CARLTON'S onball brigade is still very much a work in progress, according to Kade Simpson, despite the Blues addressing some of their contested-ball issues against Melbourne last week.

With injuries to Andrew Carrazzo and Marc Murphy, Carlton had struggled to win clearances in the weeks leading into the clash against the Demons, forcing Brett Ratten to rethink his approach to stoppages.

That tinkering produced 28 more clearances than the Demons and a 58-point win, but Simpson says there is still plenty of work to be done. 

"We're feeling pretty comfortable with how it went last week - we tried a few things and we'll probably try a few more things this week," Simpson said from Melbourne airport on Thursday.

"We've just got to keep working at it. Teams are going to keep trying things against us, so we've got to keep trying new things to beat that.

"We think a lot of sides brought their forwards up to try to get as many numbers around the ball as possible. We've done a few things to get even more numbers for us around the ball. It seemed to work and Robbie Warnock coming in probably helped as well.

"We're going to keep trying things and we'll just have to suck it and see what works and what doesn't."

The Blues flew out for Adelaide on Thursday ahead of Saturday night's encounter with Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium.

Carlton has won its past five games against the Power and has improved dramatically on the road over the past two seasons, but Simpson said his side was not in a position to take any opposition lightly.

"We've probably had the wood over them the last couple of years, but it's always tough to travel interstate," he said.

"The boys do enjoy getting away [though] and hopefully we can continue that good record against them.

"[But] they're in good form. I watched a bit of the North Melbourne game where they came back from five goals down, so we've definitely got our work cut out for us.

"They just have a crack. Matthew Primus has got them playing team football with contested footy and that sort of stuff that does win you games. Jay Schulz up forward has done really well as well."

Chris Yarran (toe) and Andy Collins (knee) were under injury clouds during the week, but both boarded the flight to Adelaide.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs