A spirited Carlton was overrun by a fast-finishing Melbourne at the MCG on Sunday.

Despite the Blues’ 22-point loss, the stats revealed some standout individual performances.

Here are the top-five player stats from a Carlton perspective:

Matthew Wright
Game-high 8 score involvements

Matthew Wright’s game couldn’t be faulted. The 27-year-old booted three goals to lead the Blues’ goalkicking after two rounds, while also gathering 21 disposals – an impressive number for a small forward. Most impressively, Wright recorded a game-high eight score involvements, contributing 44 per cent of Carlton’s scores. The former Crow's footy smarts were on full display.

Lachie Plowman
Game-high 94.4% disposal efficiency

Lachie Plowman is relishing more freedom in defence early this season, recording above 17 disposals for the second consecutive week. It was what he did with the footy against the Dees that stood out, however, with his game-high 94.4 per cent disposal efficiency indicating that he rarely missed a target.

Patrick Cripps
Game-high 10 clearances

Patrick Cripps didn’t have his most polished performance against Melbourne, but was a consistent performer across the four quarters to finish with 29 disposals. More often than not, the 22-year-old will lead all players for clearances, and he did exactly that on Sunday. After being well held in the Blues’ season opener, Cripps responded as expected. 

Marc Murphy
Team-high 20 uncontested possessions

While not as damaging as usual with his disposals, skipper Marc Murphy worked hard to find space and record a team-high 20 uncontested possessions. The Blues were well beaten in this area (314-227), particularly in the first half with the Demons’ run and spread causing problems, but Murphy played a crucial role in helping the Blues break the shackles in the third term.

Caleb Marchbank
Team-high 8 intercepts

Caleb Marchbank features in the top-five stats yet again for his intercept work. The former Giant played a key role in restricting Melbourne to 13 goals from 54 inside 50s, putting himself in the right positions time after time to keep the Demons at bay.