‘Will punch you in the face’: Blues change to unlock superstar, call for Pies ‘onslaught’ in blockbuster

A storied, bitter rivalry is renewed on Friday night.

And it shapes as one of the most important matches of this season.

It’s Carlton and Collingwood at the colosseum.

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Since 1980, the ledger sits at 45-43 in the Magpies’ favour.

Making the occasion all the grander is the dominant position both clubs are currently in, as they look to bolster their premiership credentials in a mercilessly tight competition.

While Collingwood must cope without star midfielders Jordan De Goey and Tom Mitchell, perhaps a bigger focus will be placed on Carlton’s connectivity going forward amid recent conversion troubles.

Michael Voss’ Blues boast one of the most potent attacking units the league has to contend with, but it hasn’t always been smooth sailing finding a target inside opposition territory.

In last Saturday’s loss to Geelong, Carlton recorded 66 inside-50s for just 30 scoring shots: a below-season-average rate of 45.5 per cent.

Part of the explanation? The Blues love force-feeding their spearhead pair — and for good reason — but it could be contributing to their drop-off in scoring efficiency.

62 per cent of Carlton’s targets inside 50 this year have gone to Charlie Curnow or Harry McKay.

“Their biggest challenge is always the balancing act between going to Charlie (Curnow) and Harry (McKay), and finding better options,” St Kilda great Leigh Montagna told Fox Footy’s First Crack.

“The occasions when they (avoided) going to those two and looked for better options, they got great results.”

Curnow and McKay were targeted 24 times against Geelong for just five goals. Conversely, the rest of the team was targeted 13 times for the same return.

“They’ve got to continue to find other avenues (to goal),” said Montagna.

“They’ll get their chances, the two big boys … (but) it really worked for Carlton when they (looked elsewhere), but too often they just keep going to the big boys, hoping they’ll get the result.”

While Montagna also declared Curnow is “ready to unleash” on Friday, Fox Footy analyst and two-time flag-winner David King believes there’s a forward-line alternative that hasn’t been put to use as often as it should.

“Patty Cripps (is) underutilised as a forward,” King told First Crack.

“He’s strong — I love him under a tough, contested marking situation. I think he should spend more minutes forward.”

203-game Hawthorn stalwart Ben Dixon concurred.

“I’d love to see that,” Dixon told foxfooty.com.au of a potential increase in Cripps’ use as a goal threat.

“I’m massive on a midfielder who can actually win their own one-on-one marking contests, and ‘Crippa’s exactly like that.

“Kick it on his head and just walk back to the middle. He’s incredible forward, it’s almost (like) having three talls down there, in a way.”

The 29-year-old notched 29 disposals, eight clearances, eight score involvements, eight inside 50s and two goals against the Cats.

Dixon said the match-up advantages of pushing Cripps forward were too tantalising to ignore.

“There’d be nothing wrong with dropping (Cripps) into the hole in the forward line and seeing some real value there, because you’re always going to pull a mismatch with (him),” the former goalkicker said.

“A defender is going to try and pick him up, but he’s six foot six, six foot five — it’s hard to stop (his) strengths; body on body. And then, all of a sudden, you’ll get the spread of targets inside 50 and mix it up.

“As predictable as (Carlton is) going inside 50, if they’re having a midfielder come in and make an impact like (Cripps) as a (Marcus) Bontempelli-type, that is massive to your make-up and your synergies up forward. That’s huge.

“He’s no use to you resting on the bench; you can rest (him) forward and (he can still) make an impact.”

Cripps has already booted six goals this year after managing nine for the whole of last season.

Voss would have pondered plenty following his side’s Round 7 defeat to the Cats — an effort he described post-game as “unacceptable”.

“I don’t want us to (think) that ‘it was a good effort’ or ‘it was close’,” the Blues’ mentor said last Saturday.

“We’ve got to be better … I’d like to think we benchmark ourselves off our own standards, and we fell below those (on Saturday) on defending.”

Voss’ brigade won’t have to contend with bullocking onballer De Goey (groin) nor contested beast Mitchell (foot) on Friday, while his Blues will welcome back a valued midfielder of its own, too, with Adam Cerra said to be fully recovered from his Round 5 hamstring strain.

The battle between the Blues and Pies’ “contrasting” styles through the middle shapes as the game within the game.

“The midfield (clash), now that De Goey is out, is going to be even more fascinating,” Dixon told foxfooty.com.au.

“(The Blues) are the muscle of the competition through the middle of the ground. They are hard. They have an edge. They don’t have contact, they have collisions. This is going to test the Pies big time.

“(I think of) Mike Tyson’s saying — that it’s great to have a game plan until you get punched in the face — and Carlton will punch you in the face, straight up.”

Despite his high praise of the Blues, Dixon has hopped aboard Collingwood’s boat for Friday night’s blockbuster bout.

“One thing that I’m still (big on is) you don’t lose your ability overnight,” he said. “I’m tipping Collingwood — only on the basis that if you match (the two teams’) ball movement when they’re at their peak, Collingwood still moves the ball incredibly well.

“I don’t think Carlton moves the ball as well as Collingwood at their height.

“They’ve almost (ground) wins out as well, Carlton. Collingwood doesn’t really grind wins out; they punish you, or they’ll come from behind and chase you hard. They’re two contrasting styles.

“That’s why I love Collingwood in this one. It’s going to be an open game, (and) if you’re going to play an open game, which Carlton is happy to do, you can open up, and that’s just welcoming a Pies onslaught.”

Collingwood enters Round 8 a half-game outside the top eight, while Carlton can move into the top four if it’s able to claim its sixth win of the season.