A “woeful” Carlton concede their six-goal effort against Sydney “doesn’t cut it at AFL level” as the Blues sunk to a sixth loss in seven games.
The Blues won enough of the footy but were wasteful with it – particularly in attack as they finished with a dismal 37% efficiency inside 50 in the 26-point loss on Friday night.
Coleman Medal duo Harry McKay and Charlie Curnow managed just one goal between them from nine shots on goal.
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“Make no mistake – poor kicking for goal is poor football,” Fox Footy’s Jason Dunstall said.
“Clubs keep telling us and we keep hearing it whenever clubs are asked and players are kicking poorly – ‘oh no, he’s doing the work’.
“What work are they doing because it doesn’t change from one week to the next.
‘Can’t deal with this!’ Blues blasted | 01:13
“The routine never looks different. You don’t see them trying something different where you can say ‘Oh I can see what he’s worked on this week’.
“And it mightn’t work but at least he’s doing something dedicated that they’ve actually planned and worked on.
“But you see the same stuff – the same type of misses.
“Maybe he’s doing his half-hour goal kicking every week, but who’s telling him whether that’s the right sort of rehearsal to be doing because it isn’t working.
“It’s routine and basic technique – it’s a combination of both.
“And you’ve got to have to above the shoulders (pointing to his head) and that’s the biggest part. If you don’t believe in your routine and don’t have faith in your technique, you start second guessing yourself.”
The Blues have managed just 21.41 in the past three weeks in a worrying trend for coach Michael Voss.
“This has been a problem for a while – it’s not a one-off,” Fox Footy’s David King said of the accuracy woes.
“You can’t really spin it any other way than we probably just weren’t efficient when we went forward, and six goals 15 probably doesn’t cut it at AFL level,” star defender Jacob Weitering told 7Sport.
Voss admitted inaccuracy cost his side the win on Friday night.
“There’s some simple things in the game we need to ensure we get better that and that’s finishing … ultimately it’s cost us the win that we came here for,” he said in his post-match conference.
“We had our chances.”
Ben Dixon called on the Blues to really put the effort in at training to sort their goal kicking yips.
“They used to turn the lights out… but we’re out kicking footy‘s the whole time (at training),” he recalled.
“That’s your craft – that’s why you’re getting $800,000 a year. You’ve got to finish the work.
“You’ve got to get to work during the week.”
Curnow redeemed after misfire in front | 00:34
Dunstall said it wasn’t just the big forwards to blame as he hit out at the lack of “representation” at ground level.
“They need to get a better representation at ground level – they didn’t get outmarked too often McKay and Curnow,” he said.
“Often the ball would come to ground but I don’t know where all the Blues smalls were – there was no crumbing, there was no front and square.
“I don’t know where all the Carlton players were.”
