“Curse of talent”: Why Nathan Buckley wasn't surprised by Carlton's bounce-back performance

In the absence of numerous star players, Carlton relied heavily on role players buying in to get the job done against West Coast and Nathan Buckley hopes they learned a valuable lesson.

The Blues had 18 players unavailable and went in underdogs against the Eagles, with Charlie Curnow, Harry McKay, Tom De Koning, Adam Cerra, Adam Saad and Jack Martin among those out.

Instead, it was Brodie Kemp playing full-forward – kicking four goals and restricting Jeremy McGovern’s influence. That was one example of how the team collectively bought into their individual roles required to get the result.

Buckley believes that Carlton is a team oozing with talent, but that only gets you so far.

“What I’m going to talk about is the curse of talent and how we all get seduced by talent and talent is one part of being good at the game and becoming a good team, but it’s an individual aspect that isn’t as prevalent in successful teams as hard work and application and playing your role, which his exactly what Michael Voss was able to get his team to do,” Buckley told SEN Breakfast.

“We shouldn’t have been surprised. In the absence of talent you focus more on what you need to do to get that job done and that’s what Carlton was able to do.

“It takes the whole squad. Yes, the injury list was substantial, particularly in the forward half. Out of the midfield they had no Tom De Koning and Adam Cerra and Adam Saad in the backline.

“I just think we get seduced so much by talent and Curnow, McKay, De Koning, their talent is undeniable and yes it does have an impact when you miss key elements of your team, but Brodie Kemp goes forward and the role he played on Jeremy McGovern and the role he had to play for the team, the dedication to that role by a player who hasn’t played there before and his commitment to doing what was asked of him in that moment was absolutely 100 per cent laser focused.

“You can’t tell me that a Curnow or a McKay aren’t thinking more about winning the football and taking marks rather than defending a Jeremy McGovern and preventing him from being an intercept player.

“Everything is a balance. You need your players who go and chase what they’re capable of and Patrick Cripps and Jacob Weitering did that, so there was talented players as good as anyone in the caper at executing what they were great at, but they were able to bring in a group of young role players who got the job done.

“Carlton hasn’t won as many games as they should have with their level of talent. My point is if you can tip into this blue collar attitude as these guys come back, you need to build a team on playing roles.

“When Carlton was at their best at the back-end of last year, it was because every single player was committed to their role in the team.”

The Blues must now beat a red-hot St Kilda in order to secure their spot in the top eight.

They will be hoping a few of their stars are available for the must-win clash.