Is Carlton suffering a form slump or signs of something deeper?

Are Carlton flag contenders this year or just making up the numbers? Can they finish in the top four, or will they even play finals? Are they in a form slump, or are they just not that good?

First things first. Their credentials are sound enough at this stage of the season.

Through a quirk of the draw that the AFL fixture sometimes throws up, the Blues haven’t actually played the top three sides on the ladder yet. They square off against Geelong, Brisbane and Melbourne for the first and only time this season in rounds 18, 21 and 22 respectively.

In terms of who the Blues have played, they are 1-1 with Fremantle in fourth, with both results going the way of the home team. They themselves are fifth. They lost to sixth-placed Collingwood by a kick and are also 1-1 with Richmond. They defeated eighth-placed Sydney handily when they met in Round 10. They are 7-2 against teams outside the eight.

They deserve their spot, with the big potatoes still to come.

Carlton’s best team has guns on every line. They’d have five players from all over the field named in the All Australian squad of 40 if it were announced tomorrow – Sam Docherty, Adam Saad, Sam Walsh, Patrick Cripps and Charlie Curnow.

Harry McKay is the reigning Coleman medalist and wouldn’t be far away, Jacob Weitering would probably be there if not for injury and might still be anyway. Then there’s another handful of players, at least, having career-best seasons.

The Blues playing style is built for finals by a guy in Michael Voss that knows a thing or two about it. It might look different since his playing days, but the fundamentals haven’t changed – be fierce in the contest, absorb heat, handle the ball cleanly and get it moving forward.

(Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Carlton’s best football this season hasn’t been that far removed from what the Brisbane Lions did across 2001-03, throwing bigger bodies at the coalface – Cripps, Walsh, Matthew Kennedy, George Hewett and Adam Cerra are a fantastic five, and their work in close has been something to behold.

They hunt the footy, stand strongly, take tackles and flick the ball around until one of them has space to break. They are always looking for how to exit a stoppage from the front, the most dangerous position from which to launch an attacking foray.

Down back there have been a few chops and changes with injuries to Weitering, Mitch McGovern and Zac Williams as well as a host of replacement talls. Docherty, Saad and Nic Newman have ensured their running game hasn’t suffered too much, but opposition-making forwards have been the key component in their losses.

Up forward, we know about Curnow and McKay, with Jack Silvagni in fine form as a lead-up player and even back-up ruck. Zac Fisher, Matthew Owies and Corey Durdin have been solid, with the latter particularly showing that he has something about him. Even young Jesse Motlop has caught the eye in his handful of appearances.

Carlton lost to St Kilda on the weekend, but in many ways they won everywhere but the scoreboard. When you win contested possession by 27, take 15 marks inside your forward 50 compared to the opposition’s eight and have five more scoring shots, you’re going to win most games.

Kicking let them down, and they would like to have shut down the Saints’ possession game more than they did, but it would surprise most to learn that the Blues fielded the second-youngest team on the weekend.

That’s right, the second youngest. Younger than even the rebuilding North, Essendon and Hawthorn. A little bit of inconsistency can still be allowed for, which they’ve shown by going win-loss in their last six matches. Even then, their losses have been by a combined 34 points against three pretty handy sides.

Carlton are also still learning to play together as a group given they have had some injuries in their developing years, let alone when you factor in that they are still in their first 12 months with Michael Voss.

The Blues and Voss aren’t too dissimilar from the Western Bulldogs and Luke Beveridge. Beveridge took over the reins of what appeared to be a rabble and in his first year shot the Dogs up from 14th to sixth on the ladder. In his second they won a storied flag.

Voss has Carlton well placed to play finals, and whether they win one or not, they will be primed to strike in 2023.