ON the eve of their Round 8 clash against North Melbourne, Senior Coach David Teague said there is constant room for improvement at the Blues — regardless of recent results.
Drawing on the performance against Port Adelaide and all games in 2020 so far, Teague said the team’s inside 50 differential was a clear focus for the coming weeks.
Teague said it was a focus point for the playing group, having conceded too many inside 50s and not generating enough in their own attacking 50.
“We’re allowing the opposition too many [inside 50s] and we’re not getting enough ourselves,” said Teague.
“We broke down the game on how to try and increase that and some of the methods of our way and how we wanted to defend and the way we wanted to move the ball.”
As things stand, Carlton ranks sixth in the competition for inside 50s, but it has also conceded the sixth most inside 50s against opposition teams.
Teague has been impressed at how the group have moved the ball quickly down the line, but said there was work to do in terms of keeping in the forward half.
“Our ability to move the ball quick enough to score has been good but the ability to lock it in our first half hasn’t been at the level we want,” he said.
“That’s how we want to play the game.”
The upcoming test against North Melbourne is no easy feat in Teague’s eyes, with Carlton failing to get the win against North the last five times they’ve met.
The team is in, as are the lucky winners who'll feature in our second Back our 'Baggers game!
— Carlton FC (@CarltonFC) July 23, 2020
There's also news on Liam Stocker and Matthew Kreuzer. #OwnTheFuture
Carlton’s Senior Coach was certain that North Melbourne counterpart Rhyce Shaw would have his side ready to go when the two sides face off at the Gabba.
“Quite often when teams have faced adversity they come out quite strong,” he said.
“I’ve got no doubt Rhyce will be encouraging the players to play their way and in the past they’ve had the wood over us.”
Their lack of victories against North wasn’t on Carlton’s agenda however, with Teague adamant that wasn’t a focus of their plan this week.
“They’ve probably got confidence in playing against us but we can’t control what’s happening at North Melbourne,” he said.
“We can control what’s happening here and the way we go about it.
“We’re preparing for a really physical contest with North Melbourne.”
