits all throughout the week, there was a key stat from FOX Footy’s Nick Riewoldt which was cause for justified inspection.

In recent seasons, the game has very much been about capitalising on turnover.

However, in the opening three rounds, the Blues ranked 11th in the competition for scores from clearances differential (-18).

In the same time period, Carlton ranks No.1 for scores for clearances at +52 across three games, largely benefitting from the good work a deeper midfield contingent. 

Starting with Michael Voss’ press conference post-match on Sunday afternoon, the message was clear: there’s plenty left for the Blues to improve on.

Speaking on 3AW Sportsday, Weitering stressed the need for the Blues to continue doing what they do well, and ironing out other deficiencies in their game in the coming weeks.

“For us, ‘Vossy’ has been terrific coming in and understanding the strengths of our side,” Weitering side.

“We’ve got ‘Crippa’ and ‘Walshy’ in there and we’ve got some depth. We’ve had Matthew Kennedy come in, George Hewett and Adam Cerra who are providing some great grunt work in the midfield.

“We’re a contested side and winning the battle in there. If you’re winning the ball out of the middle and getting first hands to it, you can kick it down to Harry and Charlie and they can kick some goals.

“Sometimes it’s a simple game and other times, like on the weekend, we had to do a bit more work on the team defence side of things to win the game.”