“What’s their DNA?”: Simpson on why Carlton need to revert back to their previous gameplan

Adam Simpson is concerned that Carlton’s focus on trying to fix all aspects of their game may be detracting from their strengths.

Last night, Carlton fell short to the Western Bulldogs losing 83-75 at Marvel Stadium.

The 2018 premiership coach believes that Carlton’s trying to improve their scoring opportunities from turnovers may be impacted by their potency from stoppages.

Last season, Carlton led the league in centre clearance with 13.1 per game which helped them rank 4th in scores from stoppages.

“But what’s the DNA of Carlton at the moment outside of effort?” Simpson questioned on SEN’s Crunch Time.

“We used to really worry about their ability to score from stoppages and the turnover game wasn’t a massive strength.

“I just worry, sometimes you forget what your good at and you try and work on all these other things and you don’t fall back to what’s really important.

“So, last night, they kicked 3.3 from stoppages which is pretty low.

“They’ve kicked 8.5 from turnover and all we're talking about is their ball movement in previous weeks and they kicked four goals from the back half or six goals from the back half, I think that’s great.

“But if that’s at the expense of your DNA and what you’ve really built your game on, then you get a little bit lost with what you’re trying to chase.”

Later in the show, Simpson would reiterate his view about Carlton’s DNA when referring to the Blues’ ability to get the ball inside 50 noting Sam Walsh’s performance with the ball.

While Carlton was able to get more inside 50s than the Bulldogs (56-51), their efficiency was lacking with Carlton scoring 33.9% of their inside 50’s compared to the Bulldogs 47.1%.

“I think with the two pillars (Charlie Curnow and Harry McKay) down there, I think (Sam Walsh) would benefit just putting it long,” Simpson noted.

“And this is what Carlton used to do, just get it in deep.

“Don’t have to hit a target, just get it in deep and let the big fellas go to work and you get some crumbing players, that’s a bonus.

“It’s gone from all we need to work on (is) our connection and skill and ball use when really the DNA for them is to get it deep and lock it in there.”

Carlton will play Collingwood on Thursday night in what will be a blockbuster match at the MCG.