IT HAS been a physical summer at IKON Park.

Recognising the importance that contest had played in the majority of Carlton's success under Michael Voss last year, the Blues decided there would be no limits on how hard the bodies would hit this off-season. Practice would make perfect.

Whether it was during intraclubs or match simulation drills between teammates, or whether it was last week's practice match against the first real opposition it had faced all summer in Collingwood, club officials wanted to see an added intensity.

Even for a Blues team that already ranked No.2 in both contested possession and clearance differential last season, the menace and mongrel in the side's performances were not evident regularly enough. Those inconsistencies inspired the change in approach.

"Last year's pre-season was a stepping stone in what we need to be able to achieve in this pre-season. We are now closer to our training environment vision, if you want to call it that," Voss told AFL.com.au.

"That's our philosophy in the way we want to train moving forward, compared to where we were the year before. There were some things that we would've liked to have got to that we just couldn't get to. We had to recognise maybe where the players were and where we now need to get them to.

"We had to be really heavily prioritised in what that looked like for us. We started with a really heavy contested style of game. There's an intensity that you need to be able to replicate and we weren't able to replicate that often enough last year, so we've gone to work on that a little bit more.

"But at the same time, we want to use that as an opportunity to build out other things in our game. With another bit of a base under your belt, and with players coming back from pre-season in healthier conditions, we can explore what that looks like even more."

You could be forgiven for thinking the focus on physicality this summer has been derived from Voss' playing days.

After all, here was a footballer renowned as one of the modern game's most imposing players across a Brisbane career that stretched 289 matches and was crowned with three premierships, five All-Australians and a Brownlow Medal.

But, rather, the intensity has been driven by the playing group. A coaching staff that is entirely unchanged from last year has spent its off-season handing ownership of the program to its pupils. It is now reaping the rewards of that.

"The first thing that you set, if it's not the very first conversation you have, is what do we train like and what we do prepare like? It's impossible to think you've got a chance in this game without being a pro," Voss said.

"We have to be really clear on what those standards look like and it's everyone being able to own what those standards look like, so we can achieve where we want to go. I feel like the boys have really bought into that. In fact, I'd say a really big thing from this year is that they've driven that pretty hard. They've taken full ownership of it and they've really driven it amongst themselves.

"It's been more around the coaches stepping back a little bit more for them to be able to step up. I've really enjoyed seeing the evolution of our leadership group, from where we started and the density we're trying to build through our leadership and our leadership programs. I'd say, collectively, they've really grown in that space."

Carlton's physical approach has led to some sore bodies. But the club is confident it is not the reason behind a summer in which a handful of important senior regulars have been forced to spend large chunks on the sidelines.

In last Friday morning's match simulation victory over the Magpies, there were 13 Blues absent due to injury. A handful of them – including Zac Williams (knee), Sam Walsh (back), David Cuningham (shoulder), Sam Philp (foot), Jordan Boyd (foot) and Matt Cottrell (foot) – have, or are expected to, miss an extended period.

However, a number of others – including Lachie Fogarty (back), Mitch McGovern (back), Corey Durdin (hamstring), Jack Martin (calf), Caleb Marchbank (soreness), Marc Pittonet (knee) and Matt Owies (hamstring) – could feature in this Friday's second practice match against Sydney.

While the off-season absentees have been frustrating for Voss, the Carlton coach is mindful to separate the events of last year – where the Blues had a staggering number of players on the injury list across the campaign's last month, as they lost their final four matches to plummet from the top-eight – from what has occurred this summer.

"The very big one with the injuries is what are the controllables and the uncontrollables? The ones we've had (throughout the pre-season) have just been uncontrollable," Voss explained.

"Some of the returns that we've had throughout last year and also over this pre-season have been a by-product of some of the things where we couldn't quite get them going at the back-end of last year. We feel like we've made great headway into all of that. It's difficult to try and paint a picture of what that looks like, because everybody else's references are around August last year whereas our references are around February this year.

"There's a perception and reality thing here. The perception would be that one person goes down, so that means that we're still dealing with our injury stuff. We know we're not exactly where we need to be on that, but there's a different reality. That is that the work is getting done and the players are investing in that.

"We're getting a lot of players out on the park now and there are a lot of processes that we're running that we've been pretty disciplined around. We're still growing our system as a footy department and as a footy team.

"When all of those things come together … that's the complexity of being able to build a premiership team. You think it's just about throwing 18 blokes out there to play on a weekend and get four points. The reality is there's this massive machine that's happening that relies on a lot of factors. We've made a lot of ground in a lot of areas and I'd say that's one of them."