The Blues are putting Sunday’s disappointing loss to GWS behind them with attention now firmly focused on this weekend’s blockbuster against arch-rivals Collingwood.
The Blues were well below their best against a spirited Giants side in Sydney in Round 14, but Carlton’s Director of Coaching Rob Wiley says the club will be ready for the clash with the Pies.
“It’s important to remember every game is a new challenge and it is important to move on,” Wiley tells carltonfc.com.au.
Wiley believes the Blues must work on their intensity from the weekend, after promising displays in the previous fortnight against top four contenders Hawthorn and Geelong.
“It was disappointing after coming off two weeks where we’d played some pretty good footy against Hawthorn and Geelong to play the way we did,” Wiley says.
“GWS is a good young side but we didn’t bring our intensity to the game and then everything that goes wrong tends to flow on from there.
“If we don’t bring our intensity and endeavour to the contest then it becomes very hard, as the rest of our game is affected, so that was disappointing.”
Coming off consecutive losses, Collingwood pose a massive threat in Round 15, with goal kicking goliath Travis Cloke returning to form with 11 goals in the Pies’ last two outings.
“They have a powerful forward line and it’s important we improve on our defence otherwise they can be really damaging,” Wiley says.
“Obviously we need to ensure we can gain forward half turnovers and create lots of pressure up there in order to create scoring opportunities for ourselves.”
Wiley says the last-minute withdrawal of Blues captain Marc Murphy due to hamstring tightness on Sunday was not a catalyst for the loss to the Giants, and that the side needed to be able to cover for the absence of any player.
“Obviously we’re going to miss our best player and our leader from our side, but it’s important to remember that when you lose a player you can find another to come in and replace him,” says Wiley.
“We were confident Brock McLean could come in from the sub’s role and do that job that Marc would have done for us.”
Murphy will be strongly considered to return to the side at match committee this week.
“Marc was a bit tight and we didn’t want to risk him. We’ll have a look at him and others when we have a look at team selection,” says Wiley.
Carlton’s VFL affiliate side, the Northern Blues, had a last-gasp win against Bendigo on Sunday, with a late goal from Carlton 2013 draftee Nick Holman sealing the four points.
He and numerous others will be considered for the clash with Collingwood.
“We get a report from our coaching staff there with their recommendations, which we take into consideration at team selection later in the week,” says Wiley.
Sunday’s clash also marks the annual Peter Mac Cup, to raise awareness and funds for Melbourne’s Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
